A METHOD OF EMBOSSING IVORY BY PRESSURE
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WESTWOOD, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Artist and General-Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fourth day of September last, did give and grant unto me, the
said John Westwood, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Westwood, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, my Invention of "A METHOD
OF EMBOSSING IVORY BY PRESSURE," within that part of His Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said
John Westwood, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or any of them, should seem
meet; in which said Letters a proviso is contained that if I, the said John
Westwood, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the same Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as by the said Letters Patent, reference being
here unto had, will more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Westwood, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
fully ascertained in and by the Drawings in the margin hereof, and in manner
following (that is to say):-
Figure 1 represents a press or machine, commonly called a fly, upon the
principle of the coining press, being of considerable power, taking one, two,
and sometimes three, men to work it, accordingly as the size and depth of the
impression to be made may require.
Figures 2 and 3 represent dies, upon the upper part of which, and directly
beneath. the letters a, a, the design is cut out, of which an impression is
intended to be produced, and round which, in design, the steel is cut and filed
away to admit of a collar. being placed, thereon.
Figure 4-represents a collar. The die, Figure-3 (which I shall call the
lower die), I first place under the bolt of the press, upon which die I put a
collar sufficiently deep to cover the sides of the ivory which I mean to press;
I then put my ivory (which has been previously made perfectly true and of the
proper size) within the collar, resting upon the die Figure 3, by which it is
secured from damage by excess of pressure, and place that part of the dic
Figure 2 (which I shall call the upper die), which is marked a, a, upon the
ivory, the edges of the die going a little within the collar, and filed sufficiently
to admit of its going with the pressure upon the ivory, and then bring down
the lever of the press once or oftener, which, by forcing the bolt upon the dies
and ivory, produces the impression required without any other preparation of
the ivory than as above stated, except that in using transparent ivory, which
is generally of a brittle nature, I put it into water (if in the winter, warm, and
if in the summer, cold) a short time previously to its being used. The lever
is then thrown up, the collar released, and the ivory generally drops out; but
should it not, the collar is removed, and the ivory is driven out with a mallet.
Figure 5 represents another die, with a bole sunk in it directly beneath the
letter b to the size or shape of the ivory wished to be impressed, being hollowed
out one fourth of an inch in depth. This will render a collar unnecessary in
it where the ivory does not exceed one eighth of an. inch in thickness, the
remaining one eighth being sufficient to receive a hubb or piece of steel.
Figure 6 represents a hubb, the form of which, however, must vary
according to the shape of the article wanted, whether comb case, pen or pocket-
knife, razor, or other thing. The dies 2 and 3, and the collar, are made of
iron, steeled in the working part, and work better hardened and tempered than
when soft. The die 5 is also of iron, steeled in the working part; but that and
the hubb will, if not hardened, answer, though occasioning more trouble in the

page_text: reparation. The several dies will vary in form according to the purposes for
which they are intended; and it may be observed of the collar that any
outward form will answer the purpose for which the collar is wanted.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Westwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirteen.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1813, the aforesaid John Westwood came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.