CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACQUER
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Spence, Lacquer Manufacturer, of Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, and Joseph George Spence, also of
Birmingham aforesaid, Son of the said Henry Spence, and Superin-
tendent of the Lacquer Manufactory, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACQUER."
Sealed the 6th July 1860, and dated the 11th April 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Spence and Joseph
George Spence at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 11th April 1860.
We, HENRY SPENCE, Lacquer Manufacturer, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, and JOSEPH GEORGE SPENCE, also of Birmingham aforesaid, Son
of the said Henry Spence, and Superintendent of the Lacquer Manufactory,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACQUER," to be as follows (that is to say):-
In carrying out our improvements in the manufacture of lacquer, we take
the various gums and ordinary spirits of wine, commonly used in its manu-
facture, and place them in any convenient situation, heated to the temperature
of about eighty degrees Fahrenheit; this may be done in an ordinary chamber
heated with external flues, or in a hot air oven or stove; and when tem-
perature of the spirit and gums is so increased, we mix them together in the

page_text: usual proportions; and when the gum or guns are thoroughly dissolved, the
temperature is reduced by removing the lacquer from all sources of artificial
beat to be strained off, when it will be fit for use in a cold state.
We do not wish to confine ourselves to the exact degree of heat, as we
believe in making lacquer under the temperature of summer heat we may
require to increase its temperature during the process of making propor-
tionably above the degree of heat before named. In using the ordinary cold
made lacquer, it has been found indispensable to use what are called lacquer-
ing stoves, which increases the mean temperature of the lacquering room to
about eighty degrees, and the work intended to be lacquered heated to a much
higher degree by being laid on the metal plate forming the top of the lacquer-
ing stove, and this extra heat has been found essential for facilitating the
evaporation of the spirit, in order to leave the gums bright and hard on the
surface of the metal work on which the lacquer has been laid; but by making
the lacquer in a heated state, as as before described (as our improved mode of
manufacture), any subsequent heating will be entirely unnecessary either to
the room or atmosphere in which it is used, or to the work on which it is
required to be applied, as we have found from experience that by our process
of manufacture the spirit vaporizes and flies off from the gums, leaving them
perfectly hard and dry on the surface of the work on which they have been
placed in as short a time as would be required, if the lacquer had been used in
the ordinary way with heating and stoving.
The advantages thus gained are very great, as the persons employed in
using the common lacquer have to work in an unhealthy atmosphere, and the
work to be lacquered, instead of being lacquered when all put together, has
to be taken to pieces for heating on the lacquering stove in parts, in addition
to which the dust or dirt arising from the stove is highly objectionable, as also
the cost of firing, with increased charge for insurance, from the liability of the
stoves to set premises on fire, which is greatly increased from the proximity of
the fire with the lacquer, the combustible nature of which is very great; the
room and expense of the lacquering stove, and the extra skilled labour
required in using lacquer in such a way, makes the advantages gained from the
use of our improved lacquer of the highest importance to the manufacturer, as
it may be used in a cold state in any dry situation and under any temperature,
and by an unskilled individual.