IMPROVEMENTS IN GILDING PORCELAIN, GLASS, AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS."A
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cornelius, of Panton Street, Hay-
market, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GILDING PORCELAIN, GLASS, AND SUCH LIKE
MATERIALS."A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cornelius
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th August 1853.
I, WILLIAM CORNELIUS, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GILDING PORCELAIN, GLASS, AND SUCH LIKE
MATERIALS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the use and application of gold previously
treated or prepared by chemical process to the above purposes, and in
the use and application of such said prepared gold in two ways: first,
by merely rubbing it with a small piece of fine cloth or leather, upon
which may be placed a small quantity of well-washed chalk, and this
should be done after the article upon which the gold is put is removed

page_text: from the oven, and is cooled down, in order to produce brightness of
color; and, secondly, by rubbing the gold slightly with a polishing stick.
The mode of using the prepared gold is as follows:-The gold is first
mixed with distilled turpentine oil on a glass pallette so as to render
it sufficiently thin for painting the porcelain or glass to be decorated;
it is then dried in a warm place and afterwards placed in an oven,
where it must remain until it has attained a dark red heat. This
degree of heat will be found quite sufficient to melt and fix the gold,
besides giving to it the required qualities. By this mode of gilding
less than one fourth the quantity of pure gold is required than hitherto,
and as only half the degree of heat is required in the oven economy in
fuel is also effected, and the labour of the workman considerably
reduced, thereby constituting improvements in gilding porcelain, glass,
and other like materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Cornelius in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th February 1854. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
WILLIAM CORNELIUS, of Panton Street, Haymarket, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Cornelius, Her special licence
that I, the said William Cornelius, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Cornelius, iny executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GILDING PORCELAIN, GLASS, AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS," upon the con--

page_text: dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Cornelius, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said William Cornelius, do hereby
leclare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
My Invention consists, firstly, in a new mode of preparing gold to
be used for gilding porcelain, glass, and such like materials; and,
secondly, in the use and employment of such prepared gold in two
different ways; that is to say, for effecting bright gilding and burnish
gilding.
.
The mode hitherto practised of preparing gold for gilding porce-
lain, glass, and such like materials has been to prepare the gold with
quicksilver and flux, and to use such preparation with turpentine and
oils in the process of gilding; whereas the mode which 1 pro-
pose to employ of preparing gold for the purposes of my said Inven-
tion is as follows:-I dissolve the gold in aqua regia, commercially
known as nitro-muriatic acid, and precipitate it by pure liquid ammonia
(such as is commonly used by engravers); I then wash and carefully
filter this solution through an ordinary filter, and thus obtain a very
voluminous yellow colored metallic residuum, which, for the purposes of
my said Invention, should be kept in a moist state with oil until it is
required to be used in and for the manufacture of the following gilding
preparation, and when used for such purpose I then mix the above-
mentioned yellow metallic residuum with a corrosive mixture or
preparation composed of two parts of the finest rosin of Burgundy and
two parts of varnish, such as is used by printers, and when the mass
has been thoroughly mixed and incorporated together, and is perfectly
dried, it is then entirely divested of its explosive property, by which
it can be worked with safety; and this compound, when mixed with
boracic bismuth, I have found to produce gilding of great solidity, but

page_text: MODE OF OPERATING.
The workman with either of the above-mentioned gilding prepara-
tions paints the design or ornament upon the material to be ornamented
with a camel's hair brush in the manner usually practised, reducing
the said preparation to the proper consistence by the addition thereto
of turpentine and fatty oils. The gilding is then dried in the usual
manner, and when perfectly dry appears black or yellow, according to
the nature of the gilding preparation employed, and the surface of the
gilding also presents an oily shining appearance, in which state it is
placed in an oven of the ordinary kind, and subjected to the well-
known process of "firing" in the manner usually practised, excepting
that for the purposes of my said Invention, and to produce burnish
gilding, it is only necessary to heat the oven to a light cherry red heat;
but to produce bright gilding I have found a dark cherry red heat to
answer the purpose. If, however, from any cause the heat of the
oven should exceed this last-mentioned temperature, the gilding then
becomes burnished gilding, and must therefore be used and treated as
such. And I would here remark, that as bright gilding is usually
employed for ornamental work which does not generally require a
very high degree of solidity, such gilding does not, therefore, require
burnishing, but merely rubbing with a wash leather or soft brush;

page_text: whereas burnish gilding being employed in and for the ornamenting
of objects of daily and continued use, such as the bands and borders of
plates, tea and coffee cups, saucers, and such like articles, requires
therefore a very high degree of solidity, which can only be attained
by burnishing the gilding, which for the purposes of this Invention
may be effected in the manner and by the means usually practised by
gilders.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be and may be performed, I declare my Inven-
tion to consist in, and I claim as improvements in gilding porcelain,
glass, and such like materials,-
Firstly, the mode or process herein-before particularly described and
set forth of preparing gold, and the combining thereof when so prepared
with a corrosive mixture, composed as above stated, thereby forming an
improved gilding preparation applicable to the ornamenting of porcelain,
glass, and such like materials; and,
Secondly, the mode or process set forth of using such said prepara-
tion, and of treating the materials gilded or ornamented therewith so
as to obtain the most beneficial results, as herein-before particularly
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cornelius, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
WILLIAM CORNELIUS. (L.S.)
25 Witness,
CH. PFEIFFER,
48, Rue de Trevise, Paris.