CERTAIN NEW METHODS OF APPLYING WELL-KNOWN PRINCIPLES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND FORMATION OF EARTHENWARES
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HAMILTON, of the City of Dublin, Gentleman, send greeting..
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the, United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of
December, in the fifty-third year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said, Joseph Hamilton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Hamilton, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN NEW METHODS OF
APPLYING WELL-KNOWN PRINCIPLES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND FORMATION OF
EARTHENWARES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Joseph Hamilton, shall not particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Hamilton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described in manner following, that is to say :-
Firstly, I take clay of the quality and composition best adapted and suit-
able to the description of porcelain or pottery or other goods I may intend
to make, and to prepare the same as usual into a fit state to be turned on the
wheel, or moulded or otherwise worked into vessels or other goods, and I do
put the said clay into a box or receptacle wherein the same can by any fit
mechanical means be submitted to pressure and forced out thro' an aperture
provided with a stop or obstacle, closing the interior part of the said aperture,
in the same manner as the hole in the machinery or apparatus for making
maccaroni is partially closed, performing that material into pipes or tubes.
and I do press out my prepared clay in like manner. But I do not claim
the said process of working, putting, and pressing out of the said clay as being
separately and in itself new, because the same is well known, and practised
with dough as well as with clay and other plastic substances; and for or by
reason of such general knowledge and practice I have not thought it needful
more fully to describe the said machinery or apparatus otherwise than by
shewing a sketch of the aperture and parts adjacent, which I have done in
the annexed Figures, where-
Fig. 1st represents a view of the nature of a plan of the aperture seen
from within, and a, a, a, denote the side or face of the box or receptacle.
The dark shaded part b, b, b, denotes that part of the aperture which is left
open, and thro' which the clay is forced by the pressure. c, c, denotes the stop
which prevents the clay from entirely filling the space withinside the pipe or
tube, and d, d, denote a bridge or cross piece within the box or receptacle for
supporting the stop c, c.
In Fig. 2, the same things are seen by a section wherein the same letters
of the alphabet are applied to parts correspondent to those in Fig. 1.
Secondly, I do apply a cap or cover, Fig. 3, upon or against the said aper-
ture, and do secure the said cap or cover in its place by screw joints, or keys,
or wedges, or other fit means; and the said cap or cover is prevented from
touching the face of the stop by the said stop being placed below the common
surface of the box, or by a cell or cavity being made within the said cap or
cover, as represented by the dark shaded part, so that a space is allowed to
remain between the cap and the stop. And I do make a small perforation
called a test hole at g; and the use or purpose of the said cap or cover is to
receive so much of the clay when pressed out of the box or receptacle as

page_text: shall fill the space between the stop and the cap, or the said cavity formed
in the latter; and the compleat filling may be known to have taken place
from the appearance of clay at the test hole
9.
Fig. 4 shews the manner of fabricating a cylindrical vessel by the protru-
sion of the clay first under or into the said cap, by which the flat part or
bottom of the vessel his formed, and afterwards by the ordinary course of
protrusion by which the sides i, i, are formed; and the vessel itself is then
separated or cut off by means of a wire or other fit tool or implement.
Thirdly, I do make the said interior stop or obstacle either convex or con-
cave as to the external face or faces thereof, and do make the said cap or
cover of such a figure internally as shall leave a space between the stop and
the cap, of such form and dimensions as shall admit of clay to be forced
therein, and to form bowls, potts, and other vessels as may be required, and
I do accordingly make such bowls, potts, and vessels, and do deliver the same
out of the said space by first withdrawing the interior stop by direct force,
or by means of a screw or lever or any other suitable mechanism (the appa-
ratus being so varied from that of Fig. 1, as to allow the same to be done),
and then removing or taking off the cap, and lastly, cutting off the clay
vessel by a wire or otherwise, as aforesaid. See Fig. 5, where a sugar pan
is represented by the shaded space between the internal convex stop and the
external cap or mould, which is provided with its test hole in any conveneint
part near the summit, like that of g, in Fig. 3. See also Fig. 6, where a
garden pot is in like manner represented.
Fourthly, I do make the respective surfaces of the said stops and caps in
one picce, or else in two or more pieces, to be taken assunder or withdrawn
separately or in succession, as convenience or utility may require for the due
delivery of the clay when formed into vessels or other articles as aforesaid.
And fifthly and lastly, in order to obviate any difficulty which might be
found in separating the clay from the stop in Fig. 4, and in operations
similar to those to be performed in the manner referred to by that Figure
and the description thereof for want of the access or introduction of the
external air, or from mere adhesion, I do make a small hole or holes thro'
the bottom of the intended vessel; or otherwise in preference I do supply air
from without (with or without pressure) thro' the stop itself into the place of
contact, between the face of the said stop and of the clay immediately con-
tiguous thereto. And in making of such wares as will admit of the use of
oil or grease in contact with the surface thereof, I do oil or grease my mould
previous to each operation in the same manner as is practised by the manu-
facturers of tobacco pipes; and in order more effectually to prevent the clay

page_text: from adhering to the face of the stop, I do, when requisite, interpose a plate of
inetal or wood, or plaster of Paris or other material, by placing the same upon
the face of the said stop so that the clay shall apply thereto, and the said
plate shall rise along with the vessel as the same shall be formed by the
trusion, and remain therein until afterward separated by the drying of the clay,
when the said plate may be taken out.
pro-
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hamilton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight, hundred and thirteen.