A COMPOSITION FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING OF ARTIFICIAL TEETH, EITHER SINGLE, DOUBLE, OR IN Rows, OR IN COMPLEAT SETTS, AND ALSO SPRINGS FOR FASTENING OR AFFIXING THE SAME IN A MORE EASY AND EFFECTUAL MANNER THAN ANY HITHERTO DISCOVERED, WHICH SAID TEETH MAY BE MADE OF ANY SHADE OR COLOUR, WHICH THEY WILL RETAIN FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME, AND WILL CONSEQUENTLY MORE PERFECTLY RESEMBLE THE NATURAL TEETH THAN ANY NOW MADE
Year: 1791

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, NICHOLAS
DUBOIS DE CHEMANT, of the City of Paris, in the Kingdom of France, Surgeon
Dentist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
Ilis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of May, in the thirty-first year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said Nicholas Dubois de Chemant, His especial
licence, that I, the said Nicholas Dubois de Chemant, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "A COMPOSITION FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING OF ARTIFICIAL TEETH, EITHER
SINGLE, DOUBLE, OR IN Rows, OR IN COMPLEAT SETTS, AND ALSO SPRINGS FOR
FASTENING OR AFFIXING THE SAME IN A MORE EASY AND EFFECTUAL MANNER THAN
ANY HITHERTO DISCOVERED, WHICH SAID TEETH MAY BE MADE OF ANY SHADE OR
COLOUR, WHICH THEY WILL RETAIN FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME, AND WILL CONSEQUENTLY
MORE PERFECTLY RESEMBLE THE NATURAL TEETH THAN ANY NOW MADE;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Nicholas
Dubois de Chemant, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within
one calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, 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
Nicholas Dubois de Chemant, do hereby declare that my said Invention is
described in manner following, that is to say:-
To make the mineral paste or composition of which the teeth are to be
formed: Take thirty pounds of fine white sand, like that of Fontainbleau or
Aumont, wash it well three or four times until the water runs off' very clear:
dry the sand; then take ten pounds of Alicant barilla, pounded, and sifted
thro' a coarse sieve; mix both ingredients well together, and place them under
an oven or furnace (similar to that in which the tender or soft French
porcelaine or china is baked,) till they are properly purified; take seven pounds
of this composition, pound and sift it, then mix with it two pounds of the
whitest and cleanest well dried marle, moisten it in very clear water, and
grind it in a mill (such as mustard grinders make use of) until it becomes very
fine; then take it out and place it on plates of plaister to dry, and the paste is
compleat.
To make other pastes, but of a quality inferior to the above: Take about
half an ounce of English carth, such as earthenware is made of; add to it six
grains of earth of Dombes, calcined, three grains of Naples yellow, and one
dram of Prussian blue; mix the whole together, as above, beginning with the
blue, then the yellow, &c. Or take half an ounce of caholin of Limoges,
thirty-six grains of saffron of Mars, thirty-six grains of Naples yellow, one
dram of Prussian blue; mix the whole together as before. Or take half an
ounce of the dust of French porcelaine, six grains of saffron of Mars, six
grains of earth of Dombes, calcined, six grains of Naples yellow, one dram
of blue, made of cobolt; mix and pound the whole as before. These pastes
(the first excepted) have their colour in their formation, but in order to give a
colour to the pastes first described, take four pounds and a quarter of it, to
which add one quarter of a pound of saffron of Mars and one grain of Prussian
blue, finely pounded; mix them well together. Or take twenty-four ounces
of the same paste, one ounce of saffron of Mars, one grain of Prussian blue;
pound and mix them as before. Or, to thirty ounces of the same paste, ndd
one ounce of saffron of Mars, one grain of Prussian blue; pound and mix
them as before. Any of these compositions for different colours, according to
the particular shade required, are to be mixed and worked up with this paste
at the time of its being made.
To make the teeth so as accurately to supply and fit the interval in the
gums: Take a quantity of softened wax and place it in the mouth, which
being then shut will give the exact impression of the cavity required to be
filled up; in this wax is poured a composition formed of plaister of Paris, such

page_text: as is mixed for cornice moulds, which, when dry, gives a true and solid model
of the mouth; either of the above pastes which you chuse to use is then,
well kneaded, so as to make it flexible and compact, and is pressed into the
plaister mould. The paste having now acquired its proper shape, is taken out
of the mould and laid on any flat and hard surface, and is dried either in the
sun or before the fire; when it is so far dried as not easily to be put out of
shape, carve out the teeth with a pen knife or other sharp instrument to the
form you wish, after which you place it in the oven on plates made of cartli,
such as are made use of for the French porcelaine. As the paste in drying
loses somewhat of its thickness, spread or widen the wax mould when taken
out of the mouth to an increase in extent of about one seventh, which is done
by pressing on the middle of it with the thumb and middle finger, and
determine the space by compasses. Observe to bore such holes as may be
necessary for the fastenings before the teeth are perfectly dry.
To make an enamel Take ten pounds of the best lead, six pounds of
pewter; calcine both together, reduce the whole to powder, and pass it
thro' a hair sieve; then take ten pounds of sand, such as that of Fontainebleau,
four pounds of barilla of Alicant; mix them well together; sift them thro' &
hair sieve; put them into a crucible of a proper size, and place it under the
oven or furnace to be baked. Take ten pounds of this mixture, clean it well,
and pound it very fine; add to it one pound of spermaceti and ono pound of
the best lead; then four pounds of borax; mix the whole together, and put
them into a good crucible under the oven; afterwards, you clean and pound it
well, and add to it as many ounces of red lead as there are pounds of enamel ;
moisten it with water, and pass it thro' the mill. This enamel, mixed with clean
water, is now to be applied to the teeth with a hair pencil, after which the teeth
are again put under the oven or furnace till the enamel is hardened, observing
that the degree of heat must be milder than is necessary to purify the paste, as
first mentioned. Observe, also, that the enamel must be laid on the paste
formed of caholin of Limoges in the same manner as is usual in common hard
porcelaine. That part of the teeth which is intended to represent the gums is
coloured with such quantity of carmine, according to the shade required, mixed
with spirit of turpentine, and laid on with a hair pencil, after which they are
again placed in the oven, but in a still milder degree of heat, and when the
colour is dry the teeth are fully compleat.
To make the springs and fastenings for whole sets: Take any quantity you
like of gold at the standard of twenty carats, convert it into wire of the
thickness of a small pin; but before it is so reduced, that is, about three holes
hefore the last of the machine through which it is passed, make it red in the

page_text: fire, which will make it fit for the intended springs; after passing it through a
mixture of three fourths of common water and one of aquafortis, you twist it
hard round a mandrill of the thickness of which you wish to make the spring,
that is, in proportion to the hinges in which it is to be put. The hinges must
also be made of gold of the same standard; they are soldered on a plate of
gold, which is placed on the side of the set of teeth. The flat part of the
hinge must be bored with a hole large enough for a strong pin, through which
hole you pass the pin which is to join the spring to the hinge, taking care to
solder a plate of gold to the bottom of the hinge, which should be about one
oighth of an inch in length and one tenth in thickness within. Single, double,
treble, &c. teeth are fastened in the usual known manuer.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Dubois de Chemant, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of June, in the year
T
on hundred and minatur
N. DUBOIS DECHEMANT. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Tenth day of June, in
the year above written, the aforesaid Nicholas Dubois de Chemant, came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.