IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUMBLERS, GOBLETS, WINE GLASSES, AND OTHER VESSELS OR ARTICLES OF GLASS. AND IN TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas George Webb, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUMBLERS, GOBLETS, WINE
GLASSES, AND OTHER VESSELS OR ARTICLES OF GLASS. AND IN TOOLS AND
INSTRUMENTS OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas George Webb
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th November 1868.
1, THOMAS GEORGE WEBB, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Glass Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUMBLERS, GOBLETS, WINE GLASSES,
AND OTHER VESSELS OR ARTICLES OF GLASS, AND IN TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS OR
APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:

page_text: operation being now performed with scissors while the material is in a
heated state. To accomplish this I propose to use a diamond fixed in
a suitable frame, and to cause the surface of the article to move against
it through the medium of a revolving table; or by a reversed operation
I keep the article stationary, and cause the diamond to revolve.
By another method I cause the surface of the article to be in contact
with a wire heated by electricity by placing a ring around it, or by
causing it to travel against the said wire. The required part having
been severed I glaze the edge by causing a stream of heat to impinge
upon it by means of a furnace or a blowpipe.
32
Another part of my Invention consists in forming the tools commonly
called " posts or pontils of carbon, gold, silver, platinum, iridium,
palladium, or rhodium, or of alloys thereof, either wholly or at those
parts which are brought into contact with the glass.
1 propose also to form "moulds" or plugs for blowing or pressing
glass entirely or partially of carbon, gold, silver, platinum, iridium,
palladium, or rhodium, or of alloys thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas George Webb in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GEORGE WEBB, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Glass
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-eight, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas George Webb, Her
special license that I, the said Thomas George Webb, my executors,
administrators,, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas George
Webb, 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,

page_text: 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 TUMBLERS, GOBLETS, WINE GLASSES,
AND OTHER VESSELS OR ARTICLES OF GLASS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that 1, the said Thomas George Webb, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 1, the said Thomas George Webb, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be perforined, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say
"
My Invention relates, firstly, to the separation of those portions of
articles of glass which have been attached to the blowing iron," and
which separation is usually performed with scissors while the material is
in a heated state. To accomplish this I use a diamond fixed in a
suitable frame, and cause the surface of the article to move against it
through the medium of a revolving table; or by a reversed operation 1
keep the article stationary, and cause the diamond to revolve.
By another method I bring the surface of the article into contact with
a wire heated by electricity. The required part having been severed I
glaze the edge by causing a stream of heat to infringe upon it by means
of a furnace or a blowpipe.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews one method by which
the first part of my Invention may be effected. At is the "blowing iron,"
to which is attached according to the ordinary glass manufacture a wine
glass b, or it may be any other article of glass in which the part b* is
usually removed by scissors. At c is a rod provided with two arms d, e,
the form of which is shaped to receive the foot f, and the latter carries
a. diamond point g; the workman having placed the article in the
position shewn holds the apparatus by the handle h and presses the
diamond g with sufficient force against the surface to be cut; with the
other hand he then turns the blowing iron and a cut is effected around
the periphery of the glass. After which the portion b is removed as

page_text: in other cases of diamond cutting.
The arms d, e, are capable of sliding
upon the rod e, and of being retained in any desired position by set
screws.
Figs. 2 and 3 represent another arrangement, the former being an
elevation and the latter a top view, the apparatus being similar to a
painter's table" used in the porcelain manufacture. In this instance
there is a table a provided with a socket b, within which is a centre
pin c, and upon which the said table is capable of being turned. At d
are clamps which hold the foot or other part of the article to be cut on
to the table a, rising above which and supported by framework is a
rode provided with a boss g, capable of being elevated or lowered and
kept in any desired position by a set screw h. To the boss g are attached
two springs i carrying at their extremities diamond points k, or one of
these may be replaced by a roller. The springs i are capable of being
drawn towards each other, or of being relaxed by a screw 7, so that the
diamond or diamonds may bear with any required force against the
surface m of the article to be cut, which cutting is effected by turning
the socket b, and thus causing the surface m to travel against the cutter
or cutters.
At a is a frame carry-
Figs. 4 and 5 represent another arrangement.
ing on the under side of its top plate an instrument b known in the
glass trade as a "gudget," held against the said plate by springs c. This
gudget "having been drawn down the foot of the article to be cut is placed
therein, and it remains suspended, as shewn in the Drawing. At d is
the diamond mounted on a spring e, which after extending downward
rises and carries a roller f opposite the position of the diamond, but sepa-
rated from it by the thickness of the glass. These two portions of the
spring are capable of being drawn together or relaxed by a screw g, and
the glass may therefore be pressed with any required force. The bent
spring e is continued by a single part e", which is attached to a spindle h
by a screw i, and at its lower end is provided with a pulley handle k.
The spindle h is situate within a screw adapted to a nut m, and this
screw is furnished with a wheel n. The article to be cut having been
adapted, as shewn, the pulley handle is turned, and the spindle h
carries the diamond & and roller f along the periphery of the glass, which
then becomes cut. In order to adjust the diamond d and roller f to any
required elevation the wheel n is turned, and the screw by moving in

