IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPULCHRAL AND OTHER COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENTS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Potts, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEPULCHRAL AND OTHER COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENTS."
Sealed the 4th May 1853, and dated the 10th February 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Potts.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th February 1853.
I, WILLIAM POTTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS, IN SEPULCHRAL AND OTHER COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENTS"
to be as follows:
The nature of my Invention consists in the moulding of sculptural
and other designs for sepulchral and other monuments in plastic or.
fluid material of a nature to harden to a polishing density or
surface without fireing, in elastic moulds, so as to produce under-cut
or shadowy effects.

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 10th August 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 Tenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Potts, Her special
licence that I, the said William Potts, my executors, 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 lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an In.
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPULCHRAL AND OTHER COMMEMORATIVE
MONUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Potts, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists in moulding sculptural and other designs
for sepulchral and other commemorative monuments, as distinguished
from merely architectural works, in plastic or fluid material of a
nature to harden to a polishing surface without firing, in elastic or
Piece moulds, so as to produce under-cut or shadowy effects.

page_text: I employ for these purposes such artificial stone and cements as
will retain any form imparted to them without firing, and I have
found the cement known as Keene's cement well adapted to the
purposes of my present Invention. I first prepare an elastic mould
of glue and wax or other suitable materials, or piece mould of
plaster or other suitable material, of some bust, figure, or group of
figures, or other sculptural objects, and then run in the cement in a
fluid or semi-fluid state, and allow the saine to remain until the
cement shall have become hard. I next remove the mould, and
take off from the bust, figure, or other object any inequalities that
inay exist from the junction of the mould or otherwise, and polish
the object; by these means I produce artistic effects in sculptural
designs in a durable material for internal use at a much lower cost
than by the process of carving.
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 producing of busts, figures, or other sculptural objects from
such cements as will acquire a hard and polishing surface without
firing, for the purposes of sepulchral and other commemorative
monuments as distinguished from merely architectural works, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Potts, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the within-named William
Potts, in the presence of
WM. PALMER,
WILLIAM POTTS. (L.S.)
Sol., Birm™.