AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SKETCHING, DRAWING, OR DELINEATING
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CAROLINE
ELIZA ANN BURGES, of Beauport, in the Parish of Hollington, in the County
of Sussex, Spinster, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two, in the third year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, His
especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Caroline Eliza
Ann Burges, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I;
the said Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SKETCHING, DRAWING, OR DELINEATING;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part, recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained by the following description thereof (reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of an Improved Apparatus for Sketching, Drawing, or
Delineating consists of a frame or frames, to be placed upon any convenient
standard, for the purpose of holding a diaphanous medium, upon which the
outline of any figure or object seen within the area of the medium may be
accurately and readily traced, sketched, or delineated by the hand of the
observer. The diaphanous medium to be used in my improved apparatus
consists, in the first place, of thin muslin or gauze, or such other description of
fabric of a fine texture, stretched over a transparent plate of glass, which muslin
or other fabric is to constitute the diaphanous medium intended to receive the
outline of the picture as traced upon it by a common blacklead or chalk
pencil. Or the transparent glass may be employed as the medium to be
sketched upon by using a prepared pencil made of certain combinations of
materials, by which the outlines of figures or perspective views may be readily
delineated upon the smooth glass without the intervention of the muslin or
gauze. These sketches or outlines of any subject produced either upon the
muslin or gauze, or upon the glass, may afterwards be traced or transferred to
the paper or other material upon which the finished picture is to be drawn, in
the following manner :-After the outline or sketch of the picture has been
delineated upon the muslin or gauze by a common blacklead pencil, the muslin
or gauze is to be stretched over the paper or other material on which the
perfect drawing is to be made upon a table or drawing board, and the lines
retraced or marked over again with a blacklead pencil, the artist at the same
time giving the hand a slightly tremulous motion, which will cause the pencil
to mark through the meshes of the fabric, and draw the outlines upon the
paper. When the sketch is made upon smooth glass by the prepared pencil,
which marks thereon in opaque lines, the paper to receive the picture must
then be held in contact with the glass, having a light behind it as a trans-
parency, so that the artist may trace upon the paper over the opaque lines
with a common blacklead pencil, and thus obtain the outlines of the picture
upon the paper. By the employment of the mediums of gauze or muslin a
great many sketches may be made and carried in a compressed form.
In the accompanying Drawings I have represented in several Figures my
improved apparatus, which will fully illustrate the Invention.
Fig. I is a front view of a frame intended to hold the glass and diaphanous

page_text: medium to be stretched or drawn upon. This Figure is made separate from
the apparatus, and can be removed out of it for the purpose of applying the
muslin and glass to it, or for retracing the outline or sketch.
Fig. 2 is a section taken through the frame, shewing its rebates, and the
manner of securing the glass and distended muslin.
Fig. 3 is a front view of the apparatus complete, mounted upon its standard.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same.
Fig. 5 is a plan, and Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through
the middle.
Fig. 7 is the complete apparatus, shewn in perspective, the same letters of
reference being marked upon corresponding parts in all the Figures.
it
a, a, is the frame holding the muslin and glass b, which is secured in the
frame by buttons c, c. On the face of the frame are placed a number of small
metal pins or points, standing outward, and on applying the muslin or gauze:
should be slightly stretched over the frame, when the metal points will catch
hold of the muslin, and on the glass being pressed down into the frame, as
shewn in Fig. 2, the muslin will become stretched tight over its surface, and
may be secured in that position by the buttons c, c. The frame a, with the glass
and muslin, is then put into the second frame d (fixed to the sliding piece of
the table e) and secured therein by the buttons f. f, when the instrument will
be ready for use. The apparatus shewn in the Drawing is represented as
have
mounted upon three legs, jointed to a socket piece 9, but it may any
other kind of support desired. h is a table, having a pin i attached to its
under side, which fits into the socket piece 9, and is secured by a thumb
screw. This connection allows the instrument to be turned round horizontally,
to face the object desired to be sketched, and when adjusted it can be fixed by
the thumb screw. In sketching with this apparatus it is necessary that the
head of the artist should be kept steady and in one position during the time he
is drawing; for this purpose a head rest k is placed opposite the frame
containing the glass and muslin, which is shewn affixed to the end of the table
h. The frame d is attached to a cross piece l, on the end of the sliding part e
of the table, which moves between dove-tailed guides m, m, and allows of
an adjustment between the head rest and the diaphanous medium, and when
adjusted to the desired distance is secured by a screw and pin n passed through
a groove in the sliding piece of the table.
Fig. 8 is a perspective representation of the complete instrument, shewing
the position of the artist when sketching, that is, with his face placed in the
head rest. If it should be thought desirable, an eye-piece may be connected
by an adjusting arm to the head rest, but this I do not think necessary except
.

