Improvements in Ornamenting Metals.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Nov., 1886
Complete Left, 27th Aug., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 7th Oct., 1887.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ornamenting Metals.
I, JAMES MALLOL, of 176 Warstone Lane, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Electro Plate Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Metals are ornamented at present by embossing, etching, chasing and engraving.
Except in embossing, whichever of the three processes may be used the ornamenting
of the metal is accomplished by cutting the design into the metal. These processes
are performed by manual labor, but there are mechanical means to imitate them. The
embossing is imitated by stamping the design in a die, and the other three processes,
or the cutting a design into the metal, are imitated by engine turning or pressing,
but both these processes cut the design of exactly the same depth and therefore are
considered very inferior, particularly to that of engraving.
There are in use besides two other mechanical processes for ornamenting metals,
but by these two processes the ornamentation that should be sunk into the metal
remains standing and hence are not used, except for the commonest work.
The object of my invention is to reproduce, by mechanical means, any design of
etching chasing or engraving, and 1 accomplish this by two different processes.
One of these two processes I use for ornamenting flat metallic surfaces upon
which it is wanted to reproduce, either etching, chasing or engraving and I proceed
as follows:
I cut upon the surface of a steel plate, hard from the rolls, of about ten wire gauge,
the design of an engraved waiter, for instance, and putting upon this plate another
one, either of soft steel, that is to say, steel that has been annealed, or of pure
nickel, annealed also, I pass the two plates together through a pair of rolls, after
having adjusted the rolls so as to produce a compression, which will take place in the
soft plate, of about two gauges. It will be found then that the soft plate, whether of
Pries

page_text: steel or pure nickel, has become very hard and that the design which is sunk in the
engraved plate is standing upon the surface of the other plate. This plate, and not
the engraved one, I use as a die for ornamenting any metallic surface to which may
be desired to transfer the original design by passing it through a pair of rolls,
together with the sheet of metal to be ornamented, as described, when it will be found
that the original design is faithfully reproduced upon the sheet of metal.
Although I have mentioned one plate it is obvious that a number of plates can be
passed through the rolls with the original plate, which will be, as it were, so many
dies to be used for replacing plates that may lose their sharpness of the edges in
course of time.
These plates will be found to be sufficiently hard to transmit their impressions, by
the means described, to most metals; but when great hardness is wanted to ornamient
very hard metal, such as tin plate, for instance, I harden the steel plates or dies in the
following manner:
I coat with lamp black the ornamented surface of the plate, and then wrap the plate
with asbestos paper as tightly as possible, so as to prevent access of air to the plate,
and tie it with binding wire, forming as it were a parcel. I make a flat iron pan a
little larger than the plate, which I fill with sand making a bed about one inch thick
which I dry thoroughly, and then I lay the ornamented part of the plate upon the
sand pressing it firmly and in this position the pan is put into the muffle and the plate
is heated, hardened and tempered in the usual manner, but the process of flattening
with the hammer as is done with the circular saws, can not be done in the same
manner, as it would spoil the ornamentation and therefore the ornamented surface
must be in contact with wood of sufficient hardness to resist the blows of the hammer
without injuring the ornamentation. If wanted, the original plate may be ornamented
soft and then hardened as described.
For uneven surfaces I use the other process which is as follows:
If the design of a waiter is to be reproduced I coat with wax all the back surface
of the waiter, after having attached to it the necessary wires, and by electro-deposition
I take a deposit of the front part of it, of about one sixteenth of an inch in thickness,
this deposit being made in copper, as the readiest, for ornamenting soft metals and in
nickel for hard metals which can be coated with iron to make it harder still, or the
deposit itself may possibly be made in iron.
This deposit will be found, when finished to be an exact copy of the original waiter,
but the ornamentation will be at the back instead of being at the front and instead of
sunk, will be standing upon the surface of the metal or in relievo. In order to use
this deposit as a die, it requires to be strengthened and I do so by filling it up with
any alloy that has a low melting point, and yet to be tolerably hard, such as type
metal for instance. As this deposit will not be quite true when filled, it is to be
turned in a lathe, such as engine turners use, until it is perfectly true. It is now put
with the back part of the die upon the face plate of the lathe, secured and true by the
ordinary means.
After the die is in this position, if a copy of the original waiter is to be reproduced,
a sheet of metal of the necessary thickness and size is laid against the die, and held
firmly by a washer put in the center of the sheet of metal which is held in its position
by the lathe-center being screwed against it.
In this position the lathe is started, and the workman, commencing at the center,
presses against the plate with a small wheel which revolves at the end of a tool similar
to the one used by spinners at present.
When he has gone over all the ornamented part, or surface, the spinning of the
waiter is finished in the usual manner upon the die. When removing this waiter
from the die, it will be found that the original design is faithfully reproduced.
If the article to be reproduced is hollow such as a cup, for instance, the deposit is
taken in two halves as usual, but the ornamentation is left inside of the two halves
forming the article instead of outside, and the two halves are afterwards strengthened
by making a pattern of the cup about one inch thicker in two halves with which an

