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07 31st, 2009| 
COINS AND MEDALS
Coins should not be cleaned unless it is absolutely necessary. They loose a lot of value through faulty cleaning, and it is just as important to know when to clean as to know how. Get a book out of your library on coin collecting and study it before cleaning any coins, if you know little of the subject.
Gold Coins. Wash very dirty coins in soap and water using a stiff bristled brush very carefully. Dry gold coins with a soft cloth or soft leather.
Silver Coins. If silver coins are not in exceptionally good condition and arc rather worn, removing the ingrained dirt will often make them look a lot worse! If they are tarnished to a blue or green colour, this gets damaged by too much washing and brushing up, and most collectors prefer to leave well alone. Silver coins which arc in really good condition but have uneven toning or are just plain filthy, should be treated either with carbon tetrachloride or trichlorethylene (see Solvent_). This is dabbed (not rubbed) on very gently, and immediately afterwards the coins are washed in running water. On really ugly toning use Goddard’s Silver Dip but do not wash the coins afterwards or they will look too highly polished. Don’t rub coins with the polishing cloths provided with cleaners. Ammonia in ten per cent solution will also remove stains, the coins being washed immediately after application; otherwise a whitish skin will appear which will ruin all your careful work.
Copper coins. Verdigris on copper coins is often caused by cigarette ash dropping on to them, and although this is hard to remove it can sometimes be done by soaking the bad part iun olive oil and scratching the verdigris off with a bone needle. Don’t use steel needles for they scratch the surface of the coin. Don’t use solvents on copper coins, just clean them with a stiff bristle brush used quite dry.
Copper, silver and bronze coins and medals can also be cleaned by immersion for a very short time in a solution of five per cent nitric acid. Do this with great care for the acid will etch metal, particularly copper. Take the pieces out after one or two seconds and wash them immediately under a running tap. If only a part of the coin is corroded, protect the rest of it from the acid with a coat of wax or grease before immersion in the acid, and then wash it thoroughly. Polish coins with a little lanolin grease or Renaissance wax polish. I
DETERGENTS
Detergents are the modern substitute for soap, and are perfectly suitable for many cleaning jobs as they so readily remove greasy dirt. However, some of the commercial brands sold as washing powders, or as liquid washers, have added ingredients of some kind : scent, colour or ‘whiteners’. While clung, glass and pottery can be cleaned quite safely with these, they are often not suitable for cleaning other Materials, and where detergent is recommended it is best to use a pure detergent such as the following:
Teepol
Boots Liquor Sulphestrol Lissapol N.
Detergent can be mixed with other chemicals to make an emulsion which will spread and penetrate easier that way-for instance carbon tetrachloride and benzene mixed with one per cent Lissapol N for cleaning some kinds of stonework.
ENAMEL
Enamel is a type of glass with added colours in the form of metallic oxides. This is fused to the surface of metal objects.
Enamel on metal may be of three different types: painted on to an enamelbackground; Cloisorui6, which is done by soldering fine wire to the metal surface to shape the designs, and then infilling with enamel; or Clianipl8ve where the
same effect is achieved by cutting shallow cells into the
surface of die metal to take the enamel. In atypes, an
object is then fired to fuse the glass and enamel.
Enamels should be kept away from direct heat, as the glass will expand at a different rate from its metal base and stresses will be set up which may result in the enamel lifting or crazing. Enamel on metal which doesn’t like damp, such as copper, must be kept dry otherwise corrosion may form on the metal and lift the enamel.
To restore enamels, use ordinary artist’s oil colours, and where chunks are broken off, a good imitation can be made by adding colour to Araldite, or to a thick solution of celluloid in amyl acetate, or to Durofix.
Having retouched the colour, enamelled objects can then be lacquered with Frigilene, or painted with thin acrylic, which will reseal any lifting pieces. Once the lacquer has soaked right in and dried, so that it has filled any cracks and cemented down loose pieces, wipe the surface of the enamel very carefully with a piece of cotton wool wrung out in acetone. Be careful that no liquid acetone runs into joins etc., or it will undo the repair work that has just been done. If enamel has at some time been repaired with animal glue, it may have gone slightly mouldy. Wipe the joins with Santobrite before continuing with retouching and lacquering.
Don’t try to refire enamel, it just won’t work.
FABRICS
All textiles come wider this heading, and generally the cleaning treatments depend upon whether dyes have been used or whether the fabric has simply been bleached or whitened. Cotton and linen have usually been bleached, and go very yellow with age. If the fabric is in good condition use very dilute domestic bleach to rewhiten it, then thoroughly rinse the article in several changes of clean water. Reckitt’s Blue may be added to the last rinse. Delicate articles made of muslin or lace, which are in a fragile state, cannot be given such rough treatment. A powdering of French chalk or Fuller’s Earth, later brushed off, will remove some stains and grease marks. If the article is attached to a cushion for instance, this may be the only way of dealing with it. Lace which can be detached should be placed in distilled water for a while to loosen the dirt, then put into fresh water containing a little pure liquid detergent and soaked again. Paddle it gently up and down in the water if the dirt is stubborn. After careful rinsing, spread the lace on to white blotting paper and pin it flat, and put it in a warm place to dry. It is important to pin lace properly in shape or it may distort during drying.
Muslin garments such as old doll’s clothes or old baby clothes are best washed very carefully in a mild solution of detergent, and should not be rubbed, but gently paddled up and down. It is most important to rinse the garment two or three dines in clean distilled or rain water. The garment should be rolled in absorbent paper and ironed
flat when it is nearly dry.
Coloured fabrics which are not colour fast can be cleaned with carbon tetrachloride. Heavy embossed material will be considerably brightened by brushing with a mixture of four parts benzol and one part methylated spirit.
