IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, ORNAMENTING, AND PRINTING ON SURFACES OF METAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1852

page_text: Sealed the 12th January 1853; and dated the 1st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Felix Abate and
John Julius Cléro de Clerville, at the office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their petition, on the 1st October 1852.
WE, FELIX ABATE, of 21, George Street, Hampstead Road, and
JOHN JULIUS CLÉRO DE CLERVILLE, of Newman Street, both in the
County of Middlesex, do 'hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, ORNAMENTING, AND PRINTING ON
SURFACES OF METAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.to be as follows:
This Invention consists in dyeing and printing on surfaces of metal,
wood, glass, and other substances, by the processes employed in dyeing and
printing on woven fabrics, also in marbling such surfaces by the processes
employed in marbling on paper, through the medium of a previous coating
of such surfaces with a preparation composed of glue and sugar, or of

page_text: plaster of Paris, or other adhesive and absorbent substance or compo-
sition. When relief printing is used, it is preferred to produce cast
plates for that purpose, from engraved surfaces of plaster of Paris
mixed with wax; also, when it is desired to stop out parts of surfaces
of metal, &c., the same is done by employing a flexible mould with
the desired impression into which wax or a resinous matter is run,
and from which it is transferred, by heat, to the metal or other surface.
We also ornament metal and other surfaces, after having applied
as above the resinous resist, by means of any of the bronzing,
oxidizing, parcels gilding, or electro-plating processes. Our Invention
also consists of drawing plates of metal between parallel bars with
projections or teeth, which produce indents or planishing in lines.
We scour the metallic surfaces by coating them with a solution of glue
and hydro-chloride of tin (muriate of tin); when dry, we take off
this coating, and burnish the surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Felix Abate and John Julius Clero de Clerville,
in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 30th March 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, We,
FELIX ABATE, of 21, George Street, Hampstead Road, and JOHN
JULIUS CLÉRO DE CLERVILLE, of Newman Street, both in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Felix Abate and John Julius Cléro de Clerville,
Her especial licence that we, the said Felix Abate and John Julius Cléro
de Clerville, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Felix Abate and John Julius Cléro de Clerville,
our 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,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, ORNAMENTING, AND PRINTING ON SURFACES
OF METAL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition, amongst others,
that we, the said Felix Abate and John Julius Cléro de Clerville, or
one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Felix Abate and John Julius
Cléro de Clerville, do hereby declare 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):
This Invention consists in dyeing and printing on surfaces of metal,
wood, glass, and other substances, by the processes employed in dyeing
and printing on woven fabrics, also in marbling such surfaces by the
processes employed in marbling on paper, through the medium of a
previous coating of such surfaces with a preparation composed of glue
and sugar, or plaster of Paris, or other adhesive and absorbent substance
or composition.
When relief printing is used, it is preferred to produce cast plates
for that purpose, from engraved surfaces of plaster of Paris mixed with
wax; also, when it is desired to stop out parts of surfaces of metal, &c., the
same is done by employing a flexible mould with the desired impres-
sion, into which wax or resinous matter is run, and from which it is
transferred, by heat, to the surface of the metal, or other surface.
We also ornament metal and other surfaces, after having applied as
above the resinous resist, by means of any of the bronzing, oxidizing,
parcels gilding, or electro-plating processes.
Our Invention also consists of drawing plates of metal between
parallel bars with projections or teeth, which produces indents or
planishing in lines.

page_text: We scour the metallic surfaces, by coating them with a solution of glue
and hydro-chloride of tin (muriate of tin); when dry, we take off the
coating, and burnish the surface.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means
employed by us.
After having perfectly cleaned and polished the surface to be printed
on, we cover it with a thin coat of animal glue and sugar, in the pro-
portion of about three parts of glue and one of sugar, or with a coat of
plaster of Paris and glue, or with any other adhesive and absorbent
composition. When dry, we dye it of any required colour, by keeping it
for a few minutes in a bath prepared with dyeing stuffs, in the same ways
which are used for woven fabrics. Sometimes we perform this colouring
by another process, which consists in thickening the dyeing colour with
any of the above mixtures, and coating with it the surface; some-
times we omit altogether the colouring part of the process, and we make
the coat colourless, or we leave it of its natural colour. In any of the
above cases, when the article is dry, it is ready for printing upon it.
This printing we perform by any of the processes which are used for
textile manufactures, besides the following, some of which are merely
modifications of the said processes.
By our first process we print with engravings made on wood, plates, or
of gutta percha, and a common printing press; using for printing
menstruum any of the dyeing colours, as well as any solution of metallic
or earthy salts, acids, and alkalis which are used for printing on textile
manufactures.
The second process consists in printing upon paper or glazed calico
with any of the above fluids; sticking then such paper or calico on the
prepared surface wetted with water, and detaching it immediately after,
when the impression will be found upon the article; sometimes we
modify this process in the following way we print upon paper or
calico in any of the ordinary ways, using either metallic plates, wood-cuts,
or lithography, and a fatty or resinous ink; or else we print upon calico
with a resinous resist, in the way used for textile manufactures; then we

