IMPROVEMENTS IN PALATES OR HOLDERS FOR ARTIFICIAL TEETH
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Thomas Truman, of Old Burlington Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Dentist in Ordinary' to Her Majesty's
Household, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PALATES OR HOLDERS
FOR ARTIFICIAL TEETH."
Sealed the 25th March 1856, and dated the 1st November 1855.
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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Thomas Truman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st November 1855..
I, EDWIN THOMAS TRUMAN, of Old Burlington Street, in the. County of
Middlesex, Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PALATES OR HOLDERS FOR ARTIFICIAL TEETH" to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of aluminum, either alone or
combined with gutta percha, or with another metal, or with both gutta percha
and another metal, for artificial palates for holding artificial teeth.
The specific gravity of aluminum, as compared with that of gold usually
employed for artificial palates, is so low that it renders it peculiarly suited for
the use to which I now adapt it. In my final Specification I propose to shew
the precise manner in which I work this metal to fit it for the purpose I now
describe, as well as the manner in which I connect the teeth to it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Thomas Truman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
THOMAS TRUMAN, of Old Burlington Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Dentist in Ordinary to Her Majesty's Household, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edwin Thomas Truman, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin
Thomas Truman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edwin Thomas Truman, 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 Channels Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PALATES OR HOLDERS FOR ARTIFICIAL TEETH,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin Thomas Truman,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 I, the said Edwin Thomas Truman, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the employment of aluminum, or, as it is sometimes
called, aluminium, either alone or combined with gutta percha, or with another
metal, or with both gutta percha and another metal, for artificial palates or
holders for holding artificial teeth..
By the employment of aluminum combined with gutta percha for the palates
or holders of artificial teeth, I secure with great lightness (aluminum being
about one-tenth of. the weight of gold) sufficient rigidity in the body of the
palate or holder to prevent it getting out of shape while the gutta percha
surrounding it and coming in immediate contact with the gums, and extending

page_text: over the base of the teeth, is sufficiently yielding to afford every comfort to the
wearer.
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The manner in which I carry my Invention into effect is as follows:-I
take a stout wire, or a rod, or a bar of aluminum, either round, square, or of
any other desired form, and bend it to the shape required in such a manner
that the teeth when placed upon the bar and embedded in the gutta percha,
shall occupy those places in the jaw intended to be filled by artificial teeth.
I prepare artificial teeth for securing to the aluminum holder, by fixing in the
back of each artificial tooth a loop or eye, in such manner that the loop shall
be in the same, parallel line with the length of the tooth; or I fix the loop or eye
at the base of the tooth, a method I follow particularly for back teeth. I form
the loop of platinum wire, and cause it to adhere by inserting the ends thereof
in the case of mineral teeth into the mineral while in a soft state, and then
bake them in a furnace; or any other suitable metal may be used for the loop,
and may be connected to the tooth by other means. The loop is formed to
correspond to the shape of the aluminum holder.
Now, in order to finish the palates or holders and fix the teeth thereon,
I thread on to the aluminum holder as many artificial teeth (prepared with
loops as aforesaid) as are necessary, cover the bases of the teeth, and surround
the holder with suitably prepared gutta percha applied in a heated, soft, and
plastic state, in order to cause it to fill up the spaces, and assume the form
desired. I finish the whole by shaping the gutta percha over a cast of the
gums, for which the artificial teeth are required, and allow the gutta percha to
cool, when the holder and teeth are ready to be fitted in the mouth; or, having
selected the teeth necessary to fill the spaces with the loops in the most con-
venient position, I fasten them on a plaster model in their proper form with
wax or other suitable material, and then by means of a metal cast taken from
the plaster model so prepared, I form a plate of aluminum, which I cause to
pass over the back of the teeth in such manner as to enable me, by means of
the loop or loops on the teeth and corresponding loop or loop holes in the plate,
to pin, bolt, or tie the teeth to it in their proper position, and I then make
good all the hollows and interstices necessary with gutta percha, the whole
combined having the requisite shape and size for use.
I am aware that mineral teeth have been prepared with loops, fixed in a
direction across them for the purpose of being affixed by means of a pin or
metal back to a gold or silver plate, and therefore I lay no claim to forming
teeth with such transverse loops; but I claim,-
First, the making of the palate plates or holders for artificial teeth of
aluminum, as herein-before described, the fitting of artificial teeth with loops

page_text: or eyes in the particular manner herein-before described, and the fixing of..the
whole together by gutta percha alone, or by pins or wires and gutta percha, as
also herein-before described.
And, second, I claim the combined employment in the manufacture of
palates or holders for artificial teeth of aluminum and gutta percha, together
with platinum or other suitable metal loops, eyes, or wires.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Thomas Truman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of May, One thousand eight
. hundred and fifty-six.
EDWIN THOS TRUMAN. (L.S.)
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