AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN KINDS OF BOXES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hinks and George Wells, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers and Co-partners, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN
KINDS OF BOXES."
Sealed the 7th June 1853, and dated the 14th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hinks and
George Wells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 14th April 1853.
WE, JOHN HINKS and GEORGE WELLS, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufactures and Co-partners, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN
CERTAIN KINDS OF BOXES " to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to such kinds of boxes as are usually made of
pasteboard, and used for holding or packing small articles, such as steel
or metallic pens.
Our Invention consists in making the tops or bottoms, or both tops
and bottoms, of the said boxes either wholly or partly of metal. When
boxes made wholly of pasteboard or paper are used to contain polished

page_text: steel pens, it frequently happens that much injury arises to the said
pens from the moisture penetrating the said boxes, and rusting the
said pens. By our improvement this injury is prevented. We either
make the top or bottom of metal, inserting the edges of the same in the
paper sides of the box, or we make the box complete in paper or paste-
board, and cover the top or bottom with a thin metallic sheet. We do
not find it necessary to defend the sides of the said boxes with metal,
as, from the less surface they expose, as well as from the circumstance
that, as ordinarily constructed, they are of double the thickness of the
top and bottom, there is less risk of moisture penetrating the said sides.
We do not limit ourselves to any particular metal or alloy, nor to any
particular method of applying the same to the tops and bottoms
of boxes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hinks and George Wells, in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 8th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
John Hinks and George Wells, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturers and Co-partners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Hinks and George Wells, Her
special licence, that we, the said John Hinks and George Wells, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Hinks and George Wells, our 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN CERTAIN KINDS OF BOXES," upon the condition (amongst others) that

page_text: we, the said John Hinks and George Wells, or one of us, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, 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 John Hinks, 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:
Our Invention relates to such kinds of boxes as are usually made of
paper, pasteboard, or cardboard, and used for holding or packing small
articles, such as steel or metallic pens, jewellry, &c. When articles
made of iron or steel, or other metal, or alloy, capable of rusting or
corroding, or articles made of any other substance capable of being
otherwise injured by exposure to damp, are kept in boxes made of paper,
pasteboard, or cardboard, it frequently happens that much injury arises
to the said articles from the moisture which penetrates the said boxes.
This is particularly the case with regard to polished steel pens. By
our Invention this injury is prevented. Our Invention consists in
making the top and bottom, or either the top or bottom, of such boxes
of metal, by which means we exclude moisture to an extent sufficient
to prevent the same having an injurious effect. We do not confine
ourselves to any particular method of making the said boxes, but we
usually make them as follows, that is to say; we make the said top or
bottom wholly of sheet metal, and turning down (in the case of the
tops) or up (in the case of the bottoms) the edges of the said sheet
metal, we insert the said edges in the paper, pasteboard, or cardboard
sides of the box, securing the same by paste or other cement.
Or we
make the said box complete in paper, pasteboard, or cardboard, and
cover the top and bottom, or top or bottom, with a thin metallic cover,
attaching the same in any convenient manner. We do not find it
necessary to defend the sides of the said boxes with metal, as, from the
less surface they expose, as well as from the circumstance that, as

page_text: ordinarily constructed, they are of double the thickness of the top and
bottom, they are therefore much less permeable to moisture. We do
not limit ourselves to the use of any particular metal or alloy in carrying
our Invention into effect, nor to any particular method of applying the
same to the tops and bottoms of boxes; but we claim as our Invention
the addition of metallic tops and bottoms, or metallic tops or bottoms,
to boxes made of paper, pasteboard, or cardboard, for the purpose of
rendering the said boxes less permeable to moisture, and thereby
making them better fitted for the packing or containing of steel pens,
and such other articles as are injuriously affected by moisture.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hinks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOHN HINKS. (L.S.)
Witness, RICHARD SKERRETT.