AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ORNAMENTING.TING BOOK COVERS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Tuckett, junior, of the British Museum, and
No. 3, Bickerton Terrace, Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Bookbinder, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ORNAMENTING.
Sealed the 2nd April 1861, and dated the 5th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Tuckett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
5th October 1860.
I, CHARLES TUCKETT, junior, of the British Museum, and No. 3, Bickerton
5 Terrace, Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Bookbinder, do, hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ORNA-
MENTING BOOK COVERS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
5
My Invention consists of an improved method of ornamenting and staining
designs on the leather covers of books or other articles covered. with or manu-
factured of leather, to any colour or tint required, by means of printing or
drawing designs on the same with acids, alkalies, oxides, salts, metallic salts, or
neutral salts, which designs may be accomplished by means of blocks for
stamping and printing, or otherwise drawing or penciling the same,, so as to
remove or change the body colour, or otherwise applying various dyes.in com-

page_text: bination with the acids, alkalies, oxides, salts, metallic salts, or neutral salts, so
as to produce any shade or shades of colour required, thereby enabling the
artist to produce perfect harmony of colour or tint in the design or drawing
without injury to the surface or wear of the leather, and without inlaying the
colours as formerly practised; to effect which I take uncoloured or white calf
leather, and after tracing or drawing the design thereon, I pick out or pencil
in with suitable chemicals, such as sulphate of iron, for producing any shade
from black to light grey, and also any shades of brown are produced either by
salts of tartar alone or in combination with sulphate of iron, or by other
chemical means. I also take morocco, calf, or other leather used for the
covering of books or other articles, being first dyed in the usual way, say a
dark chocolate colour, and after the design has been traced thereon, it is then
to be picked out or penciled in with suitable chemicals, say oxalic acid or other
acids, or metallic salts, which will produce suitable tints as desired. And after
which, to produce the required shades on the same, I make use of such chemi-
cals as may be found suitable for the purpose of changing the colour or altering
the same, which will depend upon the body colour in which.the leather has been
dyed, and also the various colours.or tints required in the design or drawing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Tuckett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
TUCKETT, junior, of the British Museum, and No. 3, Bickerton Terrace, Haver-
stock Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Bookbinder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in. the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Tuckett, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Tuckett, my
executors, administrators; and assigns, or such: others as I, the said Charles
Tuckett, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ORNA;
MENTING BOOK COVERS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Tuckett, 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 Charles Tuckett, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its objects an improved method of ornamenting book;
covers, which is also applicable to other purposes, and consists in staining
designs on the leather covers of books and other articles covered with or manu-
factured of leather, to any colour or tint required; by means of printing or,
drawing designs on the same with acids, alkalies, oxides, salts, metallic salts,
or neutral salts, separately or combined, which designs may either be accom-
plished by means of blocks for stamping and printing, or otherwise drawing
and penciling the same, so as to remove or change the body colour in which
the leather has been previously dyed, and in some cases applying various dyes'
separately or in combination with the acids, alkalies, oxides, and salts, as
aforesaid, in such a way as to produce any required harmony of shades or tints
of colours in the design or drawing without inlaying the colours as formerly
practised.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will now proceed.
more fully to describe the means of performing the same, to be as follows:-
I take morocco, calf, or other leather, it being first dyed or prepared in the
usual way, say of a dark chocolate colour, and after the design has been traced
thereon, it is then to be picked out or penciled in with suitable chemicals, say
deluted nitric acid; this will change the chocolate, leaving the design of a
bright red brown upon a chocolate ground, (but when a deeper red is
required,) I use a dye of cochineal, Brazil, or other red wood, prepared with
nitric or other acids. Again, on the same chocolate ground, I use a solution
of nitrate of iron and ferro-cynurate of potassium, either seperate or in combi-
nation, in proportions according to the shade, for producing a green, or the
same in suitable proportions to produce a blue; sometimes I use muriat of
iron instead of the nitrat for producing the same results. Also, as another
example, I take a red ground, and with a solution of chromic acid I produce
an olive green thereon or a dark olive, by discharging the red with nitric acid,
and then using chromate of potash.

page_text: The solid colours may be produced by means of blocks composed of soft
wood or other suitable material, saturated with the acids, alkalies, or chemicals
required, and impressed upon the surface of the leather; the designs so pro-
duced by the blocks is then shaded by the same or other chemicals, according
to the colour or tint required.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means with
wich I am acquainted for performing the same, I wish it to be fully under-
stood that I do not intend to limit myself to the precise details herein set
forth, as the same may be considerably modified without departing from the
peculiar character of my Invention, and declare that I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent, the principle and method of ornamenting
book covers as herein-before described, or any mere modification thereoff, and
also the method whereby designs on leather are produced by the application of
discharging agents, used seperately or in combination with dyes.
In witness, I, the said Charles Tuckett, junior, have heretofore set my
hand and seal. this Fifth day of October. A.D. 1860.
CHARLES TUCKETT, JUN. (L.S.)
Signed in the presence of and
witnessed by
W. H. IBBETT,
St. Martin's Chambers,
St. Martin's-le-Grand, E.C.