IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPIER MACHE
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRINDLEY, formerly of Birmingham, but now of Twickenham, in the County of
Middlesex, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Brindley, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, solo privilege and authority, that I, tho said William Brindley, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Brindley, my
exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPIER MACHE;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said William Brindley, should cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to bo performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
William Brindley, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists,--.
First, of improvements in producing ornamental and other surfaces in relief
on trays and other articles of papier maché.
Secondly, my Invention consists of a mode of manufacturing hollow articles of
papier mache, such as basons for holding water so as to produce wash-hand
basons suitable for camp furniture and such like purposes.
Thirdly, my Invention consists of making hats of papier maché.
And in order that my Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to
describe the means pursued by me; and in doing so I would state that many
articles of papier maché have of late years been made by taking a thick sheet
of pulp, produced either by placing a succession of sheets of wet paper from a
sieve or mould on to each other as they are made, or else by obtaining a
thickness of pulp (as may be required) on to a sieve or mould as practised in
making mill board, and placing the same whilst still retaining some of the
moisture between two moulds, and drying such sheet of pulp so made whilst
securely retained by the two moulds. In these cases the moulds have been
plain.
Now the first part of my Invention consists of employing moulds with
sunk or hollow parts according to design, so as to obtain articles of
papier mache from sheets (made as above explained) with designs in
relief. And in order to carry out this part of my Invention I use metal
moulds, but in place of their being plain and producing plain surfaces I have
them made with engraved or other sunk surfaces, so that when the sheet of
pulp is compressed between moulds, one or other or both of which having
recesses in pattern, thoso will produce the article of papier macho with
surfaces in relief. And as it would be expensive to make a number of moulds
of the same pattern, if of metal, I employ papier mache in making numerous
patterns from one pattern, and this I do by placing a succession of sheets
between the moulds, and then to dress up such moulded articles as if they
were to be japanned; but in place thereof I only saturate them with oil, and
stove them, and then use them in obtaining a series of moulds for making trays
and other articles of papier mache, according as the moulds are made suitable
for one article or another; and therefore I shall in fact be using moulds
made of papier mache rendered hard by oil and by drying, which will be a

page_text: means of obtaining a great saving, as such moulds will allow of the sheets of
pulp being dried and stoved between such papier mache moulds. And in
order to give strength I retain the use of the ordinary moulds of sheet
metal. Or in place of making the papier mache moulds from sheets, as above
described, I can take the papier mache articles moulded and dried between
the ordinary moulds, and I can cut out with a sharp knife or instrument the
parts where surfaces in relief are to be obtained to the articles of papier
mache made thereby. By this last means, however, the parts of the articles
of papier mache which are produced in relief will not produce patterns of that
sharp and varied character as when. using metal moulds with surfaces in relief
or sunk.
I would remark, in respect to this part of my Invention, that I am
aware that that class of papier mache articles which have heretofore been
produced by grinding matters into a plastic state have been moulded into
various articles with raised and ornamental surfaces. I do not therefore"
claim the moulding of articles of papier maché generally, so as to obtain
surfaces in relief thereon, but only when working with sheets produced from
pulp by suitable sieves. And I have only further to state, in respect to this
part of my Invention, that the articles so produced with surfaces in relief are
to be dressed, saturated with oil, stoved, and finished in the ordinary manner,
according to the purpose to which they are to be applied.
The second part of my Invention consists of making basons of papier mache
so that they may be used to contain water, and this I do by causing sheets
of pulp made by series from pulp, as above explained, to be pressed between
two moulds. Those which I employ are of sheet metal raised into the shape
desired. The sheet of pulp produced as above explained is placed on the
outside of one mould, and by it is caused to take the shapo thereof, and then
the other mould is to be put on, and the sheet of pulp is to be pressed between
the two moulds. And before drying or stoving the same between such moulds,
I examine the inside and outside surfaces, to see that they are equal and
smooth, and if not repair the same as heretofore practised. I then, having
put the mould together, and finally pressed the pulp, clamp.or fasten the two
parts of the mould securely together, and then dry or stove the same, after
which I take out the bason of papier mache, and trim and dress the same,
and saturate it with oil, and stove the same, as if about to have it japanned;
but in place of japanning in the ordinary manner the article thus produced is.
applicable as a bason for containing water, and to be used as a washhand
bason, but I prefer to paint (with white or other paint) the interior of the
basons made of papier mache, and then to subject them to heat of about

page_text: two hundred degrees of Fahrenheit or upwards, till the smell of paint is gone
off. By this mode of operation a new manufacture of basons is obtained.
The third part of my Invention consists of applying a like means of opera-
tion in the manufacture of hats. For this purpose similar moulds to those
used for basons, but of the shape of the desired hat, are to bo used, such
moulds having projecting edges suitable to produce the brims; and hats of
papier mache are to be produced from sheets of pulp produced as above
explained, and the same are to be shaped, and pressed and dried, trimmed,
saturated with oil, and stoved, as above described, and then, if for japanned
hats, they are to be japanned in the ordinary manner of japanning, or they may
be painted or not, as desired.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details, so long as the peculiar character of either part of my
Invention be retained; but what I claim are means of manufacturing articles
of papier mache, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brindley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.