AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING GLASS LABELS, ADVERTISING TABLETS, AND ORNAMENTAL DEVICES UPON GLASS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward William Baxter, of Sidney Street, Mile
End, in the County of Middlesex, Writer on Glass, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING GLASS LABELS, ADVERTISING TABLETS,
AND ORNAMENTAL DEVICES UPON GLASS."
Sealed the 26th January 1858, and dated the 28th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward William Baxter
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1857.
I, EDWARD WILLIAM BAXTER, of Sidney Street, Mile End, in the County of
Middlesex, Writer on Glass, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING GLASS LABELS, ADVERTISING TABLETS,
AND ORNAMENTAL DEVICES UPON GLASS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to reproduce upon glass copies of plain or
ornamental writing, and ornamental designs in gold, silver, and other metals,
and in pigments or colors. To this end I first produce a negative in any
well-known and convenient way, whether by photography, which is most con-
venient when minute inscriptions or ornaments are desired to be copied, or by
printing or painting upon a transparent medium; and I then apply the

page_text: negative to the glass on which it is intended to reproduce the device. If the
device or the outline of the devico is required to be copied in gold or silver
(for example), I cover the glass with gold or silver leaf, and secure it thereto
with weak isinglass size; this done, I back the metal leaf with a solution of
asphaltum in turpentine, naphtha, benzole, camphine, or any of the essential
oils, which I lay on with a camel's hair brush; but I prefer highly rectified
spirit of turpentine and asphaltum. When this coating has been allowed to
dry, I place over it the negative impression, which has been made either on
glass, gelatine, or thin or transparent paper, and secure it to the coated glass.
I expose the same to the action of light for the proper time, to fix the parts
not covered by the negative. When this is effected I remove the negative,
wash off the unfixed portions of the asphaltum with turpentine, camphine, oil,
or any greasy substance, and thus leave only the parts acted on by light.
Then with a piece of damp cotton wool I remove the superfluous gold or
silver, when there will remain the counterpart of the device contained on the
negative plate. The remainder of the work may be executed by hand
according to taste. When using a pigment in place of metal leaf, it is to be
mixed with resinous varnish or gold size, and laid on thinly, and when dry it
is to be subjected to the above-named treatment. All the resins, asphaltum,
pitch, tar, and oxides of metals mixed with linseed or boiled oil, varnishes
made from resins, whether in ether, oil, benzole, camphine, turpentine, chloro-
form, naphtha, or any of the essential oils, being photographic, may be made to
produce the effect required. I prefer, however, using the asphaltum dissolved
in turpentine for fixing gold leaf.
SPECIFICATION in pursunnce of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward William Baxter in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
WILLIAM BAXTER, of Sidney Street, Mile End, in the County of Middlesex,
Writer on Glass, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward William Baxter, Ifer special license that I, the said Edward

page_text: William Baxter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edward William Baxter, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING GLASS LABELS, ADVERTIZING
TABLETS, AND ORNAMENTAL DEVICES UPON GLASS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward William Baxter, 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 I, the said Edward William Baxter, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in producing upon surfaces of glass, through the
chemical action of light, copics of plain or ornamental writing, and ornamental
designs in gold, silver, and other metals, and in pigments or colors, in a much.
more economical and efficient manner than when employing skilled labour.
To this end I first obtain a negative of the label or device that is required to
to be copied, either by the aid of photography, which is the most convenient
means when minute inscriptions or ornaments are desired to be copied, or by
printing or painting upon a transparent medium; and this negative I apply to
the glass on which it is intended to reproduce the device. If the device, or
the outline of the device, is required to be copied in gold or silver (for
example), I coat that part of the surface of the glass which is to receive the
device with weak isinglass size, and then overlay it with gold or silver leaf,
after the manner employed by writers on glass; this done, I back the metal leaf
with any varnish which is photographic, or will become fixed when exposed to
the action of light, preferring an asphaltum varnish, as Brunswick black, and
I use as a solvent turpentine, naphtha, or any other suitable spirit. This
varnish I lay on as evenly as may be with a camel's hair brush, and I then
put aside the glass plate or vessel (as the case may be) to allow the varnish to
dry. When this conting has dried I place over it the negative impression,
which has been made either on glass, gelatine, or thin or transparent paper,

page_text: and temporarily secure it to the coated glass in any convenient manner so
that it shall not readily shift its position. I then expose the coated glass to
the action of light, as when taking photographic copics of pictures, and after
exposure for the proper time, the duration of which will depend on the nature
of the weather and the medium used to carry the negative, the parts left
uncovered by the negative will be found to have undergone a change, and
become fixed sufficiently to enable them to resist the immediate action of
spirits of turpentine or other proper solvent. When this change has taken
place I remove the negative and wash off the unfixed portions of the varnish
with turpentine or other solvent, and thus leave only the parts acted on by the
light. Then with a piece of damp cotton wool I remove the superfluous gold
or silver now exposed to view, after which there will remain on the glass a
perfect counterpart of the device contained on the negative plate. If by this
means an inscription of open letters or the outline of an ornamental device is
produced, which is intended to be filled in with color or otherwise finished to
heighten the effect, the remainder of the work may be executed by hand
according to taste. When using a pigment in place of metal leaf, it is to be
mixed with resinous varnish or gold size, and laid thinly upon the glass
surface, and when dry it is to be subjected to the above-named treatment.
The production of ornamental borders and other devices in frosted silver
will also be greatly facilitated by the application of my Invention. Thus, to
produce a border of this kind upon a mirror, I obtain either by painting or
printing a positive on a sheet of transparent or semi-transparent paper, and
having coated the glass with a suitable varnish, as explained, I overlay the
coated surface with the positive pattern (using it as a negative), and expose it
to the action of the light, when all the parts of the coating of varnish will
become fixed, except those which lay beneath and were protected by the
opaque pattern. When this change is effected I remove the pattern, and
wash off with a proper solvent the unfixed portions of the coating of varnish;
I then subject the exposed surface of the glass to the action of fluoric acid,
and thereby bite in the pattern upon the glass. When this is effected I
throw off the acid and clean off the varnish, and silver the ornamented surface
of the glass in the usual way. By this means the slow processes at present in
use of stopping out or of picking out to form the pattern will be superseded,
and more elaborate patterns than it has heretofore been possible to produce
may be readily obtained with economy and despatch.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Mode
of Preparing Glass Labels, Advertizing Tablets, and Ornamental Devices upon

page_text: Glass," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it
to be understood, that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,
applying the photographic process to the production of designs and inscriptions
upon glass surfaces, in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward William Baxter, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
EDWD W BAXTER. (L.B.)