A METHOD OF FORMING AND MANUFACTURING VASES, URNS, BASINS, AND OTHER ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES, WHICH HAVE BEEN HERETOFORE USUALLY MADE OF STONE OR MARBLE, FROM A COMBINATION OF MATERIALS NEVER HERETOFORE MADE USE OF IN THE MANUFACTURING OF SUCH ARTICLES
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BAGSHAW, of Newcastle-under-Lyne, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, humbly represent to His present Majesty
King George the Fourth, that I had invented "A METHOD OF FORMING AND
MANUFACTURING VASES, URNS, BASINS, AND OTHER ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES, WHICH
HAVE BEEN HERETOFORE USUALLY MADE OF STONE OR MARBLE, FROM A COMBINATION
OF MATERIALS NEVER HERETOFORE MADE USE OF IN THE MANUFACTURING OF SUCH
ARTICLES," His Majesty was graciously pleased to issue His Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-sixth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, in
the second year of His reign, which Letters Patent do give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Bagshaw, and to my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or to my or their servants or agents, His said Majesty's especial
licence to make, use, exercise, and vend, my said Invention within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and to have and enjoy the
whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the said Invention during the
term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent; His Majesty
also (by the said Letters Patent) requires and strictly commands all His
subjects whatever, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, that, during the continuance of the said term of fourteen years,'
they shall not, either directly or indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my
said Invention, or any part of it, or in any ways counterfeit, imitate, or
resemble the same; the said Letters Patent also contains a proviso obliging
me, the said Samuel Bagshaw, to particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months from and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in
and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Bagshaw, have executed this Instrument, by which I do declare that
the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, is particularly described and ascertained in manner following (that
is to say)-
My new method of forming and manufacturing vases, urns, basins, and
other ornamental articles, in imitation of stone, consists in preparing a shape
or nucleus of clay of the desired form of the vase, urn, or basin, or any portion
thereof, which is to be baked or burned in the manner of pottery, or otherwise
made of cast or wrought iron, or any other fit material, which shape or
nucleus so prepared is to be coated or encrusted both externally or internally
with any proper cement of a plastic nature capable of being applied and
worked in the manner of plaster or loam. By this method I am enabled to
form and produce a variety of ornamental articles which so nearly resemble
stone as not easily to be distinguished therefrom. The cement I have chiefly
employed has been that known under the denomination of Parker's Roman
Cement, which may be used either alone or mixed with a portion of sand, or
otherwise made to resemble particular kinds of stone, as may be thought
desirable.
I will describe the mode which I adopt in forming the shape or nucleus of
clay, and afterwards enveloping or coating it with the cement, in order that
persons sufficiently acquainted with the nature of such manufacture may be
fully capable of practising my Invention. In order to render this my
Specification clear and intelligible, I have hereunto annexed a Drawing,
representing the machine or apparatus which I employ, supposing it to be
operating upon a vase or urn of a round figure and of small dimensions,
which is capable of being worked in one entire piece. A, A, represents a
table or bench which is supported upon four legs a, a, a, a, and steadied by a
framing b, b, c, c, at the lower part. B, shews a circular cast-iron plate or
tablet, which is mounted upon the upper end of a spindle C, so as to be
capable of turning round freely and without shake; the spindle C passes
through a collar in the middle of the table A, and is supported at the bottom
in a brass step, fixed in the cross piece of wood d, d. The plate B is
furnished with a number of pegs or handles e, e, e, e, round its circumference,
for the purpose of turning it round. D, D, represent two upright pieces of

page_text: wood, which are firmly fixed at their lower ends to the framing of the table A,.
and connected at top by a cross piece E, so as to form a square frame for the
support of the moulding or shaping board F, which is fixed by screw bolts G, G,
to one of the uprights D. The shaping board F has grooves formed in it
for the screw bolts to pass through, in order to adjust and fix it to the proper
place for the operation of coating. the vase or urn H, which is placed upon
the plate B, as will be herein-after explained. I, represents an iron spindle,
which screws into the centre of the plate B, and is supported at the top by
entering into a notch cut in the cross piece E. This spindle passes up through
an opening left in the bottom of the nucleus of the vase, and serves to steady
it in turning round.
I will describe the manner of forming the shape or nucleus of a vase, such as
represented at H in the Drawing, and then the manner of using the apparatus
above described for the coating of the said nucleus with plastic cement. The
form of the nucleus, or any portion thereof (such as the pedestal cover, &c.),
is prepared in common clay and in a rude manner by the apparatus
commonly known in the pottery trade by the name of a throwing wheel,
where the clay intended to form the article is turned round quickly, at the
same time that the workman applies his hands to the clay, one on the inside
and one on the outside, so as to form it into any desired circular vessel.
This operation is called throwing, and is so well understood as not to require
any minute description. When the rude form of the vase is thus thrown, it is
scored or marked both on the inside and outside, and then subjected to the
action of the fire to bake or burn it, in the manner of coarse pottery. The
scorings cause the coating and lining of cement to adhere more firmly to the
nucleus of pottery. The nucleus being completed, is placed upon the middle
of the iron plate B, and fixed thereto in any convenient manner; the spindle I
is then put down through the middle of the nucleus and screwed fast into the
centre of the plate, as before described. The shaping board F has its edge
cut out so as to represent the section of the intended vase, and is edged or
faced with copper to prevent its wearing away; it is fixed by the screws G, G,
firmly against the upright D, with its shaped edge at such a distance from
the outside of the nucleus as to allow of a sufficient thickness of cement to
form a good covering. The cement being prepared to a proper consistency, is
applied by a workman to the outside of the nucleus, at the same time that the
plate B and nucleus is turned round by a boy taking hold of the handles
e, e, e, e. By this means the fixed shaping board scrapes off all the superfluous
cement, and the workman continues to apply more to the parts that do not
appear to be perfect, so that in a short time the whole outside of the nucleus
is covered with cement in a perfect manner, and the vase is formed exactly

page_text: according to the section of the shaping board. The outside surface being
finished, the spindle I is unscrewed from the plate B, and withdrawn from
the vase, after which the inside surface of the nucleus is coated with cement
by turning the vase round, and applying the hand withinside to spread the
The vase is then completed, and may be removed from the plate B.
When the article is of large dimensions the nucleus may be formed and coated
in different pieces, and then fixed together with cement to complete it, or
the nucleus may be formed and burned in different pieces, and then put
together and coated over afterwards.
same.
The apparatus I have now described is applicable only to articles of a circular
figure, but I could work and coat articles of an oval or elliptical figure, by
placing an apparatus, commonly known by the name of an oval chuck or lathe,
upon the table A, and fixing the shape or nucleus upon the face of the
said chuck, the fixed shape or section board and other parts of the apparatus
remaining the same. It will be unnecessary to enter into a description of any
other apparatus, since my claim does not extend to the apparatus, but only to
the manufacturing of vases, urns, basins, or other ornamental articles, wherein
a shape or nucleus of pottery or other material is coated both externally and
internally with plastic cement, the annexed Drawing and description of the
apparatus being only introduced to show one method of carrying my Invention-
into effect.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Bagshaw, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.