proved Manufacture of Transfer Designs or Pictures, more particularly applicable to Glass and Keramic Manufactures.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 8th June, 1894-Accepted, 21st July, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improved Manufacture of Transfer Designs or Pictures, more
particularly applicable to Glass and Keramic Manufactures.
We, Dr. HERMAnn Mueller, of Glogau in the Empire of Germany Publisher
and HECTOR DE GROUSILLIERS of 43-44 Liusenstrasse Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to an improved manufacture of transfer designs or
pictures which are applicable to a great variety of purposes, for example for
decorating wood, metal, woven fabrics, but more particularly for glass and keramic
manufactures.
In the usual known methods of producing transfer pictures there is either applied
to a coating soluble in water which is laid upon the paper backing a second coating
composed of collodion with certain additions, on which the design or picture is
impressed, or the impression is made directly upon the coating soluble in water.
In the first case the coating which receives the impression constitutes a kind.
of skin, which when separated from the paper, serves as the foundation for the
design and is applied with the latter to the surface to be decorated, the impression
being uppermost.
Such transfer designs are however very expensive and cannot be applied to
porous surfaces, such as unglazed pottery, porcelain &c., as the skin is apt to split
off after drying.
When printing the design directly upon the soluble coating, a special
cementitious substance is necessary, in order to cause the design to adhere to
the object to be decorated. Such cementitious substances are absolutely necessary
with the said process under all circumstances, because the designs will otherwise
not adhere, and, when separated from the paper backing they will fall to pieces.
Furthermore, this method cannot well be applied to unglazed porcelain and
earthenware and many other objects of a porous nature or having little density
because these objects would absorb too much of the cementitious substance before
a sufficiently adhesive coating remained upon the surface, and because these
materials would by this means be subjected to an undesirable influence.
The object of the present invention is to entirely obviate these defects, by the
manufacture of transfer pictures or designs which can be transferred easily, and
with certainty to objects of the most varied nature.
According to this invention the pictures or designs are printed upon the coating
soluble in water by means of a pigment which consists of a foundation body which
is diluted with a varnish of a kind suited to the description of impression employed,
and then mixed with the necessary colouring matters; or the admixture of the
varnish may be effected after that of the colours. The foundation body has the
property of being solid at ordinary temperatures, but of becoming soft and
adhesive at slightly higher temperatures such as from 35° to 40° C.
It is prepared by melting together bodies such as wood-pitch or resin with an
oil such as resin- linseed- or rape-oil; or of wax, turpentine and oil in suitable
proportions. In place of wax ceresin or ozokerit can be used; there may also be
added to the mass a small proportion of solid fats.
So called boiled linseed oil can also be used as a foundation body, because this
also dries to a solid mass which has properties similar to the above mixtures.
The proportions of the substances forming the foundation body are regulated
according to the objects to which the transfer pictures are to be applied, or

page_text: according to the varying degree of adhesiveness which the mass is required to
possess for such objects.
According to experiments made, bodies of the following composition are par-
ticularly advantageous for the object in view.
After the printing of the designs with the diluted foundation body on the soluble
coating of the paper backing, a thin coating of the foundation body diluted with
varnish is applied over the impression.
The object of this coating is to obviate all the first above named disadvantages,
namely:
1. To enable the designs to be applied dry to the objects to be decorated without
the use of other cementitious substances, and also to ensure their adhesion to porous
substances.
2. To afford greater cohesion to the designs.
3. To insure that the transfer design shall retain these properties for a very
long time in consequence of the composition of the said covering layer.
This covering layer has mainly the same composition as the body used for the
impression and becomes solid on the drying of the varnish, but on slightly heating,
or even merely by rolling or pressing the transfer design upon the surface to be
ornamented, it will become adhesive again, so that the transfer design will adhere
very readily and firmly on the object without any further use of cementitious
matter, in particular if the object is slightly warmed. The transfer designs
provided with such a covering layer retain these properties for a very long time,
and can therefore be stored for several years in large quantities.
The covering layer of such transfer designs may also consist simply of varnish,
but this does not adhere as well and becomes unserviceable in a much shorter
time.
The transference of the transfer designs to the objects to be decorated may be
advantageously effected as follows:
The transfer design is first slightly moistened on the back surface of the paper
backing, so as to cause it to expand to the full extent. It is then applied with the
paper backing uppermost and the design downwards to the object to be decorated,
which is advantageously previously heated to under 40° C. It is then applied
firmly by rolling or pressing and after leaving it for a short time for the design to
adhere, the paper backing is wetted to such an extent that it can be removed from
the design.
The protective or covering layer can also be applied first to the soluble coating
of the backing, and the impression of the design be effected upon this layer.
In either case, the varnish used for the first layer whether this be the impressed
design or the protective coating should either be pure or only contain a slight
admixture of the foundation body, while the second layer should consist of the
peculiar ground composition diluted with varnish.
It is to be understood that for the above named substances composing the ground-
body there may be substituted other bodies having the same properties without
departing from the nature of the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained toe nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that
what we claim is :-
1. A manufacture of transfer designs or pictures wherein the impression of the

page_text: design or picture is effected by means of a body produced by melting together
substances that are solid at ordinary temperatures but which become soft and
adhesive on slightly warming, such as wood-pitch or resin and oil, or wax or
ceresin with turpentine oil, with or without the addition of a fat, such body being
diluted with varnish and mixed with the necessary colouring matters, substantially
as described.
2. In the manufacture of transfer designs referred to in the first claim, the use
of the body employed for the impression, when suitably diluted with varnish, as a
covering layer for the design, substantially as described.
3. The employment of the material used for covering layer referred to in the
second claim as a preliminary covering layer on the soluble coating of the backing,
the impression of the design being then effected upon such preliminary layer,
substantially as described.
4. The use of pure varnish in place of the compound body referred to in the
first, second and third claims for the impression medium and the covering layer,
when applied as the first layer, substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day of June 1894.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.