IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATES FOR SUN PICTURES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the Firm of Haseltine,
.
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATES FOR
SUN PICTURES."-A communication from abroad by Horace M. Hedden
and Charles A. Hill, trading under the name of the Phoenix
Plate Co., both of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of
America.
.
Sealed the 13th February 1872, and dated the 17th August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Haseltine at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th August 1871.
I, GEORGE HASELTINE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
5 Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATES-·
FOR SUN PICTURES,” a communication, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a coated metallic plato for
portrait and other sun pictures of such a character that the impression

page_text: will possess a natural or life-like appearance, and said Invention consists
chiefly in covering iron and other metal plates with a composition best
suited for giving the desired tint to such pictures or impressions, which
plates may also be used for other purposes.
It has been proved by experiments that a tinted plate imparts a
warmth of tone and life-like appearance to portraits, and for this reason
' is especially desirable for this purpose; but the difficulty has been to
obtain a pigment of suitable colour that will stand the heat necessary
in the process of manufacture without changing its tint or suffering
other injury, and in the preparation of these plates it is necessary to
I have discovered
bake on the covering material in a suitable oven.
that pure finely ground sesqui-oxide of iron answers the desired purpose
perfectly, as it will not change colour at a high temperature; and I
prefer to use the pigment known in commerce as "India red," which
yields a very desirable chocolate or reddish brown tint. There are other
forms of oxide of iron known in commerce by a variety of names that
may be used with a greater or less degree of success, but nothing has
been found to answer as perfectly as the above ingredient. In preparing
these tinted plates I take about ten gallons of linseed oil and boil the
same with about seven pounds of “India red,” more or less, until a
paste-like substance is produced, and when this is cold I apply it to the
plates with about ten gallons of spirit of turpentine or naptha; the
composition is laid on the surface of the metallic plates with a brush or
other means, and afterwards the plates are baked in a suitable oven.
Sometimes the plates are first covered with a japan coating and then the
above composition is applied, by which means different shades or tints
are obtained. The almost flesh-like appearance given to the plates by
the application of the "India red" or other similar pigment renders
the portraits most life-like and natural.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent, 3
filed by the said George Haseltine in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Haseltine, Her special licence,
that I, the said George Haseltine, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Haseltine, 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
O 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
the ManufacturE OF PLATES FOR SUN PICTURES," a communication to me from
abroad by Horace M. Hedden and Charles A. Hill, trading under the
5 name of the "Phoenix Plate Company," both of Worcester, Massachusetts,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Haseltine, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
O vention, 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 George Haseltine, do hereby declare
5 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 :—
The object of this Invention is to produce a coated metallic plate
for portraits and other sun pictures of such a character that the
O impression will possess a natural or life-like appearance, and said
Invention consists chiefly in covering iron and other metal plates with a
composition best suited for giving the desired tint to such pictures or
impressions, which plates may also be used for other purposes.
Ferrotype plates as heretofore prepared have been covered with a
5 black varnish or japan, and manufacturers have vied with each other in
their attempts to produce the richest and most perfect black covering
or coating upon such plates, a black colour having been considered by

page_text: dealers and artists as essential to the production of good pictures; but
experiments have proved that a chocolate or reddish brown colour is
much superior to black for this purpose, as it produces a more life-like
and natural picture than black. In the preparation of these tinted
plates it is necessary to bake on the covering material as in ordinary 5
japanning. It is difficult to obtain a pigment of suitable colour that
will stand the heat of a japanning oven without changing colour; it
has however been found that pure very finely ground sesqui-oxide of
iron which will not change colour at a high temperature answers the
purpose perfectly, and I prefer to use the pigment known in commerce
as "Indian red," which yields the desired colour and is not changed by
the necessary heating.
There are other forms of oxide of iron known in commerce by a
variety of names, and any of these pigments which have been first
proved by practical experiments to have the character mentioned above, 1
may be employed for this purpose.
One method of applying this Invention is as follows:-I take twenty.
gallons of linseed oil and fourteen pounds of Indian red, and boil them
together until a thick paste-like substance is produced, when this is cold I
reduce it to the proper consistency for applying to the plates with about 2
twenty gallons of spirits of turpentine or naptha; the composition thus
produced is laid upon the surface of the iron plates with a brush in the
ordinary manner of applying japan or baking varnishes.
I sometimes prepare the common black ferrotype plates, and then put
a covering of the aforesaid coloured compound over the black coating, 2
and in this way obtain different shades and surfaces.
The almost flesh-like appearance given to the colour of the plates
by Indian red, or other similar pigments, renders the pictures taken
thercon more life-like and natural than pictures taken on black plates.
There is a delicate shading both to drapery and to the outlines of these 3
pictures which is not produced when the black plates are used, and
which appears in striking contrast with the comparatively sharp and
harsh expression produced by the black coloured plates.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, and shown how the same may be 8
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim, the

page_text: .improvements in the manufacture of plates for sun pictures as abovo
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
Wч. ROB. Lake.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.S.)