172 THE BUILDING NEWS. Marcu 1, 1872.
and the line pencilled in with the stopping
varnish, and when this is thoroughly dry
and hard the whole of the black, except
that portion covered by the stopping
varnish, may be removed with a sponge
and clean water. This black should be washed
off perfectly clean, so that it will not interfere
with the grain of the other woods, which may
now be done and stopped as before. If the
lines are run clean and sharp with the varnish,
they will appear so when the stopping is
removed, and, of course, will add very ma-
terially to the beauty of the work when
finished.
Sometimes it will be required to inlay dark
woods upon a light wood, the latter forming
the mass of the work, and the former forming
the pattern ; in these cases it is the best plan
to grain the light wood first, and give it a coat
of ordinary varnish ; when this is dry and hard
we may then proceed with the other woods,
just as if it were a plain ground, as before
described. It will be seen that we have here
a method of ornamentation, which, when used
with skill and good taste, is of infinite im-
portance as a decoration; twenty different
woods may be used on the same design, with
a command of colour quite as extensive as is
ever necessary to produce harmonious com-
positions in any style. Itis also a style of
decoration allowing and capable of the
utmost elaboration as well as of the simplest
designs, both being equally effective and
pleasing.
Wenow proceed to describe the process of
inlaying upon real wood by means of graining
and staining. Most persons who visited the
International Exhibition of 1871 will no
doubt remember the beautiful specimens of
this kind of work exhibited by Messrs. 'Trol-
lope and Sons ; for excellence of workmanship,
beauty of design and harmony of colour, these
examples were worthy of the highest praise,
and, we believe, have received universal com-
mendations. Having said thus much in
favour of these works, we must still further
say that we cannot understand why Messrs.
Trollope, or rather Mr. Andrew Fingar Brophy,
a gentleman, we believe, in Messrs. Trollope’s
employ, should have taken out a patent for
what he calls a new process of staining and
ornamenting wood, and which process is ex-
actly identical with the process we have de-
scribed above, and has been applied to the
ornamentation of painted work and on both
white and pitch pine fora great number of
years within our own personal knowledge
and practice. We do not doubt fora moment
but that Mr. Brophy was, at the time he took
out the patent, under the impression that he
had found out a new process, but it had been
in practice possibly years before he was born.
Mr. Andrew Fingar Brophy’s specification
sealed on December 10, after the usual pre-
amble goes on to say :—
In order that my said invention may be most
fully understood and readiiy earried into effect, I
will proceed to describe more in detail the manner
in which I prefer to operate. Any of the ordinary
woods used by cabinet makers are suitable to be
ornamented by my invention. As the grain of the
wood remains visible in the finished work, more
especially in the lighter parts thereof, woods with
little figure, and consequently the least expensive,
are the most suitable. The surface of the wood is
powdered with chalk to facilitate the manipulation
of the design, which is then traced or marked on the
surface of the wood in any convenient manner, and
then so much of the design as is to remain of the
natural colour of the wood is painted or coated by
the artist with white hard varnish or stain-resisting
solution; gums dissolved in spirit are suitable; I
use white hard varnish. It is applied with a brush
in such mamner as to obtain a sound varnish coating
on the parts of the design where it is required. If on
the first application of the varnish a sound coating of
the surface is not obtained, in consequence of the
varnish sinking in, the operation must be repeated.
‘The varnish being set, the lightest stain which is to
be employed is next laid on, and when this is dry
such parts of the surface as are to remain without
further colour are in turn coated by the artist with
varnish. Over this, when it is quite set, another
darker stain is applied, and in this way the work
proceeds, the artist employing any number of
stains requisite to produce the effect he de-
sires. These stains may or may not be laid
over the entire surface, as may be most suitable or
convenient to the work in hand; but the stains will
in all cases overlap the one on the other, for in
laying on the stains they are not to be worked to an
outline of the design, but the outlines are to be ob-
tained by the careful laying on of the solution or
varnish, which prevents the stains at certain parts
from sinking into the wood. When all the stains
necessary to the desired effect have been laid on in
regular gradations, from the lightest to the darkest,
the work has to be cleaned off—that is to say, the
upper films of the various coatings of resisting
varnish, which will be discoloured by the stains,
must be removed with great care and by degrees, or
the wood beneath will be soiled. ‘This is a work of
some delicacy ; it requires the application of a var-
nish solvent of such a nature as to be under com-
pletecontrol. I employ as a solvent spirits of wine,
and I temper its action by the addition of French
polish. At the commencement of the cleaning opera-
tion, a mixture containing but a very small propor-
tion of spirit is used, and by degrees the proportion
is increased until the end of the process, and then
spirits of wine is alone used. The work may, when
it has been thoroughly cleaned, be French polished
or varnished in the usual way. The solutions ordi-
narily used for staining wood are applicable to the
proeess above set forth. Having thus described the
nature of my said invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that
what I claim as my improvement in staining and.
ornamenting wood, is: ‘The application of succes-
sive partial coatings of a resisting solution or var-
nish in accordance with the pattern or design it is
desired to attain, and the alternating such resisting
coatings with coatings of staining solutions, the one
overlapping the other substantially, as described.”
—In witness whereof, &c.
We would direct the reader’s attention to
the last extract from the specification, in
which Mr. Brophy sets out the particular and
special points of the process he claims, and
on which he grounds his patent right upon.
Tt will be at once evident that he has no
grounds for an exclusive patent right, simply
because it is an old process, and has been for
years commercially used in the trade.
Xylatechnigraphy, by which not very eupho-
nious name Messrs. Trollope have chosen
to introduce their patent process to the public,
does most decidedly give a wrong impression
of its value. Had they simply said that it
was an example of what might be done by the
ordinary process of imitating inlaid woods
by means of staining and graining, when the
highest degree of taste and manipulative
skill were directed to its capabilities, they
would have exactly described what the speci-
mens they exhibited were, and we, no doubt,
should have had the disciples of Ruskin con-
demning them as shams, and necessarily hate-
ful, and to be avoided upon that account ; but
being, as they were, admirably executed and
offered to notice under a very high sounding
and mystical title, we find architects, artists,
and men who make a great point of storming
at what they consider shams, all joining to
commend and adopt these works, as a new
style of decoration of great beauty and value.
We would not, for a moment, be thought
to insinuate that the eminent firm of Trollope
and Sons have in this matter intended to
deceive the public. We most emphatically
disclaim any such intention, but that they
themselves have been acting under a mis-
taken impression there cannot be a shadow
of doubt; else why go to the expense and
trouble of taking out a patent for a process
which is void in law, and which cannot be
protected by reason of its having been public
property years before the date of the patent ?
We haye thought it our duty to put this
matter right, inasmuch as the claim of a patent
right to the sole practice and production of
such like works would haye the effect of
deterring many persons from using the pro-
cess, to the manifest injury of the best in-
terests of decorative art.
(To be continued.)
————
Part of the site belonging to the School for the
Indigent Blind, S. George’s-road, Southwark, is
offered for sale. ‘The land, somewhat under two
acres, with the building thereon (erected from a
design by the late Mr. Newman), will probably be
converted to other uses than those to which it has
long been consecrated.
ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION. A’ the ordinary general meeting of this associa~ tien on Friday evening last, Mr. Rowland Plumbe, President, in the chair, the minutes of the last meeting having been read and confirmed, Messrs. A. G. Lander, M. B. Buckle, and A. P. Sidney were elected Members; and Messrs. R. Curwen, jun., A. W. N. Burder, W. Blackwell, A. Drew, and G. W. Nicholay were proposed for membership. Mr. J. S. Quilter, hon. sec., next proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Horace Jones, the City architect, for his kindness in permitting the members of the associa- tion to visit the works of the New City Library on Saturday week, and he would beg to include in the vote the names of Dr. Saunders, the chairman of the Library Committee of the corporation, and Mr. Charles Baily, of the City Architect’s office, who kindly ac- companied the members over the works. The vote was carried by acclamation. Mr. Quilter then. an- nounced that it was hoped that visits to works in pro- gress or to ancient or modern works near London would be able to take place every fortnight till the end of the session. The next, he said, would take place to-morrow (Saturday), when the members would, by thekind permission of Mr. Pearson, visit that eminent architect’s new Church of §. Augustine, Kilburn, which has just been finished. Possibly other buildings in the same neighbourhood would be visited on the same day. Mr. Boyes proposed and Mr, Quilter seconded a vote of thanks to the gentle- men who had assisted in making arrangements for the recent members’ soiree, which, having been carried, Mr. Lacy W. Ridge, Past-President, referred to the Elementary Class of Design, which, he thought, ought to include a larger number of the members of the association than it did. New members were constantly coming into the association, and it was possible that their attention was not sufficiently drawn to this class. He earnestly invited all the junior members of the association to join this class, as it would prove of inestimable value to them. Thepre- sident having heartily indorsed Mr. Ridge’s remarks, Mr. Quilter said he was requested by one of the vice- presidents of the association, Mr. J. Douglass Mathews, and who was also acting as secretary to a sub-committee which had been appointed by the Institute of British Architects to consider the subject of professional charges, to submit for the approval or opinion of the association the revised schedule or scale of charges. He (Mr. Quilter) begged to pro- pose that the schedule should bereferred to the com- mittee of the association for consideration, in order to report to Mr. Mathews their opinion thereon. Mr. Lacy W. Ridge objected to such a course. While he had every confidence in the committee, their report ought to be submitted to the general body for approval before being issued as the opinion of the association. He strongly objected to the committee's. reporting on its own responsibility. It was a line of conduct very common ‘in another place,” but, he thought, an uncommonly bad course to pursue. Some remarks on the subject having been made by Messrs. G. R. Redgrave, R. Phené Spiers, and the President (Mr. Quilter’s motion not being seconded), Mr. H. H. Stannus moved that the matter should be referred for consideration to the committee, who should pre- pare a report to be submitted to the members at the next meeting. Mr. Quilter said that as his proposal had found no seconder he would second Mr. Stannus’s motion. The motion was then carried. The Preswwent then called upon Mr. R. Paenr Spiers to read a paper on THE ABBEY CHURCHES OF CAEN. Having given very complete descriptions of the: Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames, Mr. Spiers adverted to the complex questions con— nected with the nave vault of the Abbaye aux Hommes. He said that previous to the investiga- tions of Messrs. J. H. Parker, M. Ruprich Robert, and M. Bouet, it had been supposed that the exist- ing clerestory, with its openings, was of the same period as the lower walls of the nave. The dis- covery, however, of two arches above the web of the present vault by M. Ruprich Robert in 1860 pointed out that with the arches in front of the windows, there were in each double bay of the nave a series of four arches carried on columns, It had also been assumed that the nave and transepts were vaulted in the first instance, whereas now it was generally agreed that the first church (as all churches in the North of France at that epoch) was covered with a wooden roof. The exact nature of this wooden roof, and its relation to the four arched openings, and to the vaulting shafts, had been the subject of much conjecture. These vaulting shafts consisted alternately of a three-quarter detached column with and without a pilaster. They are both of the same date as the nave walls, and one of the points in dis- pute turned upon the original object in the difference
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