IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FURNITURE FOR DOORS AND DRAWERS, BELL LEVERS, CURTAIN BAND, CORNICE POLE, AND LAMP AND CHANDELIER ENRICHMENTS, AND
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF FURNITURE FOR DOORS AND DRAWERS, BELL LEVERS, CURTAIN
BAND, CORNICE POLE, AND LAMP AND CHANDELIER ENRICHMENTS, AND THE
PROVISIONAL SPÉCIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th February
1860.
I, JOHN SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FURNITURE FOR DOORS AND DRAWERS, BELL LEVERS, CURTAIN
BAND, CORNICE POLE, AND LAMP AND CHANDELIER ENRICHMENTS, AND THE ORNA-
MENTAL PARTS OF OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in making the above-named articles or parts of such
articles of or partly of a composition or plastic material, and in the process of
preparing the said composition. The materials of which the composition is
made are shell-lac, ebony, or other sawdust or vegetable fibre, charcoal, and
asphaltum, to which may be added, when required, any suitable colouring
matter. This composition when warm is readily moulded in dies, by which
any form or ornamentation may be given, and for articles requiring greater
strength than the material itself possesses, I mould the composition upon cores
or blanks of any stronger material, such as metal' or wood.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, JOHN
SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Smith, Her special license that I, the said John
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Smith, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF FURNITURE FOR DOORS AND DRAWERS, BELL
LEVERS, CURTAIN BAND, CORNICE POLE, AND LAMP AND CHANDELIER ENRICHMENTS,
AND THE ORNAMENTAL PARTS OF OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Smith, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that is to say):
:-
My Invention consists in the production of furniture for doors and drawers,
bowls for castors, bell levers, curtain band, cornice pole, and lamp and
chandelier enrichments, and the ornamental parts of other similar articles of or
partly of a composition or plastic material not hitherto used for these purposes.
In the preparation of this composition the materials employed for the manu-
facture of black composition articles are shell-lac, ebony dust, and charcoal.
If coloured composition articles be required, the charcoal must be omitted or

page_text: reduced in quantity, and any suitable colouring matter, such as powdered
pigments, must be added.
The process of making the composition and subsequently manufacturing it
into the articles already named is as follows:-I take one pound of shell-lac and
dissolve it by heat on a flat iron slab. I then mix with it an equal quantity
by bulk of ebony dust, produced either by sawing, turning, pulverization, or
otherwise, after which I add the colouring matter; this for an intense black
composition would consist of three ounces of black asphaltum reduced to a
fine powder, three ounces of ivory black, or charcoal powder, or lamp black,
the ivory black being used for the purpose of hardening the composition, or if
hardness be not desirable, then I employ charcoal or lamp black. In making
a chocolate or brown-tinted composition, I use with the shell-lac three ounces
of brown asphaltum in place of the black asphaltum, and about one ounce of
the ordinary rouge of commerce, more or less, according to the tint required.
To produce greens, blues, or other dark colours, I employ any suitable colour-
ing matter in proportions which must be governed by the nature of the
pigment employed and the depth of tint desired; but for light colours I
use as a principal colouring agent, for it imparts strength as well as colour,
the dust of boxwood produced by any of the means aforesaid, to which, if a
still lighter tint be required, a more intense white in the shape of pigment
may be added. The whole of these ingredients must be thoroughly amalga-
mated until the mass shall appear homogeneous in its nature throughout, if
such property be requisite, and an even colour be demanded; but if a veined
or streaked material is to be produced, this thorough amalgamation will be best
avoided, as the accidental embodying of the pigment or colouring may assist
very much in the manufacture of imitation marbles, onyx, malachite, or other
stones; this result may also be attained by twisting or rolling together masses
of differently coloured compositions. The whole of these ingredients having
been well mixed upon a slab on a stove whilst the lac is in a plastic state and
under heat, the composition is then to be placed in sufficient quantities in dies
of any description prepared and designed for the form of the article. intended
to be produced; these dies being removed to a press, the article to be pro-
duced is completed by pressure, and the composition being cooled by contact
with the dies, is ready to be removed in a finished state.
Where greater
density of material than the above is desired, that quality may be produced by
the addition of mineral substances, such as barytes or oxide of manganese, and
when greater tenacity than the above is desired, that quality may be produced
by the addition of vegetable fibre other than wood dust; as, for instance, the

page_text: shearings of cotton velveteens, or hemp, or flax, or such like articles. Where
greater lightness as well as greater strength of composition than that above
described is particularly required, it may be obtained by the admixture with the
composition of paper pulp. The dies and presses employed being of the ordi-
nary kind used for producing stamped brassfoundry, and for many other similar
manufacturing purposes, further description of this part of the process is
unnecessary. For articles requiring greater strength than the solid material
possesses, or where it may be deemed desirable to economize the composition,
I mould the composition upon cores or blanks of any stronger and cheap
material, such as métal or wood.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I claim the improvements in the manufacture of
furniture for doors and drawers, bowls for castors, bell levers, curtain band,
cornice pole, and lamp and chandelier enrichments, and the ornamental parts
of other similar articles of or partly of a composition consisting substantially
of the ingredients herein more particularly specified, but without limiting
myself to any exact proportions of such ingredients, as the same will admit of
much variation without materially affecting the nature of the composition.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN SMITH. (L.S.)