A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF APPLYING- ING COLORS TO A SURFACE BY MEANS OF A LIQUID
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Tucker, of the State of Massachusetts,"
of the United States of America, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF APPLYING
Sealed the 16th November 1853, and dated the 24th September 1853.
-PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Tucker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,. on
the 24th September 1858.
1, HIRAM TUCKER, of the State of Massachusetts, in the United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF APPLY-
ING COLORS TO A SURFACE BY MEANS OF A LIQUID" to be as follows:-
My improvement has relation to the process of applying one or more
colors to a surface by means of a water or liquid bath, into, which the
article or surface to be colored is to be dipped and removed therefrom,
so as to take up the color or colors that may be floating on the surface
of the bath. My improvement has relation also to the application of
such colors in such way so as to imitate on such surface the appear-
ance of the surface of polished, veined, or variegated marble or other
material.

page_text: In coloring by the bath the surfaces of objects made of iron, slate, or
papier maché, or various other materials, it becomes desirable to use oil
colors, owing to the great facility with which, generally speaking, they
may be worked or controlled in attempts to produce by them perfect
resemblances of whatever we may desire to imitate.
I have, therefore, sought for some substance which, when combined
with the linseed or drying oil used, would sufficiently overcome the
fluent property of it, or so change it as to enable the color or colors
mixed with the oil and such substance to remain broken up, and not
combine together after being broken up on the surface of the bath, or
with colors thrown on or between them while on said surface. I have
found that the gum resin termed "kauri," or "cowdee," or "dammar,"
when mixed with a suitable vehicle, such as the essential oil of turpen-
tine for instance, will combine with a drying oil, and impart to it, or
the oil color into the composition of which it may enter, the property
required when used on a liquid bath. In the use of oil colors so
prepared or combined with dammar gum or varnish I first throw or lay
on the surface of the bath a small quantity of what may be deemed the
ground or main color or colors, and suffer it to spread over the surface of
the bath. Next with a stick (or some other article) dipped in the veining
color I break up the thin stratum of color on the bath, by running said
stick or article and the color thereon in various directions through the
stratum, leaving the veining color more or less, and generally in the
path of the stick. The cowdec solution imparts to the oil color a pro-
perty by which the masses of the broken stratum are prevented from
combining together as masses or drops of oil or water will when brought
into contact. When this has been effected the masses of ground and
veining colors floating on the bath may be pressed or floated up
together or in contact by means of a thin blade or board dipped into
the bath. On completion of this the surface to be colored is to be
dipped into the bath and on the floating colors, and immediately re-
moved from it. The colors will adhere to it, and leave the bath with
it. When they become dried they may be varnished and polished, the
surface thus colored being made to resemble that of the article to be
imitated.

page_text: up the
The nature of my Invention, therefore, consists in the use of the
dammar (or an equivalent material) in connection with oil colors, as
stated, when applied to a surface by means of a bath as stated. It
further consists in the above-described method of breaking up
stratum of ground color on the bath into masses of various sizes, and
laying the veining colors as described on the breaking-up stick, and in
the bath during or in combination with the process of breaking up the
ground colors, as specified.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hiram Tucker in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 12th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HIRAM TUCKER, of the State of Massachusetts, of the the United States
of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, by Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, of the
year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign,did grant unto me, the said Hiram Tucker,
my heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, an exclusive property
or right for fourteen years to make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and the Isle of Man, an Invention or Discovery for "A NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF APPLYING COLORS
TO A SURFACE BY MEANS OF A LIQUID," upon the condition (amongst
others) that the said Hiram Tucker, by an instrument of writing
under his hand and seal, should particularly describe the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office, or Office of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Patents for
Inventions, within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hiram Tucker, do hereby declare

page_text: the nature of my Invention or Discovery, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following Specification:
My Invention is based on a very important discovery which I have
made in the art of applying colors to surfaces by means of a bath of
water, or other proper liquid.
..
In the common process of""marbling," as it is termed by the manu-
facturers of "marbled paper," a size bath is employed, and the colors
or pigments are mixed with water, which admits of their being floated
on the surface of the bath when thrown in the same.
. The object of using mucilage or matter of such kind soluble in
water, is not, only to hold up the colors, but to enable them to be
applied to paper, and to shortly dry them, the surface of paper to
receive the color being laid on the colors while they are floating on the
bath.
Attempts to employ colors mixed with oil have been attended with
certain difficulties. In the first place the oil, by its very fluent pro-
perties, will cause the colors to "run together," or stand in drops, or so
combine when on the surface of the liquid as to spoil the effect desired.
In the second place, should this not take place in the bath, it will be
very likely to occur after the application of the colors to the paper, and
before they can become dry. In the third place, the oil of itself is not
sufficiently siccative, even when boiled. These practical difficulties, as
well as others which might be stated, and which are known to persons
skilled in the art of "marbling," have prevented the employment of
drying oils as vehicles for colors in the process of coloring by the bath.
Besides this, they have prevented the use of water alone in the bath,
the liquid generally used being a strong solution of gum tragacanth, or
a strong size made of parchment clippings.
Most oils are so fluent that a single drop or goutte of a tenth of an
inch in diameter would, readily and almost immediately flow over a
surface of one or two feet in diameter; in fact, but a very short period
of time is required for it to flow over the whole surface of the bath,
and should there be any colors on it they will all be driven in a body
before it.

