A domestic or vehicle rearview silvered mirror having a silver coating which is not covered with a protective layer of copper. The silver mirror comprises a glass sheet, tin and preferably palladium at surface of the glass sheet, a silver coating of the surface of the glass sheet and at least one paint layer covering the silver coating. Optionally, tin may be present at the surface of the silver coating adjacent the paint layer and optionally traces of silane may be present at the surface of the silver coating adjacent to the paint layer. Alternate or additional materials may be present at a surface of the glass sheet and alternate or additional materials may be present at the surface of the silver adjacent to the paint layer.
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 09/835,590 filed on Apr. 17, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,217; which is a Division of application Ser. No. 08/907,970, filed Aug. 11, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,482, which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 8/435,721, filed May 5, 1995, now abandoned.
A process for forming a silver coating on a surface of a vitreous substrate is described. The process comprises an activating step in which said surface is contacted with an activating solution, a sensitising step in which said surface is contacted with a sensitising solution, and a subsequent silvering step in which said surface is contacted with a silvering solution comprising a source of silver to form the silver coating. The process is characterised in that said activating solution comprises ions of at least one of bismuth (III), chromium (II), gold (III), indium (III), nickel (II), palladium (II), platinum (II), rhodium (III), ruthenium (III), titanium (III), vanadium (III) and zinc (II).
A paint and method are divulged for protecting the silver film of mirrors. The paint in its preferred embodiment includes a metal carboxylate which will contribute metal ions, namely stannous octoate for the contribution of stannous(II) ions in an amount of 0.5% or greater by weight. Alternate methods of the invention utilize an additional coating over the paint, such as an acrylic, epoxy or blend thereof which is UV curable. In another form of the paint, copper octoate is utilized in a minimum amount of 0.5% by weight for contribution of copper(II) ions.
