A CERTAIN METHOD OR CERTAIN METHODS OF PRESERVING AND USING COLOURS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WINSOR, of Rathbone Place, Artists' Colourman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of February, in the third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Winsor, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Winsor, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Winsor, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN METHOD
OR CERTAIN METHODS OF PRESERVING AND USING COLOURS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Winsor, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
saine, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Winsor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
My said improvements in preserving and using colours consists in the sub-
stitution of cylindrical tubes of glass or other substances, as herein-after
mentioned, instead of bladder or membrane, as now generally used. These
tubes are open at both ends, and have an external rim, border, or flanch
made around them to admit of having any suitable flexible, membraneous,
textile, or woven substance being tied or otherwise properly secured over one
or both ends of the tubes. Into each of these tubes I fit a piston, having a
female screw formed in its centre, and into which a male screw is fitted.
This screw is as long, or rather longer, than the tube. I form my piston of a
number of thin circular pieces, discs, or plates of cork or other elastic sub-
stances or materials with alternate discs of paper, card, or other similar
materials, not, however, so elastic as cork, interposed between them; or I can
compose it entirely of plates or discs of cork without the interposition of
other substances. These circular discs or plates of cork, card, or other
materials, have circular or other shaped holes in their centres, which allow
them to be arranged upon a cylindrical or other shaped block made of hard
wood, ivory, bone, horn, metal, or of any other material which is capable of
being turned, cast, or otherwise formed, and either round, square, or of other
shapes. This block has a female screw formed within its centre to fit the
male screw above mentioned, and likewise a circular or cylindrical plate of a
larger diameter formed upon one end of it. The circular discs or plates of cork
having other and smaller discs of card placed between them are arranged
upon this central block, and secured upon it by means of gum, glue, or pre-
ferably of mixtures thereof, or with paste, gum, resin, caoutchouc, or other
proper cements, employed according to the nature of the various colours, or
their vehicles, which are intended to be contained in my colour preserves, and
whether the same may be of an oleaginous, aqueous, spirituous, gummi, resin-
ous, or other nature, so that the cement used in fastening the circular plates
or discs upon the block shall not be soluble in the liquid with which the
paint or colour is prepared. The male screw may likewise be made of
metal, ivory, bone, horn, tortoiseshell, or any other suitable material, and
have a coarse thread formed upon it from its point nearly to its head, that.
part being left solid for the sake of strength, and to affix firmly upon it a flat,
circular, or other shaped plate or head to act as a lever in turning the screw.

page_text: The circular discs or plates, whether of cork, card, or other materials, of which
the piston chiefly consists, may be formed by means of two circular punches,
a small one being in the centre to form a hole or aperture in the plate or
discs, and a larger one to cut the outer circle concentric with the hole or
aperture. By these means I cut, stamp, or punch the discs or circular plates,
either out of cork previously sliced thin, or from cardboard, leather, or other
suitable materials. I, however, prefer to make the piston of cork and card-
board placed alternately, and fastened or cemented firmly one upon another
to the block containing the female screw in its centre. I fit or place the
piston thus formed into one end of a tube A, Figure 1, of the annexed
Drawing, and as shown at B, in Figure 2. I then take a flat circular plate
or disc C, made either of ivory, bone, wood, metal, or other suitable materials,
and which is large or rather larger in diameter than the tube, and secure it
upon that end of the tube next to the piston, as shewn at Figure 3, by
tycing or otherwise firmly affixing over it a piece of membrane E, such, for
instance, as bladder, or the lining of the oesophagus of cattle, or of cloth,
leather, or any other suitable flexible material, and which is large enough to
reach just below the rim or flanch D, as shown in Figure 3.
This plate or
dise C is so fastened upon the end of the tube A has a circular hole or
aperture in its centre large enough to permit the male screw F, Figure 4, to
pass through it without touching the plate. The bladder or other membrane,
cloth, leather, &c., E, has a hole perforated or cut through it above the hole
formed in the centre of the plate or disc C, and the male screw F, Figure 4,
(and which is rather longer than the tube A), passes freely through the holes in
the membrane, &c., and in the plate or disc C, and acts or works in the
female screw formed in the centre of the wooden boss G of the piston B. The
screw F is then turned round within the female screw G until its point nearly
reaches to the opposite end of the tube A, the piston B remaining in the tube
near to the head of the screw, and indeed in the place where it was first
posited, and as shown in Figure 4. I then fill the tube A with the colour or
paint which I intend to keep or preserve in its ground or prepared state,
mixed with its proper vehicle or vehicles in a thick or pasty consistence. I
then cover and secure that end of the tube A which yet remains open with
another flat circular disc or plate H, Figure 5, having an aperture or hole in
its centre, and also a membranous or other suitable elastic material is bound
or tyed over it, and around the opposite end I of the tube A, in a similar
manner to that already described in closing the other end of the tube. I
prefer to have the central aperture in the plate or disc H about the sixteenth
part of an inch in diameter, to permit the colour to be forced out for use on

