IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES AND ARTICLES, SO AS TO RENDER THE SAME CAPABLE OF BEING SUBSEQUENTLY COATED WITH METALS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES AND ARTICLES, SO AS TO
RENDER THE SAME CAPABLE OF BEING SUBSEQUENTLY COATED WITH
METALS." A communication from abroad by Armand Isidore Mahu, of
Paris, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th July 1881.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING VEGETABLE AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES AND ARTICLES, SO AS TO RENDER THE SAME CAPABLE OF BEING
SUBSEQUENTLY COATED WITH METALS." A communication from abroad by
Armand Isidore Mahu, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
This Invention relates to improvements in preparing vegetable and other natural
or artificial objects or articles, in order to render the said objects or articles
capable of being coated with metal by the ordinary processes of electro-typing
or electro-plating.
In carrying out the said Invention, the objects or articles are first immersed
in an oleaginous liquid prepared by placing, say, about four ounces of linseed or
other like oleagenous matter in about two gallons of water at a temperature of
about one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrt., for a sufficient time to extract the
oleaginous principles of the linseed oil, or of the other oleaginous substances
employed..
After immersion in this liquid or compound the articles are placed in a bath
composed of an aqueous solution containing about twenty per cent. of a nitrate,
preferably of nitrate of silver; and when the articles have been coated with this
solution thus are exposed to the action of hydro-sulphuric acid gas in order to
effect the reduction of the nitrate, which is retained on the surface of the article
by the action of the solution or oleaginous liquid or compound herein before
described. The article may then be coated or plated with metal by other ordinary.
processes of electro-plating or electro-deposition.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th January 1882.
"
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman. 'IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING VEGETABLE AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES AND ARTICLES, SO AS TO RENDER THE SAME CAPABLE OF BEING
SUBSEQUENTLY COATED WITH METALS." A communication from abroad by
Armand Isidore Mahu, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
This Invention relates to improvements in preparing vegetable and other natural
or artificial objects or articles, in order to render the said objects or articles
capable of being coated with metal by the ordinary processes of electro-typing or
electro-plating.
In carrying out the said Invention, the, objects or articles are first immersed in
a liquid solution extract or compound prepared by placing, say, about four ounces
of linseed or other like oleagenous or mucilaginous matter in about two gallons
of water at a temperature of about one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit,
for a sufficient time to extract the desired constituents of the linseed, or of the
other similar oleaginous or mucilaginous substance or matter employed.
i
After immersion in this liquid solution or extract the articles are then placed in
a bath composed of an aqueous solution containing about twenty per cent. of a
metallic nitrate, or of other soluble metallic salt which is capable of being
decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, preferably nitrate of silver, and when the
articles have been thus coated with this solution they are exposed to the action of
hydrosulphuric acid gas in order to effect the reduction and decomposition of the
metallic nitrates, or of the metallic salts employed, which have been retained on
the surface of the article by the action of the solution extract or liquid herein before
described. The articles may then be coated or plated with metal by either the
ordinary processes of electro-plating or by means of electro-deposition.
Natural flowers, leaves, grasses, and other vegetable substances when submitted
-to-the-process-herein before described-are-rendered-capable-of-being-plated-or-coated-
with metal for the purpose of employing these materials in the manufacture of
personal ornaments, such as brooches, earrings, pins, and the like, the natural shape
and beauty of the original being preserved in its integrity by this improved method
of treatment. In like manner various natural objects belonging either to the animal
or vegetable kingdom, such as flowers, leaves, grasses, or lace, or the feet of animals
and birds, for example, may be coated with metal with great facility, in order to
enable them to be employed for various decorative purposes in the manufacture of
household furniture or works of art, and various other purposes, such, for example,
as decorating picture frames, jewel caskets, candelabra, flower pots, flower baskets,
and other useful and ornamental articles.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
The preparation of vegetable and other substances and articles so as to render
them capable of receiving a metallic coating or covering by first immersing
the said substances or articles in a extract solution or compound hereinbefore
referred to, and then immersing the same in a bath of an aqueous solution of a
metallic nitrate capable of being decomposed by means of sulphuretted hydrogen,

page_text: and then subjecting the said substances or articles so treated to the action of
hydro-sulphuric acid gas, substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty seventh day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)