AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF CLAY FOR POTTERS USE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Cochran, of Verreville Pottery, Glasgow,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF CLAY FOR
POTTERS USE."
Sealed the 4th September 1855, and dated the 13th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Cochran at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
July 1855.
I, ROBERT COCHRAN, of Verreville Pottery, Glasgow, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF CLAY
FOR POTTERS USE," to be as follows:-
In preparing clay for potters, it is made into what is technically called "slip ;"
and in place of treating the clay or slip as heretofore, my improvement consists
of placing the same in a vessel and boiling it by means of steam.
For this
purpose, an iron pan or vessel, by preference coated with zinc on the interior, is
fixed within an outer vessel in such manner as to leave a small space between
the inner and outer vessel. Into this space steam is admitted, and the slip or
prepared clay is quickly brought to a boil. By this means the process of pre-
paration of clay for potters' use will be much more quickly performed than
heretofore. There is a pipe to draw off the condensed steam, and a cock or
valve on the steam pipe to regulate the supply of steam to the space between
the two vessels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Cochran in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
COCHRAN, of Verreville Pottery, Glasgow, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Cochran, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Cochran,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Cochran, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLAY FOR POTTERS' USE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Cochran, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 1, the said Robert Cochran, lo 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:
In preparing clay for potters, it is made into what is technically called "slip;"
and in place of treating the clay or slip as heretofore, my improvement consists
of placing the same in a vessel and boiling it by means of steam. For this
purpose, an iron pan or vessel, by preference coated with zinc on the interior, is
fixed within an outer vessel in such manner as to leave a small space between
the inner and outer vessel. Into this space steam is admitted, and the slip or
prepared clay is quickly brought to a boil. By this means the process of pre-
paration of clay for potters' use will be much more quickly performed than
heretofore. There is a pipe to draw off the condensed steam, and a cock or
valve on the steam pipe to regulate the supply of steam to the space between
the two vessels. The pans used in carrying out my Invention may be of any

page_text: convenient size, having below their inner bottoms a space of three or four
inches deep for receiving steam, in order that the pans into which the slip is
put (to be boiled) may be heated below by steam. The slip is run into these
pans, and steam is admitted to the under compartments of the pans so as to
boil the slip. Provision is made for conveying off condensed water, as is well
understood. By thus applying heat to boil the slip, the process of preparing
clay for potters is quickened and improved.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Cochran, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JAMES FLEMING,
of Glasgow, Clerk.
ROBERT COCHRAN. (L.S.)