IMPROVE- MENTS IN ORNAMENTING ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY AND OTHER SIMILAR PLASTIC MATERIALS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Venables, of Burslem, in the County of Stafford,
China and Earthenware Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORNAMENTING ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY AND OTHER SIMILAR PLASTIC
MATERIALS
"
Sealed the 22nd August 1856, and dated the 3rd March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Venables at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
March 1856.
I, JOHN VENABLES, of Burslem, in the County of Stafford, China and Earthen-
ware Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY AND OTHER SIMILAR
PLASTIC MATERIALS" to be as follows:-
It consists in a peculiar mode of constructing moulds or parts of moulds, by
means of which raised or depressed ornaments or patterns, consisting of or
resembling impressions or inverted impressions of the leaves of vegetables,
feathers, the wings of insects, and other natural objects, may be produced upon
the surfaces of the articles which are intended to be ornamented, whilst they
continue to be in a plastic state.
For the purpose of constructing a mould or portion of a mould to be used
in producing such ornaments or patterns, I apply and fix the natural leaves or
objects, the impressions of which I design to use either upon the face of a

page_text: block, upon which I intend to make the mould or portion of a mould, or upon
a form, to be afterwards used in producing the block for the formation of a
mould or portion of a mould. The forms, blocks, or moulds may be made of
plaster-of-paris or any other material in a plastic or semi-fluid state which can
be conveniently used for the purpose. The mould or portion of a mould thus
formed, when it has become dry or rigid, is to be used in making an ornamented
plate or other article in the ordinary manner used in making such articles by
means of moulds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Venables in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
VENABLES, of Burslem, in the County of Stafford, China and Earthenware
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third 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
John Venables, Her special licence that I, the said John Venables, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Venables, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and 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 ORNAMENTING
ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY AND OTHER SIMILAR PLASTIC MATERIALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Venables, 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 John Venables, 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

page_text: My said Invention of improvements in ornamenting articles made of clay
and other similar plastic materials consists in a mode or modes of constructing
the moulds or parts of the moulds used in making such articles, so that by
means of such moulds raised or depressed ornaments or patterns, consisting of
or resembling impressions of the leaves of vegetables, feathers, the wings of
insects, and other natural objects, may be produced upon the surfaces of the
articles, which are intended to be produced and ornamented, whilst they
continue to be in a plastic state.
For the purpose of constructing a mould or portion of a mould to be used
in producing such ornaments or patterns, I apply and fix the natural leaves or
other objects, the impression of which I design to use for that purpose, either
upon the face of a block upon which I intend to make the mould or portion
of a mould, or upon a form to be afterwards used in producing the block for the
formation of a mould or portion of a mould. Thus, when I intend to make
dinner or other plates, having their faces ornamented with raised impressions
of vegetable leaves, I take a block with a face in the shape of the upper
surface of a plate of the intended size and shape, and I fix leaves upon its
surface by means of any glutinous matter in the proper positions for producing
the ornaments on those parts of the plates intended to be ornamented. I then
take a cast in plaster-of-paris or other convenient material from the face of the
block, to which the leaves have been applied as above described, and in this
manner I obtain a mould having sunk or depressed impressions upon its
surface, and by means of which plates may be made, having their faces
or upper surfaces ornamented with raised impressions of the leaves used or
applied to the face of the block upon which the mould was produced. If I
intend to make plates having their faces ornamented with sunk or depressed'
impressions of vegetable leaves, I take a form with a face in the shape
of the upper surface of a plate inverted, that is to say, in a shape upon
which the upper surface of a plate of the intended size and shape might be
produced, and upon the face of this form I fix the leaves by means of glutinous
I then
matter, in the proper positions for producing the intended ornaments.
take a cast in plaster-of-paris or other convenient material from the face of
this shape, and I thus obtain a block which has sunk or depressed impressions
of the leaves upon its face in like manner as impressions are intended to be
produced upon the faces of the plates for the purpose of ornamenting them.
Upon the face of the block thus obtained I then proceed to cast a mould in
plaster-of-paris or other convenient material, which will have raised or projecting
impressions of the leaves or intended ornaments upon its face, and several of
such moulds may, if desired, be cast from the same block. A mould with such

page_text: raised or projecting impressions being used in the formation of the upper
surfaces of plates, such plates will have depressed or sunk'impressions of the
pattern or leaves formed thereon.
This description of these two examples will be sufficient to shew the manner
of performing my Invention either with leaves, insects' wings, or other natural
objects, in the manufacture of articles made of clay or other similar plastic
materials. When a mould, intended to be used in forming an article to be
ornamented, consists of several parts, one or some of its parts may be constructed
as herein-before described, without the other parts having the Invention applied
to.it. Every mould and portion of a mould constructed in manner hercin-before
described should, before being used, be made dry or sufficiently hard or rigid
to produce the intended effect, and such 'moulds may be used in making
ornamented plates or other articles, in the ordinary manner used in making
such articles by means of moulds.
Having particularly ascertained and described the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim as of my said Invention the mode or modes of constructing the moulds
or parts of moulds by means of which raised or depressed ornaments or
patterns may be produced upon such articles as aforesaid, in manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Venables, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of September in the year of Our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN VENABLES.
(L.S.)