AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND INLAYING ENCAUSTI TEES OR OTTED PAGINA DIALS AND SIDORO
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Boulton, Ironfounder, and Joseph Worth-
ington, Engineer, both of Burslem, in the County of Stafford, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND INLAYING ENCAUSTI
TEES OR OTTED PAGINA DIALS AND SIDORO a
Sealed the 92th December 1863, and dated the 3rd September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Boulton and
Joseph Worthington at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd September 1863.
We, WILLIAM BOULTON, Ironfounder, and JOSEPH WORTHINGTON, Engi-
neer, both of Burslem, in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND
INLAYING ENCAUSTIC TILES OR OTHER PLASTIC ARTICLES AND SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
In the first place we provide a mould to suit the size and form of the
tile or other article required with a ram or bottom die made to fit the
same, the said ram or bottom die being level or flat on the surface on
which the tile or other article is made. We next take a plate of brass
or other metal or material fitting the mould, and of a thickness corre-
sponding to that of the desired inlay, which plate is cut away or perfo-
rated with an opening or openings of the form and size of the central
portion of the required ornament or ornaments. Placing this in the mould
on the ram or bottom die we fill it in with the clay or other plastic

page_text: substance of the desired color, and press it lightly with a suitable die.
We then remove the plate, leaving the central ornament or ornaments on
the rain or bottom die. The plate may (if required) be made in separate
pieces to facilitate its removal without disturbing the pattern. We then
place on the ram or bottom die a second plate having an opening (or
openings) therein of the same or any other required form and sufficiently
large to leave a space outside the former or central portion, and we fill
in this space with clay or other plastic substance of another color and
press it lightly as before, and we repeat this process for as many colors
Lastly, having com-
or separate parts of the pattern as may be required.
pleted the design, we fill in the back or ground and press the whole
together.
SPECIFICATION, in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Boulton and Joseph Worthington in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 3rd March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BOULTON, Ironfounder, and JOSEPH WORTHINGTON, Engineer, both of Burslem,
in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Boulton and Joseph Worthington, Her special license
that we, the said William Boulton and Joseph Worthington, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Boulton and Joseph Worthington, our executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND INLAYING ENCAUSTIC
TILES OR OTHER PLASTIC ARTICLES AND SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Boulton and Joseph Worthington, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one
of our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: 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 we, the said William Boulton and Joseph Worth-
ington, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, and on reference to
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
Our Invention is designed principally for the purpose of making and
inlaying encaustic tiles from pulverized clay, but it will be evident that
the same process and apparatus may be employed with slight modifications
for the manufacture of other articles from plastic substances.
In the first place we provide a mould to suit the size and form of the
tile or other article required with a ram or bottom die made to fit the
same, the said ram or bottom die being level or flat on the surface on
which the tile or other article is made. We next take a plate of brass
or other metal or material of a thickness corresponding to that of the
desired inlay, which plate is cut away or perforated with an opening
or openings of the form and size of the central portion of the required
ornament or ornaments. Placing this on the ram or bottom die we fill it
in with the pulverised clay or other plastic substance of the desired color
and press it lightly with a suitable die. The plate may (if required) be
made in separate pieces to facilitate its removal without disturbing the
pattern. We then place on the ram or bottom die a second plate having
an opening (or openings) therein of the same or any required form, and
sufficiently large to leave a space outside the former or central portion, and
we fill in this space with pulverized clay or other plastic substance of
another color, and press it lightly as before, and we repeat this process for
as many colors or separate parts of the pattern as may be required. Lastly,
having completed the design, we fill in the back or ground and press the
whole together.
Such being the nature and object of our Invention for "An Improved
Method of Making and Inlaying Encaustic Tiles or other Plastic Articles
and Substances," we will now proceed to describe more in detail the
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly understood we
have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those
in the following explanation thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1 represents a plan view of the mould
er box, with the ram or bottom die which we employ for the above purpose;
Figure 2 is a longitudiual section, and Figure 3 a transverse section of the
same. Figure 4 is a plan view of one of the perforated plates, and Figure 5
an edge view of one of the pressing plates.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3, a, a, is the ram or bottom die, which is bolted or
otherwise fixed on to the table of the press, and b, b, is the box or mould
fitted to the same, and capable of sliding up and down thereon. This
mould b, b, is furnished with a cross bar or pin c, c, passing through vertical
slots d, d, in the sides of the ram a, a, and through the eye of the con-
necting rod e, e, to the lower end of which is attached a treadle, by means
of which the mould or box b, b, can be raised or lowered as required; the
mould b, b, is also provided with two vertical pins f,f, for guiding the perforated
plates.
The perforated plate, Figure 4, is made of a suitable thickness according
to that of the inlay required, and is perforated with an opening 9, 9,
in the centre of the form of the central part of the desired pattern,
and also with two holes h, h, corresponding with the pins f, f, on the
mould.
The pressing plate, Figure 5, is furnished with two similar holes h, h, and
with a central projection i, i, of the form of the perforation 9, 9, in the plate,
Figure 4, but of a less thickness than the latter plate.
The process of making and inlaying an encaustic tile of three colors
from pulverized clay with this apparatus is as follows:-The sliding mould
b, b, being in the position shown in the Drawing, one of the perforated
plates, Figure 4, is placed thereon, and the perforation is then filled in
with pulverized clay of the desired color; the pressing plate, Figure 5, is
then placed over the same, and subjected to a light pressure sufficient to
solidify the pulverized clay; the two plates are then removed, leaving the
central ornament on the surface of the ram or bottom die a, a, and a
second perforated plate is substituted, the perforation thereof being of such
a form and size as will leave a space all round the central ornament, as
shown by dotted lines in Figure 4. This space is then filled in as before
with pulverized clay of the second color, and pressed with a corresponding
pressing plate. These second plates are then removed, leaving the pattern
in two colors on the rain or bottom die a, a, and the mould b, b, is raised
by means of the treadle to a height sufficient to allow of the amount of
compression required; the mould or box b, b, is then filled in with pul-
verized clay of the required ground color, and the moveable ram of the

page_text: press is then brought down, solidifying and compressing the whole to the
required thickness, and the operation is completed. On the ascent of
the moveable ram, the mould b, b, is lowered by the treadle, and the
finished tile can be removed from the surface of the bottom die or
ram a, a.
It will be obvious that any pattern and number of colors may be inlayed in
this manner by using a corresponding number of perforated plates of the
form required for each part of the pattern, each perforated plate being pro-
vided with a pressing plate of a corresponding form.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention for
"An Improved Method of Making .and Inlaying Encaustic Tiles or other
Plastic Articles and Substances," together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, we
would remark in conclusion that we are aware that an attempt has been
made to inlay tiles in soft clay by means of one plate without the
aid of a stamp or a correspondinng die to fit; but we claim as our
Invention, the improved method of making and inlaying encaustic tiles
or other plastic articles and substances, in the manner and by means
of the apparatus above described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Boulton and Joseph Worth-.
ington, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 12th day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
WILLIAM BOULTON.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH WORTHINGTON. (L.S.)
WILLIAM BOULTON.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH WORTHINGTON. (L.S.)