IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CLAYS AND OTHER MATERIALS WITH WHICH THEY ARE MIXED WHEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHINA, PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE, AND OTHER LIKE WARES, AND IN ORNAMENTING OR DECORATING CHINA, PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE, AND OTHER LIKE WARES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Hett, of the City of London, in the
County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CLAYS AND OTHER MATERIALS WITH
WHICH THEY ARE MIXED WHEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHINA,
PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE, AND OTHER LIKE WARES, AND IN ORNAMENTING OR
DECORATING CHINA, PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE, AND OTHER LIKE WARES."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alexander Hett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 23rd May 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HETT, of the City of London, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT OF CLAYS AND OTHER MATERIALS WITH WHICH THEY ARE MIXED
WHEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHINA, PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE, AND OTHER
LIKE WARES, AND IN ORNAMENTING OR DECORATING CHINA, PORCELAIN, EARTHEN-

page_text: WARE, AND OTHER LIKE WARES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the first and sole
Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Hett, do hereby declare that
the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully describes
and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed in and by the following statement :-
Before moulding or otherwise forming clays and the other materials with
which they are mixed into useful or ornamental ware, whether china, por-
celain, earthenware, or other like wares, it is desirable to remove the iron they
contain; to effect this I subject them when in that state called by potters
"slip" to the action of an electro-magnet composed of a disc or plate of soft
iron having a convoluted groove or recess cut out of or otherwise formed in
one of its surfaces for the reception of a bundle of small covered copper
wires forming a coil; those spaces in the groove or recess not occupied by the
coil I fill with any suitable material, so that the face of the disc or plate of
soft iron in which I make the groove or recess presents an even and smooth
surface; this disc or plate of soft iron is let into and forms part of the bottom
of a trough or shoot along which the "slip" to be purified or freed from iron
is permitted to flow in a shallow stream.
When I wish to put this apparatus into operation I connect the ends of the
coil of copper wire with the poles of a suitable galvanic battery or of an electro-
magnetic machine, when the disc or plate of soft iron will immediately become
a powerful electro-magnet, and will attract and retain the particles of iron
which may be suspended in the "slip" which flows over it. When I wish to
clean the disc or plate of soft iron I break the connection with the battery or
with the electro-magnetic machine, and the particles of iron can then be easily
washed off. I do not always mix the clay or clays and other materials
together so as to form "slip" before subjecting them to the action of
the electro-magnet, I sometimes subject them to its action separately,
mixing with each a sufficient quantity of water, and in this state pass them
one after the other over the electro-magnet, and afterwards mix them together
to form "slip." After I have brought the clay or clays and the other
materials contained in the "slip" to a proper consistence by any of the
ordinary methods in use, I mould or otherwise shape them into ware of the
desired size and form, and when the ware has undergone the drying and other

page_text: usual process or processes, and is ready for decoration, I ornament or decorate
it either in the manner now in common use or by means of my improved
method; for this I mix ninety-nine grains of arsenious acid or white arsenic
in powder, and one hundred and forty-three grains of common soda with eight
ounces of soft water (but I do not confine myself to the use of these pro-
portions), and boil them in a glass vessel until the arsenic and soda are
dissolved, and when the solution is cold I add thereto six pints of the fresh
serum of blood as free as possible from red blood globules, and expose the
whole in a shallow vessel to the action of the atmosphere until but two pints
remain, or I hasten the evaporation by the application of artificial beat; in
this case I never permit the temperature of the solution to exceed 165°
degrees of Fabrenheit. With this sero-arsenical solution, previously passed
or filtered through linen, I prepare a transfer paper by sponging or brushing
over twice or oftener if necessary one side only of any paper suited to my
purpose. I allow each coating put on the paper to dry thorougly before I
apply the next, and when all the coats are perfectly dry I press the prepared
sheet of paper between metallic plates in the usual way to give it a fine
smooth and even surface. On this my new transfer paper I print any required
pattern (to avoid repetition the expression pattern is herein used to include
any required complete pattern, subject, device, inscription, or design, and
also a part thereof) by the process known as chromo-lithography. I make
use of the lithographic press stones and printing varnish in the usual way,
employing for each pattern as many stones as there are colors in such pattern,
printing from each stone in succession, commencing with those stones on
which the deepest portions of the pattern are drawn, being careful that the
last color printed is quite dry before the next is put on, using proper register
marks so that the different parts of the pattern (no matter how many
stones are employed) fall in and register with the first.impression and
so produce a perfect pattern; and either printing in color by first
mixing it with the varnish before charging the stones, or printing in varnish
without color and dusting on the color after printing; in this latter case I
take especial care, before applying my transfer paper to the stone not only to
see that the paper is quite dry, but to fan the stone until those parts of its
surface on which no portion of the pattern has been drawn or transferred,
and which have not been charged with varnish are thoroughly dry, otherwise
the coatings which the paper has received will, by absorbing the moisture
from the stone (if any remain thereon) become sticky, and particles of the dry

page_text: .
color will when dusted on adhere thereto; and, further, to guard against this
I allow the paper to remain a short time after removing it from the stone
before I sprinkle or dust on the color.
The colors I employ are mineral colors such as are at present used by
potters; I also employ metals, as gold, silver, or any other metal; these (in
future I shall call these metals colors) colors must be reduced to the finest
powder possible by the usual or ordinary methods; they must be thoroughly
dry at the time of using them, whether they are to be mixed with the litho-
graphie varnish before printing, or to be dusted on the paper after the pattern
has been printed on it in varnish.
Having thus got on my new transfer paper by the process already described,
as many colors as I require, and the pattern printed thereon being complete,
I proceed to transfer it to the ware in the following manner :-I divide the
pattern into as many pieces as required or as may be considered necessary by
cutting up the sheet of paper on which it is printed; I then place each piece
between leaves or sheets of damp blotting or other bibulous paper, or between
pieces of damp cloth, and having prepared the ware for their reception by
coating it with a varnish composed of spirits of turpentine and gum mastic or
other sticky substance, I apply them to the ware, press them down, immerse
the ware in water, remove the paper, burn in the pattern left on the ware,
and otherwise treat the ware precisely in the same manner as it is at present
treated by the ordinary process or processes, all of which are well understood.
I sometimes varnish the patterns before applying them to the ware with the
same varnish I use for coating the ware.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents one of the surfaces of a disc or plate of soft iron; a, a,
the convoluted groove or recess. Fig. 2 is a section of the disc at b, c; the
disc is marked d, d, and the convoluted groove or recess a, a, a, a.
I have not thought it necessary to shew a coil of wire, a galvanic battery, or
an electro-magnetic machine, as a workman will readily apply these.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I claim,-
1st, the exclusive and sole right of using the electro-magnet, constructed
and arranged in the manner herein described for the purpose of removing iron
from clays and other materials used in the manufacture of china, porcelain,
earthenware, and other like wares.

page_text: And, 2ly, the exclusive and sole right of using the transfer paper, herein-
before described, in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Hett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
ALEXANDER HETT. (L.s.)
Witness,
CHRISTOPHER BROWN.