IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNITURE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE AS A MEANS OF FINISHING OR ORNAMENTING THE IRON PARTS OF HARNESS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF IRON, TO WHICH SUCH MODE OF FINISH OR ORNAMENTING HAS NOT HERETOFORE BEEN APPLIED
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Howard Ashton Holden, of Bingley Hall Works,
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Railway Carriage Furniture and
Lamp Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNITURE
FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE
ALSO APPLICABLE AS A MEANS OF FINISHING OR ORNAMENTING THE IRON PARTS
OF HARNESS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF IRON, TO WHICH SUCH MODE OF
FINISH OR ORNAMENTING HAS NOT HERETOFORE BEEN APPLIED."
Sealed the 4th April 1857, and dated the 24th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Howard Ashton Holden,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th October 1856.
I, HOWARD ASHTON HOLDEN, of Bingley Hall Works, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Railway Carriage Furniture,and Lamp Manufacturer,do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNITURE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS
ARE ALSO APPLICABLE AS A DEANS OF FINISHING OR ORNAMENTING THE IRON PARTS
OF HARNESS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF IRON, TO WHICH SUCH MODE OR FINISH
OR ORNAMENTING HAS NOT HERETOFORE BEEN APPLIED." to be as follows, that is
to say-
My improvements are applicable to railwayand other carriage door handles,
as also handles for other purposes, parts of carriage steps, shaft tips, pole
[Price 8d.]

page_text: hooks and crabs, breechen staples, draw-bar, and carriage lamp sockets,
apron and elbow knobs, head joints, nail and screw heads, and other interior
carriage fittings, as well as buckles for harness and other purposes, terretts,
cock eyes; as well as certain parts of cart furniture, axletree boxes, plates,
and other ornaments applicable for various purposes. And my improvements
in the description of articles herein enumerated consists in coating them with
enamel of any desired colour which will be found to wear better and look
cleaner than such description of articles generally do when finished by the
ordinary process, namely, that of plating them with brass or silver, which is
attended with considerable trouble and expense in keeping them clean.
I do not claim any novelty in the mode of enamelling, but simply that of
applying the process to the finishing of such articles herein before described,
duly observing to make them of such a shape that all sharp angles and points
may be avoided, as in the process of firing the enamel is liable to run off
those parts and leave them bare.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Howard Ashton Holden in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th April 1357.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HOWARD
ASHTON HOLDEN, of Bingley Works, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Railway and General Carriage Furniture-and Lamp Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Howard. Ashton Holden, Her special license that I, the said Howard
Ashton Holden, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Howard Ashton Holden, my executors, administrators, or 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, exercise, aud vend, withinthe United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IM
PROVEMENTS IN. FURNITURE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES. AND WHICH SAID
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE AS A MEANS OF FINISHING OR ORNAMENTING
THE IRON PARTS OF HARNESS AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF IRON, TO WHICH SUCH

page_text: MODE OF FINISH OR ORNAMENTING HAS NOT HERETOFORE BEEN APPLIED," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I. the said Howard Ashton Holden, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal 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.
י.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Howard Ashton Holden, do hereby
declare the nature of any said Invention, and in what manner the same is
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of my Invention is to coat, ornament, or finish the description of
and such like articles as named in my Provisional Specification, by coating
them with glass (either in one or more colours, conjointly or singly, as may be
deemed most desirable,) in counterdistinction to finishing such articles by
platingthem,as heretofore, with thin sheet gold, silver, or brass orbydepositing
such metals over their surfaces by the agency of magnetism or electricity,
processes well known and extensively practised for depositing the precious
metals on articles made up of metals of inferior price or kind.
I do not pretend to be the Inventor of the process of coating metallic
surfaces with glass, as the art of enamelling is of ancient date, and still con-
tinues in use, not only as a means of ornamenting light and fancy articles by
partially or wholly coating them, but also as a means of facing or finishing.
many articles of common use, and as clock and watch dials, other facial
indicators, &c. &c., to which purposes the process is particularly applicable
for its always preserving its freshness and purity of colour, the letters and
figures being applied with a pencil or otherwise, and burnt in. And in
modern times this art has not only been extensively used under the protection
of patent rights for the lining or coating of cast-iron, hollow, or culinary ware
(for superseding the pernicious use of tin for the coating of such articles), but
also has been applied for the same and more extensive descriptions of culinary.
articles and utensils when such articles have been made of wrought iron, the
enamelling process being used for protection of oxidation the surfaces of
such articles,
..
But the application of the process of enamelling has never been applied as
a means of ornamenting or finishing coach and harness fittings and furniture,
and other such like articles, for which purposes it is particularly applicable,
not only as a means of saving the more costly process of plating, but by
substituting a coating of enamel, the continuous expense attendant on the

