IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Potts, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPULCHRAL
MONUMENTS."
Sealed the 23rd March 1853, and dated the 1st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Potts at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st October 1852.
I, WILLIAM POTTS, do hereby declare tlic nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS" to be as follows,
namely:-
The combining electrotype deposits of copper with marble or stone,
either natural or artificial, or wood, polished, stained, or painted, to form
a back ground, framing, basis, or support to the metal subject..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Potts in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 29th March 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM POTTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Potts, Her special licence that I, the said
William Potts, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Potts, 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 law-
fully 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 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Potts, by an in-
strument in writing under my hand and scal, 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 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 William Potts, do hereby de-
clare 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, that is to say:
My Invention consists in combining electrotrype deposits of copper
or other metal with marble or stone, either natural or artificial, or
wood, polished, stained, or painted, to form a back ground, frame, basis,
or support to the metal subject.

page_text: By way of further illustration I will describe the manner in which
I carry my Invention into effect:-Supposing the monument desired
be in the form of a tablet, and it be designed to represent a figure or
other object or objects in relief, I make a model in wax or other
suitable material, and then cover that with a deposit of metal by the
usual and well known processes of depositing by aid of the galvanic
battery; next, I remove the model from the matrix, into which matrix
I deposit a repetition of the model in metal, which on having the outer
deposit torn off is chased up and finished by the usual processes, and
forms the core from which to take a flexible mould. This flexible
mould is composed of glue and wax or other suitable material, or a
picce mould of plaster may be taken from it; a deposit being made
into these moulds as above described forms the metal object for the
monument. The core forms the basis for repeating the production. I
next prepare a groundwork or back, together with a support for the
metal, according to the character of the monument, of marble, stone, or
wood, and affix thereto or thereon the electrotype figure or subject.
When the monument is designed to stand alone without any back
ground, I produce, when necessary, a full bust figure or subject, perfect
on all sides, by the electrotype process, and then construct a pillar,
pedestal, or other support of marble, stone, or wood.
For some
classes of monuments it may be desirable to reverse my process; that
is, the bust, figure, or subject may be formed or sculptured or carved in
marble, stone, or wood, and fitted to a back groundwork or support of
metal, produced according to any required design by the electrotype
process. By these means I am enabled to produce monuments superior
in effect and beauty and variety of design, and far more expressive, than
monuments constructed wholly of marble, stone, or wood, or wholly of
metal, and at a very materially reduced cost.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim,
The construction of sepulchral monuments by the combined employ-
ment of metal deposited by the electrotype process, together with

page_text: marble or stone, artificial or natural, or wood, or together with two or
more of such latter substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Potts, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named William Potts in
the presence of
W PALMER,
Sol, Birmm.
WILLIAM POTTS. (L.S.)