A CERTAIN DURABLE SURFACE OR TABLET FOR THE PUR- POSES OF RECEIVING WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, OR IMPRESSIONS OF ENGRAVINGS OR OTHER DEVICES CAPABLE OF BEING PRINTED. WHICH SURFACE MAY BE APPLIED FOR ROADS OR PAVEMENTS, AND PART OF WHICH INVENTION MAY ALSO BE USED AS THE MEANS OF STRENGTHENING AND BEAUTIFYING GLASS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DOLIER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Lecturer on Education,
send.greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirtieth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight, in the second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Dolier, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Dolier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said William Dolier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN DURABLE SURFACE OR TABLET FOR THE PUR-
POSES OF RECEIVING WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, OR IMPRESSIONS OF ENGRAVINGS OR OTHER
DEVICES CAPABLE OF BEING PRINTED. WHICH SURFACE MAY BE APPLIED FOR ROADS OR
PAVEMENTS, AND PART OF WHICH INVENTION MAY ALSO BE USED AS THE MEANS OF
STRENGTHENING AND BEAUTIFYING GLASS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said William Dolier, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, 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
[Price 8d.]

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in 'and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Dolier, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in the following explanation thereof, that is to
say):-
.
My Invention of a certain Durable Surface or Tablet for the Purposes of
Receiving Writings, Drawings, or Impressions of Engravings or other Devices
capable of being Printed, consists,―
Firstly, in the application of a well-known composition or material as a
durable tablet or surface for receiving writings or drawings, and which may
be removed at pleasure by moisture. This composition or material is common
glass enamel made in the ordinary manner from flint glass, borax, and arsenic,
and which I roll out in thin plates of any required dimensions exactly similar
to manufacturing plate glass, and after it has been ground smooth and
polished I remove the glazed surface by grinding with the finest emery
powder, and there the tablet is ready for use. This permanent tablet will now
be found capable of receiving the finest writing or drawing, and also beauti-
fully adapted to receive paintings and impressions exactly in the same manner
as ornamenting china by painting or transfer. This improved tablet will
be an elegant appendage to various domestic purposes and furniture, and
may be manufactured into side boards, billiard tables, table tops, and all
other similar ornamental purposes, and may have either a highly polished
or dead surface, and may be composed of any variety of colors by altering
the ingredients of the enamel, which is well understood.
My second improvement in a durable surface is in rendering the same
perfectly pliable and still rendering such surface durable. This is composed
by a foundation of a sheet of linen, silk, cotton, or other cloth, linen being
most preferable, to be coated or covered upon one side with a mixture or
composition, and treated as follows:-Spread upon the reverse side of the
sheet of linen one coat of a size or varnish, made by dissolving one pound
of buffalo skin in one gallon of water over a slow fire, and let the other side
when dried be rubbed with pumice stone, in order to remove all inequalities,
and leave the surface perfectly smooth. This surface is now to be coated
three times with a mixture of the purest white lead, called flake white, with
boiled linseed oil and spirits of turpentine, in about the proportions of one
pound of white lead to one quart of oil and half a pint of turpentine. After
this has become perfectly dried, the flexible surface is ready for use, and is

page_text: most suitable for printing, and particularly advantageous for receiving im-
pressions of maps or charts for marine and general purposes, as being
permanent and durable. The back or reverse side of this prepared cloth may
be flocked" with pulverized woollen cloth, in the usual manner of flocking
paper hangings, which will improve its appearance, and make it more suitable
for ornamental purposes gold, silver, or bronze surfaces may also be given.
to the cloth thus prepared, by giving it a coat of the buffalo size, and dusting
the the metallic powder over it.
Thirdly, these improvements are applicable to roads and pavements for
bath rooms and other similar situations, or tessellated pavements where
damp or wet is liable to get between the joints of the pavement, and form
unhealthy and improper secretions, and consist in putting together squares of
such enamelled surfaces as first above described, or common Bath tiles in
squares in different colors and devices, and cement or cover the joints with
a light coating of glass enamel fused over the joints, in order to render them
perfectly secure; and in all situations where cleanliness and beauty all are
required, this will be found particularly useful.
A further application of this Invention may be made by having engraved
or printed maps or other designs made upon the under side of plates of glass,
&c., vitrifying the glass to render the design permanent, and paving rooms
with such plates or squares for the purposes of recreation, and also by
inserting rails of glass either in bars, rods, or plates set edgewise in grooves
or sleepers of wood or metal, making such rails either portable or permanent,
and also intended as applicable to various amusements, which may thus be
pursued in gardens or other situations.
The fourth feature of my Invention relates to the strengthening and
beautifying glass, and consists in preparing sheets or plates of glass in the
usual manner, and placing between two plates a metallic web of wire wrought
into any form or design that may be desired, and then partially fusing the
glass, so that the glass shall run between the meshes or interstices of the
metallic design, and thus consolidate or embody the whole into one plate of
glass, with the metallic design in the centre. The metallic web or design
may be formed of either plain net or any other elegant scrollwork or other
design, and be composed of brass plated or other metallic wire, or cast into
any form or device which shall be required, and the glass fused around
it, and rolled or pressed in the ordinary manuer of manufacturing plate
glass.
Another adaptation of these improvements is particularly applicable to
ornamental windows and casements, where the glass is not required to

page_text: surround the metal upon all sides. A suitable casting is to be prepared in
brass, iron, or other metal, of the exact form of the window frame required, for
instance, an ornamental gothic window, and this casting is to be the frame-
work of the window. The glass is then to be cast in its fluid state into the
metallic framing, and may either be rolled of such a thickness that the
metal frame shall be in the centre of the plate of glass, or it may be rolled
down until the glass shall only fill the interstices of the metallic framing,
and thus in either case the whole of the panes or compartments an orna-
mental window may be made in an entire piece, and of any variety of form,
strength, or beauty. The glass is afterwards to be annealed in the usual
manner, and then submitted to a bath of cold linseed oil, which is to be
caused gradually to boil; and after removing the fire allowed to cool, which
will 'thus form a second annealing, and also regulate the expansion and con-
traction of the metals, the glass is to be ground up and polished in the usual
manner, and may be either made bright for windows or rendered opaque, to
be employed for all useful and ornamental purposes of furniture, and be used
This com-
instead of the finest marbles and with equal beauty and effect.
bination of metals with glass for the purposes of increasing its strength will
be of material importance for "dead lights" for all marine purposes, and
also forming perpetual window blinds; and it will be evident that great
strength may thus be given to glass for windows and such similar purposes,
by either of the processes above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dolier, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, One thousand