IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN TABLETS, LABELS, AND SIGNS, OR THEIR SURFACES, EXHIBITING LETTERS AND DESIGNS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick William Branston, of Oak Treo
House, Clapham, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN TABLETS, LABELS, AND SIGNS, OR THEIR
SURFACES, EXHIBITING LETTERS AND DESIGNS."
Sealed the 15th June 1854, and dated the 15th December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick William
Branston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th December 1853.
I, FREDERICK WILLIAM BRANSTON, of Oak Tree House, Clapham,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN TABLETS, LABELS, AND SIGNS,
OR THEIR SURFACES, EXHIBITING LETTERS AND DESIGNS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in a new mode of manufacturing tablets, labels,
signs, and other surfaces for exhibiting letters, designs, or ornaments by

page_text: the application of letter press or other surface printing upon glass with
gold, silver, or other lustrous materials, in combination with coatings of
paint and encasements or backings of cement, as herein-after described,
whether such tablets, labels, signs, and other surfaces be composed, as
regards letters and designs, wholly or in part only of letters and designs
printed direct upon the glass. It is to be understood by the foregoing
statement that this Invention does not comprehend the mere lettering on
glass with gold and silver leaf, and and which is confined entirely to the
formation of the letters with a gold size by the hand, and then applying
the gold or silver leaf thereto, nor the affixing of letters, designs, or
ornaments (done on paper) to glass, and then applying to the back of
such paper cement, as such process are well known and commonly
practised. In order, however, that the nature of this Invention
may be
more fully ascertained, reference must be had to the following descrip-
tion thereof, that is to say-This Invention is applicable chiefly to all
such tablets, labels, signs, and surfaces aforesaid as are liable to exposure
in the
open air and weather, and where it is desirable that the lettering
and designs, whether ornamental or plain, exhibited to the eye should
be imperishable, so far as regards the injurious action of the atmosphere
thereon; for example, upright tomb-stones, mourning memorial, or
recording tablets in churches and churchyards, horticultural and flori-
cultural labels, brewers and tradesmen's sign board, ships' names, and
the like. The following is an example of a mode by which this Inven-
tion may be carried into practical effect:-Take a surface of glass
trough, which it is required that certain letters should be readable or
designs or ornaments seen, for instance, a garden label to describe a
shrub. Having set the types for the necessary letters to describe the
shrub, the types are then moistened, or, to use a technical expression,
"inked" with common gold size, and the impression therefrom trans-
ferred on to glass, and while such impression is in a wet state, gold or
silver leaf or other lustrous materials is placed thereon, according to
taste, and when dry the whole surface of that side of the glass on which
the letters are is covered with paint of any desired color, and after the
paint is dry it is covered all over with a suitable cement, such as will
not injure the paint, the use of the cement being to exclude the atmo-

page_text: sphere from the paint and the letters; the label is then ready to be
fixed in its standard or frame for use. It will be obvious that pictorial
or ornamental designs may be printed upon the glass in the above-
mentioned manner, or with inks of any color, either by letter press or
other methods of printing, and combination with letter press or any other
surface printing, on the glass; pictures, designs, or ornaments done on
paper or other like material can be placed behind or under the glass,
such said pictures, designs, or ornaments, when on paper, to harmonize,
blend, or mix with that which shall have been printed on the glass, and
keep them in their proper places on the glass, and much preserved from
atmospheric changes, by the application of a suitable cement at the back
thereof. Another mode of proceeding according to this Invention is as
follows:-Having first printed on paper the desired show bill, card,
label, sign, or design, those portions of the lettering which are intended
to be formed into ornamental letters are then cut out, leaving portions
of the printing to form the shadowing to these ornamental letters, and
the paper so cut out may be at once fixed to the under surface of the
glass with size, after which take the article called and sold as metallic
leaf or tinsel (of any colour desired), manufactured from copper, or take
gold, silver, bronze, or other metallic ornamental paper, and in using
such tinsel it is caused to have a crushed or broken angular surface by
means of pressure in a manner well known to tradesmen using the
article. This article thus pressed (where I use the same, or such gold,
silver, bronze, or other metallic ornamental paper where the latter is
used,) I then place and fix behind the cut out spaces of the letters
above mentioned, and thereby substitute for that which has been cut
out glittering or brilliant letters with bold printed shadows, which are
then seen through the glass, after which the whole is covered with
cement, as herein-before seth forth in deseribing the first part of this
Invention, which has the effect of solidifying the glass and tends to
preserve the letters from perishing or fading.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick William Branston in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FREDERICK WILLIAM BRANSTON, of Oak Tree House, Clapham, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick. William Branston,
Her special licence tlat I, the said Frederick William Branston,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Frederick William Branston, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
timo 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 CERTAIN TABLETS,
LABELS, AND SIGNS, OR THEIR SURFACES, EXHIBITING LETTERS AND DESIGNS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Wil-
liam Branston, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Frederick William Branston,
do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to
say):-
The improvements which I claim as new consist in manufacturing
"

