IMPROVE- MENTS IN COATING AND PLATING METALS AND IN ORNAMENTING THE SAME
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Emile Eugène de Lobstein, of 2, Place Wagram,
in the City of Paris, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COATING AND PLATING METALS AND IN ORNAMENTING THE SAME."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Emile Eugène de
Lobstein at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th October 1871.
I, EMILE EUGÈNE DE LOBSTEIN, of 2, Place Wagram, in the City of
Paris, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING AND PLATING METALS AND IN ORNAMENTING THE
SAME,"
"to be as follows :-
The improvements that I have introduced into electro-chemical
processes are made with a view to obtain in the first place such ap
adhesion of the covering metal as will permit me subsequently to obtain'
a metallic adhesion upon the underlying metal by the application of
heat and without the use of any metallic or resinous preparation.

page_text: In the electro-chemical process I employ in my baths solutions much
less concentrated and consequently less costly than those heretofore
used. These solutions are alkaline and acid.
(a.) My alkaline solutions have only caustic soda as their base, in the
proportion of twelve to 14 drachms to one quart of water. This soda
serves to dissolve the cyanides and other metallic salts soluble in an
excess of soda.
(b.) My acid solutions differ in a like way from those now employed
by being less concentrated.
(c.) In order to obtain the maximum adhesion on masses of metals to
preserve them from external influences, to cover them with an alloy, or
to ornament them I employ solely the agency of electricity and not the
chemical action of a metal put in presence of another metal in a solution.
The electric current is produced outside the baths by means of piles of
large surface, and in the bath the pole or metal to be decomposed is
always of the same nature as that which is wished to be obtained. In
order subsequently to obtain a perfectly metallic adhesion between
the coating metal and underlying metal I proceed to apply heat to
them. The effects of heat combined with the intimate adhesion of
electro-chemical deposits produce a metallic union of the metals and
superficial alloying. I employ a stove in the first place to transform the
intimate adhesion of the electro-chemical coating to a metallic union of
this metal with the plated object without altering or changing its shape
but giving it new qualities. By raising the heat of the stove to the
temperature necessary to fuse the electro-chemical metal without
however exceeding the fusing point of the most fusible metal, this metal
is transformed into a new metal which has taken from the underlying
metal a sufficient quantity of its mass to form a superficial alloy. Tho
consequences of such alloying are-the appearance of the metallic bodies
on which they are formed is changed; the surfaces of the bodies are
rendered harder and better adapted to resist friction and the action of
the atmosphere and damp; the nature of their surface is modified and
made more suitable to receive precious metals. I may add that even
the most refractory metals, such as nickel or cobalt, can be employed as
electro-plating and form new alloys.
The superposition of electro-chemical deposits of various metals being
facilitated by my process it follows that I can unite and allov layers of

page_text: various metals and thus-produce a great variety of metallic combinations
and superficial alloys. I obtain results similar to those obtained by the
use of the stove by employing a gas furnace or even a naked. fire.
.
The employing heat, as previously described, in electro-plating
processes constitutes an important part of my Invention.
For the purpose of ornamenting metals treated by my electro-chemical
process I likewise apply heat to them.
•
(a.) After having submitted an object covered with a metallic deposit
to heat for a period varying according to the effect to be produced, à
superficial oxidation is formed whose tints vary with the heat employed
and the class of metal acted on.
(b.) I again submit the object treated as above to an electric current.
in the same bath as that in which the first metallic deposit was formed. :
The object is quickly scoured and the action of the current produces
a second deposit, which forms crystals remarkable for their variety, -
beauty, and brilliancy of their effects. If the object is then connected
with the opposite pole of the battery I obtain a new set of crystals. The
electric current engraves, so to speak, crystallizations, and they appear
on the surface of the metal as though they were partly in relief. The
object may then be covered with a thin layer of varnish to protect it -
from friction, damp, or acids. By my process any number of articles
can be treated at the same time.
(c.) I execute designs with part of the surface untouched or patterns
sunk on the objects so that the electro-chemical action only affects their.
contours, and I thus obtain parts dull, bright, or frosted on a large
number of articles at a time.
The ornamenting processes are applicable to tin and to metals

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Emile Eugène de Lobstein in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EMILE
EUGÈNE DE LOBSTEIN, of 2, Place Wagram, in the City of Paris,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing dato the Fourth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Emilo Eugène de Lobstein, Her
special licenso that I, the said Emile Eugène de Lobstein, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Emile Eugène
de Lobstein, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING AND PLATING. METALS AND IN ORNAMENTING THE
SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Emile
Eugène de Lobstein, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Emile Eugène de Lobstein, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in coating and plating
metals and in ornamenting the same.
The improvements are made with a view to obtain in the first place
such an adhesion of the covering metal as will permit me subsequently

