IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Patey and James Richard-
son at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 17th May 1861.
I, WILLIAM PATEY, junior, of Lombard Street, in the City of London,
Perfumer, & I, JAMES RICHARDSON, of Brewer Street, Clerkenwell, in the
County of Middlesex, Brushmaker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES," to be as
follows.-
Our Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of brushes
with glass backs or bases in which the hairs or bristles are fixed, and prin-
cipally applicable to nail, tooth, hair, and clothes brushes, but also to shaving
and other kinds of brushes. In forming these brush backs we prepare metal
moulds of the shape of the different kinds of brushes & of their handles, if
made with such appendages, which moulds we place in suitable presses to
afford the necessary pressure. In the bottom mould or bed, and that in which
the melted glass is placed, we form a series of holes corresponding in position
with the several holes to be made in the foundation of the brush to receive
the several tufts of hair; we also form on the upper die or part of the
mould a series of projections or pins to correspond with the positions of the
holes in the bed, and which when in the press will, if brought down, enter
the lower holes in the bed. We have further a thin plate on the face of the
upper part of the mould, having holes through which the pins pass; this
plate is free to slide on the pins, and may be controlled by the motions of
the press, so that when the upper die or part of the mould rises the perforated
plate will be held down on the bed or lower part of the die. We place the

page_text: glass in a hot plastic state in the bed die and bring down the upper part
which compresses the glass into form & also punches the several holes
simultaneously; it may be necessary to allow the glass to cool a little before
raising the upper die or part of the mould, when it rises the perforated plate
is held down to prevent the glass adhering to the several pins or punches and
to keep it down in the bed, and thereby to keep it in the form of the mould
until the pins are withdrawn from the glass; there are of course no holes in
the handle part of the brush. It is then annealed as usual in the manufacture
of glass if necessary. In this way a brush foundation or stock is prepared
and ready to receive the bristles or hairs, the tufts of which are doubled,
inserted through the holes, and wired or otherwise secured at the back; we
further mould a glass back in suitable moulds by pressure as described as a
cover to place on the foundation containing the hair or bristles; this is made
concave, and has a series of channels or grooves on one side according as it is
desired to make a wired or trepanned brush, and so as to cover and enclose the
wiring or other fixing of the hair. We fix such back on the foundation with
cement, pins, or otherwise, so that the whole forms a solid and firm foundation
for the bristle brush. We make these brushes of colored, or opal, or other glass.
Instead of punching the holes quite through the stock as before mentioned we
sometimes form them of a depth somewhat less than the whole thickness, and
afterwards cut longitudinal channels in the opposite surface in the lines of
such holes, the channels so cut opening into the holes & forming grooves to
receive the wires used to secure the hair or bristles therein. If it is desired
that the bristles should spread or splay it may be necessary to bore some outer
holes instead of punching them all as described.
Shaving brushes we also make in two pieces, which we blow or press in
moulds, the one in the form of a ferrule piece with flanges or ribs if necessary
the bore or hole through which piece is enlarged midway of the breadth of
the ferrule piece which receives the hair or bristles at one end, and which
are fastened in the enlarged concavity from the other end, in which the
handle part is afterwards fixed. The handle part we blow in suitable moulds,
such handle being of a capsule form, the open end being fitted and fixed
in the ferrule piece.