Test for colour fastness by laying the fabric over white blotting paper, and then patting it carefully with a swab of damp cotton wool. If the colour runs it will show on the blotting paper underneath. If the material is old, the dyes are probably vegetable in origin, and likely to run, so should only be washed in cold water.
To remove large stains on this fabric, place the piece on clean blotting paper and then drop a solvent into the centre of the stain, which will spread out and go through on to the blotting paper carrying die stain with it.
To remove stains on textiles, provided the stain can be identified, try the following treatments, always with care and a minimum of rubbing.
Alcoholic Drinks: Wash in warm suds. Sponge with surgical or methylated spirit.
Beer: Soak in a hot solution of z teaspoonfuls of sodium sesquicarbonate (water softener) to z pints of water, and rinse out well.
Blood: Fresh stains. Soak immediately in a solution of i teaspoonful of salt and i teaspoonful ammonia to i pint of warm water. Then wash out in warm suds, and rinse. Old stains. Try soaking in ammonia solution, r tablespoonful to i pint of water.
Or try a solution of j teaspoonful of ammonia with i part of zo volume hydrogen peroxide with 4 parts of cold water.
Soak for just half an hour if the fabric is coloured, as long as necessary for white or colour fast materials.
On cottons and linens, but not on silks or wool, oxalic acid solution, 2 level teaspoonfuls of crystals in 2 pints of cold water, mixed in a china or glass container, can be dabbed on and removed by rinsing within ten minutes.
Silk or wool should be soaked in a solution of salt and water.
Coffee: If washing does not remove it, try hydrogen peroxide as for blood.
Cosmetics: Clean with carbon tetrachloride. Lipstick can sometimes be lifted from washable fabrics by smearing with vaseline and then washing in warm suds.
Egg Stains: If they won’t wash out, soak in a solution of salt and water, or try one of the proprietary digestive types of stain removers, such as Big S., Biotex or Radiant.
Fruit and Berry Stains: If they won’t wash out they can be removed by working a few drops of glycerine into the stain, leaving it overnight and then damping with a few drops of white vinegar, and then washing out with warm water after two minutes. Cherry, pear, peach, plum and other stubborn fruit stains in cotton or linen can be bleached out with hydrogen peroxide solution as for blood. Soak the stained spot for a few minutes and then wash it out in scsquicarbonate, J teaspoonful to I pint of water.
Glue: Must be removed with solvent. Acetone or nail varnish remover will probably shift it.
Grease: Such as butter or candlewaX. Wash in water with a little ammonia added. Put fabric under blotting papre and iron. Sponge with carbon tetrachloride.
Indelible Pencil: Sponge with methylated spirit.
hik: Ballpoint ink can be removed with methylated spirit. Indian ink must be sponged with methylatedspirit and then rubbed with glycerine. Repeat the treatment until the stain lifts and then wash with detergent and water. Old Indian ink stains are there for ever! Writing ink, the same treatment.
Mildew: This is difficult to remove. Washing thoroughly in sodium sesquicarbonate may help.
Nail Varnish: Remove with amyl acetate or nail varnish remover.
Paint: Emulsion paint; soften it from underneath with amyl acetate, then rub off, and work in a paste of soap and water and wash well. Oil paint, dried; carbon tetrachloride or benzene on the underside till the paint has softened, then wash out as above.
Rust and Ironiyiould: Try oxalic acid treatment as for blood. Rust remover can be used in extreme cases, but must be tried with care and washed out thoroughly.
Shellac: Soften with methylated spirit.
Shoe Polish: Bleach out with hydrogen peroxide.
Anyone who has spent much time looking in junk shops will know that sooner or later a particular decision will have to be made. Is one to insist on buying only the perfect piece, the flawless jewel, which has come down to our time unscathed by time—that enemy of both man and his handiwork? Or is one to be content with something less than perfection, that which is flawed—though not irreparably?
If you take the first course and happen to have a taste for the best in furniture, pictures, pottery, glass, silver, or whatever, you will nowadays need a very long purse indeed. The fine things of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have soared in price to levels which would not have been thought possible even only five years ago. In the meantime collectors have turned their attention to the once despised nineteenth century; and Victorians is now as eagerly accepted for sale by great auctioneers like Sotheby’s and Christie’s as anything of earlier date.
Personally I have never felt especially impressed by ‘condition’ for its own sake. If a piece is what the trade calls ‘right’—that is to say genuine of its own kind, if whatever imperfections it may have do not seriously detract from enjoyment of it, I do not see why it should not take its place in a collection. After all, for a piece of china or furniture to have survived for two hundred, a hundred, or even fifty years without acquiring some sort of blemish, or show some signs of age, is a quite remarkable thing: it has certainly not happened to me. One suspects too, that those who seek perfection of this kind may be interested not so much in the appreciation of a particular objet d’art, as in appreciation of their investment—and I have always thought that there were many pitfalls in that kind of collecting.
A few years ago there came up for sale a famous collection of teapots, representative of the finest work of all the famous English factories. The reverend gentleman who put it together, however, could not possibly have afforded to do so had he not been content to accept the odd chip, crack or restored part. But these imperfections in no way spoilt the beauty and interest of the collection, which, though unique of its kind, had much instructive value for the general collector.
For me, therefore, if a piece has been skilfully and sympathetically repaired, with awareness of period and of the peculiar nuances of the original work, there would always be a place for it on my shelves or walls. And if you tell me that a repair or a repainting can be detected by ultraviolet radiation, I reply that one does not normally look at works of art through apparatus of that kind.
