AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCULPTURING SURFACES OF MARBLE AND STONE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Poole, of the Avenue Road, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
SCULPTURING SURFACES OF MARBLE AND STONE."--A communication.
Sealed the 25th September 1855, and dated the 25th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Poole at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th June
1855.
T, MOSES POOLE, of the Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
5 Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN SCULPTURING SURFACES OF MARBLE AND STONE" to be as follows:-
"This Invention consists in sculpturing surfaces of marble and stone in the
following manner:-A cast is taken from the sculptured or other surface
which it is desired to imitate, and from this cast a wax model is made; this
model is then bent over a cylinder, and when thus bent a mould is constructed
from it into which iron is run. The cylinder or portion of a cylinder of iron
thus formed is caused to roll regularly backwards and forwards over the
surface of stone to be sculptured, fine sand and water being placed between
the two surfaces, and in a short time the raised surface of the cylinder imbeds.
itself in the marble or stone, and thus a copy of the original surface is obtained
on the marble or stone.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Moses Poole in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MOSES
POOLE, of the Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
14
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year..of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Moses Poole, Her special licence that I, the said Moses Poole, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses
Poole, my executors, administrators, and 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, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCULPTURING
SURFACES OF MARBLE AND STONE," (being a communication from abroad,) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Moses Poole, 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 per-
formed, 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.
.
• NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Moses Poole, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, together with the Drawings. hereto annexed, that is to
say:-
Fig. 1 is a perspective view, Fig. 2 an end view, of the machine which I
employ in carrying out the Invention.-
The Invention consists in rolling or rocking an engraved or embossed
metallic surface in contact with a surface of, marble or wood, sand or other
suitable cutting material being interposed, between the metallic surface and
the wood or stone to be operated upon, whereby the latter is ground or
cut away, and an exact counterpart of the metallic embossed surface, is
produced.
To enable others skilled in the art to understand the Invention, I will

page_text: proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out, and the details
of the machine which I employ. This machine does not differ in principle
from that employed for engraving upon glass, and varies therefrom only in
form and in the mode of operation.
In the accompanying Drawings, A is the foundation, to which the material B
to be embossed is keyed; C is the rocker, to which the metallic matrix D is
secured, the design upon the latter being produced upon a surface curved
to correspond to the arc in which the rocker vibrates; E, F, are straps of
leather or other suitable non-elastic material, one end of each of which being
attached to the rocker, the other to the bed piece; by which means, whilst the
rocker is permitted to vibrate in contact with the bed, it is prevented from
moving transversely with reference thereto, the end stops G preventing the
rocker from moving in a longitudinal direction. The method which I have
adopted to procure the matrix for embossing upon stone or wood I will now
describe.
An impression is taken in wax, gutta percha, hard india-rubber, or other
suitable elastic substance of any bas or mezzo relief that it is desired to copy.
This impression is then bent round a cylinder of the same degree of curvature
as the rocker C. When thus bent an impression is taken therefrom, which
serves as a pattern for casting in iron the matrix D. This is a method which I
have adopted with success for producing various designs in cast iron to be
transferred to the surface of other materials, as above described. Other
methods may be employed for the purpose, but as these form no part of the
T
of the machine which I employ. This machine does not differ in principle
from that employed for engraving upon glass, and varies therefrom only in
form.and in the mode of operation.
In the accompanying Drawings, A is the foundation, to which the material B
to be embossed is keyed; C is the rocker, to which the metallic matrix D is
secured, the design upon the latter being produced upon a surface curved
to correspond to the arc in which the rocker vibrates; E, F, are straps of
leather or other suitable non-elastic material, one end of each of which being
attached to the rocker, the other to the bed piece; by which means, whilst the
rocker is permitted to vibrate in contact with the bed, it is prevented from
moving transversely with reference thereto, the end stops G preventing the
rocker from moving in a longitudinal direction. The method which I have
adopted to procure the matrix for embossing upon stone or wood I will now
describe.
An impression is taken in wax, gutta percha, hard india-rubber, or other
suitable elastic substance of any bas or mezzo relief that it is desired to copy.
This impression is then bent round a cylinder of the same degree of curvature
as the rocker C. When thus bent an impression is taken therefrom, which
serves as a pattern for casting in iron the matrix D. This is a method which I
have adopted with success for producing various designs in cast iron to be
transferred to the surface of other materials, as above described. Other
methods may be employed for the purpose, but as these form no part of the
Invention they need not be particularized.
OPERATION.
The matrix being prepared is secured to the rocker, as seen in the
Drawings; the blocks of wood or stone to be cut are then keyed to the surface
of the bed immediately beneath the matrix; the rocker is then vibrated back
and forth, so as to grind the matrix upon the surface of the material to be cut,
a constant supply of sand and water being introduced between them. A
counter impression of the matrix is thus produced upon the surface of the
material beneath it, the surface being finished by using emery or other fine
cutting material. Instead of rocking the matrix in contact with the material,
a similar effect may be produced by causing the matrix to rise and descend in
a vertical plane to and from the material; this I consider, however, but a
modification of the plan above described.
For the embossing of the pillars of clocks, legs of tables, and like ornamental
articles, the machine described for the purpose of engraving upon glass may

page_text: be used. For the production of larger articles, or those upon a flat surface, as
mantle-pieces, gravestones, and the like, the rocking machine above described
may be most advantageously employed.
Having thus described the Invention as communicated.to me. by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as new, and
desire to secure by Letters Patent, is, the method herein described of
mechanically embossing and cutting stone and wood.
.In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
CHRISTOPHER WOOLLACOTT,
4, Compton St. East,
Brunswick Square.
MOSES POOLE. (L.S.)