A CERTAIN NEWLY-INVENTED MACHINE OR APPARATUS, CALLED A PHYSIOGNOTYPE, BY MEANS OF WHICH A PERFECT FAC-SIMILE OF THE HUMAN COUNTENANCE CAN BE IMMEDIATELY PRODUCED, OR THE EXACT COPY OF A BUST OR SCULPTURED FIGURE OR OF A LIVING OR OTHER SUBJECT TAKEN
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE RESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RETTFORT, of the Tavistock Hotel, in the Parish of Saint Paul, Covent Garden,.
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of December, in the fifth year of
His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Rettfort, His especial
licence that I, the said Richard Rettfort, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Richard Rettfort, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "A CERTAIN
NEWLY-INVENTED MACHINE OR APPARATUS, CALLED A PHYSIOGNOTYPE, BY MEANS OF
WHICH A PERFECT FAC-SIMILE OF THE HUMAN COUNTENANCE CAN BE IMMEDIATELY
PRODUCED, OR THE EXACT COPY OF A BUST OR SCULPTURED FIGURE OR OF A LIVING
OR OTHER SUBJECT TAKEN," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Richard
Rettfort, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said.
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled;
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and
at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Rettfort, do hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention
is to be performed, by the following description thereof (reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon),
that is to say:
This Invention consists in the construction and adaptation of an apparatus
for taking the exact counterpart or concave image of the human face, or of
any other form or figure, animate or inanimate, for the purpose of producing
from the apparatus a mask, bust, model, or base-relief, in the perfect form and
resemblance of the original subject. The apparatus is contained in a box
formed as a hollow cylindrical drum, or it may be of any other suitable shape,
having two metal plates as diaphrams extended across it. These plates stand
parallel to each other, and have a multitude of small holes perforated through
them as close together as possible, the respective holes in the two plates being
immediately opposite or in exact coincidence. In these holes straight metal
rods or fine wires like needles are inserted, filling up the whole area of the
drum; and the wires or needles being all of the same length, and longer than the
drum, their ends will exactly coincide, and at their outer extremities resemble
a brush. The needles slide freely in the holes of the two parallel plates, and
are brought into coincidence by a moveable flat plate at the back part of the
drum. When the instrument is about to be used the drum is suspended
by strings, the wires or needles ranging horizontally, the moveable flat plate
being withdrawn from behind the back ends of the wires. Thus arranged, any
slight force, as the pressure of the face against the front ends of the wires
or needles, will cause the wires severally to recede, and leave a recess in front
corresponding with the projections or form of the face or other figure pressed
against it. In order to fix the wires in the position which they have assumed
by this operation, tallow or beeswax, or some such material, in a melted state
is to be poured into the drum between the perforated plates, in order to fill that
space and the interstices between the needles, which tallow or wax, when
congealed and cold, will hold all the wires or needles firmly, and the recess so
produced in the front of the wires will form a mould or matrix, in which the
mask, model, or relief of the subject operated upon may be cast in plaster of
Paris or other plastic material. In order to release the wires from their fixed
position hot water may be poured into an outer casing or vessel surrounding
the drum, the warmth of which will melt the tallow or wax, and allow the
needles again to slide freely.
In order to explain more fully this Invention, I have shewn in the annexed
Drawing several views of one of these instruments.

page_text: Figure 1 is a perspective representation of the instrument complete, with
the wires projecting out in front, and shewing it suspended in a horizontal
position by a cord or chain, in order to facilitate the operation of taking
the impression by bringing the instrument into contact with the face or figure
intended to be operated upon; Figure 2 is a geometrical elevation in front of
the instrument; Figure 3 is a side view of the same; and Figure 4 is a
transverse section, taken vertically. a, a, is the box or drum, with the metal
plates or partitions b and c fixed in it, which, as before stated, are pierced with
a multitude of small holes, having straight wires or needles d, d, placed in
them; these wires project through both plates. The ends of the wires
which project in front through the plate c are intended to take the impression
from the face, figure, or other subject. The interior of the drum between the
plates is to be filled with tallow, beeswax, or other such material, through the
short tube and cock at e. The outer casing f, f, is supplied with hot or cold
water by the funnel-mouthed cock at g, and it is to be discharged at h. In
order to facilitate the bringing of the ends of the wires which project through
the plate c to an even or coincident surface, for the purpose of taking an
impression, the drum a is extended beyond the plate or partition b, and in this
part of it is placed a follower or flat circular plate i, fitting the interior of the
drum; to this follower or flat plate is attached a handle k, which projects
through a hole in the back plate l. When it is wished to bring the ends of the
wires forward through the plate c, the handle is to be pushed inwards, by
which the follower i is moved towards the plate b, and all the wires will
be simultaneously moved forward through the plates till the ends project
in coincidence a sufficient distance through the plate c; the follower must then
be drawn back into its former position, as shewn at Figure 4, when the
instrument will be ready for use. The impression or counterpart fac-simile is
produced by steadily and carefully bringing the projecting ends of the metal
wires into contact with the face or other subject or figure intended to be
copied, when the projecting parts of such face or figure will cause those
wires first brought into contact therewith to slide back until the whole of the
front part of the face, or that part of the figure intended to be copied by
the instrument, has been touched by the ends of the wires. The recess
produced by the sliding-back movement of the wires caused by the application
of the instrument to a human face is shewn in the section at Figure 4; or a
recess of any other form would be produced in like manner, by pressing the
ends of the wires against any other subject or figure. The instrument is then
gently to be drawn away from the face or figure, leaving the impression
produced upon the ends of the wires undisturbed. The warm water is then to

page_text: be let out of the casing and the instrument allowed to remain steady till the
tallow or other mixture is congealed and cold; this may be facilitated by
pouring cold water into the outer case. On the tallow becoming cold the wires
will be all set, and retained in the position they were placed in by the pressure
of the face or figure. The instrument may then be safely turned, so as to bring
the impression in the ends of the wires uppermost. Plaster of Paris or clay
properly prepared is then to be poured into the matrix or concave formed
by the ends of the wires, when a mask or perfect fac-simile of that part of the
face or figure touched by the wires touched by the wires will be cast, which
may be the final one intended by the artist or modellist to be used for the bust,
medallion, or base-relief; or from this first plaster or clay mask or model,
when it is properly set, a plaster counter cast, matrix, or mould may be formed,
from which a second fac-simile plaster or clay mask or figure may be taken in
the ordinary way. It will of course be understood that when a complete bust
or figure is intended to be taken by the instrument, its application to the figure
in different positions will be required, in order to obtain the fac-simile of all
the parts complete. The hair, drapery, or other parts not copied by the
instrument, may be added in the usual way by the modeller or finisher of the
cast of the face or figure, in the manner of finishing such casts when taken
from the living or other subject by the common plaster counter casts or
moulds.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Rettfort, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-five