IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING. SURPACES
Year: 1855

page_text: 12.
. I
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed.
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Carl, Ludwig. Augustus Meinig and
Franz Xaver Kukla at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st August 1855.
We, CARL LUDWIG AUGUSTUS MEINIG, of Piccadilly, and FRANZ XAVER
KUKLA, of Raven Row, Mile End, both in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING.
SURPACES" to be as follows:
The improvements consist in transferring oil-coloured pictures (painted,
printed, or drawn on paper or other suitable substance) on to surfaces of
metal, wood, leather, oil cloth, glass, stone, and other suitable substances, in
such a manner that the mineral colours are preserved, and that when the
paper or substance on which the picture was originally printed or painted is
removed, the colours or inks of the picture remain on the surface which is to
be ornamented. For this purpose we immerse the picture to be transferred
into a bath, which we prepare as follows:-Phosphorous acid, or arsenious
acid, or other suitable substance having an affinity for oxygen, is combined
with a suitable alkaline base, such as potash, soda, lime, &c., to form a soluble
salt with a slight alkaline preponderance, a solution of which salt, more or
less concentrated, forms the bath into which the picture is immersed, the object.
being, by the reduction or deoxydation of the hardened oil, to restore its adhe-
sive or sticky property without decomposing the. mineral colour or spoiling the

page_text: picture. When the ink or colours are sufficiently softened in this bath the
picture is taken out and washed in several water baths, and, if necessary,
the last bath but one may be acidulated with sulphuric, or nitric, or muriatic
acid, so as thoroughly to cleanse the picture. When perfectly washed, the
picture is pressed between sheets of bibulous paper, and the water entirely
removed by further drying. The surface to be ornamented, if not adhesive in
its material, is then covered with a thin coat of copal or other suitable varnish,
and after a few hours the picture is placed on it with the face towards the
surface to be ornamented, and against which surface the picture is then pressed
with force by means of rollers or presses for some minutes, and then left in
this state for one or two days. The paper or substance on which the picture
was drawn, printed, or painted is then soaked with water, after which it can
be easily removed, leaving the coloured picture on the surface of the metal,
wood, or other substance to be ornamented, any fibres of the paper remaining
being rubbed off with a sponge and water as far as may be. The transferred
picture can then be varnished or otherwise treated, as usual.
It is evident that in this process the colours appear on the ornamented
surface with the face which was formerly turned towards the paper or other
substance on which it was painted, or drawn, or printed, and when necessary
regard must be had to this circumstance in printing, drawing, or painting the
original. But if we wish to make that face of the picture appear on the sur-
face to be ornamented which was visible in the original painting, or drawing,
or print, we first transfer it, in the manner described, on a piece of suitable
paper, coated with shellac or similar suitable substance. When thin, the paper
or substance on which the picture was originally painted, or printed, or drawn,
is removed, the surface to be ornamented is varnished, as before described,
and the second transfer effected by means of pressure, as mentioned above.
After one or two days, the paper with shellac is then loosened and washed
off with spirits of wine, and leaves the original face of the picture exposed.
The nature of the paper or material on which the picture is originally drawn,
printed, or painted also determines the success of the transfer, it being desirable
that it should have absorbed as little of the colours as possible, so as to be
easily removed without spoiling the picture. The process succeeds best with
mineral or earthy colours, whereas organic colours are more or less altered
and spoiled.