AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROTECTING THE CONTACT SURFACES OF VESSELS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alfred Nicholson, of No. 3, Adelaide Place,
London Bridge, in the City of London, Ship Owner, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROTECTING THE CONTACT SURFACES OF VESSELS,
Sealed the 17th July 1866, and dated the 19th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th January 1866.
I, JOSEPH ALFRED NICHOLSON, of No. 8, Adelaide Place, London Bridge,
in the City of London, Ship Owner, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROTECTING THE CONTACT SURFACES OF
VESSELS, UTENSILS, AND ARTICLES OF DOMESTIC USE AND THEIR SUPPORTS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to vessels and utensils for domestic use when made of
earthenware, glass, or other plastic material of a brittle nature, and has for
its object, Ist, the protection of the bottoms, flanges, edges, or surfaces from
injurious contact with their supports when in use; 2ndly, to render such
articles when made with lids or covers, or with one part resting upon another,

page_text: less liable to breakage and more perfectly air-tight. I propose to effect the said
objects by forming the bottoms, flanges, edges, or surfaces of such articles,
lids, or covers with indentations or channels to receive rings or segments of
india-rubber, gutta percha, or their compounds.
Fig. 1 on the accompanying Drawing shews a section of a bason and ewer;
Fig. 2, a section of a dish and cover, and Fig. 3, a section of a bread bowl or
pan and cover, with their respective supporting and contact surfaces formed
as above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ALFRED NICHOLSON, of No. 3, Adelaide Place, London Bridge, in the City of
London, Ship Owner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Alfred Nicholson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph. Alfred Nicholson, 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
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROTECTING THE CONTACT SURFACES OF VESSELS,
UTENSILS, AND ARTICLES OF DOMESTIC USE AND THEIR SUPPORTS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their.
or one of their hands and seals, 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 Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
'NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention relates to vessels and utensils for domestic or other use
when made of earthenware, glass, or other plastic substance or material of a
brittle nature, and has for its object, Ist, the protection of the bottoms, flanges,
edges, or surfaces from injurious contact with their support or with each other
when in use; 2ndly, to render such articles when made with lids or covers,
or with one part resting on another, less liable to breakage and more perfectly
air-tight. I
propose to effect the said objects by forming the bottoms, flanges,
edges, or surfaces of such articles, lids, or covers with indentations or channels
to receive rings or segments of some elastic material, such as india-rubber,
gutta percha, or their compounds.
The accompanying Drawing is intended to illustrate the mode of carrying
my said Invention into effect in practice.
Fig. 1 shews a section of a bason and ewer; Fig. 2, a section of a dish and
cover; Fig. 3, a section of a bread bowl or pan and cover with their respective
supporting and contact surfaces formed as above described; a ring or strip of
vulcanized india-rubber a is let into a groove b formed in the bearing surface
and secured therein, partly by the dovetail form aided by any suitable cement,
or by any of the modes of fastening the same herein-after described.
In applying the improvement to dish covers as shewn at Fig. 2, the elasticity
of the vulcanized india-rubber lip (a) compensates for any inequality in the
surface of the rim of the dish, and prevents the ingress of flies or dust under
the edge of the cover, and could thus be made of delph ware perforated or
not as required, and could always be kept clean by washing. When.cement
is used the surfaces of the grooves or flanges are left unglazed.
Fig. 4 shews one of the modes of securing the vulcanized india-rubber rings
to the flange, the latter being made to spread at the bottom, so that the ring
when stretched over it is partly secured in position by its own elasticity, and
partly by split pins c passed through the ring and flange, and the two halves
of the split end then turned back against the inside.
Fig. 5 shews another mode of fixing the ring in a shallow d groove, and
screw pins e with small nuts on their ends; Fig. 6, f is a loose ring of metal
which takes the place of the inner flange; Fig. 7, gare either rings or sections;
Figs. 8 and 9, h are feet which are formed instead of the flange and cylinders
or short lengths of vulcanized india-rubber pipe, and secured either by cement
or binders; Fig. 10 is a plan view shewing the mode of securing the vulcanized
india-rubber ring by means of tho split pins described at Fig. 4.
Figs. 11 and 12 shew another plan of fastening the rings by means of screw

page_text: pins, in this case i is the pin, the end of which is of reduced size to allow it
to pass through the nut j. This nut is placed with its upper edge close up to
the bottom of the vessel k, so that it cannot turn: The head of the pin is
made plain; in fixing it the head, is passed through the flanges and ring, and
through the nut, and is turned or screwed into the fixed nut by gripping the
projecting end, and when the head is thus screwed home against the outer
flange the end it is cut off flush with the face of the nut. Fig. 13, 7 is an
outer band of metal, between which and the flange n the vulcanized india-
rubber ring is secured by screws as last described, or by split pins as shewn at
Figs. 4 and 10, or in the manner shewn at Fig. 5. Fig. 13 shews the mode
of forming the band joint, in which case the flanges of the vulcanized india-
rubber, and the Fig. 13° shews another mode of forming and joining the ends
of the flat metal band in which a standard slot fastening is proposed to be
used; Fig. 14, n is a section of the bottom of a vessel made without the
usual flange of the same material, and having in its place a ring or flange of
vulcanized india-rubber secured thereto by cement or otherwise; Fig. 15,
o is also a section of the bottom of a similarly formed vessel, to the plain under
surface of which vulcanized india-rubber feet are secured, as shewn in plan at
Fig. 16; Fig. 17 is a plan view of the bottom of a vessel, in which g is the
ordinary flange; v, the india-rubber ring; s, a metal wire, the ends of which
are passed through the holes t, t, and twisted together at u.
Having thus illustrated and described the various modes by which the
elastic material may be secured, I hereby further declare that I do not
absolutely restrict myself thereto, as other modes may be employed; but what
I claim is, the interposition of elastic material for the purpose of softening the
concussion of the bearing supports and contact surfaces of vessels of the class
berein referred to.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 19th day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOSEPH A. NICHOLSON. (L.S.)