A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF MANTLE- PIECES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIRAM
TUCKER, of Roxbury, in the County of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts,
of the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal
of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of November,
Anno Domini eighteen hundred forty-nine, did give and grant unto me, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others as I
or they should at any time agree with, from time to time and during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my said Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF MANTLE-
PIECES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Hiram Tucker, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following instrument of writing, and by the
accompanying Drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

page_text: Of the Drawings above mentioned; Figure i denotes a front elevation of one
of my improved mantlepieces as it appears when finished. Figure 2 is a rear
clevation of the same. Figure 3, a vertical and transverse section taken on
the line x, x, of Figure 1. Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken on the
line y, y, of Figure 1. The same letters in the several Figures refer to
similar parts.
In order to construct a mantlepiece according to my improved plan, I first
prepare, in accordance with whatever design I may adopt, a set of patterns
of the several members of the metallic frame or guard, these said patterns
being so made as to enable a founder by the aid of them and his usual
moulding contrivances, to make moulds and found castings suitable to tho
formation of the frame A of the mantlepiece, the same when.completed con-
taining the requisite number. of open spaces or recesses for the reception of
the plates E, E, E, of stained or painted glass. These castings, having been
made ornamental in such manner as fancy may dictate, are to be formed
with rebates C, for sustaining the plates of glass and protecting their edges.
Besides such rebates they are to have flanches and ears, or other suitable
contrivances for the admission of screw bolts or screws D, for confining the
several parts together. The castings should be made smooth by proper'
means, and after they are fitted and confined together they should be taken
apart and japanned, bronzed, or colored. The plates of glass E, E, E, &c.
are to be stained or painted on their rear surfaces, and in imitation of marble,
landscapes, portraits, or such other figures as fancy may dictate. When dry
they are to be placed within the panel recesses of the metallic frame, and
secured either by plaister of Paris or other proper cement, or by means of
panel boards or sheets t, t, t, and confining frames S, S, S, or other proper
contrivances. To render the plates of glass still more secure, their painted
surfaces or backs may, if desirable, be covered with a thick coating of plaister
of Paris, or other suitable cement so laid on as to protect them from fracture.
In this state
The japanned surface of the castings should next be polished.
the several parts of the mantlepiece are ready for transportation to the place
of building in which they are to be set up. In putting them together,
T-shaped bolts or fixtures embedded in the brick or stone work or furring of
the building are usually employed to confine them thereto, the said bolts being
made to pass through or into corresponding or proper apertures in the cast-
ings, and to be provided with screws and nuts to secure them to the frame.
The mantlepiece, however, can be affixed to the walls in various other ways
well known to artisans. When so put up, and the joints being properly
pointed and coloured, it will present a very beautiful appearance, and may be
made a very close and rich imitation of marble, or any other ornamental

page_text: mineral, and generally at an expence much less than that for which a
polished marble mantlepiece can be procured or constructed. The several
castings should be of a uniform thickness, say about a quarter of an inch..
The shelf or cornice may be cast hollow or concave on the rear side, and yet
present on its front side and ends all the appearance of solidity throughout.
The thickness of the glass panels may be varied according to circumstances,
those a quarter of an inch in thickness being such as I generally prefer. As.
herein-before mentioned, instead of cement, pasteboard, sheet metal, or other'
proper backs or plates may be employed to fix them in the frame, such con-
trivances being placed in rear of the plates, and fastened in place by any
suitable ineans.
I do not claim the setting of glass in a metal frame, as that has heretoforo
been done in various ways, nor do I claim the painting, staining, or coloring
glass in any manner. But what I do claim as my Invention is, the new
article of manufacture or mantlepiece produced as above described, and.
intended to be used and sold as a merchantable commodity. Its inerit is an
Invention consisting not only in its being possessed with much if not all tho
beauty and durability of like articles as usually made in marble or stone, but
in its ability to be constructed and furnished to the public by a much cheaper
process and rate than such articles so made in marble or stone can be or
have been afforded to it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hiram Tucker, party hereto, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, A.D.
eighteen hundred forty-nine.
5
Taken and acknowledged by Hiram
Tucker, party hereto, the Fifteenth
day of November, A.D. 1849, at
the English Consulate in Boston,
of the United States of America.
HIRAM TUCKER. (L.S.)

page_text: Samuel Carpmael, of the Patent Office, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with the manner
and character of the handwriting of Edmund A. Grattan, Her Britannic
Majesty's Consul at Boston, in the United States of America. And this
Deponent further saith, that the signature "Edmund A. Grattan" set, sub-
scribed, or written in the margin of the Specification hereunto annexed
marked A, and dated the Fifteenth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-nine, and purporting to be executed by Hiram Tucker, of
Rosbury, in the County of Norfolk, and State of Massachusetts, in the United
States of America, whereby it is stated that the said Specification was acknow-
ledged by him, the said Hiram Tucker, before the said Edmund A. Grattan,
on the said Fifteenth day of November, at Boston aforesaid, is of the proper
handwriting of the said Edmund A. Grattan.