IMPROVEMENTS IN DEPOSITING SILVER AND OTHER METALS ON FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cimeg, of Great James Street, Bedford Row,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DEPOSITING SILVER AND OTHER METALS ON FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS,"
Sealed the 10th February 1863, and dated the 18th August 1862,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cimeg at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th August 1862.
I, JOHN CIMEG, of Great James Street, Bedford Row, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DEPOSITING SILVER AND OTHER METALS ON FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in depositing silver and other
metals on fabrics and other materials, Various liquids or mixtures of liquids
are known which have the property of depositing silver in a bright state
on surfaces with which they are brought in contact, but this silver is in so
porous & form as to readily rub off the surface on to which it is deposited.
This defect greatly limits the advantageous use of the silvering liquids above
referred to and prevents their employment for silvering fabrics and other
materials which in their use are liable to friction, besides which the porous
condition of the silver even when it is deposited on glass or other similar
surface lessens to a considerable extent its metallic lustre. Other liquids are

page_text: known which deposit gold and platinum, and to these the above remarks are
equally applicable.
Now, I have discovered that it is possible to mordant fabrics and similar
soft fibrous materials, as for example, leather and paper, in such a manner as
to cause the silver, gold, or platinum, to adhere firmly to their fibres so that
it will not rub or wash off. I can also by mordanting portions of a fabric, and
afterwards bringing it in contact with a suitable solution cause the silver or
other metal to adhere only to the mordanted portions of the fabric and thus I
can imprint on a fabric any form of pattern in firmly adherent metallic silver or
metal. Many vegetable juices, more especially those which are acid to the
taste, have more or less the property required. The mordant, however, which
I employ is a preparation of an acid fruit such as the currant, apple, or
pear, I apply the juice or a preparation of one of these fruits to the fabric
or similar soft fibrous material either so as to cover it or to the parts to which
it is desired that the silver or other metal should adhere, then I thoroughly
wash the fabric or material in water and afterwards bring it in contact with
the silver or other metallic solution. The solution which I prefer to employ for
depositing silver being a mixture of ammonio-nitrate of silver and Rochelle
salt. For gold and platinum suitable solutions are well known. The
mordant may also be advantageously employed in silvering, gilding, and
platinizing glass and similar surfaces, but in this case the surface should not
be washed after the application of the mordant. It causes the metal to adhere
more firmly to the surface and increases its lustre. Also if the strength of
the solution is properly regulated portions of the surface to which the mordant
has been applied will become coated, whilst other portions which have received
no mordant will remain uncoated and thus a pattern may be obtained,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cimeg in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 30
CIMEG, of Great James Street, Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of 35
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said John Cimeg, Her special licence that I the said John Cimeg,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Cimeg, 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
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 DEPOSITING
SILVER AND OTHER METALS ON FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Cimeg, 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 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 John Cimeg, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
Various liquids or mixtures of liquids are known which have the property
of depositing silver in a bright state on surfaces with which they are brought
in contact, but this silver is in so porous a form as to readily rub off the
surface on to which it is deposited, or it does scarcely admit an ulterior galvanic
metallization. This defect greatly limits the advantageous use of the
silvering liquids above referred to, and prevents their employment for silvering
fabrics and other materials which in their use are liable to friction, besides
which the porous condition of the silver even when it is deposited on glass
or other similar surface lessons to a considerable extent its metallic lustre.
Other liquids are known which deposit gold and platinum, and to these the above
remarks are equally applicable.
Now, I have discovered that it is possible to mordant fabrics and similar
soft fibrous materials, as for example silk, leather, and paper, in such a manner
as to cause the silver, gold, or platinum, to adhere firmly to their fibres so that
it will not rub or wash off. I can also by mordanting portions of a fabric
and afterwards bring it contact with a suitable solution cause the silver or other
metal to adhere only to the mordanted portions of the fabric, and thus I can
imprint on a fabric any form of pattern in firmly adherent metallic silver or
metal. Many vegetable juices, more especially those which are acid to the
taste and contain simultaneously a small amount of tannin, or a matter acting

page_text: like tannin upon chemical reagents, such as currants, sorbs, and other berries,
apples, pears, &c., have more or less the property required.
For the sake of brevity and clearness, I shall explain the proceeding by
means of a particular example.
Suppose there were 10 grammes of loose silk to be silvered, the first thing
to be done is a complete cleaning of the matter from all foreign substances
like grease, gum, colouring matter, &c. Now the matter is to be macerated
in from 50 to 60 grammes of juice of the above-mentioned fruits, which may
be stewed for winter use. The required reaction, takes place immediately
after the immersion, we have therefore only to see that all parts being thoroughly
wet, the washing of the matter in distilled water be perfectly done, the said
reaction cannot be destroyed, the said reaction cannot be destroyed any more
by washing. All solutions of whatever metals proper to the metallization of
glass may be applied in this case. But the solution which I prefer to employ
for depositing silver is a mixture of ammonio-nitrate of silver, and Rochelle
salt. The preparation of which is as follows:-
First, I take 20 grammes of nitrate of silver, which I dissolve in as small
a quantity of concentrated ammonia that the brown precipitate thereby produced
be not entirely dissolved and the muddy solution is then filtered. For 20
grammes of melted nitrate of silver, 18 grammes of ammonia, of 0.933
specific weight are sufficient, whereto may be added from 10 to 15 grammes
distilled water.
Secondly, I make a solution of 20 grammes Rochelle salt, in 300 grammes
distilled water. I now carefully soak the prepared silk in the solution No. 1
and immerse it immediately afterwards in the solution No 2, heated to from 40
to 50 degrees Celsius, and stir it during a few minutes by slowly raising the heat.
If the mordant had a good effect the silk will grow brown immediately after its
immersion in the solution No. 1, and upon its immersion in the Rochelle salt solu-
tion it will take quickly a violet, afterwards a greyish, and finally a white colour
which is pretty bright. Next the silk is to be washed and left to dry. If the
heating was continued only for a few minutes all the silver of the solution is
deposited upon the silk, which weighs now from 22 to 23 grammes. But even a
smaller quantity of nitrate of silver would have been sufficient, especially if besides
other metals were to be deposited. The brightness of the metallized silk may be
raised, if required, to any degree, by burnishing. Glass, china, varnished wares,
&c., must be first carefully cleaned and wetted over the parts to be silvered with
the mordant, and the same having become dry they are rubbed with a soft
and dry piece of fabric. In particular cases, as for glass, it is preferable to
extract from the juices by means of concentrated alcohol the mordant matter

page_text: required, to acidate it with some acetic acid and dissolve it in 200 or 800
parts of distilled water.
The solution No. 1 is then poured in the solution No. 2 heated to 30 or 40
degrees Celsius with continual stirring thereof, and the same is made use of
immediately either by plunging the objects in the solution or by pouring the
latter over the horizontally laid surface, when it is for looking glasses. At a
temperature of from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius the silvering is done in about
half an hour, afterwards the silvered surface must be carefully washed, dried,
varnished or burnished if required. Twenty grammes of nitrate of silver in
ammonia, 20 grammes Rochelle salt, and 300 grammes water are sufficient
for the silvering of a surface of forty inches square.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cimeg, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN CIMEG. (L.B.)