IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL SURFACES TO PAPER AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer,
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 Fifteenth day of
August, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas de la Rue, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, tho said Thomas de la
Rue, my exors, adñiors and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
de la Rue, my exors, adiñors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL SURFACES TO PAPER AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Thomas de la Rue, should cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled 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

page_text: 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
Thomas de la Rue, do. hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of certain. means of producing iridescent films on to
the surfaces of paper and other substances in order to produce colors thereon,
known as the colors of thin plates, or Newton's rings. And in order that my
Invention may be most fully understood, I will first call attention to some
facts which will aid to illustrate, and at the same time to make clear the
novelty of my Invention. It is well known that steel when heated to various
temperatures below a red heat acquires tints depending on the temperature
employed, such tints being produced by the thin film of oxide of iron thus
obtained on the surface of the steel. A plate of polished iron or other metal
when placed in a solution of acetate of lead, and connected with the positive
pole of a voltaic battery, the other, or negative pole, being immersed in the
fluid, gradually acquires a coating of peroxide of lead, which, according to its
thickness, affects light so as to produce those most beautiful colors known as
nobilis. In the well-known process of daguerreotype the vapor of iodine or
bromine, by acting on a silver plate during its preparation, produces thin films,
the colors of which indicate to the operator the proper stage to stop the process.
A soap bubble, when very thin, is well known to exhibit the most beautiful
and varied tints. Glass bulbs, when blown very thin, sometimes exhibit the
same phenomena, and like effects are produced by plates of talc or mica when
split sufficiently thin; and I have called attention to these matters in order
that the description of colors which I obtain on surfaces may be clearly under-
stood. And my Invention consists of certain means of obtaining thin films of
matter on plain and irregular surfaces, so as to obtain the description of colors
above mentioned.And this I do by obtaining thin films on the surface of
fluids, and then causing such films to be transferred on to the desired surface,
or by producing such films on the surfaces themselves. For this purpose
I take an open vessel of somewhat larger dimensions than the entire object
(the surface of which is to be ornamented), and of a depth suitable to contain
it, and yet allow a few inches of space above. I fill this vessel with clear
water, which is tho fluid I prefer to use, but do not confine myself thereto,
and place therein and below the surface of the water the object to be orna-
mented, which I will suppose to be a sheet of enamel cardboard or paper,
which is a good surface to receive a film. On to the surface of the water

page_text: when tranquil I drop a small quantity of varnish, formed by dissolving resinous
or other substances in spirit, ether, or other suitable medium, or I employ
other materials, as balsams, resins, or other fluid or semi-fluid body, capable of
yielding a thin film of solid matter, and of producing the description of colors
above mentioned, the colors so produced depending on variations of the
thickness of the film; and as the solvent of such material evaporates, or the
material itself becomes dry, the film will generally become thinner and
thinner, and an alteration of colors will consequently take place, and then, so
soon as the film has become comparaely solid, though still very pliant,
the enamel cardboard is to be raised out of the water in an inclined position,
by which means the film will attach itself on to the upper surface of the card-
board, and the water will flow from between the film and the cardboard, and
the film will adhere thereto. The cardboard is then to be laid on a sloping
board, and when dry is finished, and will be found to exhibit the colors due to
tho thin film on its surface. If an object, such as a basso-relievo or other
irregular surface is wished to be covered with a film, I place it with the
ornamental surface uppermost on a false bottom pierced with holes, and having
handles reaching above the surface of the water in the vessel; and when the film
has been produced as above explained, I lift the false bottom with the object
thereon slowly out of the water by means of the handles, keeping one side
rather higher than the other, and the film will be found to accommodate itself
to the irregular surface. If any object, such as a statue, is required to be
covered with a film on more than one surface, I proceed in the same manner;
but in lifting it out of the water I cause it gradually to rotate, by which the
various parts of the surface as they come uppermost will be covered with the film.
For this purpose I suspend the article or statute with wires, in place of using
the perforated false bottom. Instead of lifting the article intended to be
covered out of the fluid, I sometimes withdraw the water from an opening
in the bottom of the vessel, having previously given the object a suitable
inclination to the horizon. The tints produced by a thin film are to some
extent under control, and in order to obtain a desired effect I first test by a
few trials the effect produced by the varnish to be used by dropping the same in
different quantities on to a given surface of water, and when the quantity is
ascertained, which is required for giving the desired tints, I always apply
the same quantity. And it will be found that on dropping varnish on to
several parts of the water's surface, each drop will become the focus of a set of
rings of color, which, by blending with cach other, will form beautiful combina-
tions, which may likewise be curled and varied by a comb, or by blowing on
the surface before the varnish sets, and this enables the operator to obtain an

page_text: 1
endless variety of configurations of films, which, though of colorless matter
themselves, will give color to the surfaces on which they may be tranferred,
and tints may be changed by thinning the film before it is dry, and when on
the water by gradually and cautiously drawing off portions of the film towards
the sides of the vessel by means of a spatula. It is not necessary to take
'fresh water each time of forming a film, as the surface of the water may be
skimmed with a spatula after each operation; after a time, however, it is
better to renew the water. In order to cause the varnish or other material to
flow readily out into a film, I have found it, advantageous to add to it a
quantity of essential oil of spike lavender, and I have found a like effect to be
produced by other essential oils, but the oil of lavender is one I prefer to
employ. The varnish or matter I prefer to employ is the ordinary spirit of
wine varnish, known as white hard varnish. I do not, however, confine
myself thereto, so long as the material used has the qualities of flowing freely
on the surface of fluids, and of setting or drying sufficiently fast to allow of the
film being removed on to a surface. I use a mixture of equal parts of white
hard varnish (a varnish I purchase by that name), and of oil of spike lavender.
I would remark, that I have found that all surfaces when covered with thin
films in the manner above explained do not exhibit equally well the colors.
I may especially name silver, which requires to have its surface saddened,
which I do by the vapour of iodine or bromine before applying the film.
Burnished--black-surfaces exhibit the colors very beautifully, as do surfaces
which have been blackleaded. Paper exhibits the colors very perfectly, as
does plaster of Paris when its surface has been previously polished by rubbing
in a mixture of soap and wax. In general very bright white metallic surfaces
do not exhibit the colours. I would remark that like films may be transferred
to a surface of paper or other flexible substance, by gradually bringing such
surface when wet in contact with the upper surface of a film. And a film
may be formed on the surface of a substance by. merely. wetting it sufficiently,
and then dropping or applying the varnish or matter. thereon. I, however,
prefer the means before given.
I have not thought it desirable:to enter into a theoretical explanation of the
cause of such descriptions of colors being produced, which admits of different
explanations, according as the corpuscular or undulatory theory of light is
admitted; it is enough for the general understanding of my Invention to know
that colorless and transparent substances, when obtained as films sufficiently
thin, exhibit various colors according to their thickness and the inclination of
their surfaces to the observer. It is not, however, absolutely necessary that
the varnish or matter should be colorless.

page_text: And it is the means herein described of ornamenting paper and other sub-
stances by employing thin films which constitutes the peculiarity of my
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas de la Rue, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.