IMPROVEMENTS IN METAL AND ENAMEL WORK
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Leopold Lustig, of Vienna, Empire of
Austria, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METAL AND ENAMEL
WORK."
:
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Carl Leopold Lustig at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 2nd September 1874, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
LEOPOLD LUSTIG, of Vienna, Empire of Austria, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
METAL AND ENAMEL WORK," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am
the true and first Inventor thereof,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Carl Leopold Lustig, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the
following statement :---
This Invention relates to improvements in that class of metal and
enamel work known under the name of niello, Tula enamel, or Russian
enamel. Heretofore this enamel work was formed by melting the
enamel on the engraved metal and afterwards, polishing the surface
until the metal reliefs appeared as on a black ground, so that only two
colours were shown, that of the enamel and that of the metal.
According to my present Invention, I obtain various metal colours
on a background of niel or Tula enamel, by first affixing a composite
mosaic arrangement of different metallic alloys on the metal plate to be
treated, and then covering and combining the whole with Tula enamel,
finally filing and polishing the surface until the metals appear on an
enamel ground. I so produce very fine shades of colour, which have
not yet been obtained in this way.
I will now proceed to describe the exact mode of executing my said
Invention :-
The pieces of differently coloured metals, which are to form the
design, are first soldered on a metallic base plate. The arrangement and
the size of the different inlaid metals may vary, of course, according to
taste. The base plate may also be either first hollowed out at those parts
which are to receive the pieces of differently coloured metals and
metallic alloys, or the pieces may be at once soldered on to the plate
without hollowing it out.
The metallic surfaces are then decorated and prepared for the
enamelling by engraving and chasing, according to taste. The enamel
having then been laid on is melted into the metal work in the usual
manner, as is well understood, so that the whole work is covered with the
enamel and the different metals thereby connected with each other and
obscured from view. The article must therefore be finally carefully
filed until the metal surfaces appear on the enamel ground, and be then
polished in the usual manner like ordinary articles of jewelry, as is well
known. The ground tone of the articles will be the enamel, and the

page_text: t
mosaic composite shades of the different metals will appear against it in
their natural colours.
The enamel I use is, as above mentioned, that well known under the
names of niel, Tula enamel, or Russian enamel.
In the accompanying Drawings a piece of metal and enamel work,
according to this Invention, is shown in different stages of manufacture.
In this case the base plate has first been hollowed out at different
places in order to receive the metals and metallic alloys, but, as above
mentioned, I do not confine myself hereto, but may solder these pieces
on to the base plate without forming hollow spaces to receive them.
In order to most clearly explain the mode of carrying my Invention
into effect, the accompanying illustration has been drawn to about five.
fold the natural size. It shows the construction of a piece suitable for
a sleeve button, or for the head of a stick, and consisting of a silver
base plate inlaid with various alloys of gold and with the niel enamel,
but I do not confine myself to any particular size.
CARL LEOPOLD LUSTIG. (L.S.).
Dated 22nd August 1874.