IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF TINTING OR COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS, WATER COLOR AND OTHER DRAWINGS, OR PORCELAIN
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Piercy, of Somerset Chambers, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF TINTING OR COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS, WATER COLOR
AND OTHER DRAWINGS, OR PORCELAIN."
Sealed the 24th April 1868, and dated the 30th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Piercy at:
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th October 1867.
I, FREDERICK PIERCY, of Somerset Chambers, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF TINTING OR COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS,
WATER COLOR AND OTHER DRAWINGS, OR PORCELAIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a process whereby new effects in portrait landscape
and other subjects are obtained, which may be used in connection with and
as an aid to photography, lithography, plate printing and wood blocks, and
in certain cases alone or to give permanence and a new effect to chalk,.
pencil or pen and ink drawings and other works of art and also to porcelain..
The process by which these effects are obtained is as follows:-An outline.

page_text: of the photograph, drawing, or print to be treated is traced on the back thereof
or on a sheet of paper. The picture and paper are then placed together on a
lithographic stone, wood, block, copper, or other plate having on its surface
or in the "mezzotint," "aquatint," machine tint, or other ground the color
the whole or a portion of which it is desired to transfer to the picture; said
picture is placed with its face downwards having the sheet of paper intervening
between it and the stone or plate. Then by rubbing, pressing and burnishing
those parts in the tracing corresponding to the parts required to be left light
in the picture, the color on the stone, block, or plate will be transferred to
the sheet of paper intervening between the picture and the stone or plate
wherever the pressure or burnishing is applied. If the traced outline has
been made on the sheet of intervening paper the picture must be removed
but held so that it can be returned to the exact position it first occupied, the
rubbing and burnishing process being applied to the tracing as before but to
the sheet of paper instead of to the back of the picture. For example if the
general color of a face or sky is required lighter than the rest of the picture
the surface occupied by the tracing of the face or sky is rubbed or stumped
so that a portion of the color on the stone or plate corresponding to the
tracing may be transferred to the sheet of paper. The high and secondary
lights are obtained by burnishing those parts of the tracing which represent
the proper position of the required lights, removing the color from the stone
in those parts. By a careful use of the burnisher or pencil used, lights may
be obtained of varied character either graduated or sudden and sharp. Sheets
of paper, cloth or other fabric to which the color is transferred may be used
of different textures for different parts of the same picture according to the
effects required. Having thus removed as much of the color from the stone
as desired the sheet of paper is taken away, leaving the stone exposed, when
the color may be still further removed by means of bread or otherwise; the
picture is then laid face downward in its proper position on the stone and
passed through the press. When the picture is removed from the press and
while the ink is still wet and managable the effect may, be heightened by
means of bread, and softened india-rubber. This process may be repeated as
often as required, various colors and shades of color being added at will. As
for instance the color of the hair or face may be printed, on the picture, for
if the stone or. plate be charged, with a flesh tint, and the color transferred to
the intervening paper or cloth in those parts where it is not required, the
picture will consequently be left uncolored in those parts. In coloring photo-
graphs I may also use a tint engraved on a plate or block, the parts to be
colored being indicated by tracing on the plate, when the appropriate color is
"
Par

page_text: filled into those parts of the engraved tint which may then be printed on the
photograph. With an engraved surface the effect on photographs may be
further modified by "wiping close" those parts required light in the photo-
graph. In order to color numerous copies of the same picture without the
repeated use of the sheet of transferring paper, the color may be permanently
removed by scraping out or biting away, by means of acid, the light parts on
the stone and burnishing and scraping when a plate is employed. Glycerine
or saccharine matter may be used in the printing ink to retard its drying,
thereby affording a longer time for "touching" the print.
My Invention further consists in the use of a glass plate, the surface of
which is finely ground to receive a tint similar to that obtained in lithographic
printing or the glass plate may be machine ruled to receive a tint, when by
placing the picture behind the glass the effects before described may be
obtained with increased facility and printed on the picture from the glass
plate.
My Invention also consists in transmitting rays through a lens from the
object to be colored on to a lithographic or engraved tint or on to the paper
covering that tinting, by which I am enabled to place in proper position on
the stone or plate the colors which are to be printed on the picture or to
remove color in those parts required light when printed. In the case of
photographs the rays would be transmitted through the lens from the
negative. By the' application of oil or varnish color to photographic and
other pictures their permanence is increased, the coating of oil color forming
a protection against atmospheric and other injurious influences. When
applied to photographs the soda used in printing them is neutralized and
fixed by the coating of oil color; a ground may also be obtained with oil
color upon which to work with pencil, chalk, and crayons, or to paint with
oil or water colors, and this ground I print on the paper either before or
after printing the photograph. If the ground is printed before the photo-
graph the tint used must be one which will not be injuriously affected by the
chemicals employed in photographic printing, as for instance, the combination
of black, indian red, and ultramarine will produce such a tint. Pencil and
other sketches may also be set by my process and have lights and skies
readily introduced. Pictures on porcelain may either be wholly or partly
printed by my process and then burnt in as usual.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Piercy in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
PIERCY, of Somerset Chambers, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Piercy, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick Piercy,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederick Piercy, 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 METHOD OF TINTING OR COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS, WATER COLOR
AND OTHER DRAWINGS, OR PORCELAIN," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Frederick Piercy, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Frederick Piercy, 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) :-
:-
My Invention relates to a process whereby new effects in portrait, landscape,
and other subjects are attained which may be used in connection with and as
an aid to photography, lithography, plate and wood block printing, and in
some cases alone, or to give permanence to photographs.
The process by which these effects are obtained is as follows:-An outline of
the photograph, drawing, or print to be treated is traced on the back thereof
or on a sheet of paper. The picture and paper are placed together on a
lithographic stone, wood block, copper, or other plate having on its surface
or in the mezzotint, aquatint, machine tint, or other ground the color

