A METHOD OF ORNAMENTING ARTICLES OF GLASS, ENAMEL, AND EARTHENWARE
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Amédée François Rémond
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th January 1853.-A communication.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
I, AMÉDÉE FRANÇOIS RÉMOND, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A METHOD OF ORNAMENTING ARTICLES OF GLASS, ENAMEL,
AND EARTHENWARE," to be as follows:-
An impression is taken in fusible alloy from the engraved plate,
the design on which is to be produced on the enamel, glass, &c.
surface. The fusible alloy may be composed of 2 parts lead, part
tin, and part bismuth. A solution of gelatine in hot water, with
which a little soap is mixed, is poured upon the impression in fusible
alloy; the solution should be thick. When the gelatine solution has
dried it may easily be stripped from the fusible alloy mould, and
then is a fac-simile of the original engraved plate. The gelatine
plate is inked in the same way as an engraved copper plate; it is after-
wards dipped in water, and afterwards pressed flat upon the article
to be ornamented; care being taken that no air bubbles are allowed

page_text: to remain underneath. It is then allowed to dry on the article. The
said article is then placed upright or inclined in a vessel of warm
water, the gelatine dissolves, and leaves the impression on the article.
The ink with which the gelatine plate is inked, and which is left on
the article to be ornamented, is made in various ways. If it is
wished to produce a design on the article to be ornamented in which
the lines of the said design are sunk in the said surface, then the
ink must be made of oxide of lead mixed with oil or any other suit-
able vehicle, and the article, to which the design in the said oxide of
lead ink has been transferred is heated in a muffle. When taken out
and cooled, the article is thrown into dilute nitric acid, which dis-
solves out the portions of the glass, enamel, &c. with which the oxide
of lead had by the heat of the muffle been made to combine. The
article is then washed in water, and when dried resembles the ori-
ginal copper plate; that is to say, the design is produced by lines
sunk in the glass or enamel. If, instead of wishing the design to be
produced by lines sunk in the glass or enamel, it is wished to pro-
duce coloured designs, then the ink used with the gelatine plate must
be made with the metallic oxide or material proper to produce on
fusion the desired colour. The gelatine impressions from which the
design is transferred may be made larger or smaller than the original
plate in the following manner: If the gelatine solution is dried upon
the fusible alloy impression at a temperature of 40 to 60 degrees
Reaumur, the gelatine plate will, on being stripped from the fusible
alloy impression and dipped in water before using, expand uniformly.
If the gelatine be dried at a low temperature, then on being dipped
for a short time in alcohol instead of water before applying it to the
article to be ornamented, it will contract.