IMPROVEMENTS IN POTS AND VESSELS FOR THE GROWTH AND CULTIVATION OF PLANTS
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 28th November 1853, and dated the 1st June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Wilkins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st June 1853.
I, EDWARD WILKINS, of No. 60, Queen's Road, Walworth, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN POTS AND VESSELS FOR THE GROWTH AND
CULTIVATION OF PLANTS" to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in so shaping and forming flower pots and
such like vessels that water or other liquid manure (or suitable gases)
may be effectively applied to the cultivation of plants grown in such
pots and vessels, while at the same time the offensive odours arising
from the manure (or gas) may be prevented from diffusing themselves

page_text: in the room, apartment, or place in which they may be used. And I
effect these improvements by forming flower pots of any suitable size
and shape, each with a perforated or porous false bottom, on which the
mould or soil is to be placed, such false bottom being placed at a suit-
able distance from the bottom of the pot so as to form a reservoir for
containing a supply of liquid manure. The liquid manure is to be sup-
plied to the reservoir through an orifice or a pipe, which can be stopped
by a plug or stop cock; and another orifice, or pipe, or cock may be
provided for drawing off the liquid manure. By the closing of these
orifices the odours of the manure will be prevented escaping from the
reservoir. Any number of such pots or vessels may be supplied with
liquid manure from a common reservoir by means of suitable pipes or
tubes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Wilkins in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 1st December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD WILKINS, of No. 60, Queen's Row, Walworth, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Wilkins, Her special
licence that I, the said Edward Wilkins, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Wilkins,
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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN POTS AND VESSELS FOR THE GROWTH AND CULTIVATION

page_text: OF PLANTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Wilkins, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, 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 Edward Wilkins, 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):
My Improvements consist in so shaping and forming pots and vessels
used for the growth and cultivation of plants that water or other
liquid manure (or suitable gases) may be effectively applied in pro-
moting the growth of plants in such pots, while at the same time any
offensive odours arising from the manure or the gas employed can be
prevented from escaping and diffusing themselves in the room, or
apartinent, or place in which they may be used.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed Figure 1, represents, in elevation.
one form of flower pot or vase made according to my Invention. The
upper portion marked a, is for containing the mould or soil in which a
plant is to be cultivated; and the lower portion b, forms a reservoir for
receiving and holding a supply of liquid manure, and being separated
from the upper portion a, by a false bottom (shewn by the dotted lines
at c.) of earthenware, or of metal or other suitable material perforated
with a number of small holes, or of porous clay. d, is an aperture
through which the liquid manure is to be supplied, and which may be
stopped by means of a screw socket and cap, as shewn, or by a plug,
or any other suitable contrivance. e, is another aperture which may be
closed in a similar manner to d, and may be opened when it is desired
to let off the liquid manure contained in the reservoir or lower portion
of the vase. This vase may (with the exception of the false bottom c,)
be moulded or formed in one piece, the false botton being of such
diameter that it will not pass below the position in which it is repre-
sented in the Figure.

page_text: Figure 2, represents, in vertical section, another form of flower pot
or vase made also according to my Invention, and differing from
Figure 1, in the lower and upper parts being separately moulded or
cast and afterwards joined together by cement or other suitable material.
a, is the upper part, and b, the lower part of the pot. In the form of pot
or vase here represented the upper part a, or that for containing the
mould or soil, is made to descend a little distance into the lower part
or reservoir b, and the two parts are cemented together at the part
marked a, a, so as to make an air-tight joint. c, is the preforated
bottom, which may (if desired) be formed in one piece with the upper
part a, of the vase. d, is the aperture for the supply of liquid manure,
and e, the aperture for drawing it off. Or, instead of having the
supply aperture at the outward part of the vase, as shown, a tube or
tubes may be formed or inserted inside the pot, extending from the
top to beneath the perforated bottom, as represented by the red lines
in Figure 2, the upper end of which tube or tubes can be stopped
or closed in any suitable manner. When desired, a syphon, tube, or
any other contrivance for indicating the height or quantity of liquid
manure in the reservoir may be applied.
The pots or vases above described may be made of earthenware, or
porcelain, or glass, or of any other material suitable for the purpose,
and by any of the modes usually adopted in the manufacture of such
like articles.
Flower pots or vessels made in the manner above described will be
equally well adapted for the application of any fluids or gases which
may be deemed useful in promoting the vegetation of any plants to be
cultivated therein, by having a tube or pipe to fit the lower hole or
aperture in the reservoir, and causing fluid or gas to pass through such
tube or pipe, from any gasholder or source of supply, into the reservoir
or lower part of the pot. A suitable stop-cock or plug must, of course,
be provided for cutting off and retaining the supply of gas or fluid.
When so used the upper aperture must remain closed, or may be
altogether dispensed with.
Figure 3, is an elevation of one mode in which a number of pots or
vessels, inade according to my Invention, may be combined together, and

page_text: supplied through one orifice, or from one common reservoir.
I, I, I, uy
are pots or vases having false bottoms, as herein-before described, the
right-hand end one being shewn in section; b, a tube, having a number of
short tubes c, c, c, c, projecting upwards from and in connection with it.
These short tubes are each provided with a male screw at the upper end,
so as to fit into a female screw formed in the orifice at the bottom of
each of the vases a. e, is a small vase, which I prefer to make of
glass, or some other transparent material, so as to indicate the height of
liquid manure in the series of pots (& which vase can be closed by a
stopper, or by a screw cap), such vase being also in connection with
the tube b, and into which the supply of liquid manure can be poured;
and d, d, are plugs for drawing off the supply. It will readily be seen
that if liquid manure be poured into the vase e, until it becomes filled,
all the lower parts or reservoirs of the various pots or vases attached to
the tubes c, will be simultaneously filled with liquid manure, and that
by opening one of the plugs d, d, the supply can be simultaneously
withdrawn.
Figure 4, exhibits another mode of supplying a number of pots or
vases from one common reservoir, such Figure being a vertical section
of a circular flower table or stand. b, is the top of the table or stand,
consisting of a hollow circular box or reservoir, and in the
upper surface
of which are a number of holes for the reception of a number of pots
or vases a, a, a, having perforated or porous bottoms.
Such pots are
made to sink some distance into the reservoir, as shewn, and should be
fitted air-tight therein. c, is an orifice for supplying the liquid manure
to the reservoir, and which can be stopped in any convenient manner;
and d, a plug for drawing off' the supply. Any number of pots or vessels
be combined together, according to either of the two modes last
described, and the liquid manure may be brought and supplied thereto,
by means of flexible tubes or pipes from a cistern placed outside the
building.
may
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I desire it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise forms or shapes of flower pots or vases described,

page_text: nor to the particular positions of the apertures for the supply and
drawing off of the liquid manure, nor to the dimensions or materials of
which they may be made, as many variations may be made therein
without departing from the spirit of my Invention, which consists in so
forming or shaping flower pots, and such like vessels, as to form a
reservoir for the supply of liquid inanure (or gas) to the plants grown
in such pots, such reservoir being capable of being closed for the
purpose of preventing the escape of any offensive odours (or of gas)
from such reservoir, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Wilkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
E. WILKINS. (L.S.)