IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SHEETS OR PLATES OF METAL
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkins, of the Firm of "Robert Walter
Winfield and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchants and Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ORNAMENTING SHEETS OR PLATES OF METAL."
Sealed the 2nd October 1868, and dated the 25th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th April 1868.
I, JAMES ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SHEETS OR PLATES OF METAL," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in ornamenting sheets or plates of metal in thé
manner herein-after described, whereby ornamental designs are produced
on the said sheets or plates either sunk or in relief.

page_text: My Invention is especially applicable to the ornamenting of sheets or
plates of iron, but may also be applied to the ornamenting of sheets or
plates of other metals or alloys.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the ornamenting of sheets
of iron. I make in sheet metal or other hard material the design
which is, to be impressed upon the sheet of iron. The said design
may either be cut out of the sheet metal, or engraved, or otherwise pro-
dueed upon its surface. I place the said design upon the sheet of iron
to be ornamented.. The face of the design (when the said design is
produced on the surface of the metal) being placed in contact with the
sheet of iron. On the other side of the sheet of iron I place a sheet or
plate of tin or other soft metal or alloy, and I pass the whole between a
pair of plain rolls, considerable pressure being applied. By this treat-
ment the pattern is impressed upon the sheet of iron, the soft metal on
the side of the sheet of iron opposite to that to which the pattern is
applied constituting a yielding surface, which permits the pattern to be
forced more effectually into the sheet of iron than would be possible if the
back of the sheet of iron were supported by the unyielding surface of the
roll. The pattern may consist of an engraved or embossed sheet of metal,
or a plate of perforated metal or wire gauze, or other ornamental material
sufficiently hard to bear the pressure to be applied.
Sheets or plates of metal ornamented by my Invention may afterwards
be made into tubes, or fashioned into various articles without injury ta
the ornamented surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said James Atkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and Manufacturers, 3
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the

page_text: thirty-first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Atkins, Her special licencé
that I, the said James Atkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Atkins, 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 ORNAMENTING SHEETS
OR PLATES OF METAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Atkins, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals;
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 James Atkins, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say):
My Invention consists in ornamenting sheets or plates of metal in the
manner herein-after described, whereby ornamental designs are produced
on the said sheets or plates, the said ornamental designs being either
sunk or in relief.
My Invention is especially applicable to the ornamenting of sheets or
plates of iron, but may also be applied to the ornamenting of sheets or
plates of other metals or alloys.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the ornamenting of sheets
of iron. I make on a plate of steel or other sheet metal; or other hard
material the design which is to be impressed upon the sheet of iron.
The said design may either be cut out of the plate of sheet metal or
engraved or otherwise produced upon its surface. I call the said plate
the pattern plate. I place the said pattern plate upon the sheet of iron
to be ornamented, the face of the pattern plate (when the design is
produced on the surface of the plate) being placed in contact with the

page_text: sheet of iron; on the other side of the sheet of iron I place a sheet or
plate of tin or other soft metal or alloy, and I pass the whole between
a pair of plain rolls, considerable pressure being applied. By this
treatment the pattern on the pattern plate is impressed upon the sheet
of iron, the soft metal on the side of the sheet of iron opposite to that
to which the pattern plate is applied constituting a yielding surface,
which permits the pattern on the pattern plate to be forced more
effectually into the sheet of iron than would be possible if the back of
the sheet of iron were supported by the unyielding surface of the roll.
The pattern to be impressed upon the sheet of iron or other metal may
consist of an engraved or embossed sheet of metal, or a plate of per-
forated metal or wire gauze, or other ornamental material sufficiently
hard to bear the pressure to be applied. Instead of employing at. the
back of the sheet of iron or metal to be ornamented a sheet or plate
of tin or other soft metal or alloy, non-metallic substances may be
employed with the same effect. For example, sheets of thin paper or
card may be employed instead of the soft metal plate; or a coating of
whiting or other soft non-metallic matter, such as plaster of Paris may
be applied at the back of the plate to be ornamented. When I use
whiting or plaster of Paris I make it of about the consistency of cream,
and mix with it a little size; I apply it to the back of the plate to be,
ornamented by means of a brush, several coatings being given. Where
large quantities of sheet metal ornamented with the same pattern are
required, or where a long sheet of metal having a continuous pattern
on it has to be produced, I prefer to make the pattern on one of the
rolls employed instead of upon a separate pattern plate. The plate to
be ornamented is in this case either coated in the manner herein-before
described, on its back, or the side which is presented to the plain roll,
or a plate of tin or other soft metal, or a sheet or sheets of paper or
other non-metallic substance are placed between the sheet to be orna
mented, and the plain roll. The rolls which I employ in carrying my
Invention into effect are of the ordinary kind, and are worked in the
ordinary manner, and the process of rolling is also performed in the
ordinary manner.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim
as my Invention, the improvements in ornamenting sheets or plates of
metal herein-before described, that is to say, ornamenting sheets or plates
of metal by the use of a pattern plate applied to one side of the sheet or
plate to be ornamented, in conjunction with a sheet of tin or other soft
metal or alloy, or sheets of paper or other soft non-metallic material, or
a coating of a soft or yielding material applied to the other side of the
sheet or plate to be ornamented, the said sheet or plate to be ornamented
together with the said pattern plate and sheet, material or coating at its
back being passed with considerable pressure through a pair of rolls;
or making the pattern on the surface of one of the rolls instead of using
a separate pattern plate, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
20 Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES ATKINS. (L.S.)