Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets Part 1

Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets.

by Daniel Young.

INTRODUCTION

The object of the present work is clearly announced in its t.i.tle.

It is to collect within a small compa.s.s the instructions of experimental knowledge upon a great variety of subjects which relate to the present interests of man. It contains above five hundred genuine and practical receipts, which have been compiled by the publisher with extreme difficulty and expense. A reference to the list of subjects which the work contains, will show that the publisher's researches have been extensive, while a comparison of the work with others of the same general character evinces patient labour, and cannot fail to give it pre-eminence. While the track pursued is not new, it is more thorough, and more easily followed than that marked out by any previous compiler known to myself. The work contains not merely the outlines on the subjects to which it refers, but, what appears to my own mind one of its excellences, the full and clear explanations of these subjects. To all cla.s.ses of people, without exception, the work is of great value. It is fit, on every account, that the publisher should be encouraged in this production. The work is worthy the acceptance of all, and one which every man may prize.

1. ORIENTAL PAINTING

Any bunch of roses or flowers, or anything of the kind that you admire, take the pattern of by placing them against a light of window gla.s.s, then lay a piece of white paper over them, and through the latter you will see the roses, &c. Now with a lead pencil take the pattern of the roses, &c., on the paper; when you have them all marked, cut then out with a scissors, so that you have a complete pattern of them. Now take a piece of gla.s.s, whatever size your pattern requires, stick the pattern on it with wafers, then paint the gla.s.s all over, except where the pattern covers, with black paint, composed of refined lampblack, black enamel, copel varnish and turpentine, mixed. Now let this dry, then take off your patterns and paint your roses, flowers, &c., with tube paints, mixed with demar varnish, so that your roses, &c., may be, in a manner, transparent. Paint your large roses red, some of the smaller ones yellow, or any colour to suit your taste. Paint one side of the leaves a darker shade of green than the other, which will make the picture appear as though the sun was shining on it. When this painting is dry, take silver or gold foil, (gold is best,) wrinkle it up in your hand then nearly straighten it, and cover the back of the gla.s.s all over with it; over the large roses let the wrinkles be larger, over the small ones smaller, &c.; then lay a piece of stiff paper, the size of the gla.s.s, over the foil, and a piece of very thin board again over this; have it framed in this manner and it is completed. You now have one of the richest of paintings, which is commonly taught at a cost of $5. You may buy all you require for this painting at the druggist's.

2. TRANSFER PAINTING ON GLa.s.s

This is for transferring any picture plate you please to gla.s.s, to be framed. First give the gla.s.s a coat of demar varnish; let it remain for eight hours, or until dry; at this time have your picture thoroughly soaked in warm water; then give the gla.s.s another coat of demar varnish, and take the picture out of the water; then let it and the gla.s.s remain for twenty minutes, by which time the water will be struck in from the face of the picture, after which you will place the front of the picture on the varnished gla.s.s, (avoiding wrinkles and spots of water,) press it well on until every part is stuck fast, then carefully rub the paper all away to a mere film; give the gla.s.s then, over this film, another coat of demar varnish, which will make the film transparent; let it dry; then place the gla.s.s, with the varnished side towards you, between you and the light, and you will see the outlines of the picture quite distinctly; you may then paint on the back with tube paints, mixed with a little demar varnish to a.s.sist in drying, to suit your taste.

For instance, if the picture is that of a lady, you may paint the dress red, the shawl or cape, as it may be, blue, the face flesh colour, (which colour may be made by mixing a little red with white,) the bonnet scarlet, the shoes black; if trees, have them green, &c. All you want for this painting you may also buy at the druggist's. This painting is very simple and elegant, it is commonly taught at a cost of $3. Try it, you cannot fail.

3. TRANSFER VARNISH

Take of Canada balsam 3 drachms; gum sandric 3 drachms; spirits of wine 1/2 pint. Dissolve the balsam and gum in the spirits of wine and it is ready for use.

4. WHITE SPIRIT VARNISH--THE VERY BEST.

Take of gum sandrack 4 ounces; mastic 1 ounce; Elmi rosin 1/2 ounce; Venice turpentine 1 ounce; alcohol 15 ounces. Digest in a bottle, frequently shaking, till the gums are dissolved, and it is ready for use.

