IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING OR COLOURING ARTICLES OF COPPER, OR ALLO
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hunt, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Brass, Founder, for the Invention of AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING OR COLOURING ARTICLES OF COPPER, OR ALLOYS OF
Warwick, Brass, Founder, for the Invention of AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING OR COLOURING ARTICLES OF COPPER, OR ALLOYS OF
Sealed the 25th November 1862, and dated the 17th June 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
June 1862.
I, JOHN HUNT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brass
Founder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING OR COLOURING ARTICLES OF COPPER, OR ALLOYS
OF COPPER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in treating articles of copper or alloys of copper with
a solution of bichloride of, platinum, whereby a film or coating of metallic
platinum is deposited on the article, and its surface thereby bronzed or coloured
of a bright steel colour, or of a grey colour, the depth and character of the colour
depending on the state of the surface of the article treated. If the article has
been burnished previous to being treated with the solution of bichloride of plati-
num it assumes a brilliant steel colour, if it has the "dead" appearance produced
by dipping, it assumes a grey tint, which varies with the length of time it is
immersed, and the strength and temperature of the solutiou. I prefer to use

page_text: a weak solution of bichloride of platinum, and to heat it to the boiling point,
but I do not limit myself to any particular temperature as a cold solution may
be employed with good effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HUNT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brass Founder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Hunt, Her special licence that I, the said John Hunt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT.
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRONZING OR COLOURING ARTICLES OF COPPER, OR ALLOYS
OF COPPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Hunt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hunt, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be "per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
"
My Invention consists in treating articles of copper, or alloys of copper
with a solution of bichloride of platinum whereby a film or coating of metallic
platinum is deposited on the article, and its surface thereby' bronzed or
colored of a bright steel color, or of a gray color, the depth and character of

page_text: of the color depending on the state of the surface of the article treated.
If the article has been burnished previous to being treated with the solution.
of bichloride of platinum it assumes a blue or dark steel tint, which varies
with the length of time it is immersed, and the strength and temperature of
the solution. I prefer to use a weak solution of bichloride of platinum, and
to heat it to the boiling point, but I do not limit myself to any particular,
temperature as a cold solution may be employed with good effect.
Having described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to explain
the manner in which the same is to be performed.
I prepare a weak solution of bichloride of platinum by adding to water at a
boiling heat either solid bichloride of platinum, or a strong solution of the
said bichloride of platinum. I add so much bichloride of platinum to the water:
as is equivalent to about twenty grains of metallic platinum to each gallon of:
water; I prefer to employ distilled water.. I also make a second solution of
bichloride of platinum which may be stronger than that described, and having
a temperature of about one hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit's thermo-
meter. The articles to be bronzed or colored are supported on copper wire
or placed in a dipping colander, and are immersed for a few seconds in a hot
solution of cream of tarter, containing about an ounce of the salt to a gallon
of water. On removal from the solution of cream of tarter, the articles are
washed in two or three waters, the last being by preference distilled water,
and are immediately transferred to the first or hotter solution of bichloride of
platinum; they are kept in constant motion while in the said solution, and
carefully watched; as soon as a marked change of color is observed the articles
are removed from the hot into the cooler and stronger solution of bichloride of
platinum; they are here kept in constant motion until the desired color is
obtained when they are removed, and after having been washed in two or
three waters are dried in hot sawdust. A great variety of tints may be
obtained by the treatment described according to the length of time during.
which the articles are. immersed in the solution of bichloride of platinum.
Where I wish to bronze or color only parts of the articles of brass or copper
by means of the solution of bichloride of platinum, I gild or lacquer the
articles all over, and remove by burnishing or otherwise, the gilding or
lacquering from those parts to be bronzed or colored.
The articles are
then treated in the manner herein-before described when only those parts
from which the gilding or lacquering has been removed will be bronzed or
colored. This treatment is particularly applicable to ornamental articles, in
which the ornament is in relief, all parts of the ornament being in the same

page_text: plane; or to articles in which the ornament is sunk, the ground or un-
ornamented part being in relief, and in the same plane.
The method of carrying my Invention into effect which I have described is
that which I have found in practice to produce the best results, but I do not
limit myself to the details described as one solution may be employed instead
of two, and a cold. solution may be employed instead of a hot one, and a
solution stronger or weaker than those described may be employed.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
my Inventiou the improvement or improvements in bronzing or coloring
articles of copper or alloys of copper herein-before described, that is to say,"
bronzing or coloring the said articles by the use of a solution of bichloride of
platinum.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hunt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN HUNT. (LS.)