IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO THE ORNAMENTING OF TILES, BRICKS, AND OTHER FICTILE ARTICLES دو
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Godfrey Wedgwood, Clement
Francis Wedgwood, Laurence Wedgwood, and George Anthony Marsden at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th June 1883.
GODFREY WEDGWOOD, CLEMENT FRANCIS WEDGWOOD, and LAURENCE WEDGWOOD,
all of the firm of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, of Etruria, in the County of Stafford,
and GEORGE ANTHONY MARSDEN of the same place, and a manager under the said
firm IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO THE ORNAMENTING OF TILES, BRICKS,
AND OTHER FICTILE ARTICLES
دو
In the manufacture of ornamental tiles bitherto, except those made by us on
the plan of M Marsden's patent No. 2737 of 1879 it has been customary to bake
the plain white tile, then print upon it, fill in with enamel colour, and bake again.
By Marsden's patent a damp clay tile was decorated with powdered colour by
means of templates.
Now our invention carries the process a step further, and is designed with a
view to ornament the damp clay tiles and other fictile ware by means of slip and
templates, and thereby gain effects unobtainable by the aforesaid patented process,
and in a vastly cheaper way than by the ordinary printing on biscuit.
Our original idea was to coat a paper template with coloured slip, place it on
the damp clay tile or other article coated-face downward, and then fill in the holes
with other coloured slip. We found however the paper very apt to tear, stick to
the tile, and bring part of the slip off with it, leaving an unsightly appearance.
We therefore experimented on tin, brass, copper, and other templates, but found
all of them to either stick unduly to the tile, or leave a blurred and unsatisfactory
image from the slip running under them.
We find however that by the use of oiled paper, preferably strong unsized or
but partially sized paper, dipped in linseed oil and allowed to dry or nearly dry—
templates can be made that will lie close to the tile, separate easily from it without
taking off the colour with them, and that will not like metallic templates crumple
by the act of withdrawing. They can therefore be used again and again until
their oily nature has been in part destroyed by the absorbent nature of the slip-
when a slight heating between plates or re-oiling, will enable them generally (so
far as our experiments have gone) to be reused for a few more times.
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page_text: The great trouble however even with the process as above described is still the
fragile nature of the paper in all our experiments even when well oiled it is found
not to last many times. In order to avoid this we propose to adopt two precautions
which appear to obviate the difficulty largely 1 to make the paper of very long
fibred pulp or if the pulp itself be not long fibred-to intimately mix a quantity
of long fibre with it, or give it a central backing of strong fibrous material.
2nd To dip it into chloride of zinc or Sulphuric acid or other chemical capable of
altering its molecular arrangement so as to form it into a kind of tough parchment
paper parchment paper oiled is then used for the templates. Parchment itself—
except the limited quantity obtained as old spoiled parchment is too expensive but
appears to form an excellent and superior substitute when oiled for the above
paper, and we wish to include its use in our proposed means for carrying out our
invention. Indeed any material that is in thin sheets-can be saturated with oil,
will not act chemically on the slip and will be very tough yet as pliable and be as
flat as oiled paper will act-but ceteris paribus-the tougher and stronger it is
and the more completely it can be oiled-the better it will serve our purpose.
This invention is not merely applicable for tiles, but also for bricks and other
fictile ware, having flat or plain cylindrical surfaces where ornamentation of the
nature above described can be applied.