Year: 1886

page_text: I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
According to the present invention designs or pictures to be applied to earthen-
ware or other ceramic articles are prepared as follows.
The design or picture is, in the first instance, prepared separate from the article
by means of suitably colored masses of clay, which design is then applied to
the cerainic article while this is still in a moist and unburnt condition. For
explanation of the process, I will assume the case of the application of a colored
but smooth picture upon an object with a smooth surface. For this purpose the
picture is prepared separately in the first instance as follows:-
All the lines contained in the picture are engraved upon a plaster of paris plate.
In doing this, not only the lines of the configuration of the objects have to be
considered, but in particular all the lines contained within the picture which
separate the surfaces colored with separate colors. Upon the plate thus prepared
liquid gypsum is run whereby a second plaster of paris plate is obtained having
the lines engraved on the first plate in relief, forming very slightly projecting
thin division walls. I will refer to the plate having engraved lines as the
"original" and the plate with raised lines as the "forme." From the foregoing
it will be evident that every surface to be represented by a particular color in
the picture to be produced will have the form of a corresponding recessed surface

page_text: having a boundary formed of the before mentioned division walls. The forme
having been dried, there are introduced into each of the cells produced as above,
previously prepared masses of differently colored clay. Thus, for instance in the
case of a human figure there is introduced into a cell representing a white garment
a white colored clay, into a cell representing a blue colored garment a blue colored
clay, and so on, until all the cells of the forme are filled with clay, the colors of
which correspond with the separate parts of the picture to be produced. These
colored masses of clay at present do not form a continuous picture but are divided
from each other by the thin division walls. In order to combine them together
the entire forme receives a coating of liquid clay the color of which is optional.
When this layer has somewhat dried there is spread over it a layer of clay of
dough-like consistency so that the entire picture can now be removed from the
forme. For completing the operation it is only necessary to fix the separate clay
picture thus produced to the article to which it is to be applied. This is effected
simply by applying the last described layer of clay to the surface of the article
while this is still moist, after which the whole is burnt or baked. On the surface of
the picture thus produced there will exist recessed lines corresponding to those
engraved in the original. If it be desired to make the entire surface flush, it can
be coated afterwards with a liquid black glazing which is rubbed off after drying,
so that the glazing only remains in the recessed lines.
For the purpose of filling the colored liquid clays into the cells of the forme,
hollow caoutchouc balls may be conveniently employed provided with small
discharge tubes, each of which is charged with one of the colored clays; or, in
place of caoutchouc balls, may be used sponges brushes or other suitable means.
By the above described method designs, ornaments, landscapes, and figure
subjects of all kinds may be applied to ceramic ware of all descriptions.
It will be readily understood that the surfaces to be ornamented need not
necessarily be level or smooth as the process may also be applied to cylindrical,
spherical, or generally developable or even not developable surfaces. When the
surfaces are not of a developable form, care must be taken that the forme is made
with suitable divisions so that the separate parts may be removed from the original
and also be applied to the object to be ornamented without detriment to the
picture. Furthermore the same process may be applied not only to the production
of smooth pictures but also to pictures in relief or recessed. It is only necessary
for this purpose to model the original correspondingly in relief or recessed, in
which case the divisions produced between the projecting and recessed parts may
themselves serve as the boundaries for the colored clays, or specially engraved
divisions may be added. If raised or recessed pictures are to be produced on objects
that are not of developable form special care must be taken that the forme is made
with corresponding divisions. Lastly, it is possible to impart such a thickness to
the picture in the forme that it will not only serve as ornament, but will also
constitute the side or wall of the object to be ornamented itself.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The herein described method of producing designs or pictures for application
to objects of earthenware and other ceramic ware, whereby a forme is first
produced having the lines of the design or picture in the shape of projecting thin
division walls thereon, the enclosed spaces or cells within such walls being then
filled in with clays of the required color, so that on spreading upon these a layer of
clay of dough like consistency, the design or picture can be removed entire from
the forme and be applied to the object to be ornamented.
2. In the method of producing designs or pictures in clay as set forth in the
preceding claim, applying to the surface of the picture, when removed from the
forme, a coating of liquid glaze, and then removing the same by a cloth, so that

page_text: the glaze only remains in the recessed division lines, substantially as herein
described.
3. The application of the method set forth in the first claim to objects of
spherical or other non-developable configurations, whereby the projections or
recesses may be made, in the production of the forme, to serve either partially or
entirely as the partitions for the different masses of colored clay, substantially as
berein described.