CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS, AND IN THE APPARATUS AND MACHINERY USED THEREIN
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JEAN JACQUES Viscount DE SERIONNE, of Paris, France, Gentleman, 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 Ninth day of
February, in the thirteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Louis Jean Jacques de
Serionne, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power;
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Louis Jean Jacques de Serionne,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Jean
Jacques de Serionne, my exors, adñors, and 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,
the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention, consisting
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS, AND IN THE
APPARATUS AND MACHINERY USED THEREIN ;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that I, the said Louis Jean Jacques Viscount de
Serionne, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner manner the same is to be performed, by: an

page_text: instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after 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
Louis Jean Jacques Viscount de Serionne, do hereby declare that the nature
of my Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in several improvements in the fabrication of buttons
and knobs with holes or with shanks, and all other articles of ceromic
materials, white or coloured, which improvements relate to the working, to
the preparation of the materials, to the baking, colouring, discolouring,
decorating, and employment of new materials, and the possibility to bring into
use a great number of others, until now considered unfit for that purpose.
Article 1st. Denomination of the materials used.-The different materials
mentioned hereafter used by me, either alone or combined together, according
to the several products I intend obtaining, and according to the rules herein-1
after mentioned at Article 2d. Names of materials used:-Common feldspart,
'crystallised fieldspart, pumicestone, lava, granite, basalt, sand and freestone,
silex.
Article 2d. Preparation of materials.-The means employed, and those
described until now in several patents now extinct, for the composition and
preparation of the paste called "porcelain," used in the fabrication of buttons,
.have been acknowledged as impracticable, and, above all, to produce the several
articles I bring in the market. After numerous trials I found out the following
composition to obtain the different qualities and varieties of buttons which I
make. The description which I am going to give will besides contain the several
preparations and operations which the new materials undergo either before or
after being mixed. I bring into the market two principal articles, designated
under the name of agathe buttons, and buttons called straz buttons or knobs;
these two products, as their names indicate, differ between themselves by the
degree of transparency they possess, although both are perfectly white. To
obtain the buttons and knobs, straz, I use pebbles of crystallised feltspar, as much
as possible free from clay, and containing as little lime or lime salt as possible.
After roasting them I calcinate them to the degree known by the name of
ronge cerise;" that is the degree of heat sufficient for facilitating their pul-

page_text: verisation after having been immediately thrown into cold water; when by that
pulverisation these materials are rendered impalpable, I allow them to settle;
when perfectly dry they are fit for use. These operations apply to all the
above-named materials. For agathe I use common feltspar, that which by the
effect of natural causes seems to have already gone through a state of decom-
position without having reached the state of kaslin. It is, however, perfectly
possible to obtain the two products above mentioned with one of these two
substances by a process which I will mention hereafter. If it were impossible
to procure the two substances the following process will suffice:-Straz: 1st,
take one hundredweight of pulverised matter, wash it, and sieve it with a sieve
made of metallic cloth of a very fine texture, which will cleanse it from all
impurity, let the liquid settle until it assumes the opale state, then decant until
it assumes the pasty state; this decanting of the liquid to the opale state has
the effect of depriving the substance of a quantity of clay which is always mixed
with the feltspar, and always left in solution in the water. 2d, after this first
process pour on the substance a dose of hydrocholoric acid, which may vary,
according to the chemical state of the material, from three to ten per cent.;
the acid acts a double part, its chemical action acting at once on the oxide of
iron contained in the substance, which in baking would communicate to it a
reddish tint, and on the lime or other calcareous salts, which would destroy its
transparency. It is necessary to leave the substance in contact with the acid
about twenty-four hours, taking care that it remains in suspension in the
acidulated liquid which is obtained by means of continual motion; after that
time it is to be washed with plenty of water to carry away the acid and the
matters combined with it; to effect this the tubs must only contain one-fourth
of acidulated matter and three-fourths of water. After putting the whole in
motion let it settle until the water is perfectly clear, and decant and begin the
same operation until it is free from acid and resists the test of papier de
tournesol, then dry the substance, and it is ready for the following operations,
which are to be performed at the time of using it:-Taking as basis of an
operation one hundredweight, let two pounds of chlorure of sodium and four
pounds of flour paste be dissolved in five quarts of water, pass them all in a
sieve, then after bruising the dry substance with a wooden roller mix well that
dissolution; if the quantity of matter was too great to allow the substance
to pass through a sieve, which must granulate it about the same way as
gunpowder, let it evaporate for some time on a stone; the paste in that
state must be damp enough to be plastic to the pressure of the hand without
sticking to it. Practice alone will shew the state of materials better than it
is possible to, describe it with reference to its dryness or dampness, for if too

page_text: dlamp the buttons or knobs stick to the tools; if too dry the substance is
moulded with difficulty and the loss considerable.
