IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DOLLS AND OTHER LIKE FIGURES FOR THE AMUSEMENT OR INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN, OR FOR ARTISTICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 172, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DOLLS AND
OTHER LIKE FIGURES FOR THE AMUSEMENT OR INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN, OR
FOR ARTISTICAL PURPOSES."—A communication from abroad by Gabriel
Benda, of Coburg, in the Duchy of Saxe Coburg.
Sealed the 3rd April 1872, and dated the 27th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th December 1871.
I, JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 172, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
DOLLS AND OTHER LIKE FIGURES FOR THE AMUSEMENT OR INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN,
OR FOR ARTISTICAL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to manufacture dolls and other like
figures in such manner that the head or face can be altered or varied at

page_text: pleasure, and for this purpose I construct the body in any ordinary
manner, and I form the head plain, that is to say, I form a dummy head
or head without a face. I make masks and head dresses separately and
provide these with elastic bands or other fastenings, so that they may be
attached as required to the dummy head. Thus with one body and head
a great variety in the features and appearance can be obtained by
changing the mask and head dress.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 172, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Clayton Mewburn, Her special
licence that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Clayton
Mewburn, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF DOLLS AND OTHER LIKE FIGURES
FOR THE AMUSEMENT OR INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN, OR FOR ARTISTICAL PURPOSES,"
(a communication from abroad by Gabriel Benda, of Coburg, in the
Duchy of Saxe Coburg) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Clayton Mewburn, 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 Scal Patent Office within six

page_text: Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to manufacture dolls and other like
figures in such manner that the head or face can be altered or varied at
pleasure, and for this purpose I construct the body in any ordinary.
manner and I form the head plain, that is to say, I form a dummy head
or head without a face. I make faces, masks, and head dresses, or
portions of the head separately, and provide these with elastic bands or
other fastenings, so that they may be attached or united as required to
the dummy head.
In carrying out the Invention I make a dummy head consisting of
only the back half of a head, as seen at a in Figures 1, 2, and 3. This
dummy receives the face or front portion b, which is provided with a
piece c to take into a corresponding socket d in the throat or neck e.
The faces are further secured to the head by other fastenings, such as a
snap, a hook, or an elastic band, as represented respectively at f, g, and h
in Figure 1; or the back of the face piece b may have a dovetail or a
dovetailed groove corresponding with a dovetailed groove or dovetail in
the front of the dummy piece a, or both pieces may be dovetail grooved
to receive a double dovetail slide k, see Figure 4.
.
The front portion 6 may be either a face, as in Figures 1 and 2, or
it may be a plain dummy piece, as in Figure 3, having the general
contour of a face without features, being in this case adapted to receive
masks, which are attached by elastic bands or otherwise.
The back portion a of the head may be, as shown in Figure 1, adapted
to receive a wig or other head dress, which is secured thereto by elastic
bands or otherwise, or this portion of the head may be "dissected,” as
shewn in Figures 2 and 3, so that the dissected pieces i, i, may when
required be taken out and replaced by others which are of different form
or are provided with a different style of head dress. These dissected
pieces i, i, when in place fit together and into the dummy piece a by
means of grooves and projecting fillets or ribs, or are otherwise secured.

page_text: In some cases I "dissect" the face in a similar way, that is to say, I
form the face in several pieces, one or more of which may be removed
and replaced by others, for example, one piece may carry the eyes,
another the nose, and a third the mouth.
By constructing dolls or other like figures as before described a great
variety in the features and appearance can be obtained by changing the
face, mask, or other detachable parts, still using the same body and
dummy head.
It will sometimes be desirable to make the dolls arms and legs
removable, so that others may be substituted to correspond with altered
characteristics in the face or head. For instance, if a nigger face be
attached, then corresponding black legs and arms may also be applied.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
constructing dolls and other like figures and their heads and faces in
such manner that the character, shape, style, or appearance of the head
and face of a doll or other like figure may be varied or altered sub-
stantially as herein-before described and shewn in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
J. C. MEWBURN. (L.S.)