IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING, STAINING, SILVERING, AND FIXING ARTICLES OF GLASS
Year: 1850

page_text: COME, WE,
REDERICK
HALE THOMSON, of Berners Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
and THOMAS ROBERT MELLISII, of Portland Street, in the same County, Glass
Cutter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day
of August, (One thousand eight hundred and fifty,) in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Frederick Hale Thomson and Thomas Robert Mellish, our exors,
admors, and assigns, Her especial. licence, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that we, the said Frederick Hale Thomson and Thomas Robert
Mellish, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Frederick Hale Thomson and Thomas Robert Mellish, our exors, adñiors,
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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING,
STAINING, SILVERING, AND FIXING ARTICLES OF GLASS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said Frederick Hale Thomson and
Thomas Robert Mellish, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals or under

page_text: the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled 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 same,
referenco being thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Frederick Hale Thomson and Thomas Robert Mellish, do hereby declare that
the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the we carry the
same into effect, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates, first, to a mode of cutting glass.
Secondly, our Invention relates to staining ground or cut surfaces of glass
to be afterwards silvered.'
Thirdly, our Invention relates to staining in pattern surfaces of glass to be
afterwards silvered.
Fourthly, our Invention relates to fixing together two surfaces of silvered
glass.
And fifthly, our Invention relates to fixing surfaces of glass on to other
surfaces.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us.
Heretofore the cutting of glass into various forms has been accomplished by
means of revolving discs or surfaces of stone or metal, against which the
articles to be cut were pressed, the operation of cutting being facilitated by
the use of emery or other grit and water, but for the most part by such means
only external cutting through of the glass could be effected; where any
internal cutting through of the glass had to be obtained, such was necessarily
of very limited extent, and was attended with considerable risk of fracture of
the article. We have found that by arranging a piece of metal wire so that
the same may be kept extended and have a rapid motion given to it in the
direction of its length, such wire when aided by moistened emery or other grit,
such as is commonly employed in the ordinary processes of cutting glass, is
suitable to be used for cutting any desired figures or patterns from glass. In
the accompanying Drawing we have shown an arrangement of apparatus which
we will now proceed to describe for carrying out this part of the Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING, Fig. 1.

page_text: it is made fast by means of the set screws c², d'. The rod c is capable of
sliding vertically freely through the socket e, and at its upper end of revolving
in the bearing f, carried by the connecting rod f¹, which is attached to a pin
projecting from the disc g affixed to the shaft g', so that as the shaft g³ revolves
a quick up-and-down motion will be given to the wire b. The rod d is acted
upon so as to keep the wire b distended by means of the spring h. Thus,
when the axis g' is put in motion by means of a band passing over the pulley 1,
or other suitable power, will motion be given to the wire, similar to what is
given to saws in ordinary sawing frames. But we have found it desirable to
use round wire, as by that means we are enabled to turn in sharp angles, and
in order to facilitate the use, and that the same may wear more uniformily,
we, in addition to the to-and-fro motion, also obtain a rotary motion to the
wire b; this we accomplish in the following manner:-The rods c, d, whilo
they are capable of sliding to and fro freely in the sockets e, d³, have projec-
tions formed in them taking into recesses formed longitudinally in the sockets,
and these sockets have affixed upon them the pulleys or wharves j, k, around
which passes guts or bands, which have simultaneous rotary motion given to
them by means of the drum or pulley 7. The workman in using this machine
guides the piece of glass to be cut in the required direction against the cutter
6, at the same time feeding the cutter, either by hand or by means of a suitable
hopper, with moistened emery or other cutting powder, as is well understood
in ordinary glass-cutting processes. If an internal cutting is to be produced,
as, for instance, the cutting out of the centre part of a sheet of glass, leaving
a margin to form a picture frame or other ornamented border, then we first
drill a hole through some part, through which hole we insert one end of the
wire previous to making it fast to the rods.
We will now proceed to describe the second part of our Invention, which
consists in cutting the back surfaces of glass in various devices, then coloring
such cut surfaces by any of the ordinary colors used in coloring surfaces of
glass, and applied by the ordinary means employed in such coloring, and then
silvering such surfaces, by which various effects, such as the appearance of
those cut surfaces being raised, will be produced on the front level surface
of the glass; and supposing such cut and colored parts be introduced as a
border to a sheet of glass, the centre being plain, and the whole of such back
surface being afterwards silvered, the effect will be that of a plain silvered
glass with an ornamental colored border, which border will appear to be in
relief. And we have found the appearance improved if such cut and colored
surface be again cut in pattern previous to the silvering, so as to remove
portions of the coloring, and then the whole silvered. This part of the In-

page_text: vention we have also found very useful for obtaining glass ornamental frames
for pictures or borders for other purposes. The process of silvering we prefer
to employ is that obtained by dissolving one ounce of hartshorn or ammonia
and two ounces of nitrate of silver in three ounces of water and three ounces-
of spirit (preferring spirits of wine), mixing them carefully together; we allow
the liquid to stand three or four hours, and then filter it for use. To one
ounce of the filtered liquid we add a quarter of an ounce of saccharine matter
dissolved in equal parts (say about half a pint each) of spirit and water; we
prefer grape sugar so dissolved. If the solution is allowed to stand for a few
hours, it is then fit for use. It can be employed either in a horizontal or
vertical position, provided the liquid be kept in contact with the surface of the
glass intended to be silvered; the glass being kept heated to about one
hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit during the process. But we make no
claim to the mode of silvering glass, as the same has long been practised in
England, neither do we confine ourselves thereto.
We will now describe the third part of our Invention, 'which consists of
silvering the surface of glass previously stained or partially stained in pattern,
and we proceed by staining the back surface of the glass in pattern with any
of the ordinary stains employed in staining glass, applying such stains by the
ordinary means, and then we silver the whole of such back surface as already
explained; the effect of which will be on the front surface of the glass when
placed opposite the lights, as if such glass were transparent and the light
shining through it; or such surface of glass may be only partially silvered,
and the other part left so that light may be allowed to pass through.
We will now proceed to describe the fourth part of our Invention, which
consists in combining two prepared and silvered surfaces of glass such as above
with the back surfaces in contact, by which one side, when combined, may be
a plain silvered surface, and the other an ornamented, colored, and silvered
surface. The cement I have found to answer the purpose well, is simply
white wax applied in a fluid state, and the surfaces of both pieces of glass
being warmed, but we do not confine ourselves to this mode. The edges
may be concealed by any suitable frame, metallic or otherwise.
The fifth part of our Invention consists in means of fixing surfaces of glass
to other surfaces. Figures 2 and 3 show an instrument suitable to be used
to act as a clip to retain the edge of any article of glass to another surface;
Figure 4 shows a portion of a surface so secured.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise details as herein given, as the same may be varied, so

page_text: ong as the peculiar character of any part of our Invention be retained; but
what we claim are, the five particulars of Inventions herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick Hale Thomson and Thomas
Robert Mellish, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
second day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-one.
THOMAS ROBERT (L.s.) MELLISH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Frederick Hale Thomson and
Thomas Robert Mellish came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chan-
cery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing
therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Speci-
fication aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for
that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.