We now come to the part acted in that operation by the two substances chlo-
rure and paste. Notwithstanding the washing and acidulation there remains still
in the substance a quantity of oxide of iron, which colours it, the oxide of iron,
at a high degree of heat, and in presence of silex yields its oxygen to the sodium
to scize on the chlore which the chlorure contains, and forms a chlorure of iron,
which becomes volatilysed, whilst the soda (kaly) then produced gives a silicate
which serves as a flux. If, on the contrary, we had too fusible a matter we
would substitute for the sodium the chlorure of barium or that of stronium,
and the substance would become more or less fusible according to the intro-
duction of these agents. The chlorures act also another part, that of keeping
the matter prepared beforehand in a fit state of dampness, which they effect
by their hygrometric power. As to the flower paste it serves to bind the
matter, a quality which it does not possess by itself for want of the agglo-
merating power of the chalk which it does not possess. Agathe taking
always the same quantity of one hundredweight, let the substance be well
washed and sieved as above, then let it settle until the water is very clear,
decant and dry it up, pulverise coarsely; then dissolve in ten quarts of water
a quantity of sodium, which may vary from three to six per cent., and the same
quantity of flour paste as mentioned in the other operation, and finish as before.
say that the preparation of chlorure may vary from three to six per cent; the
reason of this variation is the difference that sometimes exists in the chemical
proportions of the substances used. It is that which renders necessary the
analysis of the substances to be used, the quantity of chlorure to be employed
being proportioned to that of the oxide of iron contained in the substance. If
after that analysis the quantity of lime was not large enough to obtain the
whiteness and opacity necessary for the article, a quantity which I find from
the experiments to be six or seven per cent. We must introduce at the
same time with the preceding solution the necessary quantity of lime to arrive at
that proportion; for that purpose I use phosphates, subphosphates, and sulphates,
or all other salts of lime not susceptible of being reduced by fire; these salts
are to be used as impalpable powder. I mentioned above that I could produce
the two qualities of buttons and knobs, &c. by using only one of the two
substances. This is the way I obtain that result:-For the straz it is sufficient
to add at the moment of mixing with the solution of chlorure a certain quantity
of alkali, which by encreasing the fusibility gives the opacity of agathe;
practice and circumstances alone determine the quantities. To transfer the
agathe matter into straz it is sufficient to submit it after the above-mentioned
I

page_text: preparations to a frittage, or beginning of fusion, and to pulverise it afterwards.
