A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF MATERIALS FOR THE PREPARATION OF MURAL PAINTINGS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF
MATERIALS FOR THE PREPARATION OF MURAL PAINTINGS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Pierre Oury and Paul Cousin, both of
No. 16, Rue des Trois Frères, Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 19th October 1869, and dated the 21st April 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st April 1869.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
5 Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF AND MATERIALS FOR THE PREPARATION OF MURAL PAINTINGS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in a new or improved method of mural
o decoration whereby paintings in oil are capable of being applied by
mechanical means to the inner or outer walls of buildings.

page_text: The Invention consists mainly in the application of the processes of
chromo-lithography for printing the requisite designs upon a paper,
which serves subsequently as the medium for transferring the designs to
the walls.
Another part of the Invention consists in the particular modes of
preparing the transfer paper, the colours, and the glutinous material
serving to fix the decorations on the wall.
For these purposes a
very thin unsized paper is taken, which is coated on one side only
with a size prepared from skins, which size is first passed through
a fine cambric sieve, and is then heated in a water bath to a tem-
perature of from 140° to 160° Fahrenheit. The size is laid on either
by hand, or mechanically by passing the same under a fine brush
supplied with the size; the paper is then printed upon in colours in a
manner similar to that employed in chromo-lithography, the various
layers or tints being however applied in the inverse order to that
employed in the above process.
case.
The pigments are prepared with the following materials:-No. 1, gum
of Almacica, No. 2, gum of Sierra Leone, with which is mixed fatty oil,
and which are heated to from 932° to 1100° Fahrt. The colours for
the upper tints are ground with linseed oil and not with spirits, but the
colours for the ground tint should be ground with spirits and not with
oil. After grinding the preparations Nos. 1 and 2 are added in every
After printing the designs on the paper the surface to which the
design is to be transferred is cleaned, and, if necessary, moistened. The
paper then receives a coating of paste mixed with alum, black pepper,
and camphor on that side on which the colours are printed, and this
surface is then applied to the wall, after which the paper may at once be
removed, but it is preferred to allow it to dry on for about 10 hours,
after which the paper is wetted, whereupon it falls almost of itself from
the wall, leaving the painting upon the latter, which may be subse-
quently varnished if required, or a coating of varnish may be applied to
the paper before the colours are printed upon it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton
Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MATERIALS FOR THE
PREPARATION OF MURAL PAINTINGS," (a communication to me from abroad
by Pierre Oury and Paul Cousin, both of No. 16, Rue des Trois Freres,
Paris, in the Empire of France,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 thereof, that is to say:--
This Invention consists in a new or improved method of mural
decoration whereby paintings in oil are capable of being applied by
mechanical means to the inner or outer walls of buildings.

page_text: The Invention consists mainly in the application of the processes
of chromo-lithography for printing the requisite designs upon a paper,
which serves subsequently as the medium for transferring the designs
to the walls.
Another part of the Invention consists in the particular modes of
preparing the transfer paper, the colours, and the glutinous material
serving to fix the decorations on the wall. It is assumed by way of
example that it is desired to reproduce a design in various oil colours
either once or several times on a wall. For these purposes a very thin
unsized paper is taken, which is coated on one side only with a size
prepared from skins, which size is first passed through a fine cambric
sieve, and is then heated in a water bath to a temperature of from 140°
to 160° Fahrenheit. This size has the property of preventing all fermen-
tation, and by the action of the fatty matter which it deposits on the
surface of the paper it constitutes an impermeable varnish which protects
the paper from extraneous action. The size is laid on either by hand or
mechanically by passing the same under a fine brush supplied with
the size. A design having been previously prepared in colours, stones
or plates are prepared according to this for receiving each separate tint
to be laid on, and the paper is then printed upon in colours by means
of these stones or plates in a manner similar to that employed in
chromo-lithography, the various layers or tints being however applied
in the inverse order to that employed in the above process.
The pigments are prepared with the following materials :-No. 1, gum
Almacica, No. 2, gum Sierra Leone, with which is mixed fatty oil and
which are heated to from 932° to 1100° Fahrenheit to render the compound
glutinous. The colours for the upper tints are ground with linseed oil
and not with spirits, but the colours for the ground tint should be ground
with spirits and not with oil. After grinding the preparations Nos. 1
and 2 are added in every case. After printing the designs on the paper
the surface to which the design is to be transferred is cleaned, and if
necessary moistened. The paper then receives a coating of paste made
of rye flour (with which may be mixed alum, black pepper, and camphor
as preservatives against insects and damp) on that side on which the
colours are printed or rather upon the back of the ground tint, and
this surface is then applied to the wall, the transparency of the paper
enabling the operator to match the pattern with accuracy.
After this
the paper may at once be removed, but it is preferred to allow it to

page_text: dry on for about 10 hours, after which the paper is wetted with a sponge,
whereupon it falls almost of itself from the wall or panel leaving the
painting upon the latter. Such painting is by this means transferred
to the wall or panel with the greatest perfectness of outline and vigour
of colour, and it adheres to the surface more enduringly than if painted
with a brush. If it be desired to produce a varnished picture or design
the varnish is either applied after the design is fixed, as described, or a
coating of varnish may be applied to the paper before printing on the
colours. The engraved plates may be of metal with the designs either
sunk into or in relief upon the same according to the description of
the painting or design to be produced.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, what I claim as the characteristic features of this
Invention is,
First. The use for the production of mural paintings of a paper as
a medium for transferring coloured designs printed thereon by the
chromo-lithographic process, substantially as set forth.
Second. The peculiar nature, combination, and mode of preparing
and applying the paper and colours herein-before described.
In witness whereof I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.