IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOULDS FOR MOULDING CHINA, EARTHENWARE, OR POTTERY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Maw, of the Benthall Works, near
Broseley, in the County of Salop, Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOULDS FOR MOULDING CHINA,
EARTHENWARE, OR POTTERY."
Sealed the 6th July 1869, and dated the 22nd January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Maw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd January 1869.
I, ARTHUR MAW, of the Benthall Works, near Broseley, in the County
of Salop, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOULDS FOR MOULDING
CHINA, EARTHENWARE, OB POTTERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
moulds for moulding china, earthenware, or pottery. From the original
model either of clay or plaster I tako a mould in the manner commonly
employed, viz., I cast plaster round the model or "block" in 'such
number of pieces or segments as the character of the design may render
necessary (the pieces being kept in their proper relative positions

page_text: after their removal from the "block" by notches in one piece and
corresponding projections in the adjacent piece) in the usual manner.
I then apply a suitable composition or solution to the whole surface
of the mould to stop its absorption, and afterwards cover the surface
which has received its impression from the "block" with black lead,
bronze powder, or gold or silver leaf to produce a conducting surface,
upon which I deposit copper or other suitable metal by means of the
electrotyping process, and when a sufficiently thick coating of metal has
been deposited I back up the deposit either with a coating of metal
applied in a melted state or with a suitable cement, or with both in com-
bination. From the metallic "block" thus produced (which corresponds
exactly with the original model or "block") I take working moulds
in the same manner as for the mould above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Maw in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
Maw, of the Benthall Works, near Broscly, in the County of Salop,
Manufacturer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs. and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Maw, Her special
licence that I, the said Arthur Maw, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur Maw, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTION OF MOULDS FOR MOULDING CHINA, EARTHENWARE, OR POTTERY,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Maw,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
01 their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: -44
and ascertain tho nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Maw, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction
of moulds for moulding china, carthenware, or pottery. From the
original model either in clay or plaster I take a "box mould" by
proference. in plaster of Paris. I proceed as follows:-I place against
the original model pieces of clay or other material so as to divido
it into segments; after casting the first segment I make in the
sides of the segment so cast notches or hemispherical indentations;
In contact with this segment I cast the second segment, so that
the picces are kept in their proper relative position by means of corre-
sponding projections and indentations, the process being repeated-till the
"box mould" is completed by a sufficient number of segments being cast
round the original pattern or "block." After drying this mould (if
of plaster) I apply a suitable material or solution to its whole surfaco
to stop its absorption, for which purpose I oither soak it in a mixture
of wax and oil in a heated state which I prefer or in a solution of
gelatine or other suitable material. Or instead of using the original
model as above described, I employ a corresponding model of glue or
gelatine in an elastic state, from which I cast a box mould in plaster
or cement as above described in one piece instead of in segments.
Or I make my "box mould" of elastic gelatino by casting it in one
picco round the original model as in the first case described. I then.
proceed as follows:-I cover the inner surface of the "box mould "
with black lead, bronze powder, gold or silver leaf, or other materials
conductive of galvanism, applying the black lead with a brush, afterwards
polishing it by friction, or it may be coated in the way ordinarily
used in the process of gilding with powder or leaf. Upon the surface
so prepared I deposit copper or other suitable metal by means of the
process known as the "electro deposit process' or "electrotyping
process, ," and when a sufficiently thick coating of metal has been
deposited I back up the shell so formed either with a coating of metal

page_text: applied in a melted state or with a suitable cement or resinous com-
position, or with any of them in combination, but for this purpose I
prefer common pitch in a melted state; the "box mould" is then
removed from the "block" so formed. From the metallic "block" thus
produced, which corresponds exactly with the original model or "block,"
I take working moulds in the same manner as for the mould above
described.
The advantages of this Invention consist,―
First. In the prevention of the deterioration which most works of
art undergo in the process commonly in use in which either plaster
or clay blocks are employed from which to cast working moulds.
Second. In the production of a practically indestructible model from
which any number of working moulds can be taken without the
necessity of retouching, and all representing in the minutest details
the original work of the modeller. Metal presents so many advantages
as a material for working models or "blocks" that in some instances
manufacturers have employed solid brass castings for the purpose, but
these, in addition to the cost of the material and its weight, have the
great disadvantage of requiring to be finished by the costly process
of chasing, thus putting what should be the work of the artist into
the hands of an inferior workman, and almost unavoidably destroying
the identity of the design. In works of art, where the beauty of the
finished production is to a great extent dependent upon the exactness
with which the finest touches of the artist are rendered, it is essential
that the "block" from which the working moulds are cast should be
as little as possible removed from the original model by the process
of 'casting and re-casting or by "squeezes" in clay, but as the original
itself would soon be destroyed were too frequent recourse had to it
for working "blocks" it is often the case that the moulds are made
from imperfect "squeezes" touched up by an indifferent modeller, and
thus the spirit and beauty of the work is lost. By the application of
the electro deposit process to the production of models for pottery I
obtain at a comparatively small cost a model in copper which represents-
in its minutest details the original work of the artist, the metal being
deposited within a "box mould" taken from it, and the shell of metal
afterwards strengthened with a backing of suitable cement.
•
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what

page_text: I claim is, the construction of moulds for moulding china, earthenware,
or pottery by forming a box mould of the model, then depositing metal
from a solution on the inner surface of such box mould, and forming
the required mould for moulding articles of china, carthenware, or
pottery on the metal surface so obtained, all substantially as herein-beforo
described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Arthur Maw, have hercunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
ARTHUR MAW. (L.S.)