Pumicestones, lavas, granites, basalts, and silex afford the means of obtaining
colours at a lower price than those obtained by the mixture of metallic oxides.
with white substances. These several substances require the use of acids only
when we wish to obtain light tints, but it is necessary to analyse with care every
particle of matter used, for they vary much in their elements; it is then sufficient
to analyse them, to obtain regularly, either by mixing agathe or straz substances,
or alone and mixed with metallic oxides, according to the method used for
porcelaine products of a great beauty. For some time past I have endeavoured
to substitute to the feltspar the quartzeous sands, which are to be found every-
where; I have succeeded entirely, and I will shew the preparation for the
fabrication of my products. This operation differs very little from that of the
agathe and straz substances. It is necessary to introduce the chlorure of
sodium before the calcination, then raise the degree of heat until the vapour
of chlore has ceased. It is besides necessary to acidulate the water in which
we throw the heated mass by a slight addition of hydrochloric acid. We
then wash the whole to carry off the acid and the excess of chlorure, then the
pulverised substances are fit for use after undergoing the same process as for
agathe and straz. Practice and analysis point out the quantities of lime and
alkali necessary to obtain good and lasting results. Numerous experiments.
made prove that the quantity of chlorure necessary to introduce for the vola-
tilization of oxide of iron contained in the most ferrugineous sands does not
exceed seven per cent. of the matter to be prepared, that the quantity of line-
cloes not exceed eight, and that of alkali from five to ten. The habit which
I necessarily acquired of submitting to analysis all the new substances which
I make use of, make it impossible for me to commit errors which would'.
otherwise be of frequent occurrence by following a fixed and absolute rule.
By my process I can manufacture all kinds of objects in what is called, china
stone, and which equal china and porcelaine in whiteness and polish.
I claim to use my process for the following purposes:-Fabrication multiplied,
although simultaneous by means of mechanical pressure) of buttons with holes.
or shanks; the various mechanical presses known to this day and in use for the
fabrication of buttons and other objects by means of pressure and by ceramic.
paste, either dry and in powder or in a pasty state, presented so many difficulties.
that I was obliged to construct one possessing their advantages without their
defects. After many trials I have succeeded. in obtaining the following.
results: 1st, multiplicity of the moulds; 2d, perpetual motion of the plates.
bearing the elements of pressure, either alone or united together; 3d, fixity.
of the plate bearing the piercing instruments, or those forming the cavitics;

page_text: 4th, the raising of the buttons pierced and struck, and their separation from
the pointed instruments, which made the holes, by means of an intermediate
plate, while they remain in the cavities of the said plate covered with the
superior matrices and separated from the inferior ones; 5th, simultaneous
extraction of the buttons from the cavities by the superior matrices; 6th, the
use of an additional plate, called loading plate, spreading uniformly in the
cavities the quantities of substance necessary to the fabrication of each button,
and which permits to give the intermediate plate all the thickness necessary
for its solidity without interfering with the thickness of the buttons; 7th,
adaptation to the machine, and in the interior between the intermediate plate
and the inferior matrix, of a plate of an iron frame supplied with a sheet of
paper, destined not only to receive and arrange in order the buttons so struck,
but to transport them in the same state on an infusible earthen plate red hot,
without the hand being employed in that process. The paper burning on the
red-hot plate leaves the buttons on the said plate. These different principles
combined have provided me with the means of establishing machines fit for
the fabrication of buttons either with holes or shanks, and which I describe
by the Drawings hereto annexed. It will be remarked that with very slight
changes and by preserving almost the whole of the pieces of the machine
I can produce both with the same instruments

page_text: Buttons with holes.-For the fabrication of buttons with holes the opera-
tion is the same, the with the exception of the alteration of the machine, as
herein-after mentioned. The pressure acting the superposition of the inferior
matrix, and of the intermediate plate on that of the piercing needles, has
caused the latter to run through the holes of the countersinks of the inferior
matrix, the concavities of the intermediate plate, and the holes made in the
superior matrices, when all these parts were filled with compressed måtter,
by throwing out the substance displaced by the lateral opening, No. 22, Fig. 2,
A, made in the superior matrices. In that state of the press and by this
operation the buttons are finished. They are now to be extracted from their
cavities in order to be baked. For that purpose, the workman, by the play
of a lever No. 13, Fig. 1st, brings forward a counter bolt, which meeting
the supports No. 18, Fig. 1st, fixed to the bolt No. 6, Fig. 1st, binds by that
motion the three plates together. This operation serves to avoid the splitting
of the buttons, and to help the springs y, Fig. 4, which are going whilst the
workman gives the screw an ascending motion to repeal the inferior matrix
to disengage the pins from the pieces that have been pressed on them. When
this is done, which is known by a certain degree of resistance, which is
caused by the guides No. 9, Fig. 1st, placed before and behind the machine,
he brings back by a pressure of the hand on the two levers before him the
bolts and counterbolts to a neutral state. The plates being then fixed act
according as they are wanted in the operation, that is to say, the inferior
matrix sloped by the guides or conductors No. 9, Fig. 1st, remains in the
place which it is to occupy; the intermediate plate loaded with its but-
tons is dragged by the punches in its cavities, and follows in its motion
the plate with the superior matrices, which is fixed completely to the cap
No. 5, Fig. 1st, of the press, which is holding by a screw ring No. 24,
Plate 2d, Fig. 1st, to the screw of the press; the intermediate being as it
were suspended, it is easy to extract from under the buttons placed in
the cavitics, using the superior matrices to drive them out; the workman.
