IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF IMPRESSING DIES TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL TILES BRICKS SLABS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY
Year: 1885

page_text: E OpDIOS CO
in the Manufacture of Ornamental Tiles, Bricks, Slabs, and
other Articles made of Clay.
I RICHARD PORTER KEATES of N° 38 Frederick Road Edgbaston in the County
of Warwick Manager of Works do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF IMPRESSING DIES TO BE USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL TILES BRICKS SLABS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE
OF CLAY" to be as follows:-
The ornamentation of tiles bricks slabs and other articles made of clay has
hitherto been effected by means of hand painting the transfer of copper plate and
other printed impressions and the usual encaustic process and the employment of
moulds obtained by an electro deposit either upon a natural object such for example
as fruit or from a design previously moulded by hand. A metal casting having
been taken from the said deposit has been used as a die to impress or ornament the
tiles or other articles.
In producing according to my invention an impressing die to be used for
ornamenting tiles bricks slabs and other articles made of clay I take a photo-
graphic negative of the natural object or design to be impressed on the tile or
article or a gelatine print of the same in relief or intaglio and the negative or
gelatine print having been treated with a hardening solution as is well understood.
I give to the hardened film an electrical conducting surface by means of plumbago
bronze powder or any other of the well know materials used for that purpose.
The hardened negative or print thus obtained and treated has a deposit preferably
of copper made upon it by the ordinary and well known process of electrotyping.
The electro deposit is removed from the gelatine negative or print and by means
of melted tin run into the back of it or by means of other backing the deposit is
made sufficiently strong to be used as a die for impressing tiles and other articles
of clay whether made from dry clay or wet plastic clay. By the use of the said
die the photograph from which the die was produced will be reproduced either
in relief or intaglio upon the tiles or other clay articles. Due allowance must
be made in the size of the die for the contraction which the firing produces in the
tile or other article. The flowing of the glaze greatly heightens the effect of the

page_text: impressed ornament on the tile or other article. When a number of similar dies
are required they may be obtained by taking casts in wax or plaster of Paris and
obtaining electro deposits from them. The necessity of separate photographic films
is thereby obviated."
As the gelatine negative or print employed has been obtained by means of the
camera obscura the size of the object or ornament may be varied to any required
extent that is it may be larger than or of the same size as or less than the object
or ornament itself so that dies made according to my invention may have any
required size without the necessity of remodelling which is ordinarily resorted to
and which cannot reproduce the enlargement or reduced design with the same
fidelity as the camera-obscura.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Production of Impressing Dies to be Used
in the Manufacture of Ornamental Tiles, Bricks, Slabs, and
other Articles made of Clay.
I RICHARD PORTER KEATES of N° 38 Frederick Road, Edgbaston in the County
of Warwick, Manager of Works do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF IMPRESSING DIES TO BE USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL TILES, BRICKS, SLABS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE
OF CLAY and in what manner the same is to be perforined to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
22
The ornamentation of tiles bricks slabs and other articles made of clay has
hitherto been effected by means of hand painting, the transfer of copper plate and
other printed impressions and the usual encaustic process and the employment of
moulds obtained by an electro deposit either upon a natural object such for
example as fruit, or from a design previously moulded by hand. A metal casting
having been taken from the said deposit has been used as a die to impress or
ornament the tiles or other articles.
In producing according to my invention an impressing die to be used for
ornamenting tiles, bricks, slabs and other articles made of clay, I take a photo-
graphic negative of the natural object or design to be impressed on the tile or
article, or a gelatine print of the same in relief or intaglio and the negative or
gelatine print having been treated with a hardening solution as is well understood
I give to the hardened film an electrical conducting surface by means of plumbago,
bronze powder or any other of the well known materials used for that purpose.
The hardened negative or print thus obtained and treated has a deposit preferably

