AN IMPROVED MODE OF FIXING ON PAPER OR OTHER SUITABLE SURFACES DRAWINGS IN CRAYON, CHARCOAL, BLACKLEAD, OR OTHER MATERIALS OF A MORE OR LESS FRIABLE NATURE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Etienne Rouget, of Paris, France, Chemist, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF FIXING ON PAPER OR OTHER
SUITABLE SURFACES DRAWINGS IN CRAYON, CHARCOAL, BLACKLEAD, OR OTHER
MATERIALS OF A MORE OR LESS FRIABLE NATURE."
Sealed the 5th January 1869, and dated the 9th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Etienne Rouget at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
9th July 1868.
I, ETIENNE ROUGET, of Paris, France, Chemist, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF FIXING ON PAPER
OR OTHER SUITABLE SURFACES DRAWINGS IN CRAYON, CHARCOAL, BLACKLEAD, OR
OTHER MATERIALS OF A MORE OR LESS FRIABLE NATURE," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to an improved mode of fixing on paper, paste
or cardboard, painters' canvass or other suitable tissue, stone, slate,
wood, metals, or other similar suitable surfaces, drawings in crayon,
charcoal, blacklead or other pencil, chalk, or other similar drawing
materials of a friable nature, and which are liable of being more or
less easily wiped off or of becoming injured by handling or friction,

page_text: by which method, and contrary to what is obtained by any of the
hitherto known methods of fixing drawings, neither the tone nor the
freshness of these latter is in any way impaired or altered even when
submitted to repeated handling or to slight friction.
The Invention consists in producing the fixation of the said drawings
by directly projecting on them any suitable adhesive liquid reduced
into a fine spray, or what is commonly called the atomized or pulverized
state, by causing the liquid to pass under pressure through one or
more capillary tubes or openings. For which purpose any apparatus
suitable for atomizing liquids and which allows of directing the spray
on the drawing to be acted upon may be made use of.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Etienne Rouget in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ETIENNE
ROUGET, of Paris, France, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Etienne Rouget, Her special licence that
I, the said Etienne Rouget, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Etienne Rouget, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MODE OF
FIXING ON PAPER OR OTHER SUITABLE SURFACES DRAWINGS IN CRAYON, CHARCOAL,
BLACKLEAD, OR OTHER MATERIALS OF A MORE OR LESS FRIABLE NATURE,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Etienne Rouget,
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

page_text: the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Etienne Rouget, 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:-
The Invention relates to an improved mode of fixing on paper, paste
or cardboard, painters' canvass or other suitable tissue, stone, slate,
wood, metals, or other suitable surfaces, drawings or tracings in crayon,
charcoal, blacklead or other pencil, chalk, or other similar drawing
materials of a more or less friable nature, and which are liable of being
more or less easily wiped off or becoming injured by handling or friction,
by which method, and contrary to what is obtained by any of the
hitherto known methods of fixing such drawings, neither the tone nor
the freshness of these latter is in any way impaired or altered even when
submitted to repeated handling or to slight friction.
The fixation of drawings or tracings in crayon, charcoal, blacklead
or other pencil, chalk, or other similar drawing materials of a more
or less friable nature on paper, card or paste board, painters' canvass
or other tissue, wood, marble, slate, metals, or other suitable surfaces,
has always constituted a desiratum for the artist; the fixation on
paper has been executed by applying a resinous or other suitable sticking
solution on the under side or back of the paper, which solution by
transuding through the pores of the paper and thus coming in direct
contact with the particles of the charcoal, crayon, chalk, or other
similar drawing materials forming the drawing, tracing, or sketch on
the side of the paper opposite to that on which the solution has been
applied causes part of these particles of becoming cemented and fixed
unto this latter; but as by this method the freshness of tone and
mellowness of the work is lost for the greater part, the drawing
tarnished and a deepening of the colour of the paper produced, artists
in general do not ressort to it.
My Invention consists in obtaining the fixation of such drawings,
tracings, or sketches by directly projecting on these latter any suitable
adhesive liquid reduced into a fine spray, or in what is commonly called
the atomized or pulverized state, by causing the liquid to pass rapidly
and under pressure through one or more capillary tubes or openings.
For which purpose any apparatus suitable for atomizing liquids and

page_text: which allows of directing the spray on the drawing to be acted upon
may be made use of.
By my method which in opposition to that by transudation I call
direct fixation, the above-mentioned defects of the transudation process
are entirely done away with, besides which the operation is executed in
a few seconds and may be performed at once by the artist without
the slightest difficulty. As for the fixation liquid any colourless or
nearly colourless liquid which allows of being atomized and which
after becoming dry causes the particles of the charcoal or other drawing
materials made use of to adhere sufficiently firmly to the paper or
other drawing surface may serve for the purpose. Thus, for instance,
a liquid which has given me most satisfactory results is obtained by
adding to a solution of 3 oz. of white sugar candy and 2 oz. of white
shellack in about 2 pints of spirits of wine a decoction of about 1 oz.
of fucus crispus in 1 pint of distilled water..
For operating according to my Invention any apparatus which allows
of atomizing or reducing into a fine spray the fixation liquid to be
made use of, and of projecting this spray unto the surface of the drawing
or tracing may be employed, such for instance as that represented
respectively in elevation and in vertical sectional views in the
Figs. 1 & 2 of the annexed Drawings, and which consist of a vessel A.
of glass, metal, porcelain, or other suitable material provided with two
tubulures a and b; the tubulure b is tapered and bent into the shape
of a spout and has a capillary or hair tube d inserted in it, which
tube d open at c is fixed with its opposite or lower end to the bottom
of the vessel A, this lower end is closed, and near to it the tube d is
provided with a small hole e, situated at such height as to be constantly
below the level of the fixing liquid contained in the vessel A, and
thus allow this liquid of entering in the tube d and becoming expelled
therefrom into a fine spray fat c by the effect of the pressure of the air
insufflated in the apparatus by the tubulure a.
The mode of making use of this apparatus is as follows:-A suitable
quantity of the fixation liquid having been poured in the vessel A by
the tubulure a, the operator has merely to blow with sufficient strength
into this tubulure when the liquid will at once be projected into a
fine spray, or what is called the atomized state from the open end c
of the tube d, in the manner as shown by f, Fig. 1; this spray the
operator then directs during a few seconds on the various parts of the

page_text: drawing, tracing, or sketch to be fixed on the paper or other surface,
the spray will dry almost instantly and the drawing at once become
fixed in a sufficiently effective manner for allowing the same to be
handled freely, and even a slight friction to be exerted on it without
danger of becoming deteriorated by it.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be executed,
I would observe in conclusion that I do not intend to restrict or restrain
myself to the atomizing apparatus, the fixation solution, or other details
here-above described, as many variations may be made in these parts
without departing from the main principles of the Invention, but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
fixing drawings, tracings, or sketches in crayon, charcoal, pencil or
other similar drawing materials of a more or less friable nature, directly
unto paper or other suitable surfaces on which they are drawn, by
projecting on the said drawings, tracings, or sketches any suitable
sticking solution reduced into a fine spray, or what is called the atomized
or pulverized state.
In witness whereof, I, the said Etienne Rouget, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
E. ROUGET. (L.S.)