slides then upon the inferior matrix, in the interval left by the raising of the
intermediate plate, the drawer No. 6, a & b, Fig. 6, furnished with its iron.
frame, bearing its paper in its interior; he gives then to the screw a rotatory.
motion, which forces the superior matrices to pass through the holes of the.
intermediate plate and drives out the buttons, which fall on the paper frame in..
the same order as they occupy on the intermediate frame. There-remains now.
only to take away the drawer and its frame, to take away the superior
matrices from the intermediate plate, which is done by stops No. 16, Fig. 1st,
and the grooves No. 6, F, F, Fig. 1st, made in the bolts; the intermediate plate

page_text: deprived of support falls on the inferior matrix, and drawing back the bolts
the machine is ready for a fresh operation. The advantages of this system are
evident and need only be mentioned to be appreciated. They consist, 1st, in
the complete absence of manual labour in depositing the buttons.
2d, in the possibility of accelerating the baking, as the earthen plates from
which the buttons after baking have been taken away receive immediately a
fresh charge without allowing them time to cool. The intermediate plate being
as it were suspended, is easy to extract it from underneath the buttons placed in
the cavities, using the superior matrices to drive them out; the workman then
slides on the inferior matrix in the interval left by the raising of the inter-
mediate plate, the drawer No. 6, a & b, Fig. 6, furnished with its iron frame
bearing its paper in its interior; he gives then the screw a rotatory motion,
which forces the superior matrices to pass through the holes of the inter-
mediate plate and drives out the buttons, which fall on the paper frame in the
same order that they occupied on the intermediate frame; there remains now
only to take away the drawer and its frame, to take away the superior
matrices from the intermediate plate, which is produced by stops No. 16,
Fig. 1st, and the grooves No. 6, F, F, Fig. 1st, made in the bolts; the inter-
mediate plate deprived of support falls on the inferior matrix, and drawing
back the bolts, the machine is ready for a fresh operation.
3d, in the economy of using these earthen plates, which, never cooling, do
-not experience that expansion or contraction which more or less cooling
would make them experience, which would often cause the breaking of these
.plates.
Baking of buttons.-Ovens, muffles, plates, furnaces: the several improve-
.ments above mentioned have enabled me to make others in the system of baking.
I have constructed an oven of a special form, from which I have derived the
greatest advantages for my fabrication. In building it I purposed borrowing
from the jewel enamellers their system of continuous baking, and by placing
the greatest number of muffles, to equalise round them the caloric of the oven,
which I have obtained by means of the following:-1, the lateral walls of the
,oven being more exposed than other parts to the cooling action of the external
air, I have directed the flame coming immediately from the stove in a kind of
passage formed by the internal lateral walls, and on the other side by the first
heap of muffles which are on that side; the result of combustion passes then in
a descending direction in the passage formed by the first and second beap of
muffles, so that the second side to the first heap is heated at the same
time as the first of the second heap; this combination is repeated on
each side of the oven. 3d, the caloric passing then under the second heap.