page_text: application of heat.
In order to get an electro-chemical covering deposit of such thickness
and crystalline structure as to answer to the above-mentioned purpose
I have composed very dilute alkaline and acid baths. The said baths are
used cold.
My tin bath consists of one thousand parts of water, twenty-two and
a half parts of caustic soda, half a part of cyanide of potassium, and one
quarter part of tin salt.
My copper bath consists of one thousand parts of water, twenty-five
parts of cyanide of potassium, and twelve parts and a half of carbonate
of copper.
My zinc bath consists of one thousand parts of the liquid, supplied by
the renewal of the batteries, or of one thousand parts of water, and thirty
parts of sulphate of zinc produced from the batteries.
My lead bath consists of one thousand parts of water, twenty-two
parts and a half of caustic soda, and two parts and a half of the residuum
of the batteries.
For the rare or precious metals, silver, gold, nickel, bismuth, and
cobalt I use the well-known cold solutions. My battery or pile for a
five hundred gallons bath is composed (1) of a lead trough 1. 20 long,
0-80. wide, and 0.16. deep; (2) a brass sheet of 1-10. length and
0.70 width. Three wooden cross pieces of 7 centimetrès height are
placed on the said sheet. A zinc sheet 0.005 thick and 1. 10 long and
0-70 wide is placed on these wooden pieces. Afterwards the trough is
filled with 60 litres of water.
This pile works at three different stages of power of the electrical
current according to the effect I wish to produce. For the first stage it
suffices to pour into the water of the trough 400 grammes sulphuric acid
per day. For the second stage or combination I put under the zinc
sheet 1 kilogram acetate of lead mixed with three kilograms of sca
salt, and I have care that the liquid of the pile passes the zinc sheet by
three or four centimetres. The pile so disposed works during eight
consecutive days without any other ingredient with a very regular
current: For the third stage I add to the action of the acetate of lead
that of the sulphuric acid as it is said for the first stage. This pile

page_text: gives me metallic lead for the residues of acetate, and the zinc consumed
in proportion of its work done is used for the zinc baths.
In order to set my pile to work I accordingly want only trifling
quantities of acetate of lead, of sea salt, and of sulphuric acid. The
articles to be put in the baths are cleaned according to the nature of
their metal, either by immersing them in potash solution or in solutions
of sulphuric or muriatic acid. The baths are supplied with anodes of
the same metal as the covering to be obtained. As soon as the articles
put in the bath are enough covered they are withdrawn, washed with
fresh water, and carried to an ordinary stove, where they remain sub-
mitted to the degree of heat which is required for the melting of their
electro-chemical cover, which varies from five to thirty minutes. By
these means I obtain, in consequence of the melting together of the
crystalline particle which form the electro-chemical cover in its whole
depth, a cover like to that of a melted metal. If I wish to cause the
soldering of the cover with the metal underneath I raise the heat, the
metal under the cover dilating and evolving metallic vapour becomes
superficially combined with the electro-chemical covering and effects the
soldering. If I wish to obtain an alloy of two metals or more I cover
the article with different electro-chemical layers, afterwards I submit it
to the action of the heat, and the melting of the layers gives me either
various alloys or new metals adhering and soldered to the under metal.
The products of my process acquire all the qualities of a melted metal,
vidclicit, malleability, ductility, cohesiveness, &c., &c., can be softened,
polished, rolled, and worked in the same manner as if they had been
really covered with a melting metal.
I have already stated that my system makes use of heat to alter the
former constitution of the electro-chemical metal which is formed with
crystalline deposits and add to the same the very properties of melted
metal, videlicit, tenacity, ductility, and malleability, I have stated that
to attain my end I must have united in a whole certain conditions which
form together one system. Thus formation of a very small and uniform
crystalline coating to that effect I use cold baths very slightly concen-
trated batteries with a great surface which give a great electric power
and a continual and especially regular working. The chemical formula
of the constitution of my baths is therefore of an exceptional importance,
as it would be impossible to stand below that formula and also to go

page_text: beyond its small degree of concentration without obtaining bad metallic
deposits that would be injurious to the whole system.
I claim, as respects this part of my Invention, the production of
coated articles with a surface of tin, zinc, lead, copper, silver, gold,
nickel, bismuth, and cobalt, or alloys of these metals, by means
substantially as described.
Another part of my Invention relates to the production of ornamented
metallic articles by means of electricity and heat.
This is my way of operating:-The object coated (according to my
process) with a sufficient coating of metal is placed in the stove and
submitted to a temperature more or less inferior to the melting degree of
the coating metal. The coated metal, which I call hereafter subjacent
metal, and the coating one, to which I give the name of electro-chemical
metal, oxydize in this state of connexity in a different manner from that
in which they would do had each been separately submitted to the same
degree of heat. This produces, according to the degree of of temperature,
a great many different shades in the metals, moreover varying with the
metals employed. I take the object thus treated and fasten it to the
negative pole in the same bath where it has been coated up. The
electric current then gives rise to a double effect: it deoxydizes in a
symmetrical way the surface of the object and afterwards causes a second
metallic coating to be deposited, which follows the crystallizations already
formed and makes them thicker. These crystallizations always are
different consistently with the kind of metal being coated. By placing
the object under the positive pole I obtain another description of
crystallizations which appear hollow and in relievo.
Thus, I say, in
order to obtain those two kinds of ornamentation effects, up to the
present time quite unknown, which vary with the metals of which I
make use, I take the metal to be ornamented, coat it with a metallic
deposit, place it in the stove, and then again in the bath, either under
the positive or the negative pole, and as soon as there is upon it the
desired intensity of crystallization I dry it and deliver it to the trade
varnished or not. The object which I take out from the bath may be at
my pleasure entirely or partly dead or bright.
In order to have some parts dead and others bright I transfer a design
to the surface immediately after the object has been submitted to the
stove by a similar process to that used by the lithographic printers and

page_text: ware.
the china printers in order to transfer their designs to the stone or china.
The designs of said industrics being made with fat inks they
protect the metal and do not allow the electric current to deposit on the
parts of the design, and consequently those parts may remain dead or
bright at option. Also by setting on the metal a cut-out design sized
with varnish, this will form a coating on which no new deposit will be
made. In the same way, with a metallic pattern open worked I apply it
and rub in the empty spaces with a brush, or a pencil, a fat ink. This
will form a design which I shall be able to repeat indefinitely.
I claim, as respects this part, of the production of ornamented metallic
articles by means substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emile Eugene de Lobstein, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
tren
EMILE EUGÈNE DE LOBSTEIN. (L.S.)