IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATING SPOONS AND OTHER ARTICLES WITH A COATING OF METAL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park Brixton. in the County of Surrey for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATING SPOONS AND OTHER ARTICLES WITH A COATING
OF METAL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."-A communication
from abroad by Marshall Forbes, residing at West Meriden, State
of Connecticut, United States of America.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATING SPOONS AND OTHER ARTICLES WITH A COATING
OF METAL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."-A communication
from abroad by Marshall Forbes, residing at West Meriden, State
of Connecticut, United States of America.
Sealed the 24th November 1868, and dated the 29th May 1868.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bous-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 29th May 1868, pursuant to the
9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATING SPOONS AND OTHER ARTICLES WITH A COATING OF
METAL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of the Invention is to coat spoons and similar articles with
a plating or covering metal in such manner that the thickness of the
plating metal shall vary at different parts of the articles as desired, the
To this
thickness being greatest upon the parts most exposed to wear.
end this Invention consists of the method of coating the article unequally
in the desired manner by immersing different portions of such article for
different periods in the depositing bath of an electro-plating apparatus
with which said article is connected, whereby the parts which are
immersed for the longest period have the plating metal deposited
thickest upon them.
The Invention consists further of the combination of a holder adapted
to confine the articles to be coated with regulating mechanism, by means
of which the articles may be partially immersed to the required extent
in the depositing bath.
The Invention consists further of the combination of said holder
(adapted to confine the articles to be coated) with mechanism, by means
of which it may be tilted for the purpose of varying the extent to which
the articles are partially immersed in the depositing bath.
The Invention may be carried into effect in various ways, and the
accompanying Drawings represent two apparatuses adapted to the
purpose, Figures 1, 2, and 3, representing respectively a plan, side
view, and transverse section of an apparatus of one form, and Figures
4 and 5 representing a plan and transverse section of an apparatus of a
.different form.
The holder A in each of said two apparatuses is adapted to the
dimensions and form of the article which in these examples is a tea-
spoon B, and the holder consists of three bars a, a, a, connected
by side pieces b, b. The two side bars a, a, are formed with rebates
to receive respectively the point of the bowl and the end of the handle
of the spoon, and the central bar a is so placed relatively to the other
two that the spoons are sprung over it when they are inserted in
the holder. This holder is fitted at its ends with trunnions or pivots c, c,
on which it may be tipped, and the trunnions of the holder in Figures 1,
2, and 3, are supported upon adjustable bearings D, D, which are
connected with the ends of the depositing bath or tank E by means of

page_text: screws which pass through slots in the shanks of the bearings; hence,
by raising or lowering these adjustable bearings, the depth to which the
articles (carried by the holder) may be dipped into the liquid in the
tank and held there can be regulated as desired. The holder A is also
fitted with an adjusting screw H, whose point bears upon the rim of the
tank, so that by turning said screw the articles (carried by the holder)
may be tilted upon the trunnions c, c, as axes to vary the extent to which
the said articles are dipped and held in the depositing bath.
In the form of apparatus represented in Figures 4 and 5 the regulation
of the depth to which the articles to be coated are dipped, and at which
they are held in the bath, is determined by tilting them by means of the
adjusting screw; and this apparatus is adapted also to the progressive
plating of the bowl and palm of the handle separately, the frame being
tilted in one direction to plate the bowl and in the opposite direction to
plate the palm.
The form of apparatus represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, is adapted
to the progressive plating of both the bowl and palm of the handle
either simultaneously or separately, as found expedient.
With either form of apparatus the coating metal may, if desired, be
deposited upon a portion of the article in progressively diminishing or
increasing areas, as indicated by the series of red lines upon the bowl
of the spoon represented at Figure 6, or a patch of the coating motal
may be deposited of substantially uniform thickness. If the deposit is to
be effected in progressively increasing areas the distance to which the
article is dipped is progressively increased during the operation of electro-
plating, and vicé versà if the deposit is to be effected in decreasing areas.
When the articles have received the desired partial coating they may
be taken from the holder and wholly immersed in the bath and coated
all over in the usual manner, or the articles may be first coated uniformly
all over, and then have the thickness of coating increased at the desired
parts by means of this Invention.
Both apparatuses described afford an casy means of regulating the
precise extent of the extra partial thickness of coating metal by regu-
lating the depth of dip or partial immersion. Both also afford a ready
means of conducting the galvanic current to the articles, as the holders
are made of metal for that purpose, so that the holder may be connected
by means of a wire with one pole of the battery, while the plates of
coating metal immersed in the bath may be connected with the other

page_text: pole of the battery in the usual manner. The holders represented are
adapted to the confinement of spoons and to holding three at a time,
but they may be varied in form to suit the articles to be held, and in
extent to hold a greater or less number of articles as found expedient,
it having been found expedient when operating upon a large scale to
make the holder long enough to extend from one side to the other of
the depositing bath of the electro-plating apparatus, which may be
constructed in the usual manner.
Having thus described the modes in which the said Invention has
been practised, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
the mode, substantially as before set forth, of coating spoons and
similar articles with a regulated unequal thickness of the plating metal
by immersing different portions of the article for different periods in the
bath of the electro-plating apparatus with which the article is connected.
Also, the combination of a holder adapted to confine the article to be
coated with regulating mechanism to hold the articles partially immersed
to the required extent in the depositing bath, substantially as before
set forth.
Also, the combination of a holder adapted to confine the articles with
mechanism for tilting the article so as to vary the extent of immersion
in the depositing bath, substantially as before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)