US1728635A - Process of and apparatus for applying metal leaf - Google Patents

Description

P 1929: w. o. SNELLING 1,728,635

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING METAL LEAF Filed Jan. 20, 1926 anoento'o:

Patented Sept. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WALTER ohsnnnmne, or ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA rnocnss or AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING METAL LEAF Application filed'lanuary 20, 1926. Serial No. 82,563.

This invention relates to the packaging and applying of metallic leaf and has for its principal object the provision of an improved package of metallic leaf, usually gold, and in the method of transferring the leaf from the package tov the surface.

A further object of'the invention is the provision of means for reducing toa minimum the quantity of precious metal ordinarily lost by excessive overlapping, wind currents, and crinklin'g.

The common practice at the present time is to package the extremely thin metal in so-called books, the gold leaf, bronze leaf, silver leaf, aluminum leaf, or whatever thin metal is used being interleaved between sheets oftissue paper which ordinarily are exactly the same size as the metal. In using the metallic leaf which I will hereafter refer to as gold, aljtho obviously I use all metals that can be' attenuated, the operator" whether lettering a pane of glass or a book,

or an ornamental figure or what not, opens the book so as to expose a sheet of the gold leaf, and ifthe operator is extremely skillful he can with a flip and skillfulblowing lift the gold from the book and blow itto the desired point.

A much more common method and one which does not require anything like the I skill required in blowing but which does' lead to much greater wastage, is to use a high grade of soft camels hair brush and to draw this quickly across the cheek and then apply the side of the brush to the exposed a sheet of gold which will stick to the brush and can be transferredby the brush to the desired point to be gilded.

The extreme thinness of the sheets of gold makes it quite difficult to handle the leaf by either of the methods described and loss of gold is very considerable, and since no operator can accurately place the gold leaf, it

is the custom to overlap the sheets of gold on the surface to a very large extent to insure against having to fill in little cracks; in other words the labor cost is so much greater than the gold cost that it is cheaper to overlap excessively than to have to apply t extra small pieces where the gold would not I torn into thin strips. reason for providing a perforated back for quitehit if it were attempted to economize by making a very slight overlap.

It has been proposed heretofore to package metallic leaf in rolls in which the rolls were perforated but in every case the gold has been packaged on the inside of the roll ormorecorrectly the gold and support are wound spirally but the support is always on theoutside of the roll. The purpose of the holes has always been for one of two rea sons. one to cause suction to the back of the roll to prevent adhesion of the metal leaf to the outside surface of the next inner layer of backing or, second, to produce the proper adhesion of the goldto the paper so that'the gold and paper could together be I knowoffno other metallic leaf. I

lVhile I perforate my backing I do it for a totally differentporposeand Ialso have much greater area ofholes' In'all former pa'ckings the area of the holes was less than a twentieth of the area of the backing whereasin accordance with the present invention the area'of the holes preferable varies from about one-tenth of the total area of the sheet to as much as one-half or even more, of the total area of the sheet, a convenient ratio being 1 to 5, that is, the holes take up one-fifth of the .total area. This ratio is had when" the holes are asfar apart as their diameters and not staggered. In

one of the figures I have shown a'modified backing whic h I. find very convenient. In

this backing the holes, inqvertical and horizontal rows, are as far apart as their diameters but the holes are staggered and hence I total area of the holes is double that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 8 is an elevation of a package roll of metallic lea-f, this being the preferred form of my invention.

Figure l is an elevation of a holder for the rolls while applying the metal in accordance with the method herein described.

Figure 5 is a plan of the holder shown in Figure 4.

In Figure lthe backing is 10, here a flat sheet with an unperforated border 11 but having thruout the center'of the sheet a number of perforations 12 here shown as being as far apart both verticallyand hori zontally as their diameters so that the area covered by the metallic leaf 15 is about fire times as great as the area of the holes beneath it. I can decrease the area of the holes and still have the invention satisfactory but it is better to have the holes not less than one-fifth of thetot al area covered by the gold leaf. In Figure 2 the only modification is that the holes are shown as staggered and since there are now twice as many holes in a given area the ratio of holes to totalarea is as pi is to eight or roughly at 2:5; or expressed still differently, the holes cover four-tenths of the total area. In using the modification shown in Figure 2 the hole area is so greatthat a very gentle stream of air directed against the back of the support 10 will insure the transfer of the leaf from the backing to the proximate surface to be metalize-d without loss.

In Figure 3 the package is in its most convenient form, a roll, denotedas a whole by the numeral 16, in which roll the continuous strip 17 of metal is on the outside ofthe roll,

the perforated strip18 being wound on the inside ofthe roll in eontradistinction to all package rolls of leaf with which I am familiar. The obvious reason for this difference lies in the totally different method of application; in all other packages the leaf is lifted from the package and transferred to the surface by some tangible means whereas in accordance with my invention the transfer is thru an extremely small distance and the transferring means consists of air or gas only. The supporting sheet 18 has perforations in accordance with Figure l or Figure 2 or in any other desired manner just so that the total area of the holes is sufficiently great in proportion to the total area of the leaf as to insure the air being able to blow it off without loss.