page_text: the whole or a portion of which it is desired to transfer to the picture; said
picture is placed with its face downwards having the sheet of paper intervening
between it and the stone or plate, then by rubbing, pressure, and burnishing
those parts in the tracing corresponding to the parts required to be left light
in the picture, the color on the stone, block, or plate will be transferred to the
sheet of paper intervening between the picture and the stone or plate where-
ever the pressure or burnishing is applied. If the traced outline has been
made on the sheet of intervening paper the picture must be removed and
registering points used or held so that it can be returned to the exact position
it first occupied, the rubbing and burnishing process being applied to the
tracing as before, but to the sheet of paper instead of to the back of the picture;
for example, if the general color of a face or sky is required lighter than the
rest of the picture the surface occupied by the tracing of the face or sky is
rubbed or stumped so that a portion of the color on the stone or plate corres-
ponding to the tracing may be transferred to the sheet of paper. The high
and secondary lights are obtained by burnishing those parts of the tracing
which represent the proper position of the required lights, removing the color
from the stone, plate, or block in those parts. By a careful use of the
burnisher or pencil used lights may be obtained of varied character, either
graduated or sudden and sharp. Sheets of paper, cloth, or other fabric. to
which the color is transferred may be used of different textures for different
parts of the same picture according to the effects required. In certain cases
I prefer to protect the photograph or other subject by means of gum or
chalk to serve as the intervening material on those parts which I wish to
be light, the protecting substance or substances being removed by washing or
friction after the operation of printing. When as much of the color is
removed from the stone as desired the sheet of paper is taken away leaving
the stone exposed when the color may be still further removed by means of
bread or otherwise. The picture is then laid face downwards in its proper
position on the stone and passed through the press; when the picture is
removed from the press and while the ink is still wet and manageable. the
effect is heightened and refined by means of bread, or an effect may be wholly
obtained by the application of bread to wet or partially dry printing ink.
When the photograph is printed on albumenized paper it will be found
useful to use a knife or mezzotint scraper to obtain sharp and other lights and
this without disturbing the surface of the paper or albumen. This process may
be repeated as often as required, various colors and shades of color being
added at will, as, for instance, the color of the hair or face may be printed on
the picture, for if the stone or plate be charged with a flesh tint and the color

page_text: transferred to the intervening paper or cloth in those parts where it is not.
required: the picture will consequently when printed be left uncolored in those
parts. In coloring photographs I may also use a tint engraved on a plate
or block, the parts to be colored being indicated by tracing on the plate
when the appropriate color is filled into those parts of the engraved tint which
may then. be printed on the photograph, with an engraved surface; the effect
on photographs may be further modified by "wiping close" those parts
required light in the photograph. In order to color numerous copies of the
same picture without the repeated use of the sheet of transferring paper, the
color may be permanently removed by scraping out or biting away by means
of acid the light parts on the stone or by burnishing and scraping when a plate
is employed; which effects are then to be completed by the application of
bread to the wet or partially wet ink.
My Invention further consists in the use of a glass plate the surface of
which is finely ground to receive a tint similar to that obtained in lithographic
printing, or the glass plate may be machine ruled to receive a tint, when by
placing the picture behind the glass the effects before described may be
obtained with increased facility and printed on the picture from the glass
plate..
My Invention also consists in transmitting rays through a lens from the object
to be colored on to a lithographic or engraved tint or on to the paper covering
that tint by which I am enabled to place in proper position on the stone or
plate the colors which are to be printed on the picture or to remove color in
those parts required light when printed. In the case of photographs the rays
would be transmitted through the lens from the negative. By the appli-
cation of oil color to photographic and other pictures their permanence is
increased, the coating of oil color forming a protection against atmospheric
and other injurious influences. When applied to photographs the soda used
A
in fixing the prints is neutralized and fixed by the coating of oil color.
ground may also be obtained with oil color upon which to work with pencil,
chalk, and crayons, or to paint with oil or water colors, and this ground I
print on the paper either before or after printing the photograph. If the
ground is printed before the photograph the high lights and graduations must
be obtained as before described and the tint used must be one which will not
be injuriously affected by the chemicals employed in photographic printing,
as for instance, the combination of black, indian red, and ultramarine will
produce such a tint; where a carbon printed photograph is to be transferred to
a ground work, and effect produced by my process, this of course is not
essential. Pencil and other sketches may also be set by my process and have

page_text: lights and skies readily introduced. Pictures on porcelain may either be
It will
wholly or partly printed by my process and then burnt in as usual.
also be found useful to charge albumenized or other paper with printing ink,
and to obtain effects by the means already described, and then by the use of a
press or by burnishing to transfer the color to the photograph or other work
of art by which means various colors may be applied and a very delicate effect
produced. In photography a print the reverse of the one to be treated may
be used when all the parts may be tinted in this way at leisure and with the
greatest precision, while the application of bread to the wet ink will be found
to give effects of the greatest value.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. Tinting or coloring photographs, engravings, water color and other
drawings or porcelain by the several means and processes herein described.
Secondly. I claim the use in the above processes of an intervening material
or materials upon which is to be transferred, by means of pressure, rubbing, and
burnishing portions of color not required in the finished work of art, as and for
the purposes herein-before described.
Thirdly. I also claim obtaining an entirely novel effect in the process of
tinting or coloring of my Invention by the employment of bread in the manner
and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Piercy have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
FREDERICK PIERCY. (L.S.)