IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE ORNAMENTING OF GLASS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Bishop, of St. Helen's, in the County of
Lancaster, Flint Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE ORNAMENTING OF GLASS."
Sealed the 19th April 1861, and dated the 26th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Bishop at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
January 1861.
I, CHARLES BISHOP, of St. Helen's Lancashire, Flint Glass Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE ORNAMENTING OF GLASS," to be as follows:-
For the purpose of producing bright or transparent patterns surrounded by
a dull or obscured surface, and obscured or dull patterns surrounded by a
transparent surface, and for producing patterns in a mixture or combination
of both the said styles; and my Invention consists, first, in producing such
contrasted patterns, more or less complete, by covering such portions of the
glass as are designed to be finally clear or transparent, with a piece or pieces
of metal cut into the shapes requisite for forming the pattern, and then grinding
or obscuring, by means of sand or emery, the surrounding uncovered part
of the glass, thus leaving a bright pattern or part of a pattern, which may
be afterwards modified or improved by the ordinary methods of cutting or
engraving.

page_text: And, secondly, my Invention consists in the converse operation of producing
an obscured pattern (or part of a pattern) surrounded by the natural polished
surface of the glass, in the same way as above described, the difference in the
operation being merely that whereas to produce the bright pattern the metal
partially covering the glass is cut into the form of the intended pattern, in the
other case the form of the pattern has to be pierced in metal plates. In other
words, in the former case the metal is used to protect the surface of glass
forming the bright pattern, in the latter case to protect the bright surface
surrounding the obscured pattern.
The metal plates or patterns are to be very carefully fitted to the surface of the
glass, and held there by screws or springs where needed, while the unprotected
surface is obscured with the sand or emery, which may be applied either by
hand or with wheel brushes made of wire, in the manner well known to glass
cutters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Bishop in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BISHOP, of Saint Helen's, in the County of Lancaster, Flint Glass Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Bishop, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Bishop, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Bishop, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
ORNAMENTING OF GLASS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Bishop, 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 samo
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patcut

page_text: Omice within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Bishop, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention and improvement consists in grinding or obscuring ornamental
patterns upon glass plates and articles of glass, by the means hereafter described,
and which will produce either bright or obscured patterns, or a mixture of
both, the two styles so called being relative terms. For example, the shape
of a leaf or series of leaves being ground or obscured upon a surface of trans-
parent glass, is called a ground or obscured pattern, but if the shape of the leaf
or leaves be left bright, and the surrounding surface be ground or obscured, the
result is called a bright pattern. What is necessary in order to produce either
is to grind or obscure a portion only of the surface in suitable ornamental
forms, so as to produce a pattern by the contrast of the bright with the dead
or obscured
part.
To produce this effect according to my Invention the design to be executed
must be cut out in sheet iron, steel, copper, brass, or other metal, so that the
portion of the metal cut away corresponds to the part of the glass that is to be
ground or obscured, and the portion of the metal retained will correspond to
and cover and protect the part of the glass that is to remain bright. The
pieces of metal being prepared as above described, and of such size as to
embrace the whole or such portion of the glass to be ornamented as shall be
most convenient, the pieces of metal must be fitted to the surface of the glass
by being carefully bent to the same curves as the glass (if it be a curved
surface), and must be held in close contact with the glass by nuts and screws
or by springs or other suitable and convenient niechanical means.
The pattern
being thus covered or protected on the glass by the piece of metal, the unpro-
tected portions of the surface of the glass are to be ground by means of wet
sand or of emery, applied by a brush wheel composed of wire, and revolving
in a lathe or in a glass grinders' frame in the way that is well known and
commonly practised by glass cutters for producing a ground or obscured
surface. A variety of patterns may be produced by this process, but in many
cases it will be advisable to execute only the larger or coarser portions of a
design in this manner, and to complete or improve the pattern by the ordinary
methods of cutting and engraving.
My Invention, therefore, consists in producing patterns, or parts of patterns,
by the combination of two processes, both well known and applied separately

page_text: to the ornamenting of glass, but not hitherto applied in conjunction to that
purpose, namely, the use of cut metal plates or pieces of metal (as in stencilling)
cut to the shapes necessary for producing the design by protecting portions of
the surface of the glass, and then grinding or obscuring the unprotected
portions by the ordinary means, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Bishop, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Signed and sealed by the said
Charles Bishop in the
presence of --
SAM². BISHOP.
CHARLES BISHOP. (L.s.)
"