AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to. Samuel Amphlet, of Birmingham,-in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES."
Sealed the 25th April 1862, and dated the 27th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Amphlet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th November .1861.
I, SAMUEL AMPHLET, of Birmingham, in the County of, Warwick, Manufac-:
turer, do 'liereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in ornamenting surfaces by the combination herein-
after described; of tartan or Scotch plaid patterns, or imitation tortoiseshell
with photographs of objects, without any other background than the said
tartan or Scotchi-plaid patterns or imitation tortoiseshell.-
The photographs I employ are taken upon paper or other flexible material,
on which positive photographs are or may be taken; and I prefer photographic
portraits or groups; or photographs of sculpture or statuary, I cut away all
the background of the photograph leaving only that portion of the said
photograph which consists of the portrait or group, or picture of the sculpture
or statuary. I rule the tartan or Scotch plaid on the surface to be ornamented;
or I paint, print, or stain the said surface in imitation of tortoiseshell, and I
attach-the-photograph-thereto by-paste or other adhesive material: I then
size, varnish, and polish the surface, in the manner commonly practised in
D

page_text: finishing surfaces ornamented with tartan or Scotch plaid patterns. Or I
affix the photograph to paper ruled with tartan or Scotch plaid pattern, or
painted, printed, or stained in imitation of tortoiseshell, and I apply the said
paper with the photograph upon it to the surface to be ornamented. The
surface of the paper is afterwards varnished and polished. By tartan or
Scotch plaid patterns, I mean not only the patterns which are recognized as
belonging to the various clans, but also all patterns of a like kind.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Amphlet, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
AMPHLET, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Amphlet, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Amphlet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Samuel Amphlet, 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 IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES" upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Amphlet, 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 Samuel Amphlet, do hereby declare
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:
My said Invention consists in ornamenting surfaces by the combination

page_text: herein-after described of tartan or Scotch plaid patterns or imitation tortoise-
shell, with photographs of objects without any other background than the
said tartan or Scotch plaid patterns or imitation tortoiseshell.
In carrying my Invention into effect I employ photographs taken on paper.
or other flexible material on which positive photographs are or may be taken,
and I prefer photographic portraits or groups or photographs of sculpture or,
statuary. I cut away all the background of the photograph, leaving only that
portion of the said photograph which consists of the portrait or group, or
picture of the sculpture or statuary or other detached object or objects. I
rule the tartan or Scotch plaid patterns on the surface to be ornamented, or I
paint, print, stain or otherwise colour the said surface in imitation of tortoise-
shell, and I attach the photograph thereto by paste or size or other adhesive:
material. I then size, varnish, and polish the surface in the manner commonly
practised in finishing surfaces-ornamented with tartan or Scotch plaid patterns.
Or instead of producing the tartan plaid patterns or imitation tortoiseshell,
upon the surface of the article to be ornamented, I rule paper with tartan or
Scotch plaid patterns or paint, print, stain or otherwise colour paper in imitation
of tortoiseshell, and I affix the photograph to the said ruled paper or paper
colored in imitation of tortoiseshell. I afterwards apply the said tartan plaid
or imitation tortoiseshell paper with the photograph upon it to the surface to
*be ornamented. By tartan or Scotch plaid patterns, I mean not only all
patterns which are recognized as belonging to the various clans, but also all
patterns of a like kind.
From the foregoing description of my Invention it will be understood
that my said Invention does not consist in mounting upon tartan or Scotch
plaid patterns or imitation tortoiseshell photographs of landscapes or scenes,
but consists in mounting upon tartan or Scotch. plaid patterns.or imitation
tortoiseshell photographs from which the background has been cut away from
the object or group of objects constituting the essential parts of the said
photographs, so as to make the tartan or Scotch plaid patterns, or imitation
tortoiseshell, the background of the said object or group of objects.
As the production of the tartan or Scotch plaid patterns as well as the
imitation tortoiseshell, and the photographs constitutes no part of my Invention
and as the processes by which the said tartan plaid patterns, imitation
tortoiseshell, and photographs are produced, are well known and commonly
practised, I do not consider a description of the said processes necessary.
My Invention is specially applicable to the ornamenting of the surfaces of
broochies, boxes, spectacle, and other cases, and such other articles as-are-
ordinarily ornamented with tartan or Scotch plaid patterns.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to bo understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention.
But I claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in
ornamenting surfaces herein-before described, that is to say, ornamenting
surfaces by means of photographs of objects from which photographs the
background produced in taking the said photographs has been cut away, the
said photographs being mounted upon tartan or Scotch plaid patterns, or
imitation tortoiseshell the said tartan or Scotch plaid patterns or imitation
tortoiseshell constituting the background to the said photographic pictures of
the object or objects, whether the tartan or Scotch plaid patterns or imitation
tortoiseshell on which the photograph is mounted be produced directly upon
the surface of the article to be ornamented or produced on paper, and the
said paper secured to the surface of the article to be ornamented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Amphlet, have hereunto set my.
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
SAMUEL AMPHLET. (L.S.).