IMPROVEMENTS IN PAINTS OR PIGMENTS AND VEHICLES, AND IN MODES OF APPLYING PAINTS, PIGMENTS, AND VEHICLES
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FRANCIS
GYBBON SPILSBURY, of Wallsall, Staffordshire, Chemist, MARIE FRANCOISE
CATHERINE DOETZER CORBAUX, of Upper Norton Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Artist, and ALEXANDER SAMUEL BYRNE, of Montague Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventh day of October, in the third year of Her reign,-did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Francis
Gybbon Spilsbury, Marie Francoise Catherine Doetzer Corbaux, and Alexander
Samuel Byrne, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that we, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Marie Francoise Catherine
Doetzer Corbaux, and Alexander Samuel Byrne, our exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Marie
Francoise Catherine Doetzer Corbaux, and Alexander Samuel Byrne, our
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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PAINTS OR PIGMENTS AND VEHICLES, AND IN MODES OF APPLYING PAINTS, PIGMENTS,
AND VEHICLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we,
the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Marie Francoise Catherine Doetzer

page_text: Corbaux, and Alexander Samuel Byrne, or some or one of us, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, 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 by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the
said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Marie Francoise Catherine Doetzer Cor-
baux, and Alexander Samuel Byrne, do hereby declare the nature of our
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):
In preparing and applying paints or pigments and vehicles, as at present
generally practised, for painting or coating surfaces therewith, various vehicles
are employed, and when it is intended that the pigments or paints should be
so fixed as to allow of being cleaned by washing with soap and water, the
pigments employed are mixed with oil or spirit, or with oil or spirit varnishes,
and it may be remarked that from the circumstance of employing the above-
mentioned vehicles, many of the cheaper pigments, such as earths and others,
cannot be used with advantage. And pigments are also often employed mixed
with gelatine or size, and known as water colors, coloring and distempering ;
but when such mode of employing pigments is resorted to, owing to the
vehicle being soluble in water, the paints, when applied to surfaces, are not so
fixed as to allow of washing with water or with soap and water, as practised
when cleaning paints prepared with oils, or spirits, or varnishes, produced
therewith; consequently, although by such means of employing soluble vehicles
cheap as well as other pigments may be employed, yet owing to these not
being so fixed as to allow of cleaning, such application of paints or of pig-
ments is not suitable for the better class of painting nor for the use of artists.
We would here, however, remark that we are aware that it has been proposed
to first coat over floors and other surfaces with pigments or paints combined
with gelatine or size, or with paste, and then to apply one or more coatings of
drying oils or oils mixed with varnish; but we are not aware of the same
having been performed to any extent or to any considerable advantage. We
have thought it desirable thus to call attention to the means of preparing
paints or pigments and vehicles, and to the modes of applying the same now
known and in use, in order that the peculiar nature of our Invention may be
readily understood and distinguishable from peviously known means of pre-

page_text: paring pigments or paints and vehicles, and of the means of applying them.
Now, the object of our Invention, whether in preparing pigments or paints
and vehicles or in the mode of applying them, relates to means of using
soluble vehicles for applying paints or pigments, which vehicles, by an after
application of chemical agents or reagents, are rendered insoluble in water,
and will thus allow of paints or pigments so applied and so fixed to be
afterwards washed, in order to clean them, and will, at the same time, admit
of paints or pigments and vehicles so employed being applied for the most
elegant purposes of house and such like painting, and also to the purposes of
the artist, and for printing paper and other fabrics, and at the same time in
their use they will not emit that disagreeable smell consequent on using oils
or spirits, or varnishes, produced therewith combined with paints or pigments.
In painting there are few of the coloring matters or pigments used as a single
pigment, but they are used as coloring substances to what may be called a
body pigment, and in most instances white lead (carbonate of lead) is used
when oils or spirits or varnishes prepared with them are the vehicles, and the
colored pigments are mixed therewith, in order to produce the color or tint
of color desired, and in the quantity desired; hence, in any mode of com-
pounding pigments for the purposes of being applied as paint, it is important
to have a good and cheap white pigment, which can be obtained in large
quantities, and we prefer for such purposes sulphate of lime, sulphate
of barytes, argillaceous earths, or other white pigments may be used;
which should be free from iron, and we compound with the white pig-
ment the colored pigments, in order to produce the color or the tint of
color desired in the same manner as heretofore practised. The Invention
relating to modes of applying certain well-known chemical actions to the
purposes of the art of painting, it will now be desirable shortly to explain the
principles of action which are brought about in carrying out our Invention,
in order that the rationale of the working of our improvements may be readily
understood. It is well known that many chemical agents or reagents when
brought in contact with gelatine or with albumen in solution coagulates them,
and such coagulated substances when dry are insoluble, and such is the case
with other matters hereafter described, which, as well as gelatine and albunien,
we employ as the soluble vehicles for mixing with pigments in order to their
being used as paints, and by the subsequent application of chemical agents
or reagents, such vehicles are rendered insoluble, and the paints or pigments
employed fixed or set.
Having thus called attention to the general nature of the Invention, we will