page_text: It is sometimes customary, particularly in what is termed "shell
marbling" by means of a size bath, to put into a pint of the mixture
of water and color a drop or two of some drying oil.. This minute
quantity of oil, when the color is spattered on the surface of the bath,
will prevent it in a great measure from combining with or laying on
the other colors, and will separate or drive them before it, so as to
produce the "shell" appearance known to workmen.
By my improvement I use a water bath instead of a size bath.. The
fluent or some other property of linseed or drying oil prevents it from
being used alone as a vehicle for the pigments when employed in the
marbling process. In coloring the surfaces of objects made of slate,
iron, papier maché, or various other materials, it becomes desirable to
use oil colors, owing to the great facility with which they may be
worked or controlled in attempts to produce with thein perfect re-
semblances of whatever we may desire to imitate..
I have therefore sought for some substance which, when combined
with the linseed or drying oil used, would sufficiently overcome the fluent
property of it, or so change it as to enable the colors mixed with the
oil and such substance to remain broken up, and not combine together
after being broken up on the surface of the water bath, or with colors
thrown on or between them when on said surface. In my researches
I have made the discovery that the gum resin from the "dammara
australis" or "pinus kauri," and which is known in commerce by the
ñames of kauri or cowdee, dammar or dammarra, when mixed with a
suitable vehicle, such as the essential oil of turpentine for instance, will
combine with a drying oil, and impart to it not only that property so
desirable for the marbling process, but it will give to the oil a body
and siccative properties of great advantage to oil colors applied by such
means.
The solution of the resinous gum and the essential oil may be from
two or three pounds of the gum to a gallon of the essential oil, althougli
I do not confine my process to such proportions, as I find the varnish
made from the cowdee will serve a very good purpose.
To a quart of the drying oil I usually put about two quarts of the
cowdee solution or varnish (not however confining myself to such pro-

page_text: portions, as the graining colors will often require or work well with a
very much less proportion of the kauri or dammar varnish), and mix up
with the mixturé the various colors to be used, and to the consistence
that may be desirable. With these colors so prepared, I first throw or
lay on the surface of the water in the bath a small quantity of what may
be deemed the ground color, and I suffer it to spread over the surface of
the bath. This will take place in about one half a minute, and the
color will gradually dry or set, so that if a stick is run through it so as
to break it up it will not combine or run together again as drops of
oil or water do when brought in contact. Into the mass of color thus
broken up I throw or spread or interlay the veining or other colors,
and this may be effected by dipping the breaking up stick or article
used into the veining color, and moving it and the veining color
on it around in the thin stratum of ground color, so as not only to
break up or separate in pieces or parts the stratum of ground color, but
at the same time lay the veining color between such pieces or portions
so as to cause it to embrace and separate them somewhat as vein colors
in marble do other colors thereof. Next, by means of a stick or thin
spatula or blade dipped into the water, I float all the masses of veining]
and ground color up together so as to bring those of the veining and
ground colors in contact to the extent that may be desired to form the
figure. On completion of this, the piece of stone or the article to be
marbled or colored is to be dipped into the water, and laid on the
colors floating on the surface thereof, and immediately removed there-
from; the colors by such operation being made to leave the water and
adhere to the dipped surface of the article. When they are dried
thereon, which shortly takes place, they may be rubbed or ground down
and polished, the figure made by their combination having to a
wonderful extent the natural appearance of the marble, or such veined
or variegated stone that it may be intended to imitate. Neither the
kauri or dammar varnish, nor the linseed or drying oil, can be used
alone, and produce the effect that results from their combination and
employment as stated.
I do not CLAIM the common process of applying water colors to paper
by the use of a bath of size, and mixing such colors in water; nor do I

page_text: claim the union of linseed oil and varnish made from kauri in its use
in connection with a pigment, and in the common process of painting or
spreading colors on a surface by means of a brush, my Invention having
special reference to the application of colors to a surface by means of a
liquid or water bath, nor do I claim therein the use of either kauri or
oil alone.
What I CLAIM is, my improvement in the process of marbling,
whereby an oil color (or pigment mixed with a drying oil) when applied
to or spread on a surface of a bath of water or other suitable liquid
shall have imparted to it the property above mentioned, my said
improvement consisting in employing in such process the gum kauri (or
a like substance) combined as specified with the drying oil, the same
enabling a person by means of a bath to apply to a surface of stone or
other material oil colors, so as to present the natural effects or appear-
ance of any polished stone that it may be desired to imitate.
I also CLAIM the above-described method of breaking up the stratum
of ground color on the bath into masses of various sizes, and laying the
veining colors among them, the same consisting in using the veining
color as described on the breaking up stick or article during or in
combination with the process of breaking up the ground colors as stated,
the veining color by such means being made to accurately follow and
be deposited in the path of the breaking up stick as well as in lateral
directions between the masses.
In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand and seal.