page_text: of muffles, by the openings which are left for that purpose, acquires a
new power by its contact with the floor of the oven, which it touches in
its way, and doubles its force by uniting the two flames, and heats simul-
taneously the two last sides of the two last heaps of muffles, afterwards
directs itself towards the flue, crossing the superior arch called enfer by four
openings left in that arch above the two interior heaps of muffles. We can
also, as I do it, place in the empty space of the roof or arch of the oven, called
globe, a number of muffles, which serve to fritt certain matters. These
several means are combined with the inferior disposition of the oven, which
consists in establishing a concentration of caloric under the floor of the oven, by
the assistance of the small central roof No. &, A, against which the flame of
the stove must come before escaping by the four lateral openings No. 8, B, B,
which brings it on the right and left side to spread in the first passage of the
muffles. The result of these dispositions is an exact spreading of the caloric in
all the parts of the oven, which renders the baking perfectly regular; but to
obtain this result perfectly it was found necessary to produce that equal action,
not only on the exterior of the muffles, but also in their interior. I have given
to the muffles an elliptical form internally and externally, which permits the
caloric to circulate and equalize, since it cannot be stopped by any angular
projection. In order to facilitate the piling of the muffles, and to give them
the necessary solidity, I garnish the exterior with square supports No. 6,
Fig. 1st & 2, and when the piling is operated it forms a solid column, on
which the whole rests. I have also studied very, attentively the infusible
earthen plate. I had remarked, that notwithstanding all my care, the rows of
buttons on the edge of the plate being nearly in contact with the sides of the
muffles, acquired a higher degree of temperature than those placed in the
middle, and it often happened that there was a great inequality in the baking.
I placed then on the external and on both edges, and under the plate, two
supports of infusible earth. These two supports offering to the caloric a
greater resistance than the middle one, gives me not only the means of equa-
lising the caloric, but also that of introducing and withdrawing the plates with
the greatest case, the vacuum existing underneath allowing me to slip between
the plate and the inferior part of the muffle an iron shovel, split in the middle
to extract it. These two supports, to which I havo added a thinner one in
the middle, to prevent the warping of the plate through heat, have also
allowed me to suppress those supports, either fixed or moveable, which are
generally placed in that kind of muffles, and which are an obstacle to their
cleanliness. In order to facilitate the baking of the plates loaded with
buttons, which by unknown circumstances vary sometimes, I have placed

page_text: before the oven some instruments which I call tournettes, and which are
nothing more than a modification of the same instruments known by porcelain
bakers only. To render it fit for my work I have given it the form of a long
square made of metal. When the plate is drawn from the fire it is placed on
the instrument, and by a rotatory motion, the plate moving horizontally, 5
changes end, and is put again in the oven, which avoids its being burnt.
Shanking the buttons, and several solderings or solders.-This operation
consists in the application of a metallic shank, which, instead of being stuck
to the button by cement only, or other such substance, is fixed in a complete
manner by means of a vitrifiable substance, having as à basis that of the 1
button itself. I say having for basis, for it will be perceived that the high
temperature necessary to the baking of the buttons is opposed to the presence
of any metallic body whatever except platina, the cost of which is too high to
be employed. I have then been under the necessity of compounding.& vitri-
fiable matter having for its basis the button matter, and which may be melted 1
at a degree of heat which does not injure the metallic shank of the button.
This result is pointed out as hereunder :-
Solder No. 1, crystal
Fritted agathe substance
-
Solder No. 2, crystal
Fritted agathe substance
-
No. 3 crystal
Calcined at 25 per cent. of pewter
Fritted agathe substance -
-
100 parts
50
hard.
90 do.
2
more fusible.
15
60 do.
60
very fusible.
