Improvements relating to the Coating of Objects of Stone, Plaster, and Analogous Substances with Metals.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Feb., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 16th Oct., 1897-Accepted, 8th Jan., 1898
Improvements relating to the Coating of Objects of Stone, Plaster,
and Analogous Substances with Metals.
I, ABEL DE BOISCHEVALIER, of 4 Avenue Friedland, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My process of metallizing objects of stone, plaster, and other materials, such as
staff, (a mixture of Plaster of Paris, cement, dextrin and glycerine), the rough
or porous surface of which lends itself to such treatment, consists essentially in
rendering these objects impermeable to the action of acid baths whilst prevent-
ing them from disintegrating and thereby becoming even non-conducting and
unfit for receiving a thick coat of metal and also ensuring that the adhesion of
the coating applied shall be perfect or regular.
In carrying my said invention into practice, I proceed in the following manner,
Having prepared a bath of vegetable or animal wax, in a melted condition,
I immerse the objects to be metallized (which may be of stone, plaster or staff and
similar materials) into this bath until the said objects are thoroughly impreg
nated and I then remove them and wipe them with a brush to prevent irregularities
in thickness. The melted wax has moreover the advantage of driving off air-
bubbles and moisture.
When the objects are cooled I coat them with plumbago moistened with benzine
which serves to make the plumbago adhere well to the encaustic surface; I then
let it dry. Then, with a brush, I rub the object to make it shine and to distribute
the layer of plumbago and to remove any excess, afterwards I bring the prepared
object into a coppering bath, suitable conductors being first applied thereto in the
well-known manner.
When these objects are sufficiently covered with electro-deposited copper, they
are filed, scratch-brushed or similarly treated, and then they can be bronzed
gilded, silvered or nickelled, etc.
When it is desired to avoid dipping certain delicate objects into a bath of pure
melted wax, a greater or lesser quantity of a mineral or vegetable spirit may be
added to the wax in order to lower the melting point thereof.
Finally, for objects which cannot be immersed into the coating bath, either by.
reason of their too great dimensions, their weight, their fragility, or for any other
reason, I can provide them with a coating giving to some extent the practical
results obtained by the bath of melted wax above mentioned.
This coating is composed of wax, benzine, mineral spirit, ordinary resin and
linseed oil, the whole being mixed with black lead.
The coating thus prepared is spread on the object to be coated by means of a
brush; the object is then immersed in the coppering bath as above mentioned.
In proceeding as above mentioned, there is no air imprisoned between the

page_text: electro-deposited coating and the material covered, so that the adhesion between
the same is perfect at all parts.
Dated the 24th day of February 1897
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements relating to the Coating of Objects of Stone, Plaster,
and Analogous Substances with Metals.
I, ABEL DE BOISCHEVALIER, of 4. Avenue-Friedland, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
My process of metallizing objects of stone, plaster, and other materials, such as
staff (a mixture of Plaster of Paris, cement, dextrin, and glycerine), the rough
or porous surface of which lends itself to such treatment, consists essentially in
rendering these objects impermeable to the action of acid baths, whilst preventing
them from disintegrating and thereby becoming even non-conducting and unfit
for receiving a thick coat of metal and also ensuring that the adhesion of the coat-
ing applied shall be perfect or regular.
In carrying my said invention into practice, I proceed in the following manner,
ri Having prepared a bath of vegetable or animal wax, in a melted condition,
I immerse the objects to be metallized (which may be of stone, plaster or staff
and similar materials) into this bath until the said objects are thoroughly impreg-
nated and I then remove them aud wipe them with a brush to prevent irregularities
in thickness. The melted wax has moreover the advantage of driving off air-
bubbles and moisture.
When the objects are cooled, I coat them with plumbago moistened with benzine
which serves to make the plumbago adhere well to the encaustic surface; I then
let it dry. Then, with a brush, I rub the object to make it shine and to distribute
the layer of plumbago and to remove any excess, afterwards I bring the prepared
object into a coppering bath, suitable conductors being first applied thereto in the
well-known manner.
When these objects are sufficiently covered with electro-deposited copper, they
aro filed, scratch-brushed or similarly treated, and then they can be bronzed,
gilded, silvered or nickelled, etc.
When it is desired to avoid dipping certain delicate objects into a path of pure
melted wax, a greater or lesser quantity of a mineral or vegetable spirit may he
added to the wax in order to lower the melting point thereof.
Finally, for objects which cannot be immersed in the preliminary coating bath,
either by reason or their two great dimensions, their weight, their fragility, or
for any other reason, I can provide them with a coating giving to some extent
the practical results obtained by the bath of melted max above described.
This coating is composed of wax, benzine, mineral spirit, ordinary resin and
linseed oil, mixed with black lead in approximately the following proportions, by
waiht

page_text: The coating material thus prepared is spread on the object to be coated by means
of a brush; the object is then immersed in the coppering bath as above described.
In preceeding as above described, there is no air imprisoned between the electro-
depcsited coating and the material covered, so that the adhesion between the same
is perfect at all parts.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I doclare that what I
claim is:
First. The herein described process of metallizing stone, plaster, staff, and like
materials, consisting in rendering the material incapable of being attacked by the
acid of the coppering bath, by means of an encaustic covering of wax on which
is afterwards applied plumbago moistened with benzine.
the
Second. The modification of my invention in which the plumbago is mixed with
wax, benzine and other materials and is spread over the material to be metal-
lized prior to the immersion of the same in the coppering bath, substantially as,
and for the purposes, hereinbefore described.
T
1
131
100%
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.