CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING COLUMNS, PILLARS, BEDPOSTS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DALE, of Marsh Street, Shelton Potteries, in the County of Stafford, Turner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of March, in the first year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, did for
Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Dale, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the
said William Dale, my executors, administrators and assigns, and such others
as I, the said William Dale, 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, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING COLUMNS, PILLARS,
BEDPOSTS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE ARTICLES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Dale, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her 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
William Dale, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and Figures marked thereon
(that is to say):-
My Invention of certain improvements in constructing columns, pillars,
bedposts, and other such like articles, consists in forming each of such columns,
pillars, bedposts, and other like articles (as pilasters, shafts, curtain or cornice
poles,) of several ornamental pieces or compound parts of china or earthenware
joined or combined together by means of a rod, tube, or shaft passed through
the interior of such several pieces for the purpose of holding them securely and
firmly in combination, and thereby rendering them when so combined strong
and fit for the various purposes to which such ornamental articles of furniture
or decoration may be applicable.
My improvements will be more fully understood by the accompanying
Drawings, which represent the manner of constructing my improved columns,
pillars, bedposts, and other such like articles.
Fig. 1 is an external elevation of a bedpost complete. Fig. 2 is a
vertical section of the same, the several component tubular pieces of china or
earthenware being securely held together by a central shaft of metal or of any
other suitable material. Fig. 3 shews all the component tubular pieces of
china separated from each other, and Fig. 4 exhibits the same in vertical
section. The several tubular pieces a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, made of earthen or
china ware, may be of any desired ornamented shape or form externally,
provided that their ends fit accurately one to the other at their junctions.
These parts or tubular pieces are made or manufactured according to the
ordinary process of making earthen or china ware articles, and are coloured,
gilded, or otherwise ornamented according to the taste or design of the artist,
and are baked, burned, and glazed in the usual way. The several tubular
parts or pieces a, b, c, &c, are to be either formed with ends which will socket
into each other at the junctions, as shewn in the Drawings, or they may be
made with flat ends meeting together, in which last case the joint should be
covered by an ornamental hoop, ring, or circumscribing piece, the object being
to hide the junctions of the two pieces. The whole of these tubular pieces of
china are held together by the rod or shaft k, which is passed through the
several pieces a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, and at the outer ends screw nuts or collars i, i,
or other fastenings are in the most convenient way adapted to the rod or shaft
for the purpose of confining the whole of the pieces and holding them securely

page_text: together. It may be desirable here to observe that I recommend applying a
slight collar or packing of wash leather, woven cloth, or some other soft
material between the ends of the tubular pieces of earthen or china ware for
the purpose of obtaining soft bearings at the joints of the brittle china 'tubes
in order that I may be enabled to tighten or screw up the end nuts upon the
central shaft without danger. The lower end of the metal shaft or rod k may
be formed to receive the castor usually applied to bedposts, and the upper end:
or top part may be made to receive the bed cornice, and a cap piece or other
ornamental appendage, which will be readily understood by any practical
workman and therefore need not be further described. Fig. 5 represents a
cornice pole or curtain pole constructed according to my improvements, and
Fig. 6 is a section taken longitudinally through the same, similar letters of
reference being marked upon corresponding parts shewing the combination of
china tubes a, b, c, &c., and a metal or other suitable shaft k, as in the former
Figures, it will not therefore be necessary for me to repeat them, only
remarking that the end pieces and the fastening nuts in this instance are
covered by caps or pieces 1, 7, which hide the ends of the shaft and form
ornamental bosses on the ends of the curtain pole or cornice. Fig. 7 is a side
elevation, and Fig. 8 a vertical section of an ornamental pillar or column with
branching scroll work intended to support a sideboard or to be used for any
other purpose for which the same may be applicable.
These Figures exhibit my Invention further carried into effect, or in which
several pieces of china are connected together and made fast by a metal or
other suitable shaft and screw nuts, as before described.
Having now explained the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would remark, that I am aware that two
or more pieces of ornamental vases and such like articles have been joined
together by iron pins and screw nuts, but the same forms no part of my
Invention or improvements, and therefore is not intended to be claimed by
me; but that which I do claim as my Invention is the constructing of columns,
pillars, shafts, pilasters, bedposts, curtain poles, or cornice poles and such like
articles of several pieces of earthen or china ware united, strengthened, and
supported by an internal shaft or rod passing through the whole length of the
same and furnished with screw nuts or other description of fastenings and
collars &c., as herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dale, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
WILLIAM (LS.) DALE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of September, in the
second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said William
Dale came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified in form 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 Twelfth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and