IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES OR KNOBS FOR STICKS, UMBRELLAS, AND PARASOLS, FOR SWORDS, KNIVES, FORKS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CUTLERY, FOR PISTOL BUTTS, AND SMALL ARMS STOCKS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES OR KNOBS FOR STICKS, UMBRELLAS, AND PARASOLS,
FOR SWORDS, KNIVES, FORKS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CUTLERY, FOR PISTOL
BUTTS, AND SMALL ARMS STOCKS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES."
Sealed the 27th July 1860, and dated the 4th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th February
1860.
I, JOHN SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES OR KNOBS FOR STICKS, UMBRELLAS, AND PARASOLS,.
FOR SWORDS, KNIVES, FORKS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CUTLERY, FOR PISTOL BUTTS,
AND SMALL ARMS STOCKS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows, that
is to say:
My Invention consists in making the above-named articles or parts of such
articles of or partly of a composition or plastic material, and in the process of
preparing the said composition. The materials of which the composition is-
made are shell-lac, ebony, or other sawdust, or vegetable fibre, charcoal, and
asphaltum, to which may be added, when required, any suitable colouring.
matter. This composition, when warm, is readily moulded in dies, by which

page_text: any form or ornamentation may be given; and for articles requiring greater
strength than the material itself possesses, I mould the composition upon cores
or blanks of any stronger material, such as metal or wood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Smith, Her special license that I, the said John Smith, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Smith, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES OR Ķ NOBS FOR STICKS, UMBRELLAS, AND PARASOLS,
FOR SWORDS, KNIVES, FORKS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CUTLERY, FOR PISTOL BUTTS,
AND SMALL ARMS STOCKS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Smith, 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.
:.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention consists in the production of the articles or parts of the
articles named in the title from a composition or plastic material not hitherto
used for these purposes, and in the process of preparing the said composition.

page_text: The materials employed in the manufacture of black composition articles are,
shell-lac, ebony dust, and charcoal. If coloured composition articles be required,
the charcoal must be omitted or reduced in quantity, and any suitable colouring
matter, such as powdered pigments, must be added.
The process of making the composition, and subsequently manufacturing it
into the articles already named, is as follows:-I take one pound of shell-lac
and dissolve it by heat on a flat iron slab, I then mix with it an equal quantity
by bulk of ebony dust, produced either by sawing, turning, pulverization, or
otherwise, after which I add the colouring matter; this, for an intense black
composition, consists of three ounces of black aspbaltum reduced to a fine
powder, three ounces of ivory black or charcoal powder or lampblack, the
ivory black being used for the purpose of hardening the composition; or, if
hardness be not desirable, then I employ charcoal or lampblack. In making
a chocolate or brown tinted composition, I use with the shell-lac three ounces
of brown asphaltum in place of the black asphaltum, and about one ounce of
the ordinary rouge of commerce, more or less, according to the tint required.
To produce greens, blues, or other dark colours, I employ any suitable colouring
matter, in proportions which must be governed by the nature of the pigment
employed and the depth of tint desired; but for light colours I use as a
principal colouring agent, for it imparts strength as well as colour, the dust of
boxwood, produced by any of the means aforesaid, to which, if still lighter tint
be required, a more intense white, in the shape of pigment, may be added. The
whole of these ingredients must be thoroughly amalgamated until the mass
shall appear homogeneous in its nature throughout, if such property bo
requisite and an even colour be demanded; but if a streaked or veined
material is to be produced, this thorough amalgamation will be best avoided,
as the accidental embodying of the pigment or colouring may assist very much
in the manufacture of imitation marbles, onyx, malachite, or other stones;
this result may also be attained by twisting or rolling together masses of
differently coloured compositions. The whole of these ingredients having
been well mixed upon a slab on a stove whilst the lac is in a plastic state and
under heat, the composition is then to be placed in sufficient quantities in
dies of any description prepared and designed for the form of the article
intended to be produced; these dies being removed to a press the article to be
produced is completed by pressure, and the composition being cooled by
contact with the dies is ready to be removed in a finished state. Where greater
density of material than the above is desired, that quality may be produced by
the addition of mineral substances, such as barytes or oxide of manganese, and
when greater tenacity than the above is desired, that quality may be produced

page_text: by the addition of vegetable fibre (other than wood dust), as, for instance, the
shearings of cotton, velveteens, or hemp, or flax, or such like articles. Where
greater lightness as well as greater strength of composition than that above
described is particularly required, it may be obtained by the admixture with
the composition of paper pulp. The dies and presses employed being of the
ordinary kind used for producing stamped brass foundry, and for many other
similar manufacturing purposes, further description of this part of the process
is unnecessary. For articles requiring greater strength than the solid material
possesses, or where it may be deemed desirable to economize the composition,
I mould the composition upon cores or blanks of any stronger and cheap
material, such as metal or wood; this process of manufacture would be
especially applicable to the production of handles for umbrellas, sticks, and
swords.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim the improvements in the manu-
facture of handles or knobs for sticks, umbrellas, and parasols, for swords,
knives, forks, and other articles of cutlery, for pistol butts, and small arms
stocks, and for other similar articles of composition, consisting substantially of
the ingredients herein more particularly specified, but without limiting myself
to any exact proportions of such ingredients, as the same will admit of much
variation without materially affecting the nature of the composition.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN SMITH (L.S.)