IMPROVEMENTS IN SILVERING GLASS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1848

page_text: DIVIX
TO ALL. TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DRAYTON, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex, Practical Chemist,
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 Fourth day of Decem-
ber, 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, Drayton, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Drayton,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Drayton,
my exors, admors, 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, in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SILVERING
GLASS AND OTHER SURFACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said Thomas Drayton, 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Drayton, 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 in causing silver to be deposited on to glass from a
solution of silver, in such manner that a precipitate of silver will adhere to
the glass without any previous coating being applied, on other substances.
And in order that the Invention may be fully understood, I will describe the
means pursued :—
I take one ounce of hartshorn or ammonia, and two ounces of nitrate of
silver, three ounces of water, and three of spirit (I prefer spirits of wine),
mixing these carefully together; I allow the liquid to stand three or four
hours, and then filter it for use. To one ounce of the filtered fluid I add a
quarter of an ounce of saccharine matter, dissolved in equal parts (say about
half a pint of each) of spirit and water; I prefer grape sugar so dissolved, if
the solution is allowed to stand a few hours. The Invention is applicable for
the manufacture of looking glasses, and every other description of glass,
either hollow or with a flat surface, that it is desirable to coat with silver.
There is nothing at all unhealthy or injurious in the method thus employed,
and no smell of any kind arises from it, either during the process or
after the glass is silvered. It can be employed either in a horizontal or
vertical position, provided the liquid be kept in contact with the surface
of the glass intended to be silvered, the glass being kept heated to
about one hundred and sixty degrees of Fahrenheit during the process.
As soon as the silver on the glass is perfectly dry it may be varnished with
common mastic varnish, which preserves it thoroughly from friction. The
superiority of this Invention over all others yet known, consists in its perfect
durability, and its withstanding heat to a very extraordinary extent, as well as
damp, which renders it equally serviceable in all climates. This solution will
deposit silver upon metals in a very perfect manner. I do not confine myself
to the precise details herein described, provided the peculiar character of the
Invention be retained, whereby silver is deposited on to glass from a solution
of that metal, in such manner as to cause the silver to adhere to glass without
any previous coating of the latter, and without the use of oils..
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Drayton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
THOMAS (L.s.) DRAYTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Thomas Drayton came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
Enrolled the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.