IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPUL- CHRAL MONUMENTS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Potts, of Handsworth, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPUL-
CHRAL MONUMENTS."
Sealed the 25th November 1856, and dated the 4th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Potts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th Juno 1856.
I, WILLIAM POTTS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after explained
of constructing sepulchral monuments, whereby economy in construction is
combined with superior architectural and artistic design. I make covers for
tombs or graves by casting or moulding the said covers in artificial or natural
stone or metal, or by cutting or otherwise forming stone, marble, or other
material. I make in the said covers recesses or projections to receive an
inscription frame at or near the middle thereof; I insert in or place upon the
said inscription frame inscription plates, which I prefer to make of metal, the

page_text: said plates being composed of parts, so as readily to permit the record of a
recent death to be introduced without requiring an entirely new plato. By
casting in natural stone, I mean fusing such natural mineral productions as
may be fused, and casting in the ordinary manner from the fused matter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by tho said William Potts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
POTTS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Potts, Her special licence that I, the said William Potts, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Potts,
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 SEPULCHRAL
MONUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Potts, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Potts, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after described, and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, of constructing sepulchral monuments, whereby
economy in construction is combined with superior architectural and artistic
design. I make covers for tombs or graves by casting or moulding the said

page_text: covers in natural or artificial stone or metal, or by cutting or otherwise form-
ing stone, marble, or other material, with recesses or projections in the centre
of the said covers.
This part of my Invention will be understood by reference to Figures 1, 2,
and 3 of the accompanying Drawing; Figure 1 representing in side eleva-
tion, and Figure 2 in end elevation (partly in section) a supulchral monu-
ment constructed according to my Invention; Figure 3 represents in plan
the tomb or grave cover. The said tomb or grave cover is marked a in the
several Figures. The recess in which the inscription frame is inserted is
marked b in Figures 2 and 3, and is indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1.
The inscription frame c, Figures 1 and 2, is formed at its lower part so as to.
fit accurately into the recess b, as will be understood by reference to Figure 2.
I cast or form the covers for tombs with flanges on their sides, as shewn at d,
Figure 2, and indicated in dotted lines at d, Figures 1 and 3. Where the
bases are formed of natural stone, I place iron bearers underneath, instead of.
a stone flange, as indicated by tinted dotted lines in Figure 3.
The said flanges are below the level of the bases of the covers, and are
made of a suitable width to sink or imbed in the unmoved earth between:
tombs. The said flanges preserve the level of the monuments if the earth
covering the tomb should sink, thereby avoiding the necessity for and expense
of brickwork to sustain it. I sometimes cast or otherwise form a saddle-
shaped cover for tombs to receive the inscription frame, as shown in elevation
in Figure 8, the transverse section being the same as that represented in
Figure 2. The inscription plates to be inserted in the inscription frame c,
Figure 1, are supplied detached from the inscription frame, so as to provide
the convenience of adding at a moderate cost a new and durable record of a
recent death.
The inscription plates are formed by two methods. For the design, Figures
1, 2, and 3, the method illustrated in Figure 4 is employed. The upper
section of the plate e has attached to it an under plato f, on which the loose
sections g, h, are screwed, so as to be removeable and replacable by similar
pieces containing the new records of death.
The plates are fastened by a flange i, at the lower end, being let into the
inscription frame, and by a lock bolt into the frame at the top. In sepulchral
monuments constructed according to the design represented in elevation in
Figure 5, in vertical section in Figure 6, and in plan in Figure 7, the inscrip-
tion plates are all loose, the said inscription plates marked k, in Figure 5,
being held to the inscription frame by screws and nuts, and removable at
pleasure to be replaced by others containing records of deaths.

page_text: The screws by which the inscription plates are secured to the monument
pass through the holes 7, 1, Figure 6, and the nuts are screwed on the said
screws in the interior of the monument. Access is gained to the interior of
the monument for the purpose of screwing and unscrewing the inscription
plates by the removal of the cover m, which said cover may be secured in its
place by a lock.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same may
bo varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention. But I
claim as my Invention the improvements in sepulchral monuments herein-
before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say,
the casting or forming covers for tombs or graves with recesses or projections
to receive the inscription frames at the centres of the said covers, and also
casting or forming the said covers with flanges below the level of the bases
or ground lines of the said covers, to preserve the level of the said covers if
the grave itself sinks, and also supplying inscription plates composed, as
described, in loose pieces, so as to readily affix a new record of a death.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Potts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM POTTS. (L.S.)