page_text: piercing the membrane or other elastic covering, and driving the piston
forwards in the manner to be afterwards described, and I afterwards close
those openings by thrusting a peg J, Figure 6, therein, made of ivory, bone,
hard wood, or other suitable materials, and as shown at Figure 7, where
likewise all the other parts before enumerated and described are seen in their
places. B, Figure 8, is the piston shown separately. It is composed of the
hard wood block G, having a screwed hole in its centre, and an enlarged
part K, and upon it are affixed and secured by gum, glue, or mixtures thereof,
or by any other fit and proper cement, the larger cork or other elastic circular
plates or discs L, one of which is shewn separately in Figure 9, and inter-
posed between them the smaller and less elastic card, cardboard, &c., discs M,
one of which is likewise shewn separately at M, in Figure 10. The clock
G, K, is also shewn in section at Figure 11, and in plan in Figure 12.
F, Figure 13, is the male screw E, shown separately and in section. The
manner of affixing its head, or flat circular plate or lever N, upon it, by rivet-
ing it, is here shewn. When only color is required for use, I take out the
plug J, or stopper, and then give the screw F a few backward turns by means
of its circular plate or lever N, and thus withdraw it a little out of the
tube A, leaving the piston stationary, and not turned round.
I then push
against the flat circular plate N, but without turning it round, and thus force
the piston forwards. The colour in the tube will then be driven out through
the aperture in the centre of the circular plate H, upon the palette or other
proper receptacle for it. I then replace the plug J. This process must be
repeated as often as colour is required for use, and until all the colors which
the tube hold is driven out before the piston, and the latter has arrived at the
end of the tube. In order to recharge the tube with colour, the piston must
be drawn back to its original situation by pulling the circular plate N without
turning it round; the membranous or other flexible material I, covering and
securing the flat circular plate H upon the end of the tube A, must be
removed by cutting it away, and likewise that plate. The tube can be then
recharged with colour, after which the plate H must be again secured in its
place by covering it with a membranous or other fit and proper elastic cover,
as at first; and in order to protect the said membranous or other elastic material
covering the ends of the tube A from moisture, by which it might be injured,
and likewise to prevent the air from passing through the said membranous or
elastic covering, and whereby the colour contained in the tube might also be
injured, I varnish the said membranous or other elastic covering either with
hard white spirit varnish, copal varnish, or seed or shell lac varnish, or with
any other suitable varnish, these being varnishes commonly known and sold

page_text: ready for use. And as various colours the component parts whereof might
exercise a prejudicial effect upon the material or materials of which the
screw F is composed unless properly guarded against, so I likewise defend
it therefrom by coating it with any of the before-named varnishes, or lacquering
it with the varnish commonly sold and known as lacquer, in which case I
make the screw hot, and then inmediately dip it in the lacquer. When I wish
to preserve the colours contained in the tubes for a considerable length of
time uninjured, I avoid puncturing the membranous or other flexible or
elastic coverings at the ends of the tubes and leave them entire. The holes
for the entrance of the screws and plugs must then be made by incision at the
time when the colours are required for use. It will be seen from the above
statement that my patent color preservers or tubes have not any long stem
or handle projecting therefrom, as in the case of the ordinary syringes which
have been already applied to a similar purpose, but the rod, stem, or handle
is made to extend by screwing, as above, so as to become elongated, and
sufficiently so to expel the paint, and hence it follows that my improved colour
preservers can be retained or held in much less space, and in a more con-
venient form for use when charged with colour than others, in fact they can
be held in one hand only, and the colour be driven out upon the palette, &c. by
merely holding the tube between two of the fingers and thrusting the piston
forward by the action of the thumb pressing against the flat circular plate N
upon the head of the screw. I can likewise still farther improve the action
of the screw F, so as to prevent the necessity of withdrawing it out of the
tube A, by firmly affixing a flat circular plate or stop O, Figure 14, upon the
head of the screw F, and which acts against the inner side of the flat circular
plate D, and thus by merely turning the screw F, by means of its flat circular
plate or lever N, either in one direction or in the opposite one, the male
screw F, working in the female screw within the block G of the piston, will
either force the piston B forwards or retract it at pleasure. In order to
avoid the necessity of removing or replacing the membranous or other elastic
material covering the plate H at the lower end of the tube A on recharging
it with colour, I can cement a screwed ring P, Figure 15, formed either of
hard wood, bone, ivory, or other fit and proper materials, upon that end of
the tube to receive a female screw formed within the rim of a flat circular plate
or disc Q, having a hole or aperture in its centre to receive the plug J.
This disc Q may likewise be made of similar materials with the ring P.
A reverse of this latter movement may be effected in the manner shown at
Figure 16, where R shews a wooden or other ring, as cemented upon the end
of the tube A, but which said ring has a female screw formed within it to