Before they buy, however, I think that collectors should inform themselves as to what can or cannot be done with anything which has been damaged or broken. Some things are really beyond all hope: they could never be restored in such a way as to give one the same kind of xsthetic appeal as the original, and the place for it—if there is a place for it—may well be in a museum. But there are many things which can be rescued, and ought to be before they deteriorate any further.
This, I think, is the value of a book like this. In showing how repairs can be done it tells one what repairs can be done, whether we do them ourselves with loving care or whether we leave them to the expert. There are not so many fine works of art about that we can afford to let them disappear without an effort of some sort.
What is junk? Something which its last owner discarded as worthless? Any old piece of furniture, china, metalwork, any old picture, print or scrap which has no intrinsic value? These definitions have no meaning today when the trade in ‘junk’ has reached international proportions and when some of the prices paid for hideous bits of bric-a-brac put them far beyond the reach of most amateur collectors. Once, a poke around a second-hand shop produced all kinds of unusual and interesting things for shillings and even for pennies. Pounds didn’t enter into it. Once you could go to auction sales and come away with car loads of discarded ‘rubbish’ which no one else at the sale wanted and for which the dealers, least of all the dealers, never bothered to bid.
Not any more. At every sale, in every junkshop, there lurks the man or woman with that indefinable look, that odd searching expression which proclaims that he or she is
‘in the trade’ and wi buy akinds of unlikely things just to turn them into other unlikely things or to restore them
and sell them as totally genuine survivals from the past, and as always, when the dealers get interested the amateurs have to get up very early in the morning!
The reasons why we have come to value these things are strange, but fairly simple. As we invent new designs for furniture, pots and pans, clothes etc. and enjoy new styles and fashions, yesterday’s style and the day before yesterday’s become hideous to us. How ugly now seems the clothes and furniture, the carpets and curtains, the chairs and the pictures of the thirties. And how ugly, in the thirties, seemed the things we designed in the twenties. Yet now, in the sixties, the things of the twenties become attractive again, some of them, and the Victorian excesses which we hated in the thirties, positively delight us now. Why does this happen? Is it because our modem designs get more and more simple and functional, with fewer curves and fussy bits, more and more straight lines and flat surfaces, more and more synthetic finishes, and less and less craftsmanship or hand work of any kind is done. The horrors of photographic wood veneers, which only need a wipe with a damp cloth, the plastic ‘working surfaces which every knife marks, are preferred to beautiful natural veneers which need a bit of polishing to keep them beautiful, and to scrubbed wood which needs a bit of elbow grease to keep it clean. So I believe some of us are coming to value the things which man has made with his hands out of natural materials as an antidote to our machine-turned, moulded, plastic world. And I don’t believe that the plastic rubbish of today will ever become the treasured junk of tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We have gone right over the top, and many people are determined to salve what is left of the artifacts of our grandfathers. The very ugliness of some of the things has the appeal of individuality at the least. It may be claimed that a lot of Victorian and Edwardian and even Georgian junk was mass produced in the sense that numbers of copies of the same objects were made, and that any casting or turning or moulding techniques that were available were fully used. Nevertheless the materials themselves ensured that hand finishing was almost always necessary, and the machines were worked by men and not by other macliiiies. Designs were made by the minds of men and not by computers.
Ingenious people go to great lengths to make modem objects out of old junk, sometimes by taking things back to an even more original condition than they ever were before, when they were first made. I’m thinking of the vogue for stripping down wooden objects and oiling or waxing so that the grain alone decorates them; objects that were always stained or painted when they were first produced. It is only quite recently that we have realised that natural pine wood call be just as beautiful as natural walnut, or oak or mahogany. Our immediate forefathers thought that pine in its natural state was very ugly and only fit to be covered up. Anyone who had ever visited all alpine country knew differently, but nevertheless we remained very traditional. Taking the subject a stage further, there was a time when natural oak furniture was looked upon as being purely rural and only used by the yokels in the kitchen, and nothing could be elegant but inlaid mahogany or veneer or ormolu. All kinds of objects get turned into lamps nowadays, and old picture frames make fine mirrors and trays. Pianos turn into cocktail cabinets—there is a use for everything and anything. Is this because the hand craftsmanship, or even the time, that it takes to make these things cannot be found these days except at great expense? Labour was cheap when the junk was being made, and now we are taking advantage, years after the makers are dead and gone, of their sweated labour, their underpaid craftsmanship, which are just not available any more.
Lastly, as I discovered when I became involved in the art of restoring old cottages for modern living, you and I, amateurs in the sense that our jobs probably have nothing whatsoever to do with restoring things, get a great kick, an artistic satisfaction, out of mending something that seemed broken beyond repair, out of recreating something useful or decorative or interesting from something old, ugly and dull. The artist, the creator in all of us, can thus find expression even when we lack original talent. It may be in something as elemental as getting a good polish on a piece of filthy old brass.
Most of us are magpies at heart, and the collecting instinct which stimulates toddlers to collect little piles of stones, shells and sticks and string, the child to collect stamps or dolls and the teenager to collect gramophone records, stimulates the adult to collect whatever he or she can afford and finds pleasing. I know a man whose large Edwardian house (and lie needs one) is full of musical boxes, everything from tiny little singing birds to huge great mahogany things which come to coniplicated life and give out fantastic sounds in response to the necessary stimuli. Another man will collect powder flasks, buttons or little boxes, or flatirons, or porcelain. Most collectors begin by acquiring a piece of junk almost accidentally, perhaps by inheritance, or bought in with an odd lot, or just because it caught the eye, and that is the nucleus of a collection.
People can be divided into two groups; those who will take everything to the ‘expert’ to be restored or cleaned, and those who will go to great lengths to do the work themselves. I think that the true junk collector comes into the second category. The greater part of the fun for him is in the restoring—in being able to say, modestly: ‘yes, I mended that chair—it had three broken legs and six coats of paint, but the waxed natural wood does look rather nice, doesn’t it?’
