TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES IN ORDER TO FIT THEM FOR USE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR BRISTLES IN PAINT AND OTHER BRUSHES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Smith, of Wentworth Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Brush Manufacturer, for the Invention of "TREATING
VEGETABLE FIBRES IN ORDER TO FIT THEM FOR USE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR
BRISTLES IN PAINT AND OTHER BRUSHES."
Sealed the 24th October 1856, and dated the 1st May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
May 1856.
I, AUGUSTUS SMITH, of Wentworth Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Brush Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES IN ORDER TO FIT THEM FOR USE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR
BRISTLES IN PAINT AND OTHER BRUSHES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in "flagging" or pointing the ends of vegetable
fibres, by rough grinding them on a stone, and then finishing them upon a
drum covered with glass, sand, or emery cloth, or paper of various degrees of
fineness.
I am aware it has been proposed to use various vegetable fibres for brushes,
but on account of the coarse harsh ends of the fibres when cut to form suitable
lengths for paint and other brushes they have not been suited for the pur-

page_text: poses desired. Now, I take a bunch of vegetable fibres, either before or after
being made into the form of a brush, and by grinding off the ends to points
I obtain a brush as flexible and as suitable in every respect as if made from
animal bristles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augustus Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
SMITH, of Wentworth Street, in the County of Middlesex, Brush Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six; in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Augustus Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Augustus Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Augustus
Smith, 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 Invention for "TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES IN
ORDER TO FIT THEM FOR USE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR BRISTLES IN PAINT AND OTHER
BRUSHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Augustus
Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my.
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Augustus Smith, 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 "flagging" or pointing the ends of vegetable
fibres, by rough grinding them on a stone, and then finishing them upon a

page_text: drum covered with glass, sand, or emery cloth, or paper of various degrees of
fineness.
I am aware it has been proposed to use various vegetable fibres for brushes,
but on account of the coarse harsh ends of the fibres when cut to form suitable
lengths for paint and other brushes they have not been suited for the purposes
desired.
Now, I take a bunch of vegetable fibres, either before or after being made
into the form of a brush, and by grinding off the ends to points I obtain a brush
as flexible and as suitable in every respect as if made from animal bristles.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the flagging or
pointing of the ends of vegetable fibres in order to fit them for use, as a
substitute for bristles in paint and other brushes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
AUGUSTUS SMITH. (L.8.)