A COMBINED APPARATUS FOR DAMPING AND CLEANING SLATES, SHARPENING SLATE PENCILS, AND WIPING PENS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Templar, of Holly Bank, Tetlow Fold,
near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Schoolmaster, for
the Invention of "A COMBINED APPARATUS FOR DAMPING AND CLEANING
SLATES, SHARPENING SLATE PENCILS, AND WIPING PENS."
Sealed the 7th December 1869, and dated the 30th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Templar
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th June 1869.
I, BENJAMIN TEMPLAR, of Holly Bank, Tetlow Fold, near Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Schoolmaster, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A COMBINED APPARATUS FOR DAMPING AND CLEANING
SLATES, SHARPENING SLATE PENCILS, AND WIPING PENS," to be as follows:-
This apparatus consists of a reservoir containing water to supply a.
pad of woven fabric. or other suitable material by which the marks on.
the slate are effaced. To one side of the apparatus is attached. a. second.

page_text: pad for drying the slate, and to the other side of the apparatus is
attached a pen wiper. To the apparatus is also fixed a file or other
rough surface for sharpening slate pencils.
This combined apparatus will be found of great convenience in school-
rooms, as it will contain sufficient water to clean a slate for a week or
more, and it will also be otherwise useful, as described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Templar in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
TEMPLAR, of Holly Bank, Tellow Fold, near Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Schoolmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Templar, Her special licence
that I, the said Benjamin Templar, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Templar, my executors,
administrators, 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 "A COMBINED APPA-
RATUS FOR DAMPING AND CLEANING SLATES, SHARPENING SLATE PENCILS, AND
WIPING PENS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Benjamin Templar, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Templar, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
This apparatus consists of a reservoir containing water to supply a pad
of woven fabric or other suitable material by which the marks on the
slate are effaced. To one side of the apparatus is attached a second pad
for drying the slate, and to the other side of the apparatus is attached
a pen wiper. To the apparatus is also affixed a file or other rough
surface for sharpening slate pencils. This combined apparatus will be
found of great convenience in school rooms, as it will contain sufficient
water to clean a slate for a week or more, and it will also be otherwise
useful, as described.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section, Figure 2 a transverse
section, and Figure 3 a plan of a combined apparatus for damping and
cleaning slates, for sharpening slate pencils, and for wiping pens.
In constructing this combined apparatus I take a strip of tinned sheet
iron or other metal or material of the required length and breadth, and
bend it to form the top plate a, the end plate b, and the bottom plate c;
the former being made with a bevelled part. The bent plate marked a,
b, and c, is soldered to two narrow plates d, d, forming the sides of the
apparatus. The sides are also connected by the partition e, which has
part of its upper edge cut off to form the communication between the
small chamber and the water reservoir g; the partition thus retains the
water at the proper height in the chamber f, no matter how low it may
be in the reservoir g. The damping apparatus consists of the pad h,
made of two or three thicknesses of woven or felted fabric, or other
suitable porous material or substance, a portion of the pad entering into
the chamber to convey by capillary attraction the water in the
chamber to the projecting portion of the pad. The apparatus for
cleaning slates consists of the pad i, made of any convenient number.
of pieces of woven or felted fabric, or other suitable material or sub-
stance projecting from and attached to one side of the frame; the pads
are all secured to the body of the apparatus by rivets, as shewn, or
otherwise. The apparatus for sharpening slate pencils consists of a file or
other rough substance; secured to the plate c, and provided with a hinged

page_text: cover ; and the apparatus for wiping pens consists of the pad 4, which
is similar to the pad i. To the end plate is soldered the bush m,
which is provided with the screwed plug . Previous to using the
apparatus the reservoir is filled with water to supply the pad h, and
this reservoir is made large enough to contain sufficient water to damp
a slate for a week or more, consequently the time lost in wetting sponges
or other substitutes is economised.
g
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described a con-
venient mode of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I
do not intend to limit myself to the details given, as similar apparatus
may be made combining more or less conveniences, without departing
from the peculiar character of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Templar, have hereto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-eighth day of December
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
BENJAMIN TEMPLAR. (L.S.)