IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING GLASS AND SHEET GELATINE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Nall, of No. 1, Wharf Street, Leicester,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING GLASS AND SHEET
GELATINE."
Scaled the 19th April 1864, and dated the 28th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Nall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
October 1863.
I, WILLIAM NALL, of No. 1, Wharf Street, Leicester, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING GLASS AND SHEET,
GELATINE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ornamenting glass and
sheet gelatine, and consists in combining the use of shell with paint and
transparent varnishes and gold or other metal leaf in producing marbled.
surfaces on glass or sheet gelatine. For these purposes a ground of black or
any desired color or varnish is first applied to the back surface of a sheet of
glass or gelatine; the veins are then wiped out or otherwise produced, and.
such parts are, if required, tinted with colored paint or varnish, leaving
however parts of the veins uncovered with the paint or colored varnish or
varnishes; after which the veined parts are coated with transparent varnish ;
on this varnish shell is sprinkled or laid, which adheres to the transparent
varnish. These surfaces are then again coated with transparent varnish on

page_text: which gold or other metal leaf is laid or sprinkled, and then a coating of body
or dark paint or varnish is applied. By these means very varied and
beautiful devises of marbling may be produced on the back of sheets of glass
or gelatine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Nall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NALL, of No. 1, Wharf Street, Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Nall, Her special licence that I, the
said William Nall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Nall, 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 ORNAMENTING GLASS AND SHEET GELATINE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Nall, 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 William Nall, 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 ornamenting glass and
sheet gelatine, and consists in combining the use of shell with paint and
transparent varnishes and gold or other metal leaf in producing marbled
surfaces on glass or sheet gelatine. For these purposes a ground of black or

page_text: any desired color or varnish is first applied to the back surface of a sheet of
glass or gelatine; the veins are then wiped out or otherwise produced, and
such parts are, if required, tinted with colored paint or varnish, leaving
however parts of the veins uncovered with the paint or colored varnish or
varnishes; after which the veined parts are coated with transparent varnish;
on this varnish shell is sprinkled or laid, which adheres to the transparent
varnish. These surfaces are then again coated with transparent varnish on
which gold or other metal leaf is laid or sprinkled, and then a coating of body
or dark paint or varnish is applied. By these means very varied and.
beautiful devices of marbling may be produced on the back of sheets of glass
or gelatine.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner in which I prefer to proceed in carrying out my
Invention.
The glass or gelatine is covered upon one surface only with a ground of any
distinct color or mixture of colors, and representations of marbled or such like
veins are produced upon the glass either by leaving various parts untouched
when laying on the ground, which may be effected by stencilling or otherwise,
or after the surface of the glass has. been coated with a ground of color, parts
of the ground may be wiped out while the color is wet. The clear parts so
produced are, when the color is set, polished or rubbed if required, or such
parts may be left without being polished or rubbed according to the effect
required; these clear parts or veins are then colored or tinted in different
parts with various transparent or other colors to give additional effect; these
tinted and clear parts are then gone over with transparent varnish. Small
pieces of shell are then sprinkled or laid upon the clear parts or veins at the
back of the varnish just mentioned, the said varnish causing the shell to
adhere to the surface of the glass or gelatine; another coat of clear varnish is
then put over the pearl or shell. The pieces of shell I prefer to obtain from
the ordinary pearl shells of cominerce or from the refuse pieces thrown away
by pearl cutters, pearl button makers, and others. In order to divide the
shell into as many flakes as possible before sprinkling or laying it on to the
glass or gelatine, I prefer to heat the pieces of shell in an oven or by other
ineans. After the shell has been thus heated it can be readily divided into
numerous flakes; the pearl or shell may, however, be divided up into flakes
in any suitable manner. Leaf gold or any other leaf metal is then placed at
the back of the pearl, covering both the pearl and the gaps left between the
pearl, and adhering to the last-mentioned varnish; the whole is now backed
with a mixture of varnish and white lead, or any other preservative backing.

page_text: In cases where it is required to use gold leaf economically it may be applied
in the following manner:-After portions of the clear parts above mentioned
have been tinted or colored, as previously described, the tinted and clear parts
are touched with gold size in the places where the gold is required to be, the
gold leaf is then placed upon those parts, and the surplus wiped off. The
tinted and clear parts are then coated with varnish, and the pearl applied to
the glass, as above described.
Sheets of glass or gelatine ornamented in the manner above described are
useful for various decorative purposes; amongst others, for the decoration of
theatres, music halls, and other buildings; also for show boards, furniture,
shop fronts, and panel work generally. It may also be used for the ornamen-
tation of articles of japanned ware and of fancy boxes of every description, and
may also be used for many other decorative purposes.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
combining the use of shell with paint and transparent varnishes and gold or
other metal leaf in producing marbled or such like surfaces on glass or sheet
gelatine.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Nall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM NALL. (L.S.)