IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF KNIFE HANDLES, UMBRELLA AND STICK HANDLES,' DOOR KNOBS, ARTICLES OF FURNITURE, AND OTHER ARTICLES, HAVING THE APPEARANCE AND TRANSPARENCY OF SOLID TORTOISESHELL
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Barnett Samuel, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Comb Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF KNIFE HANDLES, UMBRELLA AND STICK HANDLES,' DOOR KNOBS,
ARTICLES OF FURNITURE, AND OTHER ARTICLES, HAVING THE APPEARANCE AND
TRANSPARENCY OF SOLID TORTOISESHELL."
Sealed the 13th July 1855, and dated the 25th January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Barnett Samuel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
January 1855.
I, BARNETT SAMUEL, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIFE HANDLES, UMBRELLA AND STICK
HANDLES, DOOR KNOBS, ARTICLES OF FURNITURE, AND OTHER ARTICLES, HAVING THE
APPEARANCE AND TRANSPARENCY OF SOLID TORTOISESHELL," to be as follows:-
I construct the aforesaid articles of horn, in combination with an exterior
coating of tortoiseshell, completely surrounding the horn, and united to it by
heat and pressure. The horn is pressed into the required mould or die to give
it shape and form, or is otherwise fashioned to the required shape. The horn
is then surrounded by one, two, or more pieces of tortoiseshell placed in heated

page_text: dies, to which pressure is applied by means of a screw press, or otherwise. The
heated horn and tortoiseshell being thus forcibly pressed, adhere together,
forming one piece. When cool, the article is finished as required, and has the
appearance and transparency of solid tortoiseshell.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Barnett Samuel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BARNETT
SAMUEL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Comb Manufacturer, send greeting."
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Barnett Samuel, Her special licence that I, the said Barnett. Samuel, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Barnett
Samuel, 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 MANUFAC
TURE OF KNIFE HANDLES, UMBRELLA AND STICK HANDLES, DOOR KNOBS, ARTICLES OF
FURNITURE, AND OTHER ARTICLES, HAVING THE APPEARANCE AND TRANSPARENCY OF
SOLID TORTOISESHELL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Barnett Samuel, 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 I, the said Barnett Samuel, 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):-
I construct the aforesaid articles of horn, in combination.with an exterior
coating of tortoiseshell, completely surrounding the horn, and united to it by

page_text: heat and pressure. The horn is pressed into the required mould or die to give
it shape and form, or is otherwise fashioned to the required shape. The horn.
is then surrounded by one, two, or more pieces of tortoiseshell placed in heated
dies to which pressure is applied by means of a screw press, or otherwise. The
heated horn and tortoiseshell being thus forcibly pressed, adhere together,
forming one piece. When cool, the article is finished as required, and has the
appearance and transparency of solid tortoiseshell.
In carrying out my Invention, I select clear pieces of horn, such as ox or
cow or rams horn, or ox or cow hoofs, and I press them in the ordinary
manner of pressing horn into plain moulds, dies, or pressing tongs, to give
them the general form of the article required. The surface of the horn is then
well cleaned with a sharp tool, and care must be taken that no grease of any
sort is left upon it, nor any touches of the fingers left upon it. Some thin
plates of shell hoof (shell from the hoof of the tortoise) are well boiled and
cleaned in the same manner as the horn, and the horn is encased in these
plates of shell, and pressed in heated pressing tongs, moulds, or dies, which are
a little larger than those used for pressing the horn alone; the horn and shell
hoof are thus cemented or caused to adhere together. The surface of the
shell hoof is then cleaned in the same way as the horn.
Some thin plates of tortoiseshell are boiled and cleaned in the same way as
the shell hoof, and the article is covered with these thin plates, either entirely,
or as far as may be required, and again pressed in heated moulds, dies, or
pressing tongs, which are made a little larger than those last above mentioned,
and may be ornamented with carving or fluting, or other ornaments. The
excess of tortoiseshell which may have been squeezed out between the dies is
then shaved or trimmed off, and the article is cleaned and polished in the same
manner as articles of solid tortoiseshell.
For large articles, several pieces of horn may be united by pressing them in
heated moulds, dies, or pressing tongs, either alone or with a piece of shell
hoof placed between them. The horn may be encased directly with the tortoise-
shell without the intervention of the shell hoof, but I find that the employment
of the shell hoof improves the colour and appearance of the article, and renders
it still more like solid tortoiseshell. The surface of articles thus made is as
hard and capable of receiving the same polish as solid tortoiseshell.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim is, the manufacture of knife handles, umbrella and stick handles,
door knobs, articles of furniture, and other articles, having the appearance

page_text: and transparency of solid tortoiseshell, by moulding such articles of horn and
encasing them in tortoiseshell by means of heat and pressure, in manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Barnett Samuel, have hereunto set my.
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
ABRAHAM LEON,
No. 196, Solly Street, Sheffield."
+
BARNETT SAMUEL. (L.S.)
...