page_text: receive a male screw made round the rim of a flat circular plate or disc S
within it, and by means of which that end of the tube A can be also securely
closed. A hole is also formed in the centre of the disc S to admit the plug J.
Two other methods of partially closing the ends of the glass tube A are shewn
at Figure 17; here the lower end of it is contracted in the blowing of the
glass, having only a small aperture to receive the plug J, Figure 18. The
other end of the tube A has a ring of ivory, bone, hard wood, metal, or other
suitable material or materials T slipped upon it, and resting against the
external flanch, as before described, which is formed at that end of the tube.
Into this screwed ring T a male screw, formed around a circular plate or
disc U, is fitted, in the centre of which is a hole through which the screw F
of the piston passes freely, and without acting or working in the said hole;
indeed in the very same manner described in the reference to Figure 3. For
some purposes I make my color preservers of plain tubes without external
flanches, but in this instance it is necessary to unite the flexible membrane
or other elastic material covering their ends very firmly either by means of
cement or by tying them tightly before varnishing them exteriorly. Instead
of covering the bottom end of my tubes I can close the same by cementing
therein a block or stopper, having an aperture in it to allow of the expulsion
of of the color. The cements I usually employ are any of the gum resins,
such as gum copal, gum mastic, sandarch, or shell lac, melted, and applied hot,
but any other cement which will hold the said block firmly in the tube may
be substituted. Figure 22 represents a tube of this construction. In order
to preserve in my color preservers those colors which have been moulded or
formed into cakes, in the usual manner of preparing them for the use of
painters in water colors, I grossly powder them, and then keep or preserve
them in the dry powdered state. When any of these are wanted for use I
put some of the powdered colors into one or more of my patent tubes, and
pour a quantity of water or other fit and proper vehicle into the tubes,
sufficient to bring the colors into a pasty consistence, when they may be
treated or preserved therein in the very same manner as though they had
originally been prepared in the pasty state.
As I generally prefer glass to form my tubes or color preservers of, and this
material being fragile, so it becomes desirable to provide for their safe and
convenient keeping, transporting, and using. In order to this I have contrived
the following means. In Figure 19 V represents in perspective a box or
case made of wood or other fit and proper material or materials, and having a
lid or cover W hinged to it. In this box or case V are shewn a row of twelve
of my patent glass tubes or color preservers A, A, A, A, A, A. A. A. A. A. A. A.

page_text: with their plugs lying within a wooden tray, with two wire handles, which
is shown in perspective in Figure 19*, and likewise in the front view or section,
Figure 20, at X; the screws F, F, &c., near their opposite ends or flat circular
plates N, N, &c., resting or lying upon the other side or end of the tray X, X, X,
as is shewn in one of them in Figure 20. Figure 19* also exhibits a
cushion or pad Y, as being affixed upon the under side of the lid or cover W
of the box or case, and which pressing upon the tubes when the lid is closed
and secured fast, and as shewn in the front section, Figure 20, keeps or
retains them firmly in their places in carriage travelling, &c., and when two
or more trays are contained in a box or case V, the under side of each tray is
likewise furnished with a smaller cushion Y. Figure 21 is a part of an
end section, showing the bar X, the glass tube A, and the flat circular disc or
plate N of one of my color preserving tubes. Instead of a screw I can
employ a square or flat metal rod, having one or two of its sides formed into
a toothed rack or racks, and passing through a square hole or aperture, or a
hole made in the form of a parallelogram made in the block in the centre of
the piston, and to which said block a spring or springs must be affixed, acting in
the said rack or racks, and allowing the rod to be drawn outwards without
moving the piston, but upon pushing it inwards the spring or springs acts or
act in the teeth of the rack or racks, and thus the piston may be pushed
forward, see Fig. 23. And whereas I have mentioned glass or other sub-
stances as the materials of which the tubes are to be made, I here explain
that I generally prefer glass, but other materials may be used, such as earthen-
ware or porcelain, glazed metals, such as pewter or tinned iron, but no
substance is in general so convenient and eligible as glass. One of the chief
merits of my said Invention for preserving and using colours where glass is
used consists in retaining or holding them in clear glass tubes, thereby
enabling the artist to distinguish each color instantly, whereas they have
hitherto generally been contained in bladders or membranes, or in metal
cases, which by their partial or entire opacity hinder that clear and distinct
view of each color from taking place. Instead of closing the bottom end of
my tubes with a flat circular disc or plate, I can likewise close them with
convex, conical, or other slightly projecting discs or plates, such, for instance,
as those shewn at Figures 24 and 25. Now being aware that glass tubes
have been used for sample bottles, I do not mean to claim in any respect the
use of glass for the purpose of merely preserving or exhibiting colors, nor do
I mean to claim the separate use of any of the tubes, pistons, screws, or other
parts or materials herein mentioned; but I claim as my Invention the
method of preserving and using colors by substituting tubes of glass or other
.

page_text: materials, in the manner herein described, instead of the methods hitherto
practised.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Winsor, have hereunto set my
day of in the year of our Lord One
-
band and seal, this
thousand eight hundred and forty.
WILLIAM (L.S.) WINSOR.
day of in the
-
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the
fourth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said William
Winsor came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and forty.