TOBACCO AND SNUFF BOXES,
Year: 1756

page_text: TO ALL TO
HOM
HESE PRESEN
CLARK, late of Edinburgh, Shoemaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS.. His most Excellent Majesty George the Second, by the
grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of
the Faith, &c., by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great
Britain, bearing date the Third day of March, in the twenty-ninth year of
His said Majesty's reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Clark,
Ilis special licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the
said Thomas Clark, my exors, adñors, and assigns, shou'd and lawfully
might, during the term of years therein expressed, make and vend, through
that part of His Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in His Majesty
Plantations abroad, my "TOBACCO AND SNUFF BOXES, INK HOLDERS, PEN CASES,
AND SPECTACLE CASES, ALL MADE OF LEATHER, IN A MANNER NEWLY-INVENTED
BY ME," in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said Thomas Clark, by writing under my hand, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within

page_text: four calendar months from the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisoe, I, the said
Thomas Clark, do hereby declare that my said new-invented method of
making and preparing boxes and cases is done and performed in manner
following (that is to say):-
First of all cut a peice or peices of leather out of a beeve's hide, which goes
by the name of uppers, back, or bend, which, after wetting in water, clean it
equal and smooth, and hammer it upon a stone, and brush it clean with water,
then cut it to fitt the mould or block of wood, which mould is prepared in
such an exact manner as to answer the shape or form of the box, as designed
either in form or size; then sew or stitch it together neatly, and fit it on the
said block, then set it in a proper place by the fire so as to drie; but while it
is in a proper moistness, to be taken from the fire and rubbed till smooth and
clear with a stick made of boxwood or a bone, then make it a true black after
the manner that leather is done commonly; let it alone till the black dry, and
rubb it all with a clean cloath till such time as it is as clear of the skin as
before it was blacked; then set it by the fire as before, and let it be there till
such time as it is thoroughly dry, then take a pan or kettle and dissolve in it
over the fire, of bees' wax one pound, of black rosin two pound, of pitch one half
pound, of linseed oil one gill, of gum franckinsense half a pound, of gum
mastick four ounces, of gum sandrick four ounces, or part of these; then take
it to a forge or chimney for that purpose prepared, then lay a sufficient quan-
tity of the liquid so dissolved upon the aforesaid leather when the mould is still
within it, and kindling a small quantity of wheat straw, which is in a proper
place kept for that purpose; lay the said leather over it and force the said
liquid into it by the heat or flames of the straw or other firing, and give it
more or less of the liquid as you see the nature of the leather requires, or will
sink in, rubbing it over as you see it requisite; the leather must not get too
much of the fire, else it will break out into ratts or cracks, and so disfigure the
skin of the leather and render it useless; and if it gets too little, it will be as
bad, for the leather will not be strengthened by it, so take care to give it a
medium, which is best; when done take it off the mould when cold, and having
a liquid prepared, of glew a pound and an half, and of gum arabick one half
pound, which dissolve in three pints of fair water, steeping it thirty hours, and
set it over the fire in a kettle prepared for that purpose, and boil it till such time
as it is become one body of liquid, then put the leather that was prepared by
the fire as aforesaid for boxes and cases into this liquid, and let it be there
till such time as you think the inside has received as much to strengthen it

page_text: as the outside received of liquor forced into it by the flames or heat of the
straw, as aforesaid; then clean it and put it on the former mould, and cut it in
proportional sizes, as is required for a box or case, then cut out the first seam
that is on the outside, and stitch it up in the inside, which is done by making
the holes with the awl on the one edge of each side of the seam on the outside
of the box, and drawing the threads in the inside; but the seam also may be kept
in the outside if the employer required it; then fix a peice of leather with glew
upon the stitching so as no air get in nor no stitching be seen; then take
leather, prepared as aforesaid by the flames or heat of the straw, and fix a peice
or peices of thin leather upon it with glew by the force of a wooden press pre-
pared for that purpose, then let it dry and cut it to fit the bottom of the box
or case as aforesaid, and fix it in with glew, and put it in a press till such time
as it dry; then take leather of butt or back bend, and fix one peice upon the
other with glew and put it in a press as aforesaid, the inside peices being the
shape of the lid of the box or case, cutting the lid to fit exactly, it being
divided where you are to cut the hinge, the one part out and the other in, of
the leather which composes the hinge, it being peirced or drilled with an awl
for that purpose; then put in a wier and make the hinge to play, then fit
it exactly for the box or case fixing in the back division with glew, and put it in
a press till quite dry, then take it and make the top and bottom exact, leaving
a muller or beed round the bottom and top, and finish the hinge in a proper
manner, blacking all the hinge and edges that appear uncoloured, then brush
and clean it, washing it over with water, which finishes it. Boxes or cases
without hinges, with lids or tops sliping on and off, are composed after the same
manner as the boxes with hinges, in manner before inenconed, the sliping on lids
without a binge being made after the same manner as the common paper snuff
boxes are; and boxes and cases of all shapes and sizes may be made in manner
above directed in as great variety as can be conceived to be done in leather;
likewise for making pen cases with ink holders, and ink holders without pen
cases, and cases for spectacles, or anything else that is used to carry in cases,
of various shapes and sizes, is the same kind that the boxes are made of, pre-
pared and manufactured after the same method, the mould or block of wood
whercon they are framed being according to the shape or size required. The
vial for the ink holder is covered with thin leather, with a peice of leather
that comes above it and of equal thickness to the pen case, and both meet
about the middle of the vial, the peice upon the bottom and upwards is fixt
on with glew, and the division betwixt the pens and ink is fixt with the
same; there is a peice of soft leather stitched to the pen case in one end and

page_text: to the lid on the other, which serves for a hinge, or may be done with a hard
leather hinge, such as is above described in the snuff boxes if required; and the
lids for spectacle cases may be done in same manner as the pen cases, and also,
both of them may be made with slipping tops, after the manner of the boxes
without hinges, and both pen cases and spectacle cases retain the seam on the
outside, it never being cut out as in the snuff boxes; and it must be noticed,
that when ink holders are made without pen cases the leather is all of one
poice framed on the mould; after being stitched in manner above menconed;
it is likewise to be noticed that the pen cases without ink holders are all to be
streight alike, and the bottom fixed in with glew, and the lid done after the
same manner as the pen cases with ink holders and spectacle cases.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven
hundred and fifty-six.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that upon the oath of Joseph Muir, and
at the request of Thomas Clark, the Invention aforesaid was inrolled word for
word as it is before written. And also the Invention aforesaid was stampt
according to the tenor of the Statute made in the sixth year of the reign of the
late King and Queen William and Mary of England, and so forth.
Tavalled the Fourteenth day of Tune in the voor above written
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of June, in the year above written