page_text: keeping of such articles clean is entirely saved, and a delicate, clean, and
newness of appearance always preserved.
I do not, as before observed, claim any novelty in the mode of applying the
enamelling to the various articles named, as the same, whether of wrought or
cast iron, may be first cleaned with diluted acids and then coated with glass,
either by the process described in the Specification of a Patent granted to
Thomas and Charles Clark for "glazing and enamelling cast iron hollow ware,"
which Patent was sealed on the 25th day of May 1939, or the process
described by Charles Henry Paris in his Specification, "as a means of pre-
venting the oxidation of certain descriptions of articles made of sheet or
wrought iron," which Patent was sealed January 3rd, 1849, as a mode of
procedure inboth casesare applicable to the coating or enamelling ofthearticles
named in my Provisional Specification, namely, "railway and other carriage
"door handles, as also handles for other purposes, parts of carriage steps,
"shaft tips, pole looks and crabs, breechen staples, draw bar, and carriage
lamps' sockets, apron and elbow knobs,head joints, nail and screw heads,
and other interior carriage fittings, as well as buckles for harness and other
purposes, terrets, cock eyes; as well as certain parts of cart furniture,
"axletree caps, plates, and such like articles apertaining to the uses and
purposes herein enumerated."
"
<
"
In shaping or forming the various articles I purpose finishing by this pro-
cess, I observe in every instance to avoid all angles, edges, or projections, as
the glass or vitrifying coating is apt to run during the process of firing and
leave these parts bare.
I have before observed that I purpose either coating such articles in one
two, or more colours of glass or enamel. And I wish to be understood by
this, that a part or parts of any of the articles herein enumerated may be of
one colour and another part of parts of another colour or colours, and which,
by referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed, will be more clearly under-
stood; as, for instances, Figure 1 and Fig. 2 represent two carriage door handles,
one part of Fig. 1 being represented as enamelled blue and the other part
green, simply by way of example as I believe white, as shewn at Figure 2,
would be the most appropriate colour for the larger portions of each article.
Fig. 3 represents a side view of what is termed a shaft tip, as applied to the
ends of gig or carriage shafts, part of which, marked A, is represented as
broken off; the tip itself is supposed to be enamelled white, terminating with
a blue bead.
Fig. 4. represents a pole hook for the poles of carriages, the hook itself
being coloured blue, as also the screw heads by which it is secured to, the

page_text: pole, while the part through which they pass may be of white enamel,
or other suitable colour, in suit with the other parts and fittings. Fig. 5
represents an apron or other pin, the knob of which may be of one colour and
the neck of another; and, again, with a terret, represented at Fig. 6, the ring
of which may be coated as here represented with white enamel, while the neck
may be of blue, and so with the rein hook, represented at Figure 7. The shield
in the handle, represented at Figure 1, may be further ornamented by a crest,
or any other emblazonment, which may be done by being painted on with
vitrifying colours, or by being printed insuch suitable colours (and transferred,
to be secured by burning in), in the same or similar way by which some
descriptions of china or delft ware are ornamented.
I do not deem it necessary to further illustrate by Drawing all the articles
to which my mode of finishing is applicable, as the kind of articles, the
furniture, and fittings herein enumerated are well known in the markets to
the manufacturers and consumers of such goods.
And having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it understood that what I
do claim as new and original is, the means herein described of finishing or
ornamenting the various articles herein before named as appertaining to the
furniture or fittings of carriages or other vehicles, as well as the metallic parts
of general carriage and other harness furniture, by coating the outward surfaces
of such articles with enamel or glass, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Howard Ashton Holden, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven
HOWARD ASHTON HOLDEN. (L.s.)
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
26, Ann Street, Birmingham.