page_text: impression is taken in a casting mold into which are put the two shells or deposits
and a casting is made with any alloy merely to strengthen the deposits.
When east, these two halves are fitied and put together, held by a ring with two
screws, formning the die which is attached to the lathe in the usual manner.
The cup to be ornamented is then put inside of this die and starting the lathe is
burnished, as described, but from the inside, and after passing the wheel over all the
surface the lathe is stoped and at removing the cup it will be found to be ornamented
reproducing the original design cut into the metal as the original engraving, which is
the object of this invention.
Dated this 23rd day of November 1886

page_text: страшените метать.
I, JAMES MALLOL, of 176, Warstone Lane, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Manu-
facturer, 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 hy the
following statement :-
The object of my invention is to reproduce by mechanical means any design of
etching, chasing, or engraving on metal, and I accomplish this by two different
processes one of which is applicable to flat metallic surfaces and the other to uneven
metallic surfaces.
In the process for ornamenting flat metallic surfaces upon which it is wanted to
reproduce either etching, chasing or engraving, 1 proceed as follows:-
I cut upon the surface of a steel plate, hard from the rolls, of about 10 wire guage
inore or less, the design (for instance of an engraved waiter) which is required to be
reproduced and upon this plate I put another metal plate preferably either of steel or
pure nickel which has been softened by annealing. I pass these two plates together
through a pair of rolls, after having adjusted the rolls so as to produce a compression
of the soft plate of say about two guages. On the plates being delivered from the
rolls it will be found that the soft plate, whether of steel or pure nickel, has become
very hard and that the design which is sunk in the engraved plate is standing in
relief upon the surface of the other plate. This plate, on which is the ornamentation
in relief, I use as a die for ornamenting any flat metallic surface to which it may be
required to transfer the original design, which I accomplish by passing the said plate
or die, that is the one which is ornamented in relief, together with the sheet of softer
metal to be ornamented, through a pair of rolls as above described, when it will be
found that the original design is faithfully reproduced and sunk in upon the softer
sheet of metal as required. Although I have mentioned but one plate as a die it is
obvious that a number of plates can be passed through the rolls one after the other
with the original plate which plates will be, as it were, so many dies to be used for
replacing plates that may through constant use have lost the sharpness of their edges.
These plates with the ornamentation in relief will be found to be sufficiently hard to
transmit their impressions to softer plates by the means above described; but when
the plates or dies are required to be very hard, so as to ornament very hard metal,
such for instance as tinplate, I harden the steel plates preferably in the following
manner :-
I coat the ornamented surface of the plate with lamp black and then wrap the plate
with asbestos paper as tightly as possible, so as to prevent access of air to the plate,
and tie it with binding wire forming as it were a parcel. I make a flat iron pan, a
little larger than the plate, which I fill with sand making a bed about one inch thick
which I dry thoroughly, and then lay the ornamented part of the plate upon the sand
pressing it firmly, and in this position the pan and parcel are put into the mufile and
heated, and the plate is then hardened and tempered in the usual manner. If the

