A COMPOSITION FOR FILLING ENGRAVED, CAST, OR SUNK LETTERS, DEVICES, OR ORNAMENTS ON OR IN BRASS, ZINC, OR OTHER METALLIC PLATES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lucas, of No. 42, Kennedy Street,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engraver, for the
Invention of "A COMPOSITION FOR FILLING ENGRAVED, CAST, OR SUNK
LETTERS, DEVICES, OR ORNAMENTS ON OR IN BRASS, ZINC, OR OTHER
METALLIC PLATES."
Sealed the 4th May 1853, and dated the 11th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lucas at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th November 1852.
I, GEORGE LUCAS, of 42, Kennedy Street, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engraver, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A COMPOSITION FOR FILLING ENGRAVED, CAST, OR SUNK
LETTERS, DEVICES, OR ORNAMENTS ON OR IN BRASS, ZINC, OR OTHER METALLIC
PLATES" to be as follows:-
Consists in a compound of sulphate and carbonate of lime, gela-
tinous hardening and colouring materials properly mixed with water
in certain proportions. The hardening materials may be various,
but I prefer salts of alumina, iron or copper, and the colouring
matters such as required.

page_text: This composition properly mixed is filled or pressed into the sunk
letters, devices, or ornaments; and when dry or set, injected, satu-
rated, and coated with hardening and wet and atmosphere resisting
composition or materials. The compositions or materials for this
purpose which I prefer, as before stated, are salts of alumina, iron,
or copper, drying oils, varnishes, &c.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said George Lucas in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th of May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
GEORGE LUCAS, of No. 42, Kennedy Street, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engraver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Lucas, Her special licence
that I, the said George Lucas, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Lucas, 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
"A COMPOSITION FOR FILLING ENGRAVED, CAST, OR SUNK LETTERS, DEVCIES,
OR ORNAMENTS ON OR IN BRASS, ZINC, OR OTHER METALLIC PLATES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Lucas, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Lucas, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
The nature of my Invention consists in forming or composing the
base of the cement or composition (for the purpose herein referred
to in the title of my Invention) of a mineral matter having an ab-
Borbent quality, or of mineral absorbent materials, such as sulphate
of lime, or plaster of Paris, quick lime, chalk, whitening, or any
other carbonate of lime, barytes, strontia, or other carths, the par-
ticles of which I prefer to unite or bind together with silica or
alumina, or their salts, as the silicates of alumina, or clay, or solu-
tions No. 1, and 2 (herein-after described); or of forming the base
of the composition from such substances as contain the aforesaid
materials, or some of them, such as the cements commonly known
as Keene's, Martin's, the Parian or Roman cement, and hydraulic
cements generally; or of forming the base partly with some of the
latter substances and some of the former, or similar mineral ab-
sorbent materials; the atmospheric changes to which such are liable
being prevented by the use of the solutions, oils, and varnishes,
such as the silicates of potash or soda, alumina or the salts of
alumina, glue, shellac, and borax, sulphates or other salts of iron,
copper, or zinc, the acetate or other salts of lead, nut galls or
other tanning materials, caoutchouc, gutta percha, asphaltum or
other gums or resins, drying oils, varnishes, &c., or some of them.
The distinction between my Invention and the compositions hitherto
in use for similar purposes is in the use, as a base, of the cement or
composition of a mineral material or materials of an absorbent
nature, instead of the usual hydrocarbons, or other organic materials,
which are apt to undergo decomposition, more particularly in strong
sun light, their volatile parts gradually becoming freed, and thus
causing the composition or filling to shrink or crack.
Having now stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
explain the manner in which I prefer to carry it into effect. I have
already named the materials which may be used, and shali in the

page_text: succeeding description state those which I prefer, and have found
the best. I first make several solutions as follows: -
No. 1, solution: Half a pound of silica, together with one pound
of either carbonate of potash or carbonate of soda, put in an iron
crucible, which is kept red hot for several hours, the mixture being
then dissolved in three gallons of water.
No. 2, solution: - A saturated solution of alum; I prefer am-
monia alum.
No. 3, solution:- One pound of the best glue dissolved in three
-gallons of water by a water bath, with which is then mixed a
quarter of a pound of quick lime, or chalk, or any other carbonate of
lime.
No. 4, solution:- Six ounces of borax put in three gallons of
water, in which is dissolved one pound of shellac by a water bath.
For the colors which may be required, I use suitable materials,
such as the best lamp black for black, vermillion or carmine for red,
ultramarine or cobalt for blue, orange red for orange.
Having prepared the solutions, I take by measure about sixty-
three parts (per cent.) of the finest sulphate of lime and twenty-one
parts of colouring materials (a greater quantity weakens the plaster,
and less will do for light shades), which I mix into a plastic paste
with about four parts of each of the solutions No. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
When the materials are well mixed or incorporated, I press it into
the letters, devices, or ornaments, &c., being careful to leave the
cement above the surface of the metal or plate (which has previously
been polished), and when it is set, but before it is dry, I scrape off
the superfluous portion so as to reduce it to the level of the face of
the plate. I then put the plate in a warm place, and afterwards
inject or saturate the filling or composition with any of the solutions
No. 1, 2, 3, or 4, but I prefer the silicates of either potash or soda
and the solutions of alum, used separately and alternately. When
I have saturated the filling or composition with the solutions, I
inject (I use throughout this word in the sense understood in the
trade), or saturate the filling with boiled linseed oil, or any other
drying oil, which will take from two to six days' time to accomplish.

page_text: The process or composition may now be considered completed, and
the filling may be coated over with varnish, or japanned.
In making a black filling, I generally dissolve with N°. 3 solution
sulphate of iron, and then add an infusion of nut galls or other
tanning materials. I use the solution thus composed for both com-
pounding the base and colouring materials, and also for injecting
or saturating, when filled, into the letters, devices, ornaments, &c.
Having now fully and particularly described the nature of my
Invention, and in what manner it may be carried into effect, I wish
it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
proportions or mode of compounding herein described; but what
I claim as my Invention is,
Firstly, the manner or mode of forming a composition for the
purpose herein-before named, as herein-before described.
Secondly, I claim the use of a mineral absorbent material or
materials, for the base of the filling or composition, such as the
sulphates of lime and carbonate of lime, or substances of like
nature when used for like purposes, as herein-before named.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lucas, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three
Signed, sealed, and delivered, being
first duly stamped, in the pre-
sence of
PETER J. LINSEY,
of Manchester.
GEORGE LUCAS. (L.S.)