There are limitations, of course, oil what can be done; limitations imposed by the necessity for expensive tools or materials, or processes which need equipment not usually found in even a well-equipped workshop (electro-plating tanks for instance). The one limitation that never seems to apply is that of knowledge, either of techniques or of materials.
Here another distinction has to be made. Properly speaking, restoration implies the recreating of an object so that it is exactly as it was when it was made. In the wider sense great arguments go on between the people and societies interested in the preservation of ancient things, and those who wish to restore them for actual use. To the purist, for instance, it is wrong when restoring a cottage to make structural alterations which are necessary to make it habitable in modern terms. To the purist it is wrong to restore an old piece of furniture by altering its original purpose, terrible to cut a whatnot in half and make two tables from it, even though it was useless as a whatnot. If a thing has intrinsic beauty then surely it is wrong to alter it out of recognition. There is a safeguard here in the sense that if you pay a lot of money for an antique you are unlikely to chop it about. Oil die other hand you might undervalue some inherited piece and destroy it by altering it.
How far is one justified in building up missing pieces of objectswith modern epoxy resins instead of restoring the missing part as nearly as possible with its original material? Museums do it all the time and are prepared to rebuild and remake shamelessly with modern materials to restore objects, although they make no secret of this. It is of course inipossible to lay down rules for these things. In any case the antique and jtuik trades are so full of fakes, composite objects, and reproductions with never any guarantee of authenticity, that it doesn’t matter a great deal, I suppose, how authentic your restoration work on junk is. The only thing that matters, it seems to me, is that the reproduction or reconstruction or restoration produces something which as nearly resembles the original as one’s capacities and the materials available allow. Never try to pass off any kind of restoration as original.
While in this book I have tried to include as many hints and ideas as possible, I have slued away from `tricks of the trade’. There are too many tricksters about
already.
Of course, with many perishable objects such as prints, preservation and protection against the ravages of the future is as important as restoration, and there seems to me to be no harm in using the most modem methods and materials available.
One or two general points must be made. First, that there is no substitute, really, for elbow grease, and this is in many cases the restorer’s most useful material, substance or technique! It may be easy to slosh acids and solvents around, but the damage they do may well outweigh the time they save. Second, many chemicals used are poisonous or corrosive, and the greatest care must be taken when using them to wear protective clothing, gloves etc. Such materials should be confined to the workshop and never used in the kitchen. All bottles and jars must be carefully labelled, and poisons should be kept under lock and key. A fire extinguisher must be part of every workshop’s equipment and a bucket of sand for extra fire protection isn’t out of place. Plenty of fresh water should be available, and a sink is almost essential. Electrical equipment must be used properly and wall plugs etc. should be professionally installed and maintained. Never use electric tools with two-pin plugs. Use three-pin plugs which include an earth. Never unplug electrical equipment without first switching off the main. Never use electrical equipment with wet or even damp hands.
Lastly, I must point out that although all the recipes and suggestions in this book are tried and tested, the success of each and every one depends to some extent upon the user. It is like cooking. Give two people the same recipe book and materials and ask them to cook the same dish and the results will invariably differ.
Because of the enormous variety of materials involved, and because it is not possible for the writer to know exactly what it is that the reader is intending to treat, there can be no absolute certainty that methods and treatments will work exactly as planned. The contents of this book are meant as a guide, to be intelligently used. I have left out some techniques that call for the use of highly toxic chemicals (with the exception of the bleaching box), and I have left out or only briefly described techniques which do require practical instruction, althoughi the borderline between skills which can be self-taught and developed by practice and those which have to be imparted on the spot by an expert, is impossible to define. It depends so much on the capacity and talent of the individual.
But it is junk you will be handling; it won’t be world-shattering if you do make mistakes. ‘There is so much pleasure in doing a good job that it is always worth a try. If you fail, well, that is too bad. If you succeed, that is wonderful, and oh, so satisfying.
Thanks. To write a book of this kind without picking other people’s brains is impossible, for one cannot bc.ui expert on everything; in fact the junk restorer must be a jack of all trades. Thanks are due, therefore, to all those who let me ask them questions about their working methods, and who gave me so much useful information. Thanks also to Ginette Leach whose help with the making and checking of the book was invaluable.
Using the book. The text is not divided into chapters, but set out with subjects in alphabetical order. I suggest that you look first in the indices for references to any specific subject, or material. There are two indices: the first refers specifically to materials and tools, and includes page references and names of suppliers and sources of the materials, so that in effect it replaces appendices; the second refers to the subject headings and methods, and is intended to lead you directly to the subject itself where you can find full details on cleaning and restoration.
Where various things come into the same general category they have been grouped together in that category rather than scattered through the book in alphabetical order. For instance the section headed Stone includes subsections of various kinds of stone. The sections on China, Furniture, and Metal are also comprehensive. This seems to me to be a more convenient way of arranging things than exact alphabetical order would have been.
The Reverend Alexander John Forsyth, M renniance ebony cupboard italian antique.A brother furnitures (cupboard)., minister of the parish of Belhelvie in Aberdeenshire, was an enthusiastic shot 1940s art deco rocket sofa. Ile was fortunate, therefore, in that near the manse where he was -born, and where in due course he had succeeded his father as minister, was a loch which was a favourite resort of wild geese, duck and other water fowl loiu xiv antique laquer dresser. In addition to the hours which he spent on the shores of the loch with his long I 2-bore flintlock, the Reverend Alexander had ‘another hobby sheraton 18th century dresser. In the grounds of the manse was a little garden house which he had converted into a workshop or laboratory robert jupe table. His neoclassic furniture. parishioners knew it as the ‘Minister’s Smiddy’, and in it he pursued the taste for mechanics and chemistry which he had acquired at antique mahogany drum tables library tables writing tables. King’s College, Aberdeen antique tilt top table inlay design.
It was natural that one hobby should help the other antique music lyre chair. After getting into position for a perfect shot on the loch, Forsyth had frequently been exasperated by the fact that geese, warned by the flash of the flintlock, had time to take flight before the gun actually fired pel tubular steel side chairs. This tendency of a flintlock to ‘hang fire’ was, of course, well known, and, as shown in the last chapter, it was taken account of in military musketry instruc, tion italian wood armchairs. It only became of importance, however, in the case of a fleeting target, or, as in the case of the Reverend Alexander’s geese, a very alert one small round breakfast table. Forsyth first tried to get over the difficulty by designing a sighted hood, which fitted over the flintlock and would, he hoped, conceal the flash from the geese bugatti furniture range. The results, however, were not entirely satisfactory chinese ebony and marble table.
He next turned his attention to the possibility of obtaining an instantaneous explosion of the powder art nouveau furniture shop france. It may have been the researches of a Frenchman named Berthollet which finally led Forsyth to ‘detonation’ as the only answer to the problem; that is, in exploding a substance by hitting it with a hammer antique napoleon furtiure.
That certain substances, such as the fulminates of silver and mercury, would detonate when struck, and had great explosive power, had been known to scientists for many years gateleg table oak drop leaf rectangular. Samuel Pepys, for instance, records in his diary of the i ith November 1663:
`At antique holophane lighting.noon to the Coffee-House, where, with Dr drop front desks. Allen, some good discourse about physick and chymistry black alvar aalto stool 60 finmar. And among other things I telling him what Dribble, the German doctor, do offer of an instrument to sink ships; he tells me that which is more strange, that something made of go!d,, which they call in chymistry Aurum Fulminans, a grain, I think he said, of it put into a silver spoon and fired, will give a blow like a musquett, and strike a hole through the silver spoon downwards, without the least force upward; and this he can make a cheaper experiment of, he says, with iron prepared decoration metal bureau table desing.’
The difficulty about the fulminates was their great power antique dresser with turned leg. It was quite impractical to use them as the propellent for a bullet as they would have blown the gun up hunting chest french 18th century. Berthollet in 1788 tried to get over the problem by mixing potassium chlorate (which had lately been found to have the same property of detonation) with other components to make a gunpowder which would give a more powerful, and, at the same time, more rapid explosion than could be obtained with saltpetre as the principal ingredient carved frame desk chair. However, Berthollet’s new powder proved far too dangerous either to make in large quantities or to use with firearms spanish pottery 16th century. Further attempts by Berthollet to find a solution were prevented by -the French Revolution tableware expensive.
Forsyth’s first idea was to use a powder containing potassium chlorate or fulminate of mercury as a primer in an ordinary flintlock cheverton reducing machine. He certainly got an instantaneous flash in the priming pan, but it was so instantaneous and so little heat was, generated that the charge in the gun was not ignited at all antique fashion engravings. He then tried adding ordinary powder to the mixture in the pan, but the rapid flash scattered the gunpowder without giving it time to ignite antique cigar chair with wood arms.
After these failures Forsyth came to the conclusion that he must try a change in the method of ignition imperial,gate leg. His trials had already shown that the fulminates exploded far more violently when struck than when ignited by fire rare antqiue marbels. Experiments on these lines at last met with success furniture designersgerman. Forsyth succeeded in modifying one of his flintlock fowling-pieces to percussion ignition and used it on his loch during the winter of 1805-06 how to detect silver cutlery. The satisfactory rise in the geese casualty rate proved to the Reverend Alexander that an answer to the problem had indeed been found art deco kneeling dancer lamp.
It was soon apparent to dither Forsyth or his friends that there was a far wider scope for the new lock than in the destruction of the Belhelvie geese; and early in i 80 he journeyed to London antique mahogany card table, imperial.
Forsyth was armed with letters of introduction to some of the distinguished sportsmen in London telescopic pie crust table. It is likely that he antique japanese ko imari. also had in mind the possible use of his lock for antique light yellow dresser. military arms valueof1800’slibrarytable. In any case, one of these sportsmen showed the converted flintlock fowling-piece to Sir Joseph Banks who in turn showed it to Lord Moira, at that time Master-General of the Ordnance 1930 walnut art deco style furniture. Moira was much impressed with the invention and, sending for Forsyth, urged him to carry out further experiments in the Tower of London louis 16th style furniture. Forsyth eventually agreed on the condition that his expenses were- paid and that he should be provided with an ordained assistant to take charge of his parish during his absence drop leaf table stable base. This was arranged, Moira authorizing an initial payment-of ico and obtaining leave of absence for the minister of Belhelvie from the Aberdeen Presbytery medieval “reading slope”.
The task before Forsyth was somewhat different to the problem which he had originally set out to solve 19th century louis xv mahogany french chest of draws floral inlaid wood with marble top and glass cabinet with cabriole legs. In the case of the Belhelvie geese the speed of discharge was the important factor, and an occasional misfire was of no great matter canadian desk with drawers. For the military arm the certainty of ignition was of far greatef importance than its speed windows 1930. The flintlock misfired often, and its open mechanism was particularly susceptible to damp 18th century antique sofa collectors. The percussion arm with its enclosed lock and powerful priming action seemed to offer some certainty of ignition, and it was this aspect which must have appealed especially to Moira 19th century chinese chamber pots.
There were many difficulties art deco game tables. The original fowling-piece lock was unsuitable, and when a better enclosed lock was designed the original detonating mixture proved too powerful small antique french writing cabinet. Forsyth had originally preferred a powder with fulminate of mercury as the main ingredient, since it was cleaner than other detonating mixtures italian glass fronted display cabinets. It was found, however, that with accurately machined locks detonating mercury always burst or distorted the part which contained it antique silver candelabra screw. Since other mixtures were too foul Forsyth had to find something else round gateleg table. Moreover, several chemists having already been damaged by accidental explosions of fulminating compounds, Forsyth found it impossible to find any of them who would do more than provide him with the ingredients value of empire style china closet 1910. He therefore had to carry out all experiments himself antique jugend style cupboard.
Eventually he was successful gate leg drop leaf table. He produced a detonating powder which answered all requirements, and a lock the principle of which was approved by Lord Moira in April 1807- At this juncture, however, there was a sudden change of Ministry, which swept Moira from office and reinstalled Lord Chatham as Master-General of the Ordnance antique silver serving platter with peacock emblem on back. Chatham’s reaction to Forsyth’s experiments was to direct their author to render an account of his expenditure, return all Government property in his possession, and remove himself and his `rubbish’ from the Tower chippendale antique tables. In addition the new M wheat antique dresser.G porcelain relief herons and swans.O sphinks console tables. refused to allow the payment of the assistant at Belhelvie as part of Forsyth’s expenditure,
Forsyth left the service of the Government, therefore, not only without reward for his invention, but out of’ antique czechoslovakia porcelain vase.pocket on his expenses extending console table. If the stupid and incompetent Chatham thought little of the percussion lock, there were others who grasped its potentialities scandinavian octagon dining table. Napoleon conveyed to Forsyth the enormous offer of Z2o,000 for the use of his lock mannerist carved table. Forsyth’s outright rejection of this italian rococo style antique three arch gilded mirror.offer may possibly have saved his country the loss of the war neo-rococco cabinet.
It would not have been surprising if the Reverend Alexander had now returned to his Scottish parish blacks, meissen, porcelain. He was, however, a determined and very courageous man, and, furthermore, he had an implicit faith spanish antique table. in his percussion lock french display cabinet south eastern area. He decided therefore that if the Government would have nothing to do with his invention he would put it on the market as a private venture art deco vases. His first step was to take out a patent, and to help him to draw up the specifications he consulted the famous engineer, James Watt value clawfoot drop leaf table. The resulting document was quite a masterpiece, since the very general terms in which it was phrased covered the manufacture of all gun-locks on the percussion principle antique bedside tables marble tops. It read as follows:
`First, as to the chemical plan and principles thereof, instead of permitting the touch-hole or vent of the pieces of artillery, fire-arms, mines, chambers, cavities or places to communicate with the open air, and instead of giving fire to the charge by a lighted match, or by flint and steel; or by any other matter in a state of actual combustion applied to a priming in an open pan, I do close the touch-hole or vent by means of a plug or sliding piece, or other fit piece of metal or suitable material or materials, so as to exclude the open air, and to prevent any sensible escape of the blast or explosive gas or vapour outwards, or from the priming or charge, and as much as possible to force the said priming to go in the direction of the charge, and to set fire to the same, and not to be wasted in the open air; and as a priming I do make use of some or one of those chemical compounds which are so easily inflammable as to be capable of taking fire and exploding without any actual fire being applied thereto, and merely by a blow, or by any sudden or strong pressure or friction given or applied thereto without extraordinary violence; that hat is to say, for example, the salt formed of dephlogistigated marine acid and potash (or potasse), which salt is otherwise called oxymuriate of potash; or I do make use of such of the fulminating metallic compounds as may be used with safety: for example, fulminating mercury, or of common gunpowder mixed in due quantity with any of the before-mentioned compounds; and these compounds, or mixtures of compounds, I find to be much better for priming than gunpowder used alone, which cannot be made to explode without some sparks or actual fire applied thereto, or else without such a degree of extraordinary and violent percussion as cannot conveniently be made use of in gunnery, or with any of the firearms or artillery that are in most general use arabesque vertical plate racks. But it is to be observed that I do not lay claim to the invention of any of the said compounds or matters to be used for priming, my invention in regard thereto being confined to the use and application thereof to the purposes of artillery and firearms as aforesaid; and the manner of priming and exploding which I use is to introduce into the touch-hole or vent, or into a small and strong chamber or place between the said touch-hole and vent, and the plug or sliding piece, or other piece by which the communication with the external air is cut off, a small portion of some or one of the chemical compounds herein-before mentioned (for example, as for priming to a musket, about the eighth part of a grain), and when the required discharge is to be made I do cause the said chemical compound or priming to take fire and explode by giving a stroke or sudden and strong pressure to the same, communicated by and through the said plug or sliding piece; or other piece before mentioned or described, in consequence of which the fire of the priming is immediately communicated to the contents or charge placed within the said piece of artillery, fire-arm, mine, chamber, cavity, or place, and the discharge accordingly follows czechoslovakia old furniture.’
The patent was granted in July 1807, and in the following year Forsyth opened a gun shop at No antique engraved drawings. io Piccadilly under the title of ‘Forsyth & Company, Patent Gun Makers’ the period preceding art deco. The name of the assistant whom he engaged is probably now better known than that of his master, for it was none other than James Purdey, formerly with Joseph Manton and later founder of the famous firm of James Purdey & Sons dutch rococo walnut cupboard. The wares of the new company were advertised as follows:
`The Forsyth patent gunlock is entirely different from the common gunlock green wedgewood plant pots. It produces inflammation by means of percussion and supersedes the use of flints boulle tabel. Its principle advantages are the following: The rapid and complete inflammation of the whole charge of gunpowder in the chamber of the barrel india brass table tray. The prevention of the loss of force through the touchhole antique brass leg knee mount french. Perfect security against rain or damp in the priming antique table collectors. No flash from the pan and less risk of accidental discharge of the piece than when the common lock is used antique card table collectors. The charge of gunpowder to be from one third to one fourth less than when the flintlock is used meubles art antique american.
The lock which was fitted to the guns sold at io Piccadilly was of the same design as that perfected by Forsyth during his time at the Tower names of art deco furniture makers. It -was) however, of finished and decorative workmanship, as compared with the rough models which he made for military trials queen anne antique bureau photo. At approximately the same place where the flash-pan is on a flintlock gun, a steel plug was screwed into the side of the barrel 18th century drum tables. The plug was drilled through the centre with an-inch hole which gave access into the breech and to the powder charge sideboard plinth. Mounted on, and pivoting on, the plug was the container which held the priming charge: This container was, on account of its shape, described as the `scent-bottle’ type meissen candlesticks. It was divided horizontally into two halves, the lower of which was filled with detonating powder austere style. On the upper surface of the plug was a small ‘flash-pan about * inch wide and -’16 inch deep, and from the bottom of this a very narrow vent of about pin-size diameter led to the central hole of the plug antique jugend style cupboard. (The outer end of this central hole was closed by the screw- which held the container in position greek neoclassical porcelain.) When the container was turned through i8o degrees a small amount of the detonating powder dropped into the flash-pan francaise antique. Reversing the container to its original position brought a striker into line with the flash-pan antique mahogany dolphin table. When the trigger was pulled a hammer was released which hit the striker and detonated the priming powder american made old french style chairs. The flash-pan being enclosed the flame was forced down the vent with great force, causing an instantaneous discharge of the gun ruhlmann chair.
The lower half, or magazine, of the container held enough priming powder for about twenty shots antique rectangle drop leaf table cabinet. In addition, part of the equipment of the gun was an ivory flask in which was carried spare powder to refill the magazine biedermeier canape.
The new lock was an immediate success, and between i8o8 when Forsyth opened his business until 1821 when his patent expired nearly 4000 locks were made dutch 18th century walnut chest on chest. Some of these were attached to newly manufactured guns and pistols, and others were sold separately for fitting to converted flintlocks social origins of art deco. Use of percussion sporting arms became widespread britannia silver candlesticks. A well-known and very keen sportsman, Mr paul follot chair. H 1900th century furniture. Baring, M 1840s wooden chest.P coalbrookdale neptune dish., wrote to Forsyth in’ 1814 saying, ‘I think I may now congratulate you on having made your Patent lock perfect and I venture to predict that in a few years nothing else will be used by sportsmen in this country kotahya pottery. I have shot with your guns for the last four years entirely, and under their different stages of improvement, and few persons can be better qualified than myself to form a practical opinion of them antique chinese display cabinets black oak. I shoot every day it is possible to go out from the beginning of the season to the end and I am often in the predicament of firing my gun as often as my barrels will bear to be fired in one day 1940’s art deco black and gray lacquer bedroom set prices.’
Nevertheless the `scent-bottle’ lock had one serious weakness scroll planter table y chair. The loose detonating powder in the magazine sometimes exploded owing to the flame from the flash-pan leaking through to it “goldscheider mark”. A later Forsyth design, incorporating a magazine which slid forward on rollers over the flash-pan, was open to the same objection console tables tubular uk.
Some of the other gunmakers had ideas as to how the difficulty might be surmounted, but Forsyth’s porcelaine antique motif ming. all-embracing patent protected him from any competition in Great Britain antique bullock’s 8′ sofa. A Genevan gunsmith of Paris, Pauly, however, arrived at the same solution in 18 12 which had already occurred to one or two dinning table carved like an animal. British gunsmiths austrian mirrored tables. This, in short, was to put the detonating mixture in a pellet, thus avoiding the danger of the loose powder parquetry specimen top. Pauly’s pellet was much the same as the present-day cap used for toy pistols walnut beaconsfield wardrobe. It consisted of a mixture-of potassium chlorate with sulphur and charcoal, to which was added a small amount of gum arabic antique pembroke table, inlay design. This was moulded into a hard pill and enclosed between two paper discs steele art deco chair wood arm rests.
In 18 16 Joseph Manton, younger brother of John Manton who had been foreman to Twigg, took a risk and patented a percussion pellet lock antique octagonal table small. This embodied a hammer with a hollow head in which the pellet was first inserted, and then the striker “chinese screen” and “mother of pearl”. The striker was drilled down its centre with a very narrow hole, and had a cavity cut in its outer surface antique trestle refectory table. When the trigger was pulled the forward movement of the hammer brought the striker into contact with a nipple, which fitted into the cavity and had a vent communicating with the powder charge cassone furniture -chris -vincent -antonio -gabriele. The force with which the hammer hit the nipple drove the striker back against the pellet, and the resulting flame travelled down the central hole in the striker and thence via the vent in the nipple to the powder japanned antique chest-how to strip lacquer. Though an ingenious idea, Manton’s lock was clearly an infringement of Forsyth’s patent, and was hardly an improvement on it since the striker had to be removed after each shot lambeth ingredients.
In 1818 Joseph Manton tried-again antique ceramic dish in silver stand. This time, instead of using a pellet he had designed a `tube-lock’, which he thought to be outside the scope of the Forsyth specification walnut side tables and lowboys. In this lock one end of a copper tube filled with fulminate of mercury was inserted :into the vent communicating with the charge 18th century amboyna card table. There it was held by a spring cover, and was struck by the hammer through a hole in the cover art deco furniture in united state. This was a very successful design, for it was simple and gave a certain discharge commedia del arte wallendorf. However, Forsyth was successful in a lawsuit, and Manton was unable to proceed with his lock deco porcelain spanish dancers female.
