COMPOSITIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING TRAYS, WAITERS, AND VARIOUS OTHER ARTICLES, AND NEW MODES OR METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME (THAT IS TO SAY), BY PRESSES OR STAMPS
Year: 1805

page_text: JONES, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Japanner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
March, in the forty-fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto me. the said
Thomas Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns. His especial licence
that I, the said Thomas Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein mentioned, make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "COMPOSITIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING
TRAYS, WAITERS, AND VARIOUS OTHER ARTICLES, AND NEW MODES OR METHODS OF
MANUFACTURING THE SAME (THAT IS TO SAY), BY PRESSES OR STAMPS;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas
Jones, by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, to cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said Thomas Jones. in compliance with the
said proviso, lo hereby declare that my said Invention is made and manufac-

page_text: tured in the following manner, and of the materials and ingredients following,
that is to say :-
For small articles I take 100 pounds weight (more or less) of rope, and
twenty pounds weight, more or less, of rags; and for large articles I
take one hundred pounds weight, more or less, of rope, and ten pounds
weight, more or less, of rags, and I reduce them to a pulp in water or
any suitable liquid, by bruising, beating, cutting, or grinding, or in any
other way that will answer the purpose.
And after the materials are thus
reduced to a pulp, I put to it as much vitriol or other acid as will make the
whole mass a weak acid, but it will do without any acid, but I conceive not so
well. This is one composition which I use. For another composition I take
fifty pounds weight, more or less, of nettles, and dry and hatchel them, and mix
them with fifty pounds weight (more or less) of rope, and I reduce them to
a pulp, as before described; but the former composition I conceive to be best.
But compositions may be produced or made various ways by using ropes alone,
or rags alone, though I conceive they are better mixed, or by adding to or
mixing with either, or both of them, about a third part of dung, hurds, nettles,
or any other animal or vegetable substances, or any kind of articles which
will felt; or they may be made of other materials, such as flax or hemp, or
flax and hemp mixed, or waste paper, nettles, or those articles mixed with
other articles that will felt. To collect the composition or pulp, so as to make
any article I wish, take a wire seive, or any other kind of seive, of or near the
shape of the article I intend to make, with a frame of the same size, and
deep enough to collect a sufficient quantity of the composition or pulp, which,
when pressed or compressed by the after-mentioned stamp or press, will make
the article I want thick enough, or in one solid mass, without pasting or
adding thereto; or the composition or pulp may be collected in any other way
that may answer the purpose, but I conceive seives to be best. I then
put the frame A upon the seive B (see the annexed Drawings), which
are intended to collect the composition or pulp for making an oval canoe;
and when a sufficient quantity of the composition or pulp is collected
in the seive and frame, I put on a flannel or woollen cloth, or any other
proper cloth or material, and upon that a board or other material, and
then turn the pulp out of the seive and frame upon the flannel or woollen
cloth, &c., and put another flannel or woollen cloth and board, &c., upon the
top of it, and press the same together lightly, to force out part of the liquid,
and thereby make the pulp felt. I then take off the boards, &c., and put
the composition or pulp (or it may rather now be called the felt or composi-
tion, still remaining between the flannels or woollen cloth, &c., as it then is

page_text: between the herein-mentioned dies or tools, of the shape or form of the
articles I want to make, and put the dies or tools with the felt or composition
contained therein into the stamp or press, or by putting the felt or composition
between the dies or tools, when the said dies or tools are within the stamp or
press, and press it till it becomes solid and formed into the shape I want.
When it has lost nearly all its liquid, I take from between the dies or tools,
and take the flannels or woollen cloths, &c. from it, and put it into a stove or
oven of a moderate heat, well known to japanners, where it remains till it is
nearly dry. It is necessary to be cautious not to suffer it to get too dry, or it
will be liable to break when put between the dies or tools again. When it is
almost dry I take it out of the stove or oven, and put it between the dies or
tools again, with or without the flannels or woollen cloths, &c., the
dies or tools still remaining in the press or stamp, and press it with some
violence, so as to set it and make it smooth. When that is effected I put it
into the stove or oven again, and let it remain there till it is quite dry; but in
drying care must be taken to prevent the articles warping, which I do by a
frame made in the form of the inside of the article, with any sufficient weight
to keep it in its proper form, or with blocks to fit the articles, with or without
weight, or in any other way that may be found to answer the purpose. (I then,
if necessary), hammer them all over until I make them smooth and flat. I
then make a dip or compound liquid in any of the usual ways well known to
japanners of paper articles, and I put the articles I have made, being perfectly
dry, into the dip or compound liquid, the liquid being previously made warm,
or it may be used cold, but I conceive warm to be best, and let them remain
till the dip or liquid has penetrated through them. I then take them out
of the dip or liquid, and put them into the stove or oven, and let them
remain there till they are quite dry. When the articles are quite dry
they will be ready to receive the usual varnish, preparatory to rasping,
filing, floating, planing, &c., or what is generally termed skimming or
finishing the blanks, or they may be skimmed, &c. previous to varnishing.
The dies or tools which I make use of in working or manufacturing these
compositions are entirely new, as applied to the purposes herein mentioned;
and I make them of such forms as will correspond with the shape or pattern
of the article intended to be made, (see the Drawings of the dies or tools for
making an oval canoe, (C) female die, (D) male die, and which dies or tools
I make of wrought iron, cast iron, tin, or any metal, semimetal, or composi-
tion of metals, or wood, stone, clay stone, earth, or composition of earths, or
any substance or substances whatsoever, which may or can answer the purpose;
but the method or plan I adopt is, having one of the dies or tools cast iron, and

page_text: the other tin, or some other soft metal; and the plan I adopt to press the liquid
from the felt or composition, and to give the articles I intend to make their
proper forms or shapes is, by putting the dies or tools, when the felt or com-
position is contained therein, into a stamp or press, or by putting the felt or
composition between the dies or tools when in the stamp or press; but though
stamps or presses are what I use, yet the effect may be produced by leverage,
or any other power sufficient for the purpose, which power or powers are new
as applied to the herein-mentioned purposes. The use of these compositions
is intended to be extended to the making or manufacturing of all kinds of
tea trays, sandwich trays, waiters, bottle stands, boxes, baskets, caddies, or
pannels for any coach, chaise, or any other kind of carriage, tables, hats, caps,
frames, &c. of any form or shape, and various other articles made or manufac-
tured upon the above-mentioned principle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Jones, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and five.
Inrolled the same Twenty-third day of April, in the year above written.