page_text: plate has warped in hardening the process of flattening it with the hammer cannol
be done in the same manner as for circular saws as the hammering would spoil the
ornamentation; but the ornamented surface must be placed in contact with wood
of sufficient hardness to resist the blows of the hammer without injuring the
ornamentation.
Instead of the original plate being hard when it is etched, chased or engraved as
above described it may be soft and then after being ornamented it may be hardened
by any well known process or as above described.
I will now describe the process which I use for the ornamentation of uneven
surfaces such for instance as the etched, chased or engraved design on the face of a
metal waiter.
By electro deposition in the ordinary manner I take a deposit of the face of the
waiter such deposit being about one sixteenth of an inch thick and preferably made
of copper as the readiest for ornamenting soft metals or in nickel for ornamenting
hards metals. When a very hard deposit is required I coat the copper or other
deposit with iron or the deposit may be made wholly of iron. This deposit will be
an exact copy of the original waiter but the ornamentation will be at the back and
instead of being sunk as in the original design it will be standing out in relief from
the surface of the metal. In order to use this deposit as a die as hereinafter described
it requires to be strengthened and made solid which I accomplish by filling up the
inside with any alloy that has a low melting point and yet is tolerably hard, such, for
instance, as type metal. This solid die is now caused to revolve about its axis in an
ordinary lathe as used by metal spinners where it is held true either by being chucked
or fixed on a face plate in any ordinary manner as if its ornamented face was going
to be turned. A copy of the original waiter and its etched, chased or engraved
ornamentation can now be produced by spinning a sheet metal blank over this
revolving die as a former in a manner similar to that employed in spinning other
similar sheet metal articles; that is to say, a sheet metal blank is placed against the
central projecting part of the die and there held firmly by a central washer which is
held in position by the back centre of the lathe being screwed against it. When the
lathe revolves the workman presses the blank against the die by an ordinary spinning
tool having at its end a small revolving wheel, commencing at the centre and going
all over the ornamented surface to the outer edge when the waiter will be finished
and on its being removed from the die it will be found that the original design has
been faithfully reproduced.
If the article on which the etched, chased or engraved ornamentation is required
to be reproduced is hollow, such for instance as a cup which is required to be
ornamented on the outside, I proceed as follows, and in describing this part of my
invention I will refer to the accompanying sheet of drawings, of which Fig. 1
represents a sheet metal cup ornamented by two engraved bands cut into the cup and
Fig. 2 represents a similar sheet metal cup on which the design of the cup represented
in Fig. 1 is required to be reproduced. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate this process of
reproducing the ornamentation as hereinafter described. By ordinary means I take
an electro deposit A from the outside of the cup B (Fig. 1) this deposit being made
in halves (see Fig. 3) and preferably about one sixteenth of an inch thick, the
ornamental bands standing up in relief on the inside thereof. The halves of this
deposit have now to be strengthened and rendered solid which I effect by placing
each of them in an ordinary sand or other mould and then running type metal or
other alloy round the outside merely to strengthen them, to the thickness of perhaps
an inch according to the size of the deposit. These metal strengthening parts are
respectively marked (", C. The meeting faces c¹, c² of these halves are then fitted
to each other and clamped together by a split ring having two screws, so as
together to form a complete die. A central hole d is bored and screwed in the bottom
by which, or by other means, the die is held on to the spindle of a spinning lathe to
receive rotary motion about its axis. The cup E to be ornamented is then placed in
the hollow die A and on the lathe being started the cup E is burnished by spinning
tools as above described but from the inside, the burnishing wheel passing all over the

page_text: inside of the cup, when on the cup being removed from the die it will be found to be
ornamented exactly similarly to the cup B the original design being sunk into the
metal as in the original engraved design.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:
1st. The improvements in ornamenting flat metallic surfaces herein before described
which consists in passing through rolls an etched chased or engraved hard steel plate
and a soft steel or nickel plate together one on top of the other, so that the face of
the softer plate will be ornamented in relief by being pressed into the cut away parts
of the design on the hard plate, and then passing through rolls the said plate which
is ornamented in relief (it having previously been hardened if required) together
with a softer plate, one on top of the other, on which latter the design is required to
be reproduced, so that the ornamentation in relief on the one plate will be pressed into
the face of the softer plate and so produce a copy of the etched chased or engraved
steel plate substantially as herein set forth.
2nd. The new or improved process herein before described of reproducing an interior
etched chased or engraved ornamentation from a hollow article of regular form, which
consists in taking an electro deposit from the inside of the said hollow article, then
strengthening the said deposit so as to form a die as described, and then spinning a
sheet metal blank on to the said die so as to produce a copy of the original etched chased
or engraved design substantially as described and set forth.
3rd. The new or improved process of reproducing an exterior etched chased or
engraved ornamentation from a rounded article of regular form, which consists in
taking an electro deposit in halves from the outside of the said rounded article, then
strengthening the said halves and clamping them together so as to form a hollow die
as described, and then spinning the sheet metal article to be ornamented inside the
hollow die so as to produce a copy of the original etched, chased or engraved design
substantially as described and set forth.
Dated this 26th day of August 1887.
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.