IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LAWRENCE LEE, of Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Lithographer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day
of December, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Lawrence Lec, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
George Lawrence Lee, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, or such others as I;.
the said George Lawrence Lee, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any.
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during 'the.
term of years therein expressed; should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS ;" in-
which said Letters Patent is contained: a proviso, I, the said George Lawrence
Lee, should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High

page_text: the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Lawrence Lee, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say:-
My Invention consists,-
First, of certain means of obtaining ornamental designs by the use of
gelatine, printed of painted with opaque colors, in combination with glass.
Secondly, my Invention consists of a mode of manufacturing ornamental
designs in the form of letters and figures for shop fronts and other
places; and,
Thirdly, my Invention consists of producing ornamental designs of marbled
surfaces on plaster and other materials.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will. proceed to describe the means pursued by me; but
I would first state that stained and transparent gelatine has been used in com-
bination with glass, in order to obtain ornamental transparencies, which con-
sisted of cutting out transparent gelatine of different colors into portions of
the design, and fixing such several pieces between two plates of glass.
And I mention this circumstance in order that the peculiarity of my Inven-
tion may more readily be understood, which consists of printing or painting
on gelatine with opaque colors, either on one or both sides, and preserving
the ornamental surface thus obtained by glass. I generally prefer to obtain
the desired results by the combined arts of printing and painting, although for
particular cases only one of these arts may be resorted to.
In carrying out my Invention, I take sheets of thin transparent gelatine,
and when they are not to have quicksilver applied. I prefer to immerse the
sheets into a solution of naptha, or of spirits of wine, or of turpentine, with a
small quantity of spirit varnish, such as mastic or copal, by which the moisture
of the atmosphere will be prevented from injuring the gelatine, and keep it from
bulging up; I have about a teaspoonful of the varnish to a quart of turpentine,
spirits of wine, to be about the proper proportions. In mixing opaque colors
for the purposes of my Invention, when flock is to be used, I prefer to employ
five parts of lithographers' varnish (strong), two parts of mastic varnish, two
parts of printers' dryers, with any pigment of the color of the flock to be used.
When printing for the purpose of applying gold or other leaf metal, I employ

page_text: mastic, copal, or other oil varnish, tempered with a small quantity of boiled
linseed oil, and when the impression or painted design produced on the
gelatine has become tacky, I apply the leaf gold or other metal, or bronze, and
when dry I pass the sheet of gelatine through between a pair of smooth
rollers, by which the metal will be planished. When the printing or painting
is to be in colors, I employ ordinary oil colors and inks, with somewhat more
free dryers. And I cause the gelatine to be printed with blocks or type, or
other surfaces, or I cause the whole or parts of the design to be painted by
hand, and according to the effect to be produced, I apply the colors to one
side or both of the gelatine, and generally having produced the desired design,
I prefer to paint over the whole back surface with an opaque color, which
becomes the ground of the design; and having tbus completed the design and
the ground, I place in front thereof a plate of glass, and any suitable material
at the back, and apply any suitable frame around the ornamental surface thus
produced, having first closed the edges by cementing on paper or other
material. When any part of the surface of the back of the gelatine is to
be quicked," I apply the quicksilver in the same manner as when silvering
glass, and I can add to the effects produced by the opaque colors, by placing
at the back portions of mother-of-pearl in such manner that the same may be
seen through the transparent portions of the gelatine.
The second part of my Invention consists of making letters and figures for
shop fronts and other surfaces by printing on paper, and causing such letters
to be rendered waterproof, so that they may not be injured by the rain and
moisture to which such letters may be liable in the outer atmosphere. For
this purpose I first size the paper, then print the same with one or more oil
colors, then again size the same, and then well varnish. By this means
elaborately ornamented cheap and waterproof letters will be manufactured,
which being cut or stamped out, may be applied by suitable cement to shop
fronts or other surfaces; for this purpose I employ marine glue.
In carrying out the third part of my Invention, I cause a trough or other
vessel to be partly filled with water. I take various colors according to the
marbling I wish to imitate, and place portions of each thereof in succession
on to the surface of the water, moving the same till it takes the form desired;
then I apply another and another color in like manner, which spreading and
being spread or moved by a spatula or other instrument, I obtain the effect
desired. I then dip thereon the surface of plaster or other absorbent matter,
which I immediately remove, and with water I wash off all the color which
will come away by the simple act of throwing water over the surface so
treated. Sometimes I repeat this process of taking up color and of washing it

page_text: off.
By this process very..excellent, marbled and such. like surfaces may
be obtained.
Having thus described the nature of 'my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details as herein described, so. long as the peculiar character of
any part of my Invention. be retained: But what I claim is,
First, the mode herein described of obtaining ornamental designs on surfaces
by employing gelatine and glass, with opaque colors applied by printing and
painting. I also claim the application of the process of quicking to gelatine
for the purpose of obtaining ornamental designs; and I also claim the applica-
tion of flock to gelatine to obtain ornamental designs.
Secondly, I claim the mode of manufacturing ornamental designs in the
form of letters and figures for shop fronts and other surfaces; and,
Thirdly, I claim the mode of obtaining ornamental designs on plaster and
other surfaces in imitation of marbles, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lawrence Lee, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.