In Figure 4 I have shown a frame suitable for holding the rolls of Figure 3. In this device the frame as a whole is denoted 20 and at each end thereisa removable shaft, one of which, 21, has a knurled head 22 while the other shaft 23 is preferably plain. At

each corner of the frame 20 I have a small leg 25 intended to rest against the surface to be gilded, here shown as a sheet of glass 27. The lugs 28 each have at their free ends a small roller 29 so that the metallic leaf and backing may be guided from the roll 16 into close proximity and into parallelism with the surface 27, provided the surface is plane.

The small gripping elements 30 detachably receive a pyramidal funnel 81 to the apex of which is secured a rubber tube 32 having a soft portion 33 so that the operator can place the portion 33 in his mouth and when he winds the strip of gold leaf into the exact position desired he can blow gently thru the tube 32 and transfer themetal 17 to the surface 27 which naturally has already been prepared in the proper way as by varnishing it so that the gold or other metal will adhere in the usual manner. The tube may convey a gas in which case there should be a valve in the tube which obviously would not be needed if the gas to be supplied were merely air from the operators lungs.

Where the letters are quite small and the width of the foil roll is relatively great the funnel may be detached and the tube 3233 used without being fast to the frame (the funnel being omitted) and in this way a very close economy ,ofgold may be secured, the adhesion of the gold to the backing being sufliciently great to enable it to be drawn from the surface where it has not been blown against the surface. In the ordinary ,use of the device however, I make the width of the roll the same as the standard for the present day box and I turn the knurled wheel 22 sufficient to expose as much of the d as I wish to use in which case the .3, ler 25) acts as the severing margin.

While I have shown the perforationsas being circular and of uniform size they naturally may be made of varying sizes, for example, the perforations in the center of the sheet or strip might well be smaller than the perforations at the edge, or the holes may all be so arranged that the amount of air passing thru the perforations will bear a desired relationship to the preferred movementof the metal foil, but I do not claim the specific arrangement or size of holes per se except as stated in the claims nor do I make any special claim as to the kind of foil for 'while gold, substantially pure, is the metal usually handled there are times when it is very convenient to use other metals as for example, during the warwhen bronze leaf was used to a considerable extent because the government had requisitioned that metal to such an extent as to bar the use of solid bronze in ornaments.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In combination, apaclrage roll comprising a continuous perforated supporting strip adapted to support a metallic leaf on the outside of the strip so that as the package is unrolled on a surfacethe leaf will be next to the surface, and means for rotatably supporting said roll to expose an area of the strip in a plane parallel to the surface to be gilded so that a stream of gas may be directed against the back of the strip to drive the leaf from the strip to the surface.

2. In combination, a pair of spaced rollers having parallel axes, a package roll one end of which is carried by each of the rollers, said roll comprising a continuous strip of perforated supporting material adapted to support a strip of metallic leaf.

, 3. In combination, a pair of spaced rollers having parallel axes, a package roll one end of which is carried by each of the rollers, said roll comprising a continuous strip of perforated supporting material adapted to support a strip of metallic leaf, and means for directing a stream of gas against a portion of the package roll between the two rollers.

4:. In combination, a pair of spaced rollers having parallel axes, a package roll oneend of which is carried by each of the rollers, said roll comprising a continuous strip of perforated supporting material adapted to support a strip of metallic leaf, an open mouth vessel in substantial contact with the back of the supporting strip, and means for conveying a gas to the vessel.

5. The art of applying metallic leaf to a surface which consists. in placing the leaf upon a perforated support, bringing the support and leaf into suitable proximity to the prepared surface, and in blowing the breath gently against the back of the support to transfer the leaf from the support to the surface.

6. The art of applying metallic leaf to a surface which consists in placing the leaf upon a flexible perforated support, bringing the support and leaf into suitable proximity to the prepared surface, and blowing air against the back of the perforated support to transfer the leaf from the support to the surface.

7. The art of applying metallic leaf to a surface which consists in winding a strip of metallic leaf upon a perforated support, rolling the support and leaf into a spiral with the leaf on the outside of the roll, un-

winding a portion of the roll to a plane parallel to and in close proximity to the prepared surface to which the leaf is to be applied and in discharging a gentle stream of gas against the back of the perforated strip to transfer the leaf from the perforated support to theprepared surface.

8. The art of applying gold leaf to a plane surface which consists in preparing the plane surface with an adhesive of the usual type, winding a strip of gold leaf on a perforated paper sheetinto a spiral roll with the gold leaf on the outside of the roll, drawing the ing a continuous perforated strip adapted to support a metallic leaf, means for supporting said roll so as to expose an area of the strip, and a detachable hood adapted to be positioned to cover the major portion of the exposed area of the strip on the side opposite the metallic leaf.

10. The device of claim 3 in which the gas directing means comprises a detachable hood, v

11. In combination, a rectangularframe,

a perforated strip adapted to support a sheet of gold leaf substantially parallel to the frame, a hood detachably secured to the strip.

"WALTER 0. SN tLLING.

frame at the side opposite the supporting In testimony whereof I affix In signature.

Images