IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING METALLIC AND NON-METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE PRINCIPALLY OF METALLIC RODS OR TUBES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bickerton Bunney
and Thomas Wright at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th December 1861.
We, JOHN BICKERTON BUNNEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Electroplater, and THOMAS WRIGHT, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Electroplater,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORNAMENTING METALLIC AND NON-METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE
PRINCIPALLY OF METALLIC RODS OR TUBES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in ornamenting metallic and non-metallic bedsteads
and other articles made principally of metallic rods or tubes, by casting on, or
by casting and afterwards fixing on the parts to be ornamented, ornaments of
zinc or other hard and cheap metal or metallic alloy, and afterwards coating
the said ornaments with brass or silver, or other metal or alloy, or we paint,.
gild, or japan the said ornaments. We effect the said metallic coating by
electro-deposition.
In ornamenting the pillars of metallic bedsteads we make a mould having
internally the figure of the ornament to be produced, the said mould being in
two or more parts, which may be temporarily fixed together upon or around
the pillar. We place the pillar in the said mould, and pour the melted metal
or alloy into the said mould and thereby cast the ornament upon the pillar.
We do not confine ourselves to any particular kind of mould, as moulds of metal
or plaster of Paris, or of sand, may be employed. Where the ornaments are to

page_text: be cast on pillars of wood or other non-metallic substance, we first coat the
pillar with plaster of Paris or other solid which conducts heat badly, in order
to prevent injury to the wood or other substance by the melted metal. Where
the ornament to be produced is in high relief, we cover the pillars with plaster
of Paris, or other earthy matter or compounds, the said plaster or other earthy
matter having the general figure of the ornament. We afterwards cast the
ornament in metal on the covered pillar, the metal ornament being in this case
hollow, the space between it and the tube or pillar being filled by the plaster
or earthy compound. Great economy in the metal employed is thus effected.
This method of carrying our Invention into effect resembles the method of
casting called coring or core casting. Or we cast the ornaments apart from
the pillars, and in two or more pieces, and we join the said pieces by soldering
or otherwise, and place them upon the pillar; we afterwards fill up the hollow
between the ornament and the pillar by means of plaster of Paris or other
earthy matter. This last-described method is particularly applicable to pillars
of wood.
In ornamenting the head and foot rails of metallic bedsteads we bend the
rods into the required shape and lay them in chill boxes or moulds, and cast
the ornaments in the said moulds. We cast the said ornaments by preference
of zinc, or of an alloy of tin and lead and zinc, but any hard, easily fused, and
cheap metal or alloy may be used. We coat the ornaments with brass or
silver, or such other metal or alloy as may be reduced by the processes of
electro-deposition; or the said ornaments may be finished by painting, or
gilding, or japanning.