IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHT CASES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Childs, of Windsor House, Putney, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHT CASES."
Sealed the 12th August 1859, and dated the 2nd May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Childs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd May 1859.
I, JAMES CHILDS, of Windsor House, Putney, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHT CASES," to be as follows:-
Heretofore in manufacturing night light cases, where bottoms of plaster,
cement, or other material are used, such bottoms have been introduced into
or made in the cylindrical cases of paper or wood after the same have been
first formed. Now my improvements consist in wrapping or forming the
cylinders of paper or wood on to the bottoms of plaster, cement, or other
material, thus forming the upper parts on the bottoms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent; filed
by the said James Childs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CHILDS, of Windsor House, Putney, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Childs, Her special licence that I, the said James
Childs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Childs, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHT CASES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Childs, 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 James Childs, 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:-
Heretofore in manufacturing night light cases, where bottoms of plaster,
cement, or of other material are used, such bottoms have been introduced into
or made in the cylindrical cases of paper or wood after the same have been
first formed. Now my improvements consist in wrapping or forming the
cylinders of paper or wood on to the bottoms of plaster, cement, or other
material, thus forming the upper parts on the bottoms.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method which I
prefer for conducting the manufacture.
To make the cement bottoms, I add to plaster of Paris an equal weight of
hot liquid size or glue; if size, melted in its own water; if glue, brought by
water to about this consistence, and well mix the materials; I then pour the
mixture on to a slab of metal, the surface of which has been previously oiled,
and the mixture then flows over the surface and produces a layer or sheet of
uniform thickness; about ths of an inch is the thickness I prefer. When
the layer or sheet has commenced to harden, and is of the consistency of
dough, circular pieces of suitable size for the bottoms of night lights are cut
from the layer or sheet by means of circular or ring punches. The remnants

page_text: of the layer or sheet may be used over again with the next batch of plaster
of Paris. For this purpose they should while in the doughy state be stirred
into and thoroughly mixed with the compound of plaster and size or glue, when
the same is ready to be poured. In place of plaster of Paris other cements
may be employed, but not, I believe, so conveniently. The cases of the night
lights I prefer to form from sheets of paper and wood, such as are commonly
used for the cases of Childs' night lights, these sheets I cut into strips by
means of a Wilson's machine. Each strip is equal in width to the depth of a
night light, and in length to about one and a half times its circumference; the
paper strips, however, somewhat exceed the wooden strips in length. In
making a night light case, one strip of paper and one of wood are employed;
the paper strip is pasted on the inside, and wooden strip on both sides; the
wooden strip is then laid on the pasted side of the paper strip, so as just to cover
it, excepting a short piece at one end. A disc of plaster pasted round its edges
is then taken and placed at the end of a mandril, of the size of the interior of
the night light, and is there held while the mandril is laid on the previously
prepared strips, which are then wound round the mandril, so that the edge of
the wooden strip becomes pasted all round to the plaster disc, and the strips
where they overlap each other also become pasted together, the joint being
neatly finished by the projecting end of the paper strip, which prevents the
wood appearing at the side of the case; the case is afterwards furnished with
a wick supported by a foot of tin plate, or in other convenient manner, and is
filled as heretofore practised.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described; but what I claim is, the manufacture of night
light cases, by wrapping or forming the cylinders of paper or wood on to the
bottoms of plaster, cement, or other material, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Childs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAS. CHILDS. (L.S.)
T. BASSET.