CERTAIN NEW METHODS OF MAKING SHOE, KNEE, STOCK, AND OTHER BUCKLES, OF SILVER OR OTHER METALS, AND OF COVERING THE SURFACES OF COPPER, OR OTHER METALS, WITH SILVER, GOLD, OR MIXTURES OF SILVER OR GOLD WITH OTHER METALS, WHICH OPERATION IS COM- MONLY CALLED PLATING
Year: 1785

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PLAYFAIR, of Howland Street, in the Parish of Saint Pancras, in the County
of Middlesex, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the twenty-fifth year of
His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said William Playfair, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Playfair, my exors, adiñňors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the
term of years therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and vend, throughout
that part of Great Britain called England, His Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN NEW METHODS OF
MAKING SHOE, KNEE, STOCK, AND OTHER BUCKLES, OF SILVER OR OTHER METALS,
AND OF COVERING THE SURFACES OF COPPER, OR OTHER METALS, WITH SILVER, GOLD,
OR MIXTURES OF SILVER OR GOLD WITH OTHER METALS, WHICH OPERATION IS COM-
MONLY CALLED PLATING;" in which said recited Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said William Playfair, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, and the Statute in

page_text: that behalf made, relation being thereunto respectively had, may more at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, and in pur-
suance of the said Statute, I, the said William Playfair, do hereby declare
that the following is a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed (that is to say):
First, my
Methods of making Shoe, Knee, Stock, and other Buckles of Silver,
or other Metals, and of Covering the Surfaces of Copper, or other Metals, with
Silver, Gold, or Mixtures of Silver or Gold with other Metals (which Operation
is commonly called Plating), is in the following manner :-
The piece of silver or other motal of which the buckles is to be made is
forged out or otherwise formed into a long bar, equal in breadth to the
intended breadth of the buckle. rim that is to be made, and about twice as
thick as the buckle rim is intended to be. This piece of silver or other metal
is caused to pass between the cylindrical part of the indented surfaces of two
rollers, which turn round upon axes, and are like unto the rollers used in
flattening mills used for flattening metal plates, only with this difference, that
one of the rollers has a hollow groove cut or otherwise sunk round it, in the
direction at right angles to the axis on which it moves, in the bottom of which
hollow is engraved or otherwise made the reverse figure of the work or
ornament that is intended to be raised upon the buckle, so that when the
piece of metal has passed between the aforesaid two surfaces of the cylinders
it is converted into a long piece of metal, sinooth on one side, and bearing on
the other an impression nearly like that that is intended to be upon the buckle.
This piece is then annealed by heating in a fire, and is then cut to such
lengths as are suitable for the size of the buckle intended. Thus, if the buckle
is to have square corners, it is made of four seperate pieces soldered together,
being first jointed by means of a saw or files; the frame of the buckle 'so made
is then bended to the bend that it is intended for the buckle to have, and those
parts commonly called bridges, by which the tongues and chapes are fastened
through, are then soldered to the hollow side of the buckle. If the buckle is
an eight-sided one, it must be composed of eight pieces jointed together in the
same manner; but if it is round or oval, or bended in the corners, it is only
necessary that it be made of one piece of metal, bended up and soldered at
the place where the two ends meet. The other operations necessary to finish
the buckles are the same as with common cast buckles.
Another method I have is, by putting the impression, figure, or ornament
upon the long piece of metal by stamping it upon a die with a stamp or press,
in the manner that money receives its impression in coining, or as buttons,

page_text: niedals, and other stamped work are done. This may either be done in onc
long piece, by beginning at one part and proceeding on to the others, giving
each part its figure as you go on, or it may be done to short pieces of metal
of the lengths wanted for the buckles that are to be made. Another way of
giving the impression is, by hammering the piece of metal in a die sunk with
the impression, which method is commonly called swaging, and is similar to
that practised for making the mouldings of fenders and grates, and many
other purposes in blacksmiths' work. When this is done the piece or pieces
are jointed in the same manner as if the impression had been made by rolling.
Another way that I have used for making buckles is, by drawing the silver
or other metal of which they are to be made through between two pieces of
steel, or through a hole in one piece of steel, in the manner of wire drawing, as
commonly practised for making of wire of all kinds. When this operation is
performed, it is then joined together or bended into form in the same manner
that has before been specified of the other methods.
My method of plating or of covering the surfaces of copper or other
metals with different allays of gold or silver consists in inserting a thin sheet
or plate of the silver, so much allayed with copper, that it will melt sooner than
either of the two metals that are to be united by the operation. Thus, a piece of
copper about six inches long and two inches square is filed up smooth and straight
upon one side, so that no specks nor flaws may appear or be perceived upon
it. When this is donc, a piece of silver, allayed with copper or other metal,
about six inches long, two inches broad, and about one tenth of an inch in
thickness, is hammered very flat, and scraped or scowered very clean on one
side. A piece of silver, considerably more allayed with copper, six inches
long, two inches broad, and little thicker than common writing paper, is
scowered or scraped very clean on both sides, is then made and laid flat upon
the smooth side of the copper, after which the piece of thicker silver is taken
and laid upon it, with its cleanest side towards the thin silver; they are then
laid upon a flat anvill, and a flat die is laid upon them, which is beat down
with a large hammer, so as to bring the surfaces completely in contact with
each other; they are then to be bound together with bending wire, or held
together by any other means that is found convenient, and put into the same
sort of furnace that is commonly used for plating with pure silver upon copper
or other metal, till the intermediate piece of silver appears to melt, after which
it is drawn out and treated in every respect in the same manner that metal is
commonly treated when it is plated with pure silver, the whole difference
consisting in inserting the then piece of silver that easily melts between the
other sheet of silver and the copper. If the copper is to be plated on both

page_text: sides, the same thing is to be done with two opposite sides of the bar that is
here described to be done to one and both at the same time.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven
hundred and eighty-five.
WILLIAM PLAYFAIR. (L.S.)
Sealed and delivered (being first duly
stampt) in the presence of
THO HANDLEY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1785, the aforesaid William Playfair came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and eighty-five.