IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU- PACTORING AND ORNAMENTING CASTORS FOR FURNITURE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martin Billing, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
PACTORING AND ORNAMENTING CASTORS FOR FURNITURE."
Sealed the 27th February 1855, and dated the 12th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martin Billing at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th September
1854.
I, MARTIN BILLING, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MANUFACTURING AND ORNAMENTING CASTORS FOR FURNITURE" to be as follows:-
In manufacturing castors according to my Invention I make the sockets of
sheet brass or other metal by the process called stamping or raising, and I
strengthen the said stamped or raised socket where necessary by an internal
socket of cast iron, to which the raised external socket is attached, by the edge
of the same being turned over or burnished on the said cast-iron interior.
The raised socket may be ornamented by a covering or partial covering of
china or other ornamental material. I construct the wheels of the castors of
cast iron, and cover the edge or periphery of the wheel by a short cylinder
of thin sheet brass or other metal, the said covering being attached by its
edges being burnished or turned over the edge or periphery of the said wheel.

page_text: The sides of the wheel may be covered with discs of china, brass, or other
ornamental material, the said sides being retained in their places by the before-
mentioned turned-over edges of the brass covering of the edge or periphery of
the wheel. The essence of my Invention consists in stamping or raising the
sockets of castors from sheet metal, and strengthening the same when necessary
by an internal lining of cast iron, and in forming the wheels of castors of cast
iron, and covering the edge or periphery of the wheel with sheet brass or other
metal, and the sides with discs of china or other ornamental material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Martin Billing in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARTIN
BILLING, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Martin Billing, Her special licence that I, the said Martin Billing,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Martin Billing, 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
MANUFACTURING AND ORNAMENTING CASTORS FOR FURNITURE," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Martin Billing, 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 Martin Billing, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
: A

page_text: My Invention consists of manufacturing and rendering ornamental the
wheels of castors for furniture.
Figure 1 represents in vertical section the parts of the wheel of a castor
constructed according to my Invention, and Figure 2 represents in vertical
section the completed wheel of a castor constructed according to my Invention.
a is the wheel, made of cast iron; 6 is a disc, stamped of sheet brass or other
metal or alloy; c is a shell, of stamped brass or other metal or alloy. The
disc b is placed on one side of the wheel a, as shown in Figure 2, and the
shell c is placed on the other side of the said wheel a; the edge d is then
turned over the edge of the wheel, as represented in Figure 2, and the several
parts thereby secured together. By constructing the wheels of castors accord-
ing to my Invention they are made more economically than by the ordinary
method; they are equal or superior in appearance to wheels made wholly of
brass, or the metal of which the casing is made, while they cost less in
production. The stamped casing, with which the wheel of a castor made
according to my Invention is covered, may be ornamented with a design
produced during the raising or stamping of the same, and an ornamental
appearance may thus be given to the said wheels without any increase in
the cost of their production.
.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention the method herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing of manufacturing and ornamenting the wheels of castors, that is to
say, covering wheels made of cast iron, without a casing or covering of sheet
brass or other metal or alloy, whether the said casing or covering be plain or
ornamental.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martin Billing, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
MARTIN BILLING. (L.S.)