CERTAIN NEW AND IMPROVED METHODS OF MAKING FIRE IRONS
Year: 1793

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BENTHAM, of Queen's Square Place, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of April, in the thirty-third year of His reign.
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Bentham, His especial licence that
I, the said Samuel Bentham, during the term of years therein inentioned,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN NEW AND
IMPROVED METHODS OF MAKING FIRE IRONS;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Samuel Bentham, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular 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 Court of Chancery within one calendar month
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Bentham, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say:

page_text: Ey fire irons are meant poker, shovel, and different sorts of tongs, which
being all instruments designed for lifting weight, should themselves have as
little weight as possible. Hitherto, under the notion of ornament, they have
been more or less loaded with parts which, whether they add to ornament,
add nothing at all to use. These new-invented ones, besides being so much
better adapted to use, possess the best ornament, simplicity. The Invention
consists in the making the instruments in question tubular, the tubes being
closed at the ends for the sake of strength, and to keep out dirt; hence a degree
of lightness, which can by no other means be given to such instruments with the
same degree of strength. They may be either plain or, for ornament sake, of
open work.
As to the tongs, the joint may either be made in the manner of
those most commonly in use, or in the manner of the spring joint lately come
into use for sugar tongs, or in short, or in any other manner; but what seems
best, on account of its simplicity and lightness, is to join the two legs together
by a flat plate, bent archwise and hardened so as to give it the elasticity
required. The broader the plate, so as that the breadth adds not too much to
the bulk and weight, the better, because the broader that part is, the more
effectually the ends of the tongs are secured against slipping aside and twisting
in such manner as to let go their hold. The ends of the tongs may be either
flat, as is most commonly the case with the fire tongs in present use, or spoon
fashioned, in the manner of sugar tongs. In either case they may be either made
of one piece with the stem, as in the common fire tongs, or in separate pieces
connected by screws or otherwise. The latter mode will facilitate the polishing
of the tubular parts. As to the materials, they may either be made all of iron,
or such of the parts as are not exposed to come in contact with the burning
fuel may, for ornament sake, be of silver or plated work, or any other material.
Tongs made on this principle, and proportionably smaller, are particularly
proper for beef-stake tongs. As to the poker and fire shovel, the ends may,
for the reason above mentioned, be in separate pieces from the stems, and the
end of the poker, as it is to be exposed to frequent ignition, must, if tubular,
be made at any rate much thicker than the stem.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Bentham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, One thousand seven
hundred and ninety-three.
SAM BENTHAM. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eleventh day of May,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Samuel Bentham came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Eleventh day of May, in the year above written.