page_text: for very particular purposes: If the artist leaves off sketching before the
outlines of the picturé are completed, care should be taken on again com-
mencing to put the head in the same position as before, so that the lines
already sketched may cover those of the object. The pencil for sketching
upon the smooth glass may be composed of any. compound or ingredient
which will mark an opaque line upon glass; those which I use for this
purpose are composed of the following materials:-Although I do not
intend to confine myself to that precise' compound, for H.H. pencils I
use a compound of two pounds of gum shelac, four pounds of best curd soap,
one pound of best spermaceti,, a quarter of a pound of gum mastic; two ounces
of gambouge, half a pound of vegetable black, the whole well mixed properly
together over a slow fire, and the composition run into grooves in wood in the
same way as common composition blacklead pencils are made. In order that
the instrument may be more portable, the head rest k and the frame d are are
mounted upon the table with hinge joints, to allow of their being turned or
folded down, as shewn in Figs. 9 and 10, which are a plán and a side view of
the apparatus in that position. When the frame d is in an upright position it
is kept steady by buttons o, o; which confine the tail-pieces p, p, of the frame d
against a part of the cross pièce l. q, q, are buttons, which keep the head rest
steady when in use, by pressing the tail-pieces r, r, against a part of the cross
piece s, fixed on to the other end of the table. t, t, are small studs or pins,
which fit into holes in the top of the frame d, when it is turned down and
pushed up against the cross pieces (as represented in Figs: 9 & 10), and by
screwing the pin n tight the frame d will be fastened down. u is a small
weight or plummet suspended from the top of the framed by a slight cord,
by which the artist can adjust the frame containing the diaphanous medium to
a horizontal and perpendicular position.
.
Although I have herein shewn and described an apparatus for sketching
and drawing, which I consider as convenient and portable, I do not mean or
intend to confine myself to that particular form of apparatus, as it may be
made simply with the table, head rest, and frame, without either hinge joints
or adjustment: And also the manner of supporting the apparatus when in use
may be varied to suit convenience, as it may be used standing upon a table,
or fixed upon the back of a chair, or upon a gate, by means of a screw
clamp connected to the table h. And I therefore wish it to be understood
that I claim as my Invention, under the above in part recited Letters
Patent; the application and use of muslin, gauze, or gauze lisse, or such
her thin fabric of a fine texture, as a diaphanous medium, to be
sketched or drawn upon with a blacklead, chalk, or other pencil; and also

page_text: he application and use of transparent glass as the medium upon which
ketches or drawings may be made by a prépared pencil, which will mark
paque lines readily upon the smooth surface of the glass.
In witness whereof, I, the said Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in
the year of our Lord.One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
JAMES
Servants of the Earl of Eglington.
I, John McGill, of Eglington Castle, in the County of Ayr, Scotland,
servant to the Earl of Eglington, make oath and say, that I was present and
did see Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, of Beauport, in the Parish of Hollington,
in the County of Sussex, England, but now residing at Eglington Castle, near
the Town of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, Spinster, sign, seal, and, as her act
and deed, deliver and acknowledge a certain Deed Poll or Instrument in
writing hereunto annexed, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February
instant, purporting to be a Specification of an Improved Apparatus for
Sketching, Drawing, or Delineating. And this Deponent further maketh
oath and saith, that the name or character "Caroline Eliza Ann Burges,"
set at the foot of the said Deed Poll as the party executing the same, is of the
proper handwriting of the said Caroline Eliza Ann Burges, and that the names
or characters John McGill and James Hood, indorsed on the said Deed Poll
as witnesses to the signing and sealing thereof, are of the respective hand-
writing of this Deponent and James Hood, of Eglington Castle aforesaid,
servant to the Earl of Eglington.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Affidavit of John McGill, the
Instrument aforesaid was inrolled, word for word, as above written. And also
the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute.
made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the
Third
Inrolled the Eighth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-three.