Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Flowers.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Jan., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Sept., 1890-Accepted, 4th Oct., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Flowers.
A communication from abroad by FRANCESCO BIANCHI, of 547, Broadway, New
York City, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of No. 46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the material from which the petals are formed, and to
the treatment thereof. According thereto the soft and leathery condition of the
corresponding members of natural flowers can be imitated with great perfection
and these qualities can be caused to be retained, and also the form of the natural
petals maintained for a long period.
I take Chinese rice paper, sometimes known as papyrifera, and soak it from one-
and-a-half to two hours in a solution and dry it for about the same periods in the
shade, the time required for the drying or partial drying which is desired varying
with the temperature and the hygrometric condition of the air.
The solution is prepared as follows :-Take four quarts of distilled or rain water,
and dissolve in it a mixture of (4) four ounces of saltpetre (nitrate of potash),
(4) four ounces of alum (sulphate of alumina and potash), and (4) four ounces of
carbonate of potassium (in German, kohlens aures kali), pulverised together. The
pulverised and mixed materials are thrown into the water and thoroughly stirred,
and then the mixture is boiled for half an hour or more and allowed to stand quiet
until cooled down to about blood heat, and then filtered through muslin.
To the clear solution thus obtained I add at this temperature eight teaspoonsful
(8) of wood alcohol and one ounce of refined glycerine. The quantity of glycerine
may be increased or diminished in some cases. It is important. The quantity
should be sufficient to give a slightly slippery feeling when rubbed in the fingers, but
it should not be much in excess of that condition. It will usually be about one
ounce of commercial glycerine to the quantity of the other materials named. The
solution thus made may be kept for a long period at any ordinary temperatures and
may be used at any ordinary temperatures, but my correspondent in experimenting
has generally used it without much delay and at about blood heat.
The rice paper, after lying in this solution about two hours, is drained and gently
pressed with the hands to express the excess before drying.
After it has been extended in single sheets and exposed in a warm, dry room
about two hours it is ready to be colored. It will take any tint from the ordinary
aniline dyes, by simple immersion, but the dyes should also be prepared with a small
quantity of wood alcohol and glycerine. To one gallon of dye there should be
added about twelve ounces (12) of the alcohol, and twelve ounces (12) of the
glycerine.
The dye being gently pressed out and the prepared and properly tinted paper,
being now extended in sheets and again dried in the shade two hours or more, is ready
to be cut by dies or by any other means to the forms required.
In finally making up the flowers, the several pieces of the material are lightly
dipped along the edges in melted wax, ordinary beeswax, and then rolled in the
fingers, shaped and otherwise treated to induce the desired dishing, curled, or veined
condition. The leaves or petals may be united by flour paste or other cementing
material, about the same as those made of ordinary material, and the flowers may be
handled as roughly and used in all respects like other artificial flowers, and will
endure as well, with the difference that these flowers exhibit a condition more

page_text: closely resembling nature than any artificial flowers before known to my corre-
spondent.
In experimenting, the material commonly known in the paper trade as rice paper
has been used. My correspondent has been informed and believes that it is made in
China, from the inner parts of the bark of a tree or shrub cut in thin lamina and
joined or sized with a cementing material made from rice, but of this he cannot be
certain. He has tried other material, but has not succeeded perfectly except with the
material commercially known by that name.
Dated this 21st day of January 1890.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Flowers.
A communication from abroad by FRANCESCO BIANCHI, of 547, Broadway, New
York City, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE of No. 46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, 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 :-
This invention of improvements in the manufacture of artificial flowers relates to
the material from which the petals are formed, and to the treatment thereof.
According thereto the soft and leathery condition of the corresponding members of
natural flowers, can be imitated with great perfection, and these qualities can be
caused to be retained and also the form of the natural petals maintained for a long
period.
I take Chinese rice paper, sometimes known as papyrifera, and soak it from one-
and-a-half to two hours in a solution and dry it for about the same periods in the
shade, the time required for the drying or partial drying which is desired varying
with the temperature and the hygrometric condition of the air.
The solution is prepared as follows: Take four quarts of distilled or rain water,
and dissolve in it a mixture of (4) four ounces of saltpetre (nitrate of potash), (4)
four ounces of alum (sulphate of alumina and potash), and (4) four ounces of
carbonate of potassium (in German, kohlens aures kali), pulverised together.
The pulverised and mixed materials are thrown into the water and thoroughly
stirred, and then the mixture is boiled for half an hour or more and allowed to stand
quiet until cooled down to about blood heat, and then filtered through muslin.
To the clear solution thus obtained I add at this temperature eight teaspoonsful
(8) of wood alcohol and one ounce of refined glycerine. The quantity of glycerine
may be increased or diminished in some cases. It is important, the quantity should
be sufficient to give a slightly slippery feeling when rubbed in the fingers, but it
should not be much in excess of that condition. It will usually be about one ounce
of commercial glycerine to the quantity of the other materials named. The solution
thus made may be kept for a long period at any ordinary temperatures, and may be
used at any ordinary temperatures, but my correspondent in experimenting has
generally used it without much delay and at about blood heat.
The rice paper, after lying in this solution about two hours, is drained and gently
pressed with the hands to express the excess before drying.
After it has been extended in single sheets and exposed in a warm, dry room
about two hours it is ready to be colored. It will take any tint from the ordinary
analine dyes, by simple immersion, but the dyes should also be prepared with a
small quantity of wood alcohol and glycerine. To one gallon of dye there should be
added about twelve ounces (12) of the alcohol, and twelve ounces (12) of the
glycerine.
The dye being gently pressed out and the prepared and properly tinted paper, being

page_text: now extended in sheets and again dried in the shade two hours or more, is ready to
be cut by dies or by any other means to the forms required.
In finally making up the flowers, the several pieces of the material are lightly
dipped along the edges in melted wax, ordinary beeswax, and then rolled in the
fingers, shaped and otherwise treated to induce the desired dishing, curled, or veined
condition. The leaves or petals may be united by flour paste or other cementing
material, about the same as those made of ordinary material, and the flowers may be
handled as roughly and used in all respects like other artificial flowers, and will
endure as well, with the difference that these flowers exhibit a condition more
closely resembling nature than any artificial flowers before known to my corre-
spondent.
In experimenting the material commonly known in the paper trade as rice paper
has been used. My correspondent has been informed and believes that it is made
in China, from the inner parts of the bark of a tree or shrub cut in thin lamina
and joined or sized with a cementing material made from rice, but of this he cannot
be certain. He has tried other material, but has not succeeded perfectly except
with the material commercially known by that name.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. In the manufacture of artificial flowers the method described of treating rice
paper or analogous material by soaking in a solution of saltpetre, alum, and
carbonate of potassium, coloring in a dye in the presence of wood alchohol and
glycerine, and finally treating with wax, all substantially as herein specified.
2. The method described of treating rice paper or analogous material in a
solution, drying, coloring in a dye and drying, cutting to the forms required, waxing
the edges, and finally shaping mechanically to the dishing, curled, or veined
condition desired, as herein specified.
3. An artificial flower having petals of rice paper saturated and dyed and shaped
to the required forms and having the edges waxed as herein specified.
Dated this 2nd day of September 1890.
W. LLOYD WISE.