IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING PORCELAIN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Leigh Hughes, of Leek Road, near Joiner
Square, Hanley, Staffordshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORNAMENTING PORCELAIN."
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 24th June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Leigh Hughes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th June 1863.
I, JAMES LEIGH HUGHES, of Leek Road, near Joiner Square, Hanley,
Staffordshire, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORNAMENTING PORCELAIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ornamenting porcelain.
For these purposes impressions from engraved plates or other printing
surfaces taken in a bituminous or other suitable varnish which will resist acid
are applied and transferred on to white or colored porcelain; or the devices
on the white or colored china are to be produced in any other manner, the
uncoated surfaces are then to be eaten away by acid, as is well understood;
the varnish which has been applied to prevent the action of the acid in parts
of the surface is then to be removed, and gold or color is to be applied to
those parts which have been eaten away in the ordinary manner in which
gold or color is usually applied to porcelain, and such is the case when desired
to other of the parts also which have not been acted on by the acid by reason

page_text: of their being protected by the bituminous or other varnish. The effect will
be that the gold applied to the parts of the device which have been previously
eaten away will appear as dead gold, and color also applied to the parts of the
surfaces which have been eaten away will have a dead appearance as compared
with the other parts of the surface where the color is applied without the
surface being first eaten away. In some cases, after the acid has been applied
and the varnish removed, whiting or other suitable substance is applied over
parts of the design, then gold, which is burned in the usual manner; the
surface is then scoured with sand and burnished, by which the appearance
of bright and dead gold intermixed with white or colored china will be
obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Leigh Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LEIGH HUGHES, of Leek Road, near Joiner Square, Hanley, Staffordshire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Leigh Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said James
Leigh Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Leigh Hughes, my 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 ORNAMENTING PORCELAIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Leigh Hughes, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said James Leigh Hughes, 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 has for its object improvements in ornamenting porcelain.
For these purposes impressions from engraved plates or other printing sur-
faces taken in a bituminous or other suitable varnish which will resist acid are
applied and transferred on to white or colored porcelain. The uncoated
surfaces are then to be eaten away by fluoric acid, as is well understood. The
varnish which has been applied to prevent the action of the acid in parts of
the surface is then to be removed, and gold, is to be applied to those parts
which have been eaten away in the ordinary manner in which gold is usually
applied to porcelain, and such is the case when desired to other of the parts
also which have not been acted on by the acid by reason of their being pro-
tected by the bituminous or other varnish; the gold is then to be burned in
the usual manner, and, where necessary, the gold is to be burnished. The
effect will be that the gold applied to the parts of the device which have been
previously eaten away will appear as dead gold. In some cases, after the acid
has been applied, and the varnish removed, whitening or other suitable sub-
stance is applied over parts of the design, and then gold, which is to be burned
in the usual manner; the surface is then scoured with sand, and, where neces-
sary, burnished, by which the appearance of bright and dead gold intermixed
with white or colored china will be obtained according as the surfaces of
the porcelain are white or colored.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to explain the manner of performing the same.
An impression having been taken from an engraved or other plate, or other
printing surface, in a bituminous or other suitable varnish which will resist
the fluoric acid, such impression is to be transferred on to the surface of white
or colored porcelain in the manner which is well understood. The unprotected
parts of the transferred printed impression are then to be subjected to the
action of fluoric acid, as is well understood, when eating away parts of the
surfaces of porcelain for other objects, and the application of the acid is
very readily and conveniently performed over such unprotected parts by a
camel's hair pencil. I may here state that I make no claim to the trans-
ferring of printed devices taken in varnishes capable of resisting the action of
the acid, nor do I claim separately, or combined therewith, the eating away
of the unprotected parts of the surfaces of the porcelain, the peculiarity of this
Invention consisting in the application of gold as herein described to porcelain

page_text: after obtaining a transfer of an impression from a printing surface thereon, and
after having eaten away the unprotected parts of the printed device. By thus
applying the gold to porcelain, the gold, where it is on the eaten away parts,
will present a dead or different character to the gold which is applied to the
surface of porcelain where the parts of the surface which have been protected
by the printed impression, and which have not been eaten away. The acid
having performed its part in eating away the unprotected parts of the trans-
ferred printed impression, the varnish is to be removed, and the surface
cleansed, the gold is then to be applied, and to be burned in in the ordinary
manner of applying and burning porcelain. When any parts of the design
produced by eating away the unprotected parts of a transferred printed
impression are desired to remain white, or of the previously colored surface,
then whitening or other suitable material is to be applied to such parts before
applying the gold, so that the gold may not adhere to such protected parts
when the porcelain is burned.
I would, however, state that to this stopping out of the gold I make no
claim when the same is unaccompanied by the application of gold on to the
eaten away or unprotected parts of a transferred printed impression.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Leigh Hughes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JAMES LEIGH HUGHES. (L.B.)