5. TRANSFER PAINTING ON WOOD

By this you may transfer any picture you please from paper to a cutter back, or any other substance you please. Give the board three coats of white spirit varnish, receipt No. 4; damp the back of the print with strong vinegar; give the front a very heavy coat of the transfer varnish, receipt No. 3; then press it on the board, avoiding creases; when perfectly dry and fast, rub the paper away; the print is indelibly fixed; then varnish it over as you would any other painting. This receipt has been commonly sold for $5.

6. ELECTRO GOLD PLATING--NEW METHOD

Take 100 grams of laminated gold, mixed with 20 grams of hydrochloric acid; 10 grams of nitric acid; the liquid thus composed is placed over a moderate fire, and stirred constantly until the gold pa.s.ses into the state of chlorine; it is then allowed to cool.

A second liquid is formed by dissolving 60 grams of cyanide of pota.s.sium in 80 grams of distilled waters; the two liquids are mixed together in a decanter and stirred for 20 minutes, and then filtered. Finally 100 grams of whiting, dry and sifted, are mixed with 5 grams of pulverised supertartrate of pota.s.s; this new powder is dissolved in a portion of the above described liquid, in sufficient quant.i.ty to form a paste of the proper consistency to be spread with a pencil on the article or part to be gilded.

The superabundant powder is then removed by washing and the article is beautifully gilded with a heavy or light coat, according to the quant.i.ty of paste used. Grams belong to French weights, four grams are a little more than one drachm.

7. ELECTRO SILVERING--NEW METHOD

10 grams of nitrate of silver are dissolved in 50 grams of distilled water; then 25 grams of cyanide of pota.s.sium in 50 grams of distilled water; the two liquids are mixed in a decanter, and stirred for 10 minutes; it is then filtered. Finally, 100 grams of sifted whiting are mixed with 10 grams of pulverised supertartrate of pota.s.s and one gram of mercury. This powder and dissolving liquid are used in the same manner as in the above method of gold plating.

These excellent methods of silvering and gilding were discovered in June 1860, by the great French chemist Bald.o.o.s.hong of Paris France.

It is far superior to any other method ever discovered, and will eventually take the place of all.

8. ELECTRO GOLD PLATING--USUAL METHOD

Take a $2 50c. piece of gold, and put it into a mixture of 1 ounce of nitric and 4 ounces of muriatic acids, (gla.s.s vessels only are to be used in this work,) when it is all cut dissolve 1/2 an ounce of sulphate of potash in one pint of pure rain water, and mix the gold solution, stirring well; then let stand and the gold will be thrown down; then pour off the acid fluid, and wash the gold in two or three waters, or until no acid is tasted by touching the tongue to the gold. Now dissolve one ounce of cyanuret of pota.s.sium in one pint of pure rain water, to which add the gold, and it is ready to use. Clear the article to be plated from all dirt and grease with whiting and a good brush; if there are cracks it may be necessary to put the article in a solution of caustic potash. At all events every particle of dirt and grease must be removed; then suspend the article in the cyanuret of gold solution, with a small strip of zinc cut about the width of a common knitting needle, hooking the top over a stick which will reach across the top of the vessel or bottle holding the solution. If the zinc is too large the deposit will be made so fast that it will scale off. The slower the plating goes on the better, and this is arranged by the size if the zinc used. When not using the plating fluid keep it well corked and it is always ready to use, bearing in mind that it is poison as a.r.s.enic, and must be put high out of the way of children, and labelled poison, although you need have no fear using it; yet accidents might arise if its nature were not known.

9. ELECTRO SILVERING--USUAL METHOD

This is done every way the same as gold plating (using coin) except that rock salt is used instead of the cyanuret of pota.s.sium to hold the silver in solution for use, and when it is of the proper strength of salt it has a thick curdy appearance, or you can add salt until the silver will deposit on the article to be plated, which is all that is required. No hesitation need be felt in trying these receipts, as they are obtained from a genuine source, and are in every day use.

10. GOLD PLATING FLUID

Warm six ounces of pure rain water, and dissolve in it 2 ounces of cyanide of pota.s.sium, then add a 1/4 ounce oxide of gold; the solution will at first be yellowish, but will soon subside to white; then half fill a bottle with whiting, fill it up with this solution and shake it well; you may now take a piece of old cotton, wet it with the solution, rub it well over bra.s.s, copper, &c., and it is nicely washed with gold.

11. SILVER PLATING FLUID

Dissolve one ounce of nitrate of silver, in crystal, in 12 ounces of soft water; then dissolve in the water two ounces of cyanuret of potash; shake the whole together and let it stand until it becomes clear. Have ready some 1/2 ounce vials, and fill them half full of whiting, then fill up the bottles and it is ready for use. The whiting does not increase the coating powder--it only helps to clear the articles and save the silver fluid by half filling the bottles. The above quant.i.ty of materials will cost about $1.62c., so that the fluid will be about 3 cents a bottle. It is used in the same way as the gold plating fluid.

12. QUICKSILVER PLATING FLUID

Take of quicksilver one ounce, one ounce nitric acid, one ten cent piece, rain water 1/2 pint to a pint, put the three first articles into a tumbler together; let them stand until dissolved, occasionally stirring, then add the water, and it is ready for use.

This is used in the same way as the silver and gold plating fluid.

13. TO GILD STEEL

Pour some of the ethereal solution of gold into a wine-gla.s.s, and dip into it the blade of a new penknife, lancet, razor, &c., withdraw the instrument and allow the ether to evaporate, the blade will then be found to be covered with a beautiful coat of gold; the blade may be moistened with a clean rag or a small piece of very dry sponge dipped into the ether, and the same effect will be produced.

14. TO GILD COPPER, BRa.s.s, &c.--BY AN AMALGAM

The gilding of these inferior metals and alloys of them is effected by the a.s.sistance of mercury with which the gold is amalgamated. The mercury is evaporated while the gold is fixed by the application of heat, the whole is then burnished of left mat in the whole or in part, according as required.

15. GILDING GLa.s.s AND PORCELAIN

Dissolve in boiling linseed oil an equal weight either of copal or amber, and add as much oil of turpentine as will enable you to apply the compound or size thus formed as thin as possible to the parts of the gla.s.s intended to be gilt; the gla.s.s is to be placed in a stove till it is so warm as almost to burn the fingers when handled. At this temperature the size becomes adhesive, and a piece of leaf gold applied in the usual way will immediately stick. Sweep off the superfluous portions of the leaf, and when quite cold it may be burnished, taking care to interpose a piece of india paper between the gold and the burnisher. It sometimes happens when the varnish is not very good that by repeated washing the gold wears off; on this account the practice of burning it in is sometimes had recourse to; for this purpose some gold powder is ground with borax, and in this state applied to the clean surface of the gla.s.s by a camel hair pencil; when quite dry the gla.s.s is put into a stove, heated to about the temperature of an annealing oven, the gum burns off; and the borax, by vitrifying, cements the gold with great firmness to the gla.s.s, after which it may be burnished.

The gilding upon porcelain is in like manner fixed by heat and the use of borax, and this kind of ware, being neither transparent nor liable to soften, and thus to be injured in its form in a low red heat, is free from the risk and injury which the finer and more fusible kinds of gla.s.s are apt to sustain from such treatment.

Porcelain and other wares may be platinized, silvered, tinned, or bronzed, in a similar manner.

16. GILDING THE EDGES OF PAPER

The edges of the leaves of books and letter paper are gilded whilst in a horizontal position in the bookbinder's press or some arrangement of the same nature, by first applying a composition formed of four parts of Armenian-bole and one of candied sugar, ground together with water to a proper consistence, and laid on by a brush with the white of an egg. This coating, when nearly dry is smoothed by the burnisher, it is then slightly moistened by a sponge dipped in clean water and squeezed in the hand; the gold leaf is now taken up on a piece of cotton from the leathern cushion and applied on the moistened surface; when dry it is to be burnished by rubbing the burnisher over it repeatedly from end to end, taking care not to wound the surface by the point.