A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF PLATED TEA POTS AND COFFEE POTS, AND OTHER VESSELS AND ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Cornforth, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF PLATED TEA POTS AND COFFEE POTS, AND OTHER VESSELS
AND ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 6th June 1856, and dated the 31st March 1856.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Cornforth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1856.
I, HENRY CORNFORTH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF PLATED TEA POTS AND COFFEE POTS, AND OTHER VESSELS
AND ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing tea pots, coffee pots, and the
articles herein-after enumerated of the metal zinc, and afterwards coating
the same with silver by the ordinary electro-metallurgical processes. The
articles to which my Invention is applicable are the following:-The various
articles of tea and coffee services, kettles, soup tureens, dishes, dish covers,
liquor, spirit, cruet, and pickle frames, waiters, salvers, bread, cake, and
sugar baskets. The said articles are manufactured by the same processes,
and constitute one manufacture, and my Invention is equally applicable to
each of the said articles. By the use of zinc, instead of German silver, brass,
or Britannia metal, great economy is effected in the manufacture of the plated
articles enumerated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Cornforth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CORNFORTH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, 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 Henry
Cornforth, Her special licence, that I, the said Henry Cornforth, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Cornforth,
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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE
OF PLATED TEA POTS AND COFFEE POTS, AND OTHER VESSELS AND ARTICLES OF LIKE
MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that J, the said Henry
Cornforth, 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 Henry Cornforth, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 manufacturing tea pots, coffee pots, and the
articles of like manufacture, herein-after enumerated, of the metal zinc,
plated or coated with silver by the ordinary electro-metallurgical processes.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I sometimes coat the articles made of
zinc first with copper and afterwards with silver, and I prefer to apply this
method of treatment to the interior of tea pots, coffee pots, and such other
vessels as are to be used to contain articles of food or drink. Although I
prefer to use commercial zinc in carrying my Invention' into effect, yet any
alloy consisting mainly of zinc may be used instead of commercial or pure

page_text: zinc. In coating the said articles with copper I take a solution of cyanide of
copper, and by means of an electrical current deposit from the said solution
a thin film of copper upon the zinc; the said film of copper may be thickened
by deposition from a solution of sulphate of copper, or other salt of copper
more easily decomposed than the cyanide. I prefer to employ a solution of
cyanide of silver for the purpose of depositing silver upon the said articles by
means of electricity. I sometimes apply a coating of tin, or an easily fusible
alloy of lead and tin, to the articles of zinc prior to the application of the
coating of copper thereto. The said coating of tin or. alloy of lead and tin
I apply by fusing the same on the zinc. As the processes of depositing
copper and silver are well known and commonly practised, and constitute no
part of my Invention, I do not think any further details necessary in addition
to those herein-before given. The articles to which by Invention is applicable
are the following:-The various articles of tea and coffee services, kettles,
soup tureens, dishes, dish covers, dish cover handles, liquor, spirit, cruet, and
pickle frames, waiters, salvers, bread, cake, and sugar baskets, mustard pots, salt
cellars, flower vases, egg frames, and egg cups. By the use of zinc instead
of German silver, brass, or Britannia metal, great economy is effected in the
manufacture of the plaited articles above enumerated.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention the new or improved manufacture of plated tea pots and coffee pots,
and other vessels and articles of like manufacture herein enumerated, that is
to say, manufacturing the said articles of zinc plated by electro-metallurgical
processes with silver.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Cornforth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
HENRY CORNFORTH. (L.S.)