IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SLATE AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS TO BE AFTERWARDS ENAMELLED.
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Smith Gee, of the Atlas Steam Slate and
Marble Works, in the City of Gloucester, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SLATE AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS TO BE
AFTERWARDS ENAMELLED.'
"
Sealed the 5th September 1868, and dated the 16th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Smith Gee at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th March 1868.
I, JOSEPH SMITH GEE, of the Atlas Steam Slate and Marble Works,
in the City of Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SLATE AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS
TO BE AFTERWARDS ENAMELLED," to be as follows:-
Instead of ornamenting the surface of slate, marble, and such like
materials by means of colors applied or laid on by hand artistically, or
printed or stamped on by means of blocks, I employ the following means
or method of producing the required effects :-I first prepare the design
correctly, in accordance with the effect desired to be produced, upon a
sheet of prepared or "lithographic transfer" paper, or paper cloth or

page_text: other suitable material prepared on one side or face thereof for the
purpose of receiving the colors which are afterwards intended to be
removed therefrom in a body. The surface of the slate or other material
to be ornamented having been cleaned and prepared to receive the
colored ornamentation the sheet of prepared paper cloth or other fabric
having the surface of the design coated with a thin layer of cement or
adhesive liquid is then applied to the surface to which the ornamentation
is to be transferred, and upon the application of friction and pressure
to the back of the sheet, with the aid of water or other liquid to
discharge the color from the sheet, the colored design is transferred.
The slate, marble, or other material thus treated is then stoved, and
the color or colors having been thoroughly dried the surface is afterwards
coated with varnish and again subjected to heat for several hours, and
may be repeatedly varnished and stoved alternately, and finally polished
in the manner at present practised in producing enamelled slate.
In applying the colors to the prepared sheet the rotation or order is
reversed, so as to produce the required effect when the colors are
transferred to the surface of the slate or other material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Smith Gee in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SMITH GEE, of the Atlas Steam Slate and Marble Works, in the City of
Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Smith Gee, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Smith Gee, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Smith Gee, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the

page_text: "
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORNAMENTING SLATE AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS TO BE AFTERWARDS ENAMELLED,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Smith Gee,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Smith Gee, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
Instead of ornamenting the surface of slate, marble, and such like
material by means of colors applied or laid on by hand artistically, or
printed or stamped on by means of blocks, I employ the following
means or method of producing the required effects:-I first prepare the
design correctly, in accordance with the effect desired to be produced,
upon a sheet of prepared or lithographed transfer paper, or paper cloth
or other suitable material prepared on one side or face thereof, for the
purpose of receiving the colors which are afterwards intended to be
removed therefrom in a body. The surface of the slate or other material
to be ornamented having been cleaned and prepared to receive the
colored ornamentation the sheet of prepared paper cloth or other fabric
or material having the surface of the design first coated with a thin layer
of cement or adhesive liquid is then applied to the surface to which the
ornamentation is to be transferred, and upon the application of friction
and pressure to the back of the sheet with the aid of water or other
liquid to discharge the colored design or ornamentation from the sheet,
the colored design is readily transferred. The slate, marble, or other
material treated is then stoved or baked, and the color or colors having
been thoroughly dried and hardened, the surface is afterwards coated
with varnish and again subjected to heat during a sufficient period.
When prepared it may be repeatedly varnished and stoved alternately,
and finally polished in the manner at present practised in producing
enamelled slate.
In applying the colors to the prepared sheet the rotation or order is

page_text: transferred to the surface of the slate or other material. And for the
production of the necessary designs upon the sheets of material wood
block printing in combination with suitable colors is preferred.
The following is the mode in which I proceed to put my Invention
into practice for ornamenting panels for rooms and for other purposes,
and for chimney pieces, mantle shelves, and other articles having a
considerable area or surface to be ornamented. I prefer that the slate
or other substance to be enamelled and ornamented after being made
into the required form or shape shall be first coated with paint of a
suitable color for the ground of the design and then placed in a stove or
oven heated to a suitable temperature, and there dried, which is operation
is repeated as may be required and the variety of colour which may be
required in the ordinary enamelling process is projected on to it. After
being again stoved or dried it is coated with varnish and again dried,
which operations are repeated as often as may be required; it is then
rubbed with pumice stone to remove any inequalities and make a level
or uniform face, and the design which has been already prepared on the
paper or other suitable material prepared as herein-before described for
the process is then coated with cement or varnish on its face and applied
to the face of the material to be ornamented, and it is then dried; the
paper (where paper is used) is then moistened on the back to soften it
so that it can be readily removed or peeled off leaving the colors used
in forming the design on the face of the object to be ornamented. It is
then placed again in the stove to harden, and is afterwards coated with
transparent varnish and again dried, the process being repeated until the
required thickness is obtained. After being rubbed smooth in the
ordinary manner a final coat of transparent varnish is put on, and dried
or hardened in the stove, and finally polished with rottenstone or other
suitable material and rubbed with the naked hand.
The foregoing description is the method I usually employ in orna-
menting and enamelling slate and such like materials, intended to be
employed for such purposes as chimney pieces and the like. Rounded,
hollow, or moulded surfaces, as well as flats or planes, may be thus
ornamented with great facility, and whether the ornamentation be of the
simplest character or of the most elaborate enrichments the ease and
facility with which the transfers are effected renders the process
applicable to large surfaces of slate and other material used in building
and for other purposes.

page_text: I am aware that small articles of various kinds intended to be used as
drawing room table ornaments or employed for ornamental purposes,
or for personal use or wear have heretofore been ornamented by what is
known as the "Decalcomanie process," though such applications have
been chiefly resorted to as an amusement or pastime, and have been
limited to portable articles and exclusively to articles that have not
required enamelling, or that could not have undergone and withstood the
repeated processes of stoving and polishing or enamelling.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the mode
or manner in which I prefer to put the same in practice, what I claim
is,―
First. The improvements in ornamenting slate and such like materials
to be afterwards enamelled, as herein described.
Second. The mode or method herein described of ornamenting and
enamelling slate and such like materials intended to be employed for
architectual and other similar purposes.
Third. The mode or method herein described of adapting and
applying the transfer process as herein set forth in combination with
repeated and alternated stoving and polishing, in the manner and for
the purposes herein described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Smith Gee, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
5 Witness,
W. FREDERIC ROGERS,
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand.
JOSEPH SMITH GEE. (L.S.)