IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING DESIGNS AND ORNAMENTATION BY MEANS OF METALLIC SURFACES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th July
1864. A communication from abroad by Emanuel Meyer, Designer, of
29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris..
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING DESIGNS AND ORNAMENTATION BY MEANS OF
METALLIC SURFACES," to be as follows:-
Tin and other metallic foils have been already produced with a metallic lustre
presenting a similar appearance to watered silks and mother-of-pearl. These
peculiar effects are produced by removing the superficial coating of the tin.
forming the surface of the metal by means of acids, and thus effecting the
crystallization of the tin, the facets of which in reflecting the light produce the
watered effects desired. These metallic surfaces are variously applied, and
especially for purposes of ornamentation. This Invention consists in applying
colors to these surfaces produced as above described by printing or impres-
sion. In this manner I obtain a new product in which the watered designs
form a ground relieved by the colored impression, the whole effect being
similar to incrustation. The colors may be applied by any of the known pro-
cesses, whether by an autographic, lithographic, typographic, or other press,
or by the reserve process, transferring engraving, or in fact any method of
impression. This improved product may be produced in various ways, the
simplest method being as follows:-I first take the pure tin or other metal
leaf on which I produce the watered effect before mentioned, and then paste

page_text: it on paper, card, wood, leather, or other surface on which it is to be applied,
I then apply one or more colors on the watered portions by any suitable
methods of impression, and so produce a watered groundwork having super-
posed colored designs, the watered parts forming a design in imitation of
incrustations. I then varnish the whole surface with white or colored varnish.
In this manner I obtain watered effects or designs constituting a new product
applicable for various purposes, among others for ornamenting cardboard and
paper hangings.
Instead of producing the watered effect all over the tin or other metal foil,
I may, by means of reserves, or by the application of acids with lithographic
plates, only water certain parts, which will thus appear on a plain metal
ground, or the latter instead of being plain may itself be impressed, metal-
lized, or colored in any suitable manner so as to produce varied effects. I
may also form a colored ground by printing and pasting on leaf tin in any
suitable design, and then water said designs by known processes, in which
case it is necessary that the colored groundwork should be unattackable by
the acids used for producing the watered effect. Also instead of applying
plain pieces of tin foil in the manner described, the whole may be of watered
material. It will thus be understood that the object of the Invention is less
the method of operation than the product itself, that is to say, the metallic
watered surfaces have any suitable designs applied thereon in the manner
described, instead of as hitherto forming an entirely plain watered surface.