IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY."-
Sealed the 29th May 1855, and dated the 13th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 13th December 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY'
to be as follows:-
"
The Invention communicated to me consists in producing and fixing photo-
graphic pictures upon glass, stone, porcelaine, and other substances, and in fixing
colors thereon. I pour upon a plate of glass a composition consisting of rectified
sulphuric ether, rectified alcohol, gun cotton, and bydrate of ammonia; after
leaving this layer to dry for a few seconds, the plate is plunged in a solution
composed of distilled water, crystallised nitrate of silver, and rectified alcohol,
with or without a solvent; the plate is then ready to receive the photographic

page_text: image in the usual manner; after which it is introduced into a bath composed of
filtered water, sulphate of iron, acetic & sulphuric acids. After having washed
the proof several times with fresh water, it is plunged into a bath composed of
cyanide of potassium and distilled water, and then submitted to the action
of a solution of bi-chloride of mercury, hydrochloric acid, and distilled water.
This operation being terminated, a very sharp permanent proof is obtained,
which may be separated from the glass upon which it has been made, by
plunging it during a few seconds into water & taking it off with blotting paper.
This image may be applied to a surface of any form by means of a thin layer
of gum with a solvent; it is then placed in a furnace to bake. The images
may be colored by applying vitrifyable colors, either in a state of powder or
mixed with other substances, which are also baked in.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successers, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 ex-
pressed, 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 Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Morcau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in fixing, vitrifying, and color-
ing photographic images taken by the collodion process upon enamel, metal,
stone, porcelain, glass, china, and all kinds of earthenware. The process
is as follows-Upon a plate of glass is poured a composition consisting of
rectified sulphuric ether, rectified alcohol, gun cotton, and hydrate of ammonia;
after leaving this layer to dry for a few seconds, the plate is plunged in a
solution composed of distilled water, crystallized nitrate of silver, and rectified
alcohol, with or without a solvent. The plate is then ready to receive the
photographic image in the usual manner; after which it is introduced into a
bath composed of filtered water, sulphate of iron, acetic and sulphuric acid.
After having washed the proof several times with fresh water, it is plunged
into a bath composed of cyanide of potassium and distilled water, and then
submitted to the action of a solution of bi-chloride of mercury, bydrochloric
acid, and distilled water. This operation being terminated, a very sharp per-
manent proof is obtained, which may be separated from the glass upon
which it has been made, by plunging it during a few seconds into water and
taking it off with blotting paper. This image may be applied to a surface of
metal or glass, &c. of any form by means of a thin solution of gum or other
adhesive matter; it is then submitted to the heat of a furnace employed in
the porcelain manufacture, the temperature of which must be varied according
to the fusability of the substances employed. On leaving the furnace the
images are vitrified. When hard substances are employed, such as iron,
steel, &c., it is necessary to cover them with vitrifiable colors, in order to
ensure the perfect incorporation or incrustation of the picture or image.
When the images are to be colored, it is merely necessary to apply the
vitrifiable colors by flat tints, &c.; the colors may be employed in a state of
powder, or mixed with spirits of turpentine, lavender, &c.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention communicated to
me, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down;
but what I claim is, the improved process of fixing, vitrifying, and coloring

page_text: photographic images or pictures taken by the collodion process, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day
of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)