page_text: tablets, labels, and signs, exhibiting letters, designs, or ornaments, by
the application of letter press or other surface printing upon glass, in
gold, silver, or other lustrous material, in combination with coatings
of paint and encasements or backings of cement, as herein-after firstly
described, and also by the application and use of ornamental letters
and designs, constructed as herein-after secondly described, in combina-
tion also with paint and backings of cement. I claim these particular
improvements as new, whether such tablets, labels, and signs be com-
posed, as regards letters and designs, wholly or in part only of letters
and designs, printed direct upon the glass, or wholly or in part only of
ornamental letters and designs, constructed as after mentioned. It is
to be understood that I do not claim as my Invention the mere letter-
ing on glass with gold and silver leaf, because such lettering is well
known and in public use, but at present it is confined entirely to tho
formation of the letters with a gold sizo, by the hand, and then applying
the gold or silver leaf thereto; nor do I claim as new the affixing of
letters, designs, or ornaments done on paper to glass, and then applying
cement or other adhesive substance to the back of such paper.
In order that the nature of my said improvements may be more fully
ascertained reference must be had to the following description thereof,
that is to say-The improvements are applicable chiefly to all such
tablets, labels, and signs aforesaid as are liable to exposure in the open
air and weather, and where it is desirable that the lettering and designs,
whether ornamental or plain, exhibited to the eye should be imperish-
able, so far as regards the injurious action of the atmosphere thereon.
For example, upright tomb-stones, mourning memorial, or recording.
tablets in churches or churchyards, horticultural and floricultural
labels, brewers and tradesmen's sign boards and show bills, ships
names, and the like. The following is a description of the new
manufacture firstly referred to, and by following which my Invention
is in all cases to be carried into practical effect:-I take a surface
of glass, through which it is required that certain letters should be
readable or designs or ornaments seen; for instance, a garden label
to describe a shrub. Having set the types for the necessary letters to.

page_text: describe the shrub, the types are then moistened, or, to use a technical
expression, "inked" with common gold size, and the impression there-
from transferred on to the glass, and while such transfer is in a wet
state gold or silver leaf or other lustrous material is placed thereon,
according to taste, and when dry the whole surface of that side of the
glass on which the letters have been printed or transferred is covered
with paint of any desired color, and after the paint is dry it is covered
all over with a suitable cement, such as will not injure the paint, the
use of the cement being to exclude the atmosphere from the paint and
the letters, the whole forming one completo manufacture, which is my
Invention. For some purposes, however, I mix the color with any
suitable cement, and apply it upon the glass without previously
painting it. The tablet or label is then ready to be fixed in its standard
or frame for use.
It will be obvious that pictorial or ornamental designs, as well as
mere letters, may be printed upon the glass in the above-mentioned
manner, either by letter press or other methods of printing.
The improvements to be secondly described as part of my Invention
are as follow:-Having first printed on paper the desired show tablet,
bill, card, label, or sign, those portions of the lettering which are intended
to be formed into ornamental letters are then cut out, leaving portions
of the printing to form the shadowing to these ornamental letters, and
the paper with the letters so cut out I then fix to the under surface
of a pane of glass with size. I then take the article called and
sold as metallic leaf or copper foil, of any colour desired, first crush-
ing it in a manner well known to tradesmen using it, so that it shall
have a broken angular surface, or I take gold, silver, bronze, or other
metallic ornamental paper, or I take colored papers, satins, silks, or
other textile materials, and I place and fix the same, according to my
choice, behind the cut out spaces of the letters above mentioned, and
thereby for that which has been cut out substitute glittering or brilliant
or ornamented or colored letters with bold printed shadows, which are
then seen through the glass, after which the whole is covered with
cement, as herein-before set forth in describing the first part of this

page_text: Invention, which has the effect of solidifying the glass, and tends to
preserve the ornamental letters from perishing or fading.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick William Branston,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
Witness,
FREDERICK WILLIAM BRANSTON. (L.8.)
ALEX PRINCE,
Patent Agent,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.