A NEW MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL METAL OR METALS
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JOHN KNOWLYS, of Trinity College, Oxford, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Thomas John Knowlys, in consequence of a
communication made to be by a certain foreigner residing abroad am in
possession of an Invention of "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL METAL OR
METALS;" and whereas His present most Excellent Majesty King George
the Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing dato at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of June, in the seventh year
of Ilis reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas John Knowlys, His especial licence that I, the said
Thomas John Knowlys, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas John Knowlys, 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, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonics and Plantations abroad,
the said Invention of "A New Manufacture of Ornamental Metal or Metals;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Thomas John Knowlys, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performel, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said 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, I, the said
Thomas John Knowlys, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to
consist in ornamenting silver or gold articles, by introducing or melting into
an engraved, etched, stamped, or otherwise indented matrix on the surface
thereof a new metal, as herein-after described. And in further compliance
with the said proviso, I, the said Thomas John Knowlys, do hereby describe
the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed by, the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
:-
I take half an ounce of standard silver and three ounces of fine copper
and melt them in a crucible, adding by degrees five ounces of lead, and stir the
metals together with pieces of dry wood so as to completely amalgamate them.
I then add by degrees a pound and an half of sulphur and half an ounce of
sal-ammoniac, and keep continually stirring the whole, so as to make each
ingredient mix well with the others. When the whole is completely melted
and the sulphur is volatilized, I pour the mixture into an iron pot, at the
bottom of which I previously strew an ounce of sulphur, and I cover up the
pot immediately to prevent the fumes of the sulphur escaping. I then let
the mixture cool, and when cold break it into convenient lumps, and melt
these lumps again in a crucible, stirring the mixture well all the time, and
when melted pour or cast it into convenient ingots for use. These ingots I
call the new metal. When required to apply this new metal for tho
ornamenting of gold or silver articles as aforesaid, I pound one or more of the
said ingots in a mortar, and make a paste of the powder so produced by
mixing it with a solution of sal-ammoniac and water, in the proportion of
about one part of sal-ammoniac to four parts of water, and having previously
engraved, etched, stamped, or otherwise indented the surface of the gold or
silver article to be ornamented, I spread this paste to the thickness of about
one-twentieth part of an inch evenly over the said surface and allow it to dry
gradually. When dry, I place the article so covered with the said paste or
composition over a hearth or fire, or in a muffle, such as used by enamellers,
and let it remain there till the said composition is melted, and withdraw tho
article from the fire the moment a complete fusion of the said composition has
taken place. When cold, the said composition must be filed or scraped down
nearly to the engraved surface of the said article, and then pummiced, till the
engraving or other matrix as aforesaid begins to be visible.
I then cut away
or lower part of the metal so as to form a dead ground as a relief to the
figures or patterns upon the surface. I frieze this dead ground, and, if silver,
gild it, and then with pumice or snake stone and water I again rub down
the said composition, till the engraving, etching, stamping, or otherin dentation

page_text: or matrix appears clear and defined.. And, lastly, the article and its orna-
mented surface should be polished in the ordinary way for gold and silver
articles in general.
Now, whereas the Invention to which I claim privilege, and which I call
tula work, is the filling up of engravings, etchings, stampings, indentations,
or other the like matrices formed in articles of gold or silver with the
composition aforesaid, and finishing off the said articles in manner aforesaid;
and such Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely
new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of
Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of His said Majesty's
Colonies or Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification
of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth
comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso
in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore
I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas John
Specification set my hand and seal, the
thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
Knowlys, have to this
day of December, One