page_text: stick such paper or calico upon the prepared surface; afterwards we wet
he back of such paper or calico with any of the above-named fluids,
and, detaching it immediately, the impression is found upon the article.
Another modification of this process consists in previously wetting the
paper or calico with the printing fluid, or printing such fluid upon it with
a plain block of wood; then printing upon it on the same side, in any
of the ordinary ways, with a fatty or resinous ink, or with a resinous
resist as above, and proceeding for the rest as before described.
By the third process we use engravings made of elastic plates, com-
posed of two parts of glue and one of sugar. We either engrave
directly on such clastic plates, or we make stereotypes of the said elastic
composition; from engravings made on plaster of Paris saturated with
wax. In either case we sometimes print with the said plates, using as
resist a fatty or resinous ink, and sometimes we use a resist made of
three parts of resin and one of tallow, with which we fill the sunk parts
of the plates, and then we press the latter upon the article previously
warmed. The resist is now transferred from the former to the latter;
we finally wash the article with any of the above fluids, and, when dry,
we clean off the resist.
We use particularly the last described process, besides the others,
for printing upon metallic surfaces, without any previous preparation
but a thorough cleaning; in which case we wash the article after the
application of the resist upon it with a solution of any of those salts
which produce, through an electro-chemical spontaneous action, an
adhesive precipitate of certain metallic oxides upon other metals, or any
other chemical change on the surface of the metals with which they
put in contact, such as the salts of copper, cobalt, the black oxide of
manganese, and any of those bronzing fluids which are used by brass-
workers to give a bronze or dark coloured surface on copper and brass
articles.
are
We also use the last-described process for the partial or ornamental
electro-plating of metallic articles, to produce ornaments in a metal
different from that of the ground, which we do by laying the article in
the electro-plating bath, after having printed, as above, the resist upon it.
We also apply the last-described process for printing on surfaces with

page_text: metallic powders or leaves, which we do by sticking such powders or
leaves on the surfaces in the ordinary ways, after having printed on
such surfaces the resist as above, and then we clean off the latter.
Sometimes we prepare the surfaces by silvering or tinning them, in
order to increase the transparency and brilliancy of the subsequent
colouring.
. Besides the above-described processes for printing, we produce marble
ornaments on surfaces by coating and colouring them in any of the
above-described ways, and then placing the article for an instant, and
face downwards, in a bath formed by any of the above-named fluids
which have the property of changing the colour of the said coating;
upon the surface of such bath a certain quantity of oil or other fatty
fluid having been previously scattered and dropped about. We also
apply for the above purpose the process in use for marbling paper,
which we do by placing the article, after it has been coated as above, on
a bath prepared in the ways in use for such papers.
Another part of our Invention consists in scouring metallic surfaces
by coating them with a solution of glue and chloride of tin, and when
dry taking off such coating, and burnishing the surface when a dead
colour is not wanted.
And lastly, our Invention consists in producing upon metallic sheets a
peculiar kind of ornaments, by drawing them one or more times between
a pair of hard steel bars, one of which is cut with a regular and exceed-
ingly short set of teeth. Sometimes we make the effects of such
ornaments more striking by previously staining or bronzing the surface
of the sheet, and we sometimes apply to the latter, after being so orna-
mented, any of the colouring and printing processes above described.
What we claim is,
Firstly, the preparing, colouring, printing, and ornamenting of surfaces
by the above-described processes:
Secondly, the colouring of metallic surfaces by means of any dyeing
stuffs which are used for woven fabrics, thickened with a mixture of
glue and sugar, or any other suitable adhesive matter; also the scouring
of metallic surfaces by means of a temporary coat of glue and chloride
of tin:

page_text: Thirdly, the ornamenting of metallic sheets by drawing them between
oothed bars.
In witness whereof, we, the said Felix Abate and John Julius
Cléro de Clerville, have hereunto set our hand and seals, this
Seventeenth day of March in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
FELIX ABATE (1.9)
JOHN JULIUS CLÉRO DE CLERVILLE. (L.S.)
Witness, WILLIAM CARPMAEL junior.