336 BENJ. PIKE'S, JR., DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



Smee's battery, also used for plating ; particularly for 

 Daguerreotype plates. Price, $2.25. 



ELECTRO PLATING AND GILDING. 



Preparation of the Solution of Silver. Take one pint of 

 pure rain -or distilled water ; add to it one and a half ounces 

 of the cyanuret of potassium ; shake them together occasion- 

 ally, until the latter is entirely dissolved ; and allow the liquid 

 to become clear. Then add a quarter of an ounce of oxide of 

 silver, which will very speedily dissolve ; the dissolution 

 may be hastened by heat, and, after a short time, a clear 

 transparent solution will be obtained. 



Preparation of the Gold Solution. Warm a pint of pure 

 rain or distilled water, and dissolve in it one and a half 

 ounces of cyanuret of potassium as before ; then add a 

 quarter of an ounce of oxide of gold. The solution will at 

 first be yellowish, but will soon subside to colorless trans- 

 parency. 



The solution is made in a glass or earthen vessel, the 

 article to be plated attached to the wire connected with the 

 zinc pole of the battery, immersing the other wire from the 

 copper pole of the battery, which should be tipped with 

 gold or platina, a little way in the solution. 



An improved way for plating, and preferable in use, is to 

 prepare, as above, the solution, by dissolving one and a 

 half ounces of cyanuret of potassium in a pint of rain water, 

 and attach a thin plate of silver to a wire connected with 

 the copper pole of the battery, and immerse it in the solu- 

 tion ; now dip the wire from the zinc side of the battery in 

 the solution, but not in contact with the silver plate, and a 

 rapid decomposition of the metal will take place, and a 

 saturated solution will be obtained, which may be known by 

 the deposition of silver on the wire from the zinc side of the 

 battery. Attach the articles to be plated, as before, to the 

 wire from the zinc pole, allowing the silver plate to remain 

 in the solution to supply the silver released from the solu- 

 tion and deposited on the article plated. Articles not 

 exposed to wear may be coated in a few minutes ; spoons, 

 watch-cases, and articles exposed, will require from four to 

 six hours, the thickness of the deposit depending on the 

 length of time immersed. Should bubbles of gas appear 



