IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THREAD OR WIRE, TO BE USED FOR MAKING GOLD OR SILVER LACE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ambroise Auguste Masson, of Paris, France, Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
THREAD OR WIRE, TO BE USED FOR MAKING GOLD OR SILVER LACE."
Sealed the 16th May 1854, and dated the 11th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ambroise Auguste Masson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th January 1854.
I, AMBROISE AUGUSTE MASSON, of Paris, France, Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF THREAD OR WIRE TO BE USED FOR MAKING GOLD OR SILVER LACE"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to economise the use of gold in the manufac-
ture of gold thread or wire for lace, embroidery, &c., by gilding that part only
which is seen when used. Secondly, to manufacture gold wire or thread by
simpler means than the present mode, by plating it by the action of a galvanic
battery, and the Invention consists of the following process:-In the first
place, silver, or other metallic wire or thread, being subjected to the action of
powerful rollers, is to be tightly wound round yellow silk, which latter forms a
kind of core. It is then passed by mechanical means through a bath, com-
posed of auriferous or other metallic solutions, either in a hot or cold state,

page_text: and may be steeped or simply immersed. Proper communications are to be
made with poles of a galvanic or voltaic battery, the action of which causes a
deposition of the metal on the exposed surfaces of the wire or thread. The
thickness of this plating may be regulated by means well known in the art of
electro-metallurgy. The surfaces of the wire or thread covered by the silk
do not receive this deposit, and this may be effectually secured by steeping the
silk before using it in stearate of alumina or oleic acid much diluted. After
this the wire or thread is washed and dried. 2ndly, this Invention consists of
a machine or apparatus for effecting the above objects, composed of pullies,
rollers, friction rollers, and guides, which may be worked by some prime mover,
with baths or tubs for the auriferous or other metallic solution and water, a
galvanic or voltaic battery, with conductors and bobbins for winding. The wire
or thread, being unwound from a bobbin, passes into the metallic bath, thence
into the water bath, thence between drying rollers covered with absorbent
substances, and is finally wound round a bobbin. Subject to modifications in
detail, this Invention substantially consists in gilding one part of the surface
only of metallic wire or thread, in the manner and for the purpose described,
in the means described for preventing absorption of the metallic deposit by
the silk, and in the general arrangement of the machine and apparatus by
which a single wire or thread is subjected to the treatment described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by. the said Ambroise Auguste Masson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AMBROISE
AUGUSTE MASSON, of Paris, France, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her, most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto ine,
the said Ambroise Auguste Masson, Her special licence that. I, the said
Ambroise Auguste Masson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Ambroise Auguste Masson, 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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THREAD OR WIRE TO BE
USED FOR MAKING GOLD OR SILVER LACE, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Ambroise Auguste Masson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Ambroise Auguste Masson, 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 ordinary mode of making gold wire or thread for the manufacture of
gold lace, and other similar purposes, is to coat an ingot or rod of copper or
silver with gold. This is done by the application of heat, and by burnishing,
as is well known. The ingot or rod is then submitted to the process of wire
drawing, and must pass through at least a hundred holes in order to be drawn
out to the requisite tenuity. The wire thus drawn must then be passed
between polished steel rollers, in order still further to increase its fineness and
to flatten it. Finally, this wire is wound round silk or thread, and thus is
formed what is called gold thread or wire used for many purposes of utility
and ornament. In these several processes of drawing and rolling, a consider-
able
part
of the precious metal is wasted; and, moreover, in this lace or thread
one half or nearly half the surface is concealed. It follows that a considerable
portion of the gold is practically lost to all useful purposes, inasmuch as it is
not seen. The object of my Invention is to economise the use of gold, and I
effect this by an improved mode of gilding the wire or threads, which not only
saves the loss of gold in the drawing and flatting processes, but saves also half
or nearly half the precious metal, by covering or gilding only half of the
surface or circumference of the wire, although the wire or thread looks as well
gilt, and is as ornamental as the ordinary gold laced thread. But in order
that my Invention may be well understood, I will proceed to describe the
mode I adopt, referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed. The wire I use
is silver, either pure or alloyed; but I do not confine myself to its use, as other
metallic wire may answer the same purpose. This wire should be of the size
known as 5 P or 6 P thickness. Having been flatted and rolled in the ordinary
way, it is to be wound round amber or gold colored silk, taking care to avoid
any breaks of continuity in the metal. The thread is then passed by mechanical
means through vessels containing auriferous solutions, which are deposited by

page_text: means of a galvanic or voltaic battery; it is then washed, dried, and wound
round bobbins. The auriferous solutions may be in a hot or cold state, and
the thread may be steeped or simply immersed. In order to render the silk
impermeable, and consequently prevent the absorption of a part of the
auriferous matter, it should be steeped, before being covered by the metal, in
stearate of alumina dissolved in distilled water, or in oleic acid much diluted.
By tightly binding the metal on the silk, the gold is precipitated only on the
metal, the upper part of which alone receives the deposit. From this essential
point there flows the advantage of obtaining, with a quantity of gold rather
less than half that ordinarily used, a gold thread quite equal in color to that
made by the usual mode of rolling, drawing, and burnishing. The grand
principle of this Invention is, that in the lace or thread made in this manner
the precious metal is used only where seen, and not in the part which serves
merely to cover the silk, as in the ordinary manufacture. The apparatus
which I employ in this manufacture, and which I am about to describe, may
be much varied in details; but the following is that which I adopt and prefer
to use:-
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section, and Fig. 2, a plan. A is the bobbin
from which the thread to be gilt is unwound.
C is a counterpoise weight placed at the side of the bobbin A, and serving
to keep the thread in such a state of tension as to touch without interruption
the conductors from the battery b.
B, conductor, communicating with one of the poles of the battery by a wire.
S, supports, sustaining the conductor b.
6', conductor in communication with the other pole of the battery, serving to
suspend the anodes in the bath.
E, standards with pulleys, which hold the thread in the trough or vessel.
J, trough or vessel, containing the auriferous solution which gilds the thread.
K, vessel containing water, in which the thread is washed after passing through
the bath. H, H, rollers covered with cloth or other absorbent material on
which the thread is dried, the rollers being caused to revolve by some prime
mover. R, small rollers placed at the side of the vessel K, to prevent rubbing
of the thread. F, moveable carriage, moved laterally by a prime mover, and
serving to guide the thread regularly on the bobbin D. g, a piece of curved
or looped wire, placed on the carriage F, which acts as a guide to conduct the
thread. D, bobbin on which the thread is wound after being gilded. This
bobbin is put in motion by means of a cord V, by any moving power. The
red lines indicate the passage of the thread.
Although I have described only my mode of gilding silver wire for the

page_text: manufacture of gold lace, it must be understood that copper or other metallic
wire may be coated or plated with silver in the same manner and by the same
means as herein-before set forth.
Having thus described the manner of gilding thread on one side of the
surface only, and the mechanical means by which I carry out the process, I
would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details
herein-before described, as the same may be varied without departing from
the principle of my Invention. But what I claim and desire to secure by these
Letters Patent is,―
Firstly, the mode of gilding or silvering one part of the surface or circum-
ference of the wire or thread, that is, the part which is exposed to sight and to
friction, in the manner herein-before described.
Secondly, I claim the mode of rendering the silk impermeable, or nearly
so, so that it should not absorb a part of the bath in the manner herein-before
described.
Thirdly, I claim the general arrangements of the apparatus and machinery
herein described and shewn, by which each thread is separately and con-
veniently treated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ambroise Auguste Masson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
AMBROISE AUGUSIE MASSON. (L.B.)