page_text: proceed to be more particular in describing the processes of preparing
paints or pigments and vehicles, and of their combination, in order
to their being in a proper state to be kept prepared, and allow of
being transported from place to place, and we will first describe the
process of preparing a white pigment in combination with gelatine, adding
such preservative means as will keep the gelatine from decomposition, and
thus allow of the same when mixed and ground with pigments, to keep for
a very considerable length of time. When using gelatine as the soluble
vehicle, we prefer to employ alum as the fixing means, in consequence of its
cheapness, and being as we believe the best of the chemical agents which are
capable of rendering gelatine insoluble in water; at the same time we do not
confine ourselves thereto, and it should be stated that as most of the paints
or pigments will be found to be more or less acted on by the chemical agent
or reagent employed for fixing or rendering the soluble vehicle insoluble, it
is important that the pigment employed should be first subjected to the action
of the chemical agent to be afterwards used in fixing the vehicle or paint;
thus, supposing the pigment intended to be used be an earth, and the chemical
agent alum, then we submit the earth to the action of alam by mixing and
washing it with a cold saturated solution of alum, and subsequently by
repeated washings to remove the undecomposed alum therefrom, and it will
then be in a proper state to be ground up with the gelatine and water in the
same way as pigments or paints are usually ground. We employ small pug
mills for the purpose of mixing, and if for immediate use it must be reduced
to the proper consistence with soft water, and will then be laid on to the
surface or surfaces in like manner to ordinary paints, each coat being allowed
to dry before another is laid on, and when one, two, or more coats have
been applied according to the desire or judgment of the painter or artist, and
is become dry, the same is to be fixed by applying a cold saturated solu-
tion of alum, or such other chemical agent as may have been determined on;
by this means the paint on the surface will be fixed and insoluble in water.
Thus, surfaces may be painted in the most finished and elegant manner, and
it is only requisite to remark, that in using colored pigments they also should
be first treated with the alum or chemical agent to be employed in fixing the
vehicle as above described, in order to prevent any prejudicial action-taking
place in respect to the color and to the pigment itself, which in many cases
would be the case, should such pigments be used without preparation, and
subsequently brought in contact with the chemical agent used to fix the paint.
It will be seen that so far as the simple compounding or mixing pigments

page_text: with gelatine, when to be immediately used in carrying out our Invention, is
similar to the ordinary means now resorted to in coloring or distempering ;
but it will be found that in order to carry out our Invention in the most
finished manner, a much larger proportion of gelatine is required, and we
shall hereafter give such information as to the relative quantities as we have
found most advantageous; and our Invention, so far as relates to the descrip-
tion above given, consists in the mode of treating the pigments employed
with the chemical agent as a preparatory process, before mixing the gelatine,
and the important process of rendering the gelatine of the mixture or com-
pound after the same is laid on to surfaces insoluble by means of alum or
other chemical agent. And we would remark that albumen may be used
in place of gelatine or in conjunction therewith, and we recommend the use
of albumen for the purposes of the artist, where the cost will not be con-
sidered an object; yet for general purposes we recommend gelatine in
consequence of the same being much less costly.
We will now describe such mixtures or compounds as we have found.to
answer, and believe will be found to be the best preparation of paint or
pigment when desired to be kept.
WHITE PAINT.
Take 160 lbs. of sulphate of lime, or sulphate of barytes or white earth,
well washed in order to separate all foreign matters, as is well understood,
and which has been treated with the chemical agent as above explained;
mix therewith about 20 lbs. of solid gelatine, and about 14 lbs. of sulphate of
zinc, or other suitable material to preserve the gelatine from decomposition,
may be used dissolved in 160 lbs. of warm water. The state in which we
prepare this compound is that of very thick paste, which we pack in small
casks, or the compound may be dried with or without sulphate of zinc or other
preservative, or the dry pigment may be prepared or mixed with dry gelatine
or albumen, but we prefer the semi-fluid or very thick pasty state, which is
a very convenient one for transport. It should, however, be remarked, that if
albumen be employed, sulphate of zinc is not to be used. We would remark
that we do not claim the application of sulphate of zinc or any other of the
known modes for preserving animal matter from decomposition generally, the:
same not being new in itself, and we only employ such mode or modes when:
compounding pigments with gelatine, or when preparing gelatine for the purpose-
of being used in compounding paints and pigments, in order to preserve the
gelatine that the prepared pigments and vehicles may be transported from

page_text: place to place, and keep good for a considerable length of time, and the use
of sulphate of zinc otherwise improves the quality and increases the durability
of the paint when applied. It should be stated that the means of preserving
gelatine heretofore most generally practised in order to its keeping for some
time, videlicet, sulphurous acid, acetic acid, and alum, are not proper for
the purposes of our Invention, and therefore are not to be used; but in
employing preservatives to gelatine, it must be done in reference to the
fixing process, after application to surfaces as herein described. And we use,
by preference, sulphate of zinc, or other soluble salts of zinc, the soluble
salts of magnesia, the soluble salts of lead. In case the pigment is to be
tinted or colored, then the white pigment employed is to have colored
pigments combined, or intimately mixed therewith, in order to produce the
tint of color desired, unless the colored pigments by themselves are to be
employed, which is seldom the case in coloring or painting; and such colored
pigments are to be first treated with a cold saturated solution of alum or
other material, to be afterwards employed in fixing the soluble vehicle by
rendering it insoluble. It may be desirable to remark that we have found
that some specimens of pigments have not required any previous preparation,
whilst others from the same place have been prejudicially acted on when used
without previous preparation or treatment by the chemical agent to be after-
wards used; under these circumstances, we have found it desirable, as the
trouble and cost is but small, to prepare all the pigments we employ by first
subjecting them to the action of alum or other material afterwards to be used
in fixing, by rendering the vehicle employed insoluble. And we would remark
that the mere rendering gelatine and albumen insoluble by alum or other
known chemical means forms no part of our Invention; and as the chemical
agents which so act are known to chemists, and as we, in carrying out our
Invention, have, as before described, used alum when gelatine or albumen is
used for the vehicle, and believe it to be the best for the purpose, we have not
thought it necessary to enter more at large into the chemical matters which are
capable of rendering gelatine and albumen insoluble; yet, as other persons
may consider it desirable to employ other chemical agents, we recommend
that whatever be the agent employed, the pigment and vehicle should be
tested by it by applying a small-quantity of them to a surface in order to
ascertain whether it will retain its property of fixing, and not have any
prejudicial action in respect to the pigment or vehicle when combined, or to
the color thereof.
Another part of our Invention relates to a like mode of employing other

page_text: soluble vehicles for pigments, in which the vehicles are to be afterwards.
rendered insoluble by alum or other known chemical reagents, and this part of
the Invention relates to the employment of resinous matters dissolved in a
solution of borax, or in an alkaline ley; and this part of the Invention also
relates to the employment of wax dissolved in an alkaline ley. As an example
of the former, we take well bleached shell-lac, and combine it with borax in
the proportion of about five pounds of the former to one pound of the latter.
These are boiled until dissolved in about four gallons of water; with this
vehicle the pigments required are to be ground to the proper consistency of
paint, which is to be laid on in the usual way, one or more coats as required,
and when dry it is to be washed over with a solution of alum or other
chemical agent which is known to destroy the combination of the lac and the
borax, rendering the lac insoluble. As an example of the second vehicle, we
take a ley of caustic soda, specific gravity 104, to which we add an equal weight.
of white wax as of ley. This mixture is boiled several hours, adding half a
gallon of water to every pound of wax after the solution is effected.
And we
prefer to add four pounds of dry starch, calcined or uncalcined, to each pound
of wax. To this vehicle is to be added as much of such pigments, which by
previous test are not acted upon prejudicially by an alkaline solution, as shall
bring it to the consistency of honey. Reduce this mixture to a proper state
for painting by the addition of soft water, the softer the better, and when the
surface painted with it is dry, wash over as before with a solution of alum or
other chemical agent which is known to destroy the combination of wax and
an alkali, leaving the wax insoluble in water. It is obvious that the above
vehicles may be used in combination with each other as well as separately.
Another mode of employing gelatine and the other vehicles described for
fixing paints or pigments is to apply a coating of either of the vehicles over a
painted or printed surface, and then subsequently fixing the vehicles by
a chemical solution, as above described; by this means paints or pigments
may be set without the necessity of putting the above mentioned vehicles in the
paint or pigment before using the same.
Another form of our Invention is to mix pigments with sulphate of zinc or
other preservative material as described above, but without any vehicle,
directing the painter to supply the necessary gelatine; the object of this mode
is to enable the mixture with gelatine when made to keep a reasonable time
in hot weather, at the same time that, not being mixed till wanted, the pigments
can be kept an unlimited time; this mode of preparation is particularly appli-
'cable for hot climates.
We would, in conclusion, remark that we believe that

page_text: the best vehicles to be employed are gelatine and albumen, and, as above
stated, that the best chemical agent known for rendering the soluble vehicles
herein described insoluble is alum.
It may be desirable to state that pigments and vehicles treated according to
our Invention are applicable in printing and painting paper and other fabrics
as well as other surfaces, using pigments and vehicles according to our Inven-
tion in place of pursuing the means heretofore resorted to, and we have found
that in using a solution of alum as the fixing material that it is desirable to
apply a small quantity of dissolved starch, say a hundredth part of the solution,
by which the same will work better, and not be liable to run when laying
it on.
Another part of our Invention relates to a mode of applying certain
vegetable matters in the preparations and application of paints or pigments.
For this part of our Invention the glutinous or adhesive products of vegetable
matters generally will do, but we prefer gluten, albumen, gums, mucilage;
these may be used either separate or in combination with other products
usually found therewith.
For example, we take flour mixed with water in such proportions as to
form when boiled a mixture about the consistency of cream; with this liquid
the pigment is to be ground to the state of paint with or without sulphate of
zinc or other preservative, as described in the preceding part of our Speci-
fication.
This paint or pigment if necessary is to be reduced with water, and is to be
laid on in the usual manner, and when dry may according to our Invention be
fixed by an application of a suitable chemical agent or reagent. We prefer
silicate of potassa or of soda, commonly called liquor of flint, or other chemical
agent known to render such vegetable products insoluble in water, and we
would remark that we dilute the liquor of flint as much as possible, so long as
the liquor will have the desired effect of fixing and rendering the paint on the
surface insoluble by water, which is readily tested by laying a small quantity
of the pigment or paint prepared with a soluble vehicle intended to be used,
and when dry by applying the liquor, and letting the same dry for forty-eight
hours, when by washing the surface it will be seen whether the strength of the
liquor used-has-been sufficient, and if so the same strength of liquor will do for
the same pigment or paint and vehicle.
.
We will give another mode of carrying out this part of our Invention with
effect. We take any quantity of tragacanth dissolved, of the consistency of
linseed oil, which we mix with as strong a solution of silicate of potassa or of

page_text: soda which by previous test is not found to injure the color to be employed;
with this mixture the paint or pigment is to be brought to a proper consistency
for working and then applied in the usual way to surfaces, and when well dried
the same will allow of being washed and cleansed, owing to the paint on the
surface being insoluble in water.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise quantities described, as they may be varied, but we
have given the best preparations according to our present experience.
And we would have it understood that what we claim is, first, the mode of
employing paints or pigments and soluble vehicles, gelatine and albumen, by
afterwards rendering such paints or pigments and vehicles insoluble, as
above described.
Secondly, we claim as a new manufacture, the combining pigments with
gelatine and albumen in a dry mass or in a paste with suitable materials for
preserving the latter from decomposition, in order to allow of keeping the
paints or pigments so prepared in order to their being transported from place
to place, and only require to be rendered liquid by hot soft water for use
when gelatine is employed as the vehicle, and cold soft water when albumen
is employed.
Thirdly, we claim as a new manufacture the mode of preparing pigments
with resinous matters, or wax dissolved in an alkaline ley or solution of borax
made into a thick paste (or dry), and thus to allow of the prepared pigments
being transported from place to place and only requiring hot soft water to
liquify it for use.
Fourthly, we claim the mode herein described of applying pigments, paints,
and soluble vehicles, wax or resinous matter dissolved in an alkaline ley or
borax, by afterwards rendering such paints or pigments and vehicles insoluble,
as above described.
Fifthly, we claim the mode of combining of soluble salts of zinc, magnesia,
and lead with gelatine, in order to preserve the same.
Sixthly, we claim the mode of combining of soluble salts of zinc, magnesia,
and lead combined with pigments, as herein described.
Seventhly, we claim the mode herein described of preparing and applying
paints or pigments and vegetable products, by rendering such paints or
pigments and vehicles insoluble, as above described.
Eighthly, we claim the combining pigments with vegetable products and
preserving materials, as above described.

page_text: And, lastly, we claim the mode of preparing pigments or paints and
vegetable products with silicate of potassa or soda, or other materials having
the property of rendering the painted surface insoluble in water, as above
described.
In witness whereof, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Marie Francoise 5
Catherine Doetzer Corbaux, and Alexander Samuel Byrne, have
hercunto set our hands and seals, this Seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.