10
These three solders are all that are wanted for the fabrication; it is sufficient 2
for employing them to have them pulverised after their fusion, then after
having placed the shank cleansed with acid in the cavity made under the
button, I deposit in the same way as enamellers do a certain.quantity of this
prepared powder; at last, in passing the button in a muffle less hot than that
in which the button has been baked, the solder melts, then cools the button and 3
cleans the shank from the oxide raised by the fire, and I thus obtain a button
with shank of the greatest solidity. When we wish to operate on coloured
buttons it is necessary to introduce in the solder the same metallic oxid which
has been used in the colouring of the material.
Decoration, colouring, impression, gilding, and enamel.-The gilding of g
buttons having the greatest analogy with that of ordinary porcelain, all the
processes employed for the latter may be applied to the buttons, so that I shall
not give an account of those which relate to hand painting, gilding, and

page_text: used on agathe substances, straz substances not being fit to be heated again
after cooling. I shall mention here three points only which I claim as my
property.
1°, the colouring and decoration by the help of any mordant whatever,
and by the immersion of buttons covered either wholly or in part with this
mordant in a vitrifiable colouring and dry powder, described as under, and
which I claim as my property.
2d, enamel or colouring in thickness with the same powder.
3d, application of a new process of decoloration, called oriental, not only
to the decoration but also to the colouring of buttons and all other objects of
vitrifiable substance.
Composition of the enamels.-No. 1, transparent enamel, used as a basis
for all colours. Feldspar, crystallised and in powder, free from iron, 300 parts;
minium, very pure, 400 parts; cristallised nitre, 200 parts; calcinated borax,
100 parts; melt the whole, let it flow in water, pulverise for use. No. 2;
opaque white for marbles and mixtures: enamel No. 1, one thousand parts;
stranic acid, 100 parts; to be treated as above. No. 3, green enamel: enamel
No. 1, 600 parts; bioxid of copper from 20 to 40, according to tint; to
be treated as above. No. 4, blue enamel: enamel No. 1, 600 parts;
peroxide of cobalt 20 parts; to be treated as above. No. 5, very fine black
enamel No. 1, 600 parts; peroxide of cobalt, 40 parts; bioxide of copper,
40 parts; black oxid of iron, 40 parts; peroxide of manganese, 40 parts;
to be treated as above. I could multiply these receipts ad infinitum, but as
what I claim particularly is only the enamal No. 1 itself; and it enters in a
combination with all colouring oxides, the above samples are sufficient to
insure my property on that head. To end this part of my description, I must
give some details of my operations of flat colourings and the colouring
with thickness. To obtain flat coverings and impressions I use as I have
said before, a mordaut, but the question of property is less in the mordant
itself, which may vary, than in the way of depositing the colour on the
objects. Supposing I use for mordant boiled linseed oil, tallow, or honey,
the operation remains the same. After having slightly warmed the buttons I
immerse them forthwith in either of these agents, and I perceive by 'partial
trials that the greasy matter has acquired consistency enough to take tho
necessary quantity of colour required for the tint. I throw them in one of
coloured enamels, above mentioned, reduced to impalpable powder, then
shaking lightly the whole for a few minutes I put it on a sieve, the excess of
powder escapes and the button remains tinted; they are now to be arranged
on the frames to be baked. The process of impression is the same, only I

page_text: counterdraw by the help of paper drawn beforehand with boiled oil the
drawing I wish to obtain. There is, no need for that operation to warm
beforehand the buttons; the enamel or colouring in thickness requires a
particular preparation of the button, since the colour must be less finely
pulverized than in the preceding operation, and is to be deposited as
enamellers do in camarieng, left beforehand in the button. It is impossible
to give more details on that subject, the taste of the artist, engraver, and of
the enameler determine alone the greater or lesser effect produced by that
kind of work. In that process I claim only the idea of the application of the
enamel, since its composition is the same as for the above-mentioned
operations.