This lawsuit came almost at the end of Forsyth’s active interest in his company antique 17th century drop leaf tables. The patent had only two years to run, and in 1819 the Reverend Alexander returned to his parish, where he was to continue to officiate until his death in 1843, In the same year the company moved to 8 Leicester Street, Leicester Square, and finally ceased operations in 1826 george bullock collectors cabinet.
Forsyth received little public recognition during his life-time etruscan pottery price offer. In 1842 the Treasury granted him X2oo, on the recommendation of the Master-General of the Ordnance, ‘for remuneration as the original inventor of percussion firearms’ antique cigar chair with wood arms. This was four years after the first issue of percussion arms to -the Army, and was presumably the parsimonious reflection of the stirring of the official conscience antique pottey work table. About four months after Forsyth’s death the M antique occasional table inlaid roses.G baluster leg draw leaf table.O popular art techniques and their origin. represented that the previous reward was inadequate, with the result that Forsyth’s three surviving relatives received the’further sum of ki000 to divide between them mid century modern spider leg coffee table.
The expiration of Forsyth’s patent, of course, resulted in the appearance of a large number of new designs of percussion locks 1740’s art dining. Joseph Manton’s tube-lock reappeared, and became a great favourite for the big punt guns used against wildfowl regency furniture history.
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It gave the particularly powerful flash which was required to ignite the large charge of coarse powder with which these guns were customarily loaded 18th century drinking glasses.
A number of new pellet locks were also devised; but although a few were used for a time on fowling-pieces, they had no lasting influence on the design of percussion locks, and they cannot be claimed as being in the line of development which led to military percussion arms jacobian furniture.
The invention which really made the percussion lock a practical military proposition was the copper cap expensive antique utensils. This extremely simple device had results of such far-reaching importance that there were several claimants to the honour of having invented it 1880s cooking utensils. The cap was a thimble-shaped piece of copper with a charge of detonating mixture inside-its crown five legs two leaf oak antique dining table. This was placed on a nipple having a central vent which cominunicated with the charge of gunpowder in the chamber of the gun antique empire candlestick. All that was required to fire the gun was the blow of the hammer on the cap antique pedestal regency sideboard.
It seems now to have been established beyond doubt that the inventor of the cap was an English landscape painter named Joshua Shaw, who emigrated to America in 1816 antique chinese scroll coffee table.
Shaw designed his first lock in 1814 art deco reproductions clock. This was an early form of the ultimate design weisweiller furniture. The cap, however, was of steel, and the priming mixture was inserted separately into the crown of the cap as a pellet antique table with enamel top and cup design. Unlike the final copper cap, this steel cap was not thrown away after firing, but was- used again with a fresh pellet robert jupe extending circular table copy. A gun with a lock of this design was made for Shaw by Roantree, a Durham gunsmith directoire napoleon furniture. Forsyth’s monopoly, however, prevented Shaw from securing a patent austria furniture company. Nevertheless he carried on his experiments, first replacing the steel cap with an expendable one of pewter; and ultimately, in 1816, with the copper cap joan klock, amsterdam, clockmaker. It may have been his inability to manufacture his copper-cap lock’ in England which caused Shaw to go to America antique bentwood rocking chair. There his invention was successful, and eventually he was employed by the United States Government in making percussion caps for experimental military arms tecnical drawings antique. Whilst engaged on this work in 1831 an explosion disabled his left hand late classical pier table. Shaw put in a claim for compensation, which was recognized by Congress; but it was not till sixteen years later that Congress awarded him a sum of $ x 6,000 for past and future rights in his invention kent extending antique table.
In the meantime it appears that in England Joseph Manton had obtained some knowledge of Shaw’s copper cap antique korean porcelain. Possibly he had heard of it before the latter’s departure for America malard furniture. In any case about 1818 he made such a cap; and as soon as Forsyth’s patent had expired he started selling arms with the copper-cap percussion lock louis 16th style furniture. Manton had an enthusiastic backer in Colonel Peter Hawker of Longparish, Hampshire, a famous spprtsman, author of a well-known book called Instructions to Toung Sportsmen, wounded in the Peninsular campaign, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the North Hampshire Militia antique frnech empire furniture. In his book Hawker claimed that he ‘was a patron of Joseph Manton and made many field trials of his guns, and contributed to the design and inventions of Joseph Manton’ wm iv 3 pedestal dining room table. He goes on to say that he suggested the idea of the copper cap -to Joseph Manton when he was engaged on his tube bloomsbury london arts and crafts. lock, and that the latter reluctantly agreed to try it antique drop front desk. Manton certainly labelled his first gun fitted with a lock of this type ‘Made from the Original Design of Colonel Peter Hawker’ antique ceramic indian elephant end table. Writing some time after the event the recollection of this gesture by Manton may have coloured Hawker’s memory antique tea table carved japanese.
Manton, however, was not the only English gunsmith to make a copper cap in 1818 architect jon monteith gates. Joseph Egg of Piccadilly may even have preceded Manton, and he was making guns with the cap percussion lock at the same time banquet table antique middle ages. Furthermore, he was labelling the cases with the manifestly inaccurate legend, ‘Inventor of the Percussion Cap’ can decorative moulding be antique bookcase.
By the x 8 2o’s, then, percussion arms were a commonplace amongst sportsmen 18th empire furniture. It was to be many years yet before they were to be placed in the hands of the soldiers flemish refectory table.
