IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE CERAMIC ART OR TO GLASS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Alexander Martius, of Warrington, in the
County of Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE CERAMIC ART OR TO GLASS."-
A communication from abroad by Johann Baptist Obernetter, residing
at Munich
Sealed the 2nd June 1865, and dated the 6th December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Alexander Martius
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1864.
I, CARL ALEXANDER MARTIUS, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE CERAMIC ARTS OR TO GLASS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in producing photographic pictures on ceramic
articles, including glass, by causing a surface coated with a mixture of sugar
of milk, glycerine, gum, or some of these substances and a soluble bi-chromate,
to be acted upon by light through a translucent picture; secondly, in treating
this surface when it has been exposed to the solar rays with a mixture of soap
and any of those substances usually employed for colouring or burning in

page_text: china or glass; thirdly, in forming a coherent mass of the film by covering it
with collodion; fourthly, in removing this collodionized film, and which now
contains the image, by the action of water; fifthly, in transferring the image
so removed to any article of china or glass, and causing it to adhere thereto by
any ordinary adhesive substance, dissolving the collodion, and leaving the
colour composing the picture; and, lastly, in baking or burning in the said
article in the usual manner adopted for china or glass.
The following method of carrying out the above-mentioned general principles
have been found to produce a satisfactory result. I coat a smooth surface,
glass for instance, with a solution of gum, sugar of milk, glycerine, and
bi-chromate of ammonium. The plate is then dried in a stove, and when dry
is exposed to the action of light passing through a photograph or other trans-
lucent object after the usual practice of photography. To render the desired
image visible, I now apply by means of a roller or other suitable apparatus, a
dried mixture of soap and any of those substances usually employed for
colouring china or glass, to which is added an ordinary flux. On those parts
of the film where the sensitive surface has been most acted upon the least
quantity of colour will be found to adhere, and where it has been the least
acted upon the greatest.
To remove the impression from the plate, and to transter it to the ceramic
article I pour collodion thereon, and subsequently immerse it in water, when
the soluble matters are dissolved and the collodion film floats away with the
picture thereon, which film may be pasted on any article which it is desired to
ornament. After the collodion film is dry, I dissolve the collodion itself by
ether or other solvent, leaving the image upon the ceramic article, and which
image may be burnt in in the usual manner. The pictures may be afterwards
treated with any ordinary china or glass colours as may be thought desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Carl Alexander Martius in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
ALEXANDER MARTIUS, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Herreign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Carl Alexander Martius, Her special license that I, the said Carl Alexander
Martius, 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 THE APPLICATION
OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE CERAMIC ART OR TO GLASS," a communication to me
from abroad by Johann Baptist Obernetter, a foreigner residing at Munich,
upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Carl Alexander Martius,
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 Carl Alexander Martius, 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 (that is to say):-
This Invention consists, firstly, in a combination or processes whereby
photographic pictures are obtained, applied to, and burnt in upon articles of
porcelain or glass; and, secondly, in a peculiar method of causing the said
photographic pictures to be composed of materials which can be fused or
enamelled upon ceramic articles including glass. This second portion of the
Invention will, however, be explained in describing the first portion thereof.
In carrying out the Invention the following substances are taken and
mixed together:-Gum five parts, sugar fifteen parts, glycerine five parts,
bichromate of ammonium six parts, water one hundred parts. This mixture
is poured upon glass or another smooth surface precisely as a plate is
coated for the ordinary collodion process of photography. The plate is
then dried in the dark in a drying stove at a temperature of 90" to 130" F.
A picture which is positive by transmitted light is now placed on the
prepared surface of the plate, and exposed after the usual manner of
photography to the action of light. The time of exposure depends upon
the intensity of light, as will be evident to all persons acquainted with the
practice of photography. A little experience will enable the operator to
judge correctly; as a guide, however, it may be stated that the time required
is about the same as for ordinary prints on paper. The plate, on which the
image is now slightly visible, is next treated with a very intimato mixture

page_text: of one hundred parts of "porcelain colour" with its flux and one part of dry
powdered soap. 'This finely divided powder is applied with a brush, upon
which a decomposition takes place resulting in the deposit of the porcelain
colour and its flux upon those parts of the plate which were protected from
light, and this operation is continued until the requisite density is attained.
The theory which the Inventor assumes as to this part of the process is as
follows:-On those parts of the plate prepared with the chromate mixture ou
which the light has not acted; the free chromic acid decomposes the soap,
which is mixed with the porcelain colour in such manner that the fat is
liberated whilst the alkali of the soap is combined with chromic acid. The
fat thus liberated enables the colour and flux to adhere to the parts unacted
upon by light, thus constituting the picture, at the same time the injurious.
effect of the free chromic acid is destroyed. The picture in porcelain colour
having been thus obtained is to be removed from the supporting surface. To
effect this it is coated with a film of collodion, and when dry immersed in
water made slightly alkaline. The film now readily leaves the plate, and
after being washed is pasted, the picture side undermost, on the ceramic
article which it is desired to ornament. This pasting may be conveniently.
and properly effected with a solution of three per cent. of gelatine in water
applied to the article to be ornamented. The washing of the film may be
effected by first lifting it out of the water on a glass plate, and then by washing
in the ordinary manner. Films produced as above are sufficiently tenacious
to bear handling so as to adapt them to the articles to be ornamented. The
picture so adapted is dried spontaneously, and the collodion film is dissolved
therefrom by æther, or by a mixture of ether and alcohol, or by other solvents,
after which the article with its applied picture is burnt in an ordinary muffle
furnace, as conducted in the usual process of enamelling; porcelain pictures
produced in the manner above described may be ornamented or painted
with the usually employed ceramic enamel colours..
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that it is not intended to limit the claim to the precise manipu
lations or proportions of materials above mentioned. Also, I would observe
that the word enamelling has been used in reference to the fixing of the
image upon the article to be ornamented, but such ornamentation is also
applicable to the simple burning in upon glass effected after the usual
manner of burning colours" upon that, material. That which is intended
to be claimed and for the purposes above set forth is,-
"
Firstly, the combined processes substantially, as above described.

page_text: And, secondly, the use of "porcelain colours" combined with soap or
other such material for producing a picture upon a surface prepared with a
substance which will decompose the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Alexander Martius, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
CARL ALEXANDER MARTIUS. (L.S.)