An Improved Process for the Treatment of Mother of Pearl.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Apr., 1891-Accepted, 25th July 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process for the Treatment of Mother of Pearl.
I, RUDOLF FURTNER, of VI Magdalenenstrasse 9, Vienna, in the Empire of
Austria, Master Turner, 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 :-
The hereinafter described process, invented by me, enables pieces or strips of
mother-of-pearl to be bent or shaped into any desired form to assume plane or
curved surfaces.
Up to the present time no process exists by which mother-of-pearl could be
bent: the usual treatment of this material consists in sawing to pieces the shells of
shell-fishes, or of sea-snails, further in scaling off with a chisel the outermost layers,
and in polishing the clean pieces thus obtained. It is obvious that by using such
means, plates of but very small dimensions could be manufactured, and if larger
surfaces were desired, several of these small pieces had to be arranged in a row and
connected together by means of isinglass, or other cementitious body.
The process invented by me, enables mother-of-pearl plates or pieces as large as
the dimensions of the shell employed allow, to be produced.
For the purpose of my invention, the shell is first cut in strips or pieces, from
which, afterwards, the natural crust is ground off, or removed by the corrosive
action of muriatic acid; after being thus cleaned, these are wrapped in wet rags and
pressed between heated metal plates or dies. According to the form of these plates,
the mother-of-pearl is shaped into sheets, either quite plane, or bent, or curved, or
warped. The duration and the degree of the pressure to be exerted are proportional
to the number of the plates or pieces submitted at a time to the pressure; if their
number is but small, a screw-press will be sufficient ; in manufacturing by the bulk,
a hydraulic press will preferably be used. Anyhow, the pressure must be
continued till the mother-of-pearl plates or pieces have acquired the desired
shape.
When it is desired to produce plates of large dimensions, one or several incisions
are made into the shell, the further mode of proceeding remaining the same as
above described for the treatment of strips or pieces. When pressure is applied,
the suitably incised shell will bend into the shape corresponding to the form of the
metal plate and retain the new shape.
Finally, the mother-of-pearl pieces produced in the above manner are capable of
being polished to increase their cleanness and brilliancy.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The hereinbefore described process or means of operating upon mother-of-
pearl, consisting in making in the shells one or several incisions, or in cutting from
them strips or pieces, then in grinding off the natural crust of the same, or
removing it by the corrosive action of muriatic acid, further, in wrapping them up
in wet rags and pressing them between two suitably shaped heated metal
plates until they assume the form determined by the plates, substantially as
described.
2. Producing mother-of-pearl picces, of a shape other than flat, by pressing

page_text: between heated metal plates, shells previously incised, or pieces or strips cut out
from the same, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
DAL
1 1901
H. GARDNER,
Patent Agent, 166, Fleet Street, London,
Agent for the said Rudolf Furtner.