AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING LETTERS OR CHARACTERS FOR SIGNS AND SHEW BOARDS, FRONTS OF SHOPS, HOUSES, AND OTHER PLACES, AND FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE OP COMPOSING AND INDICATING NAMES OR WORDS IN RELIEF IN A CON- SPICUOUS MANNER
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MOTLEY, of the City of Bristol, Ironmonger, 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 Twenty-second
day of July, in the fifty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Motley, my exors, adñors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Motley,
my exors, adñiors, 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, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF MANUFACTURING LETTERS OR CHARACTERS FOR SIGNS AND SHEW
BOARDS, FRONTS OF SHOPS, HOUSES, AND OTHER PLACES, AND FOR ANY OTHER
PURPOSE OP COMPOSING AND INDICATING NAMES OR WORDS IN RELIEF IN A CON-
SPICUOUS MANNER;" in which said Letters Patent, there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Thomas Motley, shall not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 two
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

page_text: m and by the same relation being thereunto nad) may more rully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Motley, in compliance with
the said proviso, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained as follows (that is to say) :—
I take thin, or moderately thin, flat pieces of copper, iron, or tinned iron,
called tin plate, or of any such other metal as may be preferred, and appli-
cable to the purpose, and from the said metal I do cut out or stamp, or by
other fit mechanical means form and fashion the same into the shape or figure
of a letter of the alphabet or other character; and in case the said metal, by
gilding or polishing or painting, or by any other means, be so prepared as to
have an outside and an inside surface as to the intended face of the letter, I
do form and fashion the said letter so as to be adapted to range from left to
right along with other letters if intended for inscriptions or to be read, or
otherwise I do form and fashion the said letter in the manner called reverse,
so as to be adapted to range from right to left with other letters, if intended
to be used for marking, printing, or impressing. And further, I do place the
said letter so formed and fashioned flat upon a block of wood or metal, having
thereon fastened or fixed, or otherwise made or constructed, certain pieces of
or protuberances or one single piece or protuberance of thin metal so figured
or cut away within the surface thereof as to afford a cell or receptacle, within
which the said letter may and shall lie flat upon the said block, and be sur-
rounded on all sides by the said thin metal, in contact, as nearly as may be,
with the edges thereof, and rising perpendicularly a little above the said edges.
And I do prepare certain other pieces, called side pieces, of thin metal, so
fashioned, and, if need be, bended, as that the edges thereof, when placed up-
right, or, if required, obliquely upon the said letter, and in contact with the
sides of the said cell or receptacle, shall constitute a kind of box of the shape
of the letter itself, and of the same width, and if preferred of a greater width,
the farther from the face of the said letter, and I do solder all the said other
pieces of thin metal or side pieces to the back of the said letter; and in some
cases, instead of soldering the said side pieces to the back of the letter, I do cut
the letter out of such a shape as to leave side pieces to be bended up into their
places by hammering up against a fit tool applied and held at the back of the
letter itself, and I do close the said kind of box by soldering a top or upper
plate into or upon the same. And moreover, for the greater strength and
solidity of the letter so formed and completed, I do, as may be required, solder
certain edge bars or strengthening pieces within the same; or otherwise I do

page_text: fill the said kind of box previous to closing the same with sand or earth, or
clay, or mortar, or plaster of Paris, or any cheap metal, or other simple or
mixed material fit for that use. And farther, I do make the said letters, par-
ticularly if of small size, by casting the back part of lead or other metal
either solid or hollow (instead of the side plates), and adherent to the face or
front plate or letter so cut out as aforesaid.
And lastly, as to the said letters, I do, as may be required, affix the same
to any board or platform, or surface of metal or other material, by means of
holdfast, and pins or screws, or by soldering or letting in, or any other usual
means of effecting work of the like nature.
And I do further declare that, with regard to letters intended to be fixed
upon separate blocks, the nature of the shanks or bodies of types, I do form
and make the said letters in the manner herein-before described, or otherwise
by simple casting, and do fix or solder or rivet the same upon blocks con-
structed hollow, and rendered strong and solid by the same means as are
herein-before described with regard to the said letters first mentioned; and I
do use and apply the said letters so fixed to blocks in printing, by composing
and imposing the same together as usual, or otherwise I do solder, attach, and
connect together a number of the said letters so as to constitute an entire
block or face, or form an instrument for printing large bills or inscriptions, or
for marking sacks, bales, sheep, and other objects to which the process of
marking is required to be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Motley, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twelve.