Illustration: Electroplating Apparatus]

the deposit from adhering. Then polish the articles and rub them
over with a cloth and fine pumice powder, to roughen the surface
slightly. Finally, to remove all traces of grease, dip the
articles to be plated in a boiling potash solution made by
dissolving 4 oz. American ash in 1-1/2 pt. of water. Do not touch
the work with the hands again. To avoid touching it, hang the
articles on the wires, by which they are to be suspended in the
plating bath, before dipping them in the potash solution; then
hold them by the wires under running water for ten minutes to
completely remove every trace of the potash.

For plating with copper prepare the following solution: 4 oz.
copper sulphate dissolved in 12 oz. water; add strong ammonia
solution until no more green crystals are precipitated. Then add
more ammonia and stir until the green crystals are re-dissolved
giving an intense blue solution. Add slowly a strong solution of
potassium cyanide until the blue color disappears, leaving a clear
solution; add potassium cyanide again, about one-fourth as much in
bulk as used in the decolorizing process. Then make the solution
up to 2 qt. with water. With an electric pressure of 3.5 to 4
volts, this will give an even deposit of copper on the article
being plated.

A solution for silver plating may be prepared as follows: Dissolve
3/4 oz. of commercial silver nitrate in 8 oz. of water, and slowly
add a strong solution of potassium cyanide until no more white
precipitate is thrown down. Then pour the liquid off and wash the
precipitate carefully. This is best done by filling the bottle
with water, shaking, allowing precipitate to settle and then
pouring off the water. Repeat six times. Having finished washing
the precipitate, slowly add to it a solution of potassium cyanide
until all the precipitate is dissolved. Then add an excess of
potassium cyanide--about as much as was used in dissolving the
precipitate--and make the solution up to 1 qt. with water. This
solution, with an electric pressure of 2 to 4 volts, will give a
good white coat of silver in twenty minutes to half-an-hour; use 2
volts for large articles, and 4 volts for very small ones. If more
solution is required, it is only necessary to double all given
quantities.

Before silver plating, such metals as iron, lead, pewter, zinc,
must be coated with copper in the alkaline copper bath described,
and then treated as copper. On bras