page_text: of copper made upon it by the ordinary and well known process of electrotyping.
The electro deposit is removed from the gelatine negative or print and by means of
melted tin run into the back of it or by means of other backing, the deposit is
made sufficiently strong to be used as a die for impressing tiles and other articles
of clay whether made from dry clay or wet plastic clay. By the use of the said
die the photograph from which the die was produced will be reproduced either in
relief or intaglio upon the tiles or other clay articles. Due allowance must be made
in the size of the die for the contraction which the firing produces in the tile or
other article.
The flowing of the glaze greatly heightens the effect of the impressed ornament
on the tile or other article.
When a number of similar dies are required they may be obtained by taking
casts in wax or plaster of Paris and obtaining electro deposits from them. The
necessity of separate photographic films is thereby obviated.
As the gelatine negative or print employed has been obtained by means of the
camera obscura, the size of the object or ornament may be varied to any required
extent, that is, it may be larger than or of the same size as or less than the object
or ornament itself so that dies made according to my invention may have any
required size without the necessity of remodelling which is ordinarily resorted to
and which cannot reproduce the enlarged or reduced design with the saine fidelity
as.the camera-obscura.
I will now proceed to give such details as are necessary for the practical
carrying out of my invention. I take by means of a camera-obscura a photographic
negative of the object, design, tracing or drawing from which an impressing die is
to be prepared. Or I take a photographic positive obtained from the negative
produced by the camera obscura. In taking these photographs I employ the
apparatus, materials and processes ordinarily employed and which_constituting no
part of my invention I do not consider it necessary to describe. By means of the
photograph obtained in the camera-obscura I obtain an impression on a sensitive
film of gelatine supported on glass. I prefer to use gelatine sensitised with
bichromate of ammonia and bichromate of potash in the proportion of from ten
to twenty five parts by weight of the bichromate or mixture of bichromates
employed, to one hundred parts by weight of the gelatine employed. I obtain an
impression on the sensitised gelatine by placing upon it the photograph obtained
by means of the camera-obscura and exposing it to light as in the ordinary method
of obtaining positive photographs from negatives. After the gelatine film has been
impressed by exposure to light it is washed in water and kept immersed in water
for a period of from three to twenty four hours or until the gelatine in those parts
unacted upon by the light have swelled to the extent sufficient to produce a mould
of the required depth. The gelatine film is then immersed in a weak solution of
one part by weight of alum to eight parts by weight of water. The film is left in
this solution during about half an hour. The film is thereby hardened. It is
subsequently immersed for fifteen minutes in a mixture of five parts by volume of
glycerine to ten parts by volume of water. The surface of the gelatine film is after-
wards made an electric conductor by means of bronze powder or plumbago or other
electric conductor which can be readily applied and a metallic deposit preferably of
copper is made upon it by the ordinary and well known electrotype process. After
the electro deposit has become sufficiently thick to be safely removed from the film,
it is removed and strengthened by melted tin or lead applied to its back and is
then ready to be used as a die.
It will be understood that when a negative photograph is employed to produce
the mould the design will be in relief and that when a positive photograph is
employed the design will be sunken or intaglio.
When a hand made design or drawing on paper or other transparent material is
employed to make a die from, the said drawing or design may be applied directly
to the gelatine film in the same way as a photograph obtained in the camera
obscura but the light and shade will be inverted.

page_text: When it is required that the light and shade shall not be inverted a negative
must be taken from the drawing or design by the ordinary process of contact
printing. Where several similar impressing dies are required the original die
obtained by means of gelatine may have a mould taken of it and any number of
impressing dies may be taken from the mould, thus avoiding the necessity of
preparing more than one gelatine film,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention I wish it to be understood that what I claim is
The production of impressing dies to be used in the manufacture of ornamental
tiles bricks slabs and other articles made of clay by taking a photographic negative
whether obtained in the camera-obscura or by contact printing, of the object or
design to be impressed on the tiles or articles inade of clay; or a photographic
print or positive from such a negative and obtaining a gelatine mould or impression
therefrom and treating the gelatine mould or impression in the manner herein-
before described; making the surface of the said gelatine mould or impression an
electric conductor and taking an electro deposit therefrom the said deposit being
strengthened at back substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this Eighth day of December 1885.