page_text: the nut m effects the required adjustment; and in order to cut at any
desired diameter of article the part e of the spring is slotted, and may
be moved inward or outward; after which the tightening screw i fixes it.
In Fig. 6, a is a frame similar to a lathe bed, provided with two head-
stocks b, c, the former of which is fixed, but the latter can be moved
upward or downward by the screw d. This headstock c carries a
shaft e, to which is fixed a plate of provided with pins g, upon which is
placed another plate h capable of sliding thereon, but forced outward
by springs coiled around the said pins g, and provided with an
aperture for the reception of the top of the article to be cut. The head-
stock b is provided with a spindle i, on which is a table, and upon this
the foot of the glass article is placed, the screw d is then turned, and
thus the said article becomes held in a certain position by the force of
the springs on the pins g. The diamond is adapted to the bed a by
means similar to those before described, or it may be placed in an appa-
ratus like a slide rest, but with an elastic abutment. When the diamond
is brought to bear against the glass, the shaft e is turned, and the
article will be carried round against it by the plate h.
In carrying out my second method of cutting such glass articles as
aforesaid, I place the said article, and hold it upon a revolving table
after the manner above described, and then bring a platinum or other
wire extending partly around its periphery in contact with it, after
which the article is caused to revolve, and a current of electricity is
caused to pass through the wire so as to heat it, as is well understood, by
which means the glass becomes cracked around its periphery and the
desired part may be removed.
I have in the above description stated that my Invention refers to the
substitution of a diamond for separating those portions of articles of
glass which are usually severed in a heated state by scissors, and this I
have stated to distinguish the class of articles to which my Invention
refers, but in cutting with a diamond the articles may of course be cold
or so lowered in temperature as to have allowed the glass to have become
in a sufficiently crystalline state for being cut.
In Fig. 11 have shown the blowing iron remaining on the article,
but in the other Figs. it is shewn as removed; it will be evident that
either plan may be adopted.

page_text: I have also illustrated my Invention. by shewing wine glasses as the
articles under operation, but tumblers and other articles requiring the
like operation may be cut, as above described, by using suitable clamps
to secure them in their proper position. The description of articles to
which I have referred are as is well known usually cut by scissors and
then opened out, but my Invention will equally apply to articles
which are blown or moulded of the correct form up to the line of
The articles having been cut as above described I glaze the
edges if desired by causing a stream of heat to impinge upon them by
means of a furnace or blowpipe.
severance.
*
"
Another part of my Invention relates to the tools commonly called
posts or pontils," and also to moulds" or plugs for blowing
or pressing glass, and consists in forming them either wholly or at those
parts which are brought in contact with the glass of gold, silver,
platinum, iridium, palladium, or rhodium, or of alloys thereof. These
metallic substances may be used to form the entire tool or mould, or
may be adapted thereto in the form of thin shells or coating, or by
plating by electricity, or other known means through which the desired
metal is capable of being deposited.
The object of this part of my Invention is to obtain a sufficiently hard
substance with a smooth surface, and one that will not, as in the case of
iron or other metal usually employed, oxidize and otherwise impart
impurities, and I thus obtain a superior lustre upon the manufactured
article. The substance 1 prefer to employ is an alloy of platinum and
iridium, commonly called iridio platinum.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that although as regards the first part of my Invention
I have shewn certain apparatus whereby the same may be carried into
effect, I do not confine myself to the arrangements described, as the
same principle may be put into practice by other means; that which I
claim as my Invention and secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent being,-
Firstly. The use of a diamond for cutting the parts which are to be
severed from such articles as aforesaid.
Secondly. For the aforesaid purpose the use of a wire or other shaped
piece of metal heated by electricity.

page_text: In the second part of my Invention I claim the use of the substances
herein-before mentioned for forming or partially forming
pontils," and moulds" or "plugs."
posts" or
In witness whereof, 1, the said Thomas George Webb, hath here-
unto set his hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
THOMAS GEORGE WEBB. (L.S.)