Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Mar., 1888
Specification Accepted, 4th May, 1888
A communication from CARL METZNER, of 18, Josephinen Strasse, Dresden, in
the German Empire, Manufacturer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E. do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described, and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The increasing demand for fresh palm leaves is not at all in proportion to the
comparatively small import thereof or to the supply emanating from the home
nurseries and the price must therefore be and remain a high ouo. Besides these
fresh palm leaves dry and wither in a short time and assume a gray or yellow
appearance.
The object of the present invention is to give the dried and withered palm leaves,
which are of no value in palm growing countries and can therefore be purchased at
a low price not only the appearance and necessary flexibility of the fresh ones but
also treat them in such a manner that they will last longer than the fresh ones, and
these leaves so treated can be sold at much lower prices.
Dried palm leaves have up to the present often been painted with oil colours or
bronze but it can be detected at once that they have been painted and they lack the
fresh appearance which palm leaves treated with this process will assume.
This process is as follows:
The dried or withered palm leaves are placed in hot water for a few hours by
which treatment they regain their original natural form and flexibility.
The leaves are then placed in a dye bath in which they are boiled from 10 to
12 hours until they have attained the required or desired shade.
The dye bath consists preferably of a solution of anilin- or methyl-colors in hot
water. An addition of triple vinegar will make the leaves take the color better.
When taken from the dye bath the leaves are allowed to cool and are then well
rinsed in cold water. The leaves are then hung up to dry but not so long that they
will shrivel up again and theso dry but still flexible leaves are now placed in a bath
מי
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page_text: of pure glycerine in which they remain from 1 to 3 days according to their size.
When taken from the bath the glycerine is allowed to run off and the leaves are then
hung up to dry in a dry place. This drying will take from 6 to 8 days according to
the temperaturo. After this last treatment after which the leaves retain their natural
elasticity they are coated with a coat of a thin quickly drying varnish to give them
the peculiar lustre of the fresh leaves.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I declaro that what I claim is :-
1. The method of giving dried or withered palm leaves the appearance and 1
properties of fresh ones consisting in treating the dried leaves in hot water and a
dyo bath with or without an addition of triple vinegar moderatoly drying them
treating them in a bath of pure glycerine then drying thom again and finally coating
them with a thin coat of varnish substantially as described.
2. A. palm leaf treated substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.
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