Description of the mechanical process called oriental decoration,―The
insufficiency of known processes consists notoriously, 1°, in the difficulty of
obtaining plates fit to give the delicacy and the variety of all drawings; 2d,
the impossibility of applying more than one colour at once and otherwise than
on a flat tint. On the other side, painting on glass, or on all other vitrifiable
bodies, such as is now practised, prevents the sale by its high price. The
process I am about to describe presents the double advantage, to lend itself to
the mechanical application of the most delicate designs of all colours, and at
the same time at very reduced prices, coulored objects as unalterable and more
brilliant than those obtained by known processes. I use for that purpose
poncis, each of which corresponds by its cuts to the tint which I apply, and to
the place that tint occupies in the composition of the drawing to be executed.
The colour being first reduced to an impalpable powder, fills the spaces of the
poncis, adheres for a time from a sticking property arising from the steam,
and the objects just wadded with colours forming the picture requires only to
be heated to be ready for the market.
How to proceed about the poncis.-The poncis is obtained in two different
ways, namely, by the help of lead in leaves only prepared as I am going to
indicate presently, or with leaves of beaten metal, and even with a coat of
plumbago. To succeed, apply a thin sheet of lead with a common resinous
mordant on a very smooth surface, such as a piece of plate glass; the parts of
the drawing that are to form the openings of the poncis are drawn or sketched
upon the leaden leaf, then the parts are raised by the point or engraver's tool;
that leaf thus disposed forms a poncis. If I want to obtain poncis for a very
minute drawing, I employ leaves of a beaten metal, pulverised metal, or
plumbago, applied in the same way, and as I have described before, drawn with
a graver, as I have already said. To give to these poncis the thickness and
uccessary rigidity, I submit them in that state to. the effect of a galvanic

page_text: apparatus containing copper in dissolution; by the precipitation of the copper
on the preserved parts the metallic leaf gives the poncis the required thickness.
The poncis thus fabricated will always form neat and clean contours. If I
wish to obtain gradations of tints, I proceed to give the following form to
the corresponding parts of the poncis:-I rise and leave thus far from the
places by the rigidity of the metal the parts of the poncis which I require for
the gradations of tints. By means of the raising of these contours, the
colour that must fall on the poncis penetrating in less quantity on this
raised edge, there results a gradation of tints. I employ 8 poncis for sketch,
one for half tint and one for shaddows, the whole being well registered,
and, in fact, as many different tints as the subject requires.
2d, on the application of colours.-I place on the object I intend to paint
the first poncis; I cover all its surface with the vitrifiable colour which
I intend to fix; that colour impalpably pulverised comes with the help of a
sieve or other means to divide it, depose itself naturally on the glass in the
opening of the poncis; to fix temporarily that first coat of colouring matter,
and allow without any inconvenience for the colour already laid on the appli-
cation of a second poncis necessary to another tint, I mix with this color
in dust a slight portion of gum arabic, or any other analogous substance, also
in powder. The poncis is taken away with care and in a perpendicular
direction. The object thus loaded with colour is placed in a tin box propor-
tioned to the size and quantity of the objects I intend to paint. The steam
of water, by condensing, wets the colour and dissolves the gum, which by
drying attaches itself to the glass or other objects covered by it. I can then,
by. careful registration, apply a second poncis for another tint, which I fix in
the same way by steam, and thus successively until the number of poncis has
completed the composition and the tints of the picture; the objects are then
put in the oven to operate the baking of the colours. Besides the merit of
simplicity, we find here the advantage of being enabled to apply easily on the
objects to be decorated as many tints as are wanted, and to bake.them by a
single fire. Moreover, these colours not being as those employed now mixed
with any greasy substance, never will blister by heat, and will preserve for ever
the lustre and splendour which the chemist has imparted to them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Jean Jacques Viscount de Serionne,
have hereunto set my hand seal this Ninth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.
VTE DE SERIONNE. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of August, in the.
year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Louis Jean Jacques Viscount de
Serionne came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid 5
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty.