Improvements in and relating to the Art of Producing Transferable Designs for the Purpose of Ornamentation.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Mar., 1893-Accepted, 15th Apr., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Art of Producing Transferable
Designs for the Purpose of Ornamentation.
I, FRANCOIS SCHMALZ, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at
No. 22 West Twenty-second Street in the City, County, and State of New York,
one of the United States of America, Chemist, 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 :-
My invention relates to a process of ornamenting wood, glass, crockery, and
flexible fabrics with designs not soluble in nor affected by hot or cold water, which
process will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the
claims.
any
The object of my invention is to provide a process of ornamentation which shall
be simple and easily carried out, which shall be cheap, and by which large and
small surfaces of glass, wood, metal, flexible fabrics, and almost
material may
be successfully and satisfactorily ornamented with any desired design, in such
manner that the article may be cleansed in hot water without fear of injury to the
ornamentation, and which will not be injured by differences in temperature, or other
ordinary usage.
To this end my invention consists in forming on a suitable backing a film, soluble
in water, printing or delineating on said film the figure, representation, or object-
constituting the design, and covering said design with an elastic film, readily-
adapting itself to the swelling or shrinking of wood, and to the bending or folding
of fabrics, and not soluble in nor affected by hot or cold water, cementing said
design on to the article to be ornamented, saturating the backing, thus dissolving
the soluble film, and then removing the backing..
To carry out my invention, a suitable backing, preferably of some porous
material such as paper, is first prepared to receive the design by being covered or
washed upon one side with a solution of some varnish-like substance which is
soluble in water, preferably dextrin, so as to form a smooth coating of such water
varnish on one side of such backing. The soluble coating or film having been
allowed to become thoroughly dry, the desired design is then printed or otherwise
formed, in any desired manner, thereon. The design so formed, having become
thoroughly dry, the same, and also preferably the entire surface of the soluble
coating or film, is covered or washed with a solution of rubber, thus forming a
rubber film over the design. This rubber solution is produced by subjecting pure
india rubber divided into small pieces to the action of benzine, until the rubber is
thoroughly dissolved; and I have found by experiment that a solution of rubber
and benzine in about the proportion by weight, of one hundred parts of benzine to
four parts of rubber, is the best mixture for forming such films.
Although this film of rubber may be formed over the design in any convenient
way, I prefer to form the same thereover by flowing the soluble coated side of the
backing on which is formed the design with the liquid solution, in the same manner
as in the flowing of photographic plates with collodion, draining off the surplus,
and then allowing the film adhering to and covering the design and soluble film to
dry thereon.
When it is desired to ornament any article with such design, that portion of the
article to be ornamented with the design is coated with a cement to which the
elastic or rubber covering film will readily adhere, and which will harden and
cement such film firmly to the article. For this purpose I use a solution of gelatine
and chrome alum dissolved in hot water, of about the proportion by weight of one
hundred parts of water, twenty parts of gelatine, and two parts of chrome alum.

page_text: This solution, or liquid cement, having been spread upon the article as stated,
before the same has time to coagulate, the rubber filmed side of the design is
placed thereon, and the backing smoothly rubbed down over the same, so as to
cause such rubber film to stick to the cement at all points. After the cement has
had time to harden, the paper backing is saturated with cold water until the
dextrin or other soluble film is dissolved, when the backing may be easily removed,
and the rubber film carrying the design will be found adhering to the article, and
cemented thereto by the coating of gelatine and chrome alum, and as such coating
is insoluble in water, even when the same is highly heated, the article so ornamented
may be washed and cleansed when desired without fear of injuring the design
thereon.
When it is desired to transfer one of the designs to a flexible fabric, the operation
is precisely the same, except that the portion of such fabric which is to receive the
design is first preferably saturated with some suitable sizing, preferably with the
solution of gelatine and chrome alum above mentioned, which is allowed to
thoroughly harden before the coating of such gelatine and chrome alum, or other
suitable cement, to which the rubber film carrying the design is to be secured, is
applied thereto.
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
1. The herein described process of ornamentation, which consists in providing
sheet of paper or other suitable backing with a soluble coating or film, forming a design
upon such soluble film, covering the design with a coating or film of rubber,
coating the article to be ornamented with a solution of gelatine and chrome alum
affixing the rubber film to the coating of gelatine and chrome alum, saturating the
backing with a liquid which will dissolve the soluble filin, and removing the
backing, substantially as described.
2. A transferable design consisting of a design formed upon a soluble film
mounted upon a suitable backing, and covered with a rubber film, substantially as
described.
Dated this 14th day of March 1909
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.