MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS OF THE PROCESS 

 OF COATING WITH COPPER. 



BESIDES the applications and processes which we have described 

 under the general term of electrotyping, there are many other appli- 

 cations of the process of depositing metals upon various substances, 

 which have been, and may be, still more usefully applied. We may, 

 at a trifling cost, impart a coating of copper to cornices for decora- 

 ting buildings, to terra cotta, carvings in wood, &c. &c. Cloth may 

 also be easily covered, and made to assume the appearance of a sheet 

 of copper, having the lightness and pliability of cloth. Lace has 

 been covered with copper, and used for battery plates, and has also 

 been gilt and made into beautiful ornaments. Table-covers with 

 metallic ornaments richly gilt, and book-covers, have all been tried 

 with less or more success, although they have not yet been profitably 

 produced. 



Coppered Cloth. Ordinary cloth, covered with copper, was pre- 

 pared a few years ago in considerable quantity for the covering of 

 roofs, waggons, &c. ; but the necessary price precluded its use when 

 competing with the ordinary materials for these purposes, although 

 it possesses many eminent qualities for some of these uses such as 

 forming fire-proof covers to shelter waggons from the sparks of fire 

 discharged by a locomotive. The choice of the kind of cloth was 

 another difficulty : linen was too expensive, and required a good 

 coating of copper to make it water-tight ; the best substance was a 

 felted cotton with India-rubber, but after a few months' exposure 

 the India-rubber in the cloth decomposed. The operations of coat- 

 ing cloth with copper were the same as described for the wax 

 medals : the cloth was brushed over with a polish of black-lead, and 

 then stretched upon a frame of wood having a copper band round 

 it, in which were placed small hooks or pins, and the cloth attached 

 to these. A vat four feet deep and twelve yards long, was made of 

 brick and cement ; this was divided lengthwise by a wooden frame 

 with panes the same as a window, which were filled in with un- 

 glazed earthenware plates, cemented by marine glue, and the whole 



