IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD IN IMITATION OF INLAID WORK
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Bray, of Dewsbury, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD IN
IMITATION OF INLAID WORK."
Sealed the 5th August 1862, and dated the 27th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Bray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th February 1862.
I, THOMAS BRAY, of Dewsbury, in the County of York, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD IN
IMITATION OF INLAID WORK," to be as follows:-
Firstly, I take glue or any kind of glutinous matter and reduce it to the
consistency of jelly, then with a soft brusb, such as is used by painters, give
the clean wood one even coat.
Secondly, I take the following compound, gum elemi, benzoine, thus, or
other soft gum which dissolves in spirit, saponis and spermaceti dissolved
in pure spirit of any kind, and with this composition draw the desired pattern
upon the wood with a pencil, or by the aid of patterns cut as stencil plates
or otherwise.
Thirdly, I take any color or straining material dissolved in water, and with
a brush or tool such as is used by painters, I grain or stain the whole

page_text: surface in imitation of the wood, marble, or other substance required to be
imitated.
Fourthly, I take pure spirit, and with a brush saturate and wash the
whole thoroughly clean, by which means the stain will be removed from the
parts of the surface where the composition above mentioned has been applied
according to pattern, but the stain on the other parts of the wood will not
be removed therefrom. When the spirit has evaporated, I polish or varnish
the surface as may be required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Bray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BRAY, of Dewsbury, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Bray, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Bray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Bray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD IN IMITATION OF INLAID WORK," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Bray, 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 calen-
dar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Bray, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in ornamenting wood in

page_text: "6
imitation of inlaid work. For this purpose I proceed as follows:-I coat
the surface to be ornamented, which should be of white or light colored wood,
with glutinous matter, that which I find most suitable is prepared by boiling
spatches" (or cuttings of the skin of calves' faces and which are to be
obtained from the makers of weavers pickers) in water; I simmer one pound
of spatches in four quarts of water for about 4 or 5 hours, and then strain the
liquid on cooling it sets into a jelly, which however is so thin as to flow freely
when beaten up with a brush; if the jelly is found to be too thick it should
be reduced with water. This preparation I apply to the surface with a soft
brush in a thin even coat, which is allowed to dry.
Russian glue may be employed conveniently in place of "spatches," one
pound of the glue being dissolved in about three pints of water; this prepara-
tion is less trouble than the spatches, but I do not think it produces quite
so good a result. After the glutinous coat is dry I apply to the parts of
the surface which are to appear as white or light colored, a spirituous pre-
paration of gums and other materials; this I do with a painter's pencil,
either with or without the aid of stencil plates. The spirituous preparation
I prefer is composed as follows:-One pound of gum thus, one pound of gum
merthe, and half a pound of gum turpentine, dissolved in two gallons of spirit
(turpentine), and to the solution is added one half a pound of spermaceti and
half a pound of yellow soap, these two materials being melted together and
added to the spirit solution and well mixed therewith. When in a melted
state, the preparation thus obtained is ready for use, or if it is found to be
too thick to be readily applied to the surface it can be thinned with spirit,
the desired pattern or design having been traced on the surface, in this
preparation as above described, and the preparation so applied being dry, I
stain the whole surface with a water stain; the stain known as Stevens' is
suitable, but the stain should be selected and used of a proper strength to
stain the wood to the tint required, for the darker parts of the pattern the
stain will however only take on the parts of the surface which are unprotected
by the spirituous solution. The stain may be applied uniformly over the
whole surface, or the surface may be grained or marbled with the stain
according to the effect it is desired to produce. Or as is evident two or
more stains may be applied to different parts of the same surface. When
the stain is thoroughly dry I wash the whole surface well with spirit (either
turpentine or spirits of wine) which is applied with a soft brush, and after-
wards I rub over the surface with a clean dry rag; in this manner I clear
the light parts of the pattern from the stain and the protecting preparation,
but the stain on the unprotected parts will not be disturbed by this treatment;
very

page_text: this being done the surface is dried and polished. or varnished as desired.
In this manner the appearance of inlaid wood and marble may be closely
imitated and even when the imitation inlaid pattern is intricate at a com-
paratively small cost.
paratively small cost.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Bray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Bray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
THOMAS BRAY. (L.S.)