IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIGMENTS OR PAINTS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exors,
admors, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIGMENTS
OR PAINTS," being a communication from abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the

page_text: 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
Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof
(that is to say):-
--
It has been discovered that natural rocks, such as serpentine, containing
magnesia and oxide of iron united to silicic acid, or composed in part of the
hydrated silicates of magnesia and iron, may be partially decomposed by acids,
so that the silica which they contain may be brought into a state in which it can
combine with and give permanency and beauty to pigments formed by uniting
some coloring matter to that part of the mineral which remains undecom-
posed. This undecomposed part of the rock is termed by the Inventor the
basis, as it has, when dried, the mechanical and chemical qualities which are
desired in pigments, and serves to give "body" or opacity to colors precipitated
upon it.
The nature of the Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into
operation, is thus described by the Inventor.
It consists,―
First, in treating natural mineral substances, such as serpentine and the
allied rocks containing magnesia and the silicates of magnesia and iron,
with any suitable acid to form a basis for colors to produce pigments or
paints. And,
Secondly, in treating rocks of the class above specified with any suitable
acid in combination with certain coloring agents, whether the acid be applied
to the rock before or simultaneously with or after the application of the
coloring agent or agents.
The mode of procedure which I have practised with success for the produc-
tion of various colored pigments by precipitation is as follows:-
For the production of Blue-The rock having been ground or otherwise
reduced to a fine powder, the finer the better, I take one hundred parts by
weight of the pulverized rock, and put it into a suitable vat or vessel, and add
ten pounds of prussiate of potash, dissolved in forty pounds of hot water, and
thoroughly mix the whole by stirring; and then I add to this twenty-five
pounds of sulphuric acid diluted with twenty-five pounds of water, and
thoroughly mix by stirring as before, and the whole soon becomes a fine blue
pulpy mass. I then add fifty pounds or more of water to dissolve the soluble
salts, after which the whole is permitted to rest for about thirty-six hours, or

page_text: until the mass has settled. The liquid left on the top is then drawn off, leaving
a fine blue pulpy mass, which is to be spread out and dried by the sun or
otherwise, at the discretion of the operator. A fine blue piginent is thus
produced, which can be ground with oil, or otherwise mixed for use.
water which is drawn off contains sulphate of magnesia, and may be concen-
trated by heat, and crystallized to produce Epsom salts for the market.
The
For the production of compound colors, such as Chrome Green.--I take the
blue prepared as above described, after the soluble matter has been washed
out, and add fifteen pounds of the acetate of lead, or an equivalent quantity of
some other salt of lead, dissolved in twenty pounds of pure water; after mixing
the whole together, I add fifteen pounds of bichromate of potash dissolved in
twenty pounds of water. I thoroughly mix the whole, and after the desired
shade of green is produced, the coloring matter is to be washed and dried, as
directed in the making of blue.
To produce a Yellow.-I take one hundred pounds of ground rock, and add
fifty pounds of the acetate, or an equivalent quantity of some other salt of lead,
and ten pounds of muriatic or hydrochloric acid, with forty pounds of water.
This is to be thoroughly mixed. I then add fifty pounds of bichromate of
potash dissolved in fifty pounds of water, and after thoroughly mixing, wash
and dry the color. cipitate as directed in making blue.
For the production of Black.-I take, as before, one hundred parts of the
pulverized rock, and add fifty pounds of sulphuric or other acid diluted in fifty
pounds of water. After thoroughly mixing, I add ten pounds of logwood and ten
pounds of nutgalls (or an equivalent weight of some other substance containing
tannin). This must have been previously boiled in forty pounds of water and
strained. After thoroughly mixing the whole, the product must be carefully
washed and dried, as directed in reference to the blue.
Having described the Invention as communicated to me by my Foreign
Correspondent, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not limit myself
to the production of any particular color or shade of color, nor to the proportions
of the ingredients to be used, nor to the order in which they are to be used, as
all these may be changed or varied within the range of the present Invention
or Discovery, but what I desire to secure under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, is,―
First, the method of preparing the basis above mentioned, by treating the
natural silicates of inagnesia and iron, or substances wholly or in part composed
of those compounds, with an acid, so as to produce their partial decomposition
for the purpose above set forth. And,
Secondly, the production of a class of pigments or paints by uniting various

page_text: coloring principles with a basis formed by the decomposition of the mineral,
serpentine, and other allied rocks, which contain magnesia and oxide of iron
combined with silicic acid, or of mineral substances consisting in part of the
silicates of magnesia and iron, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two