AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEALING LETTERS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS
Year: 1860

page_text: To produce the impression, the apparatus being opened, as in the Drawing,
and the plate A, A, laid on the paper to be sealed, the melted wax is dropped
into the blank space C, and the plate D, D, being pressed down, a clear repro-
duction of the seal E is obtained, as seen in Figure 4. When required, a
handle in ivory, bronze, or other matter may be adapted to the upper plate D, D,
as in Figure 3. Instead of this handle, a small statuette or other object
may be fitted to the apparatus, which may thus serve as paper weight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marc Antoine François Mennons in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARC
ANTOINE FRANÇOIS MENNONS; of the British and Foreign Patent Offices
39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, Her special licence that I, the
said Marc Antoine François Mennons, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time. agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SEALING LETTERS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS," a communication from L. M. H.
Fromont, a person resident at Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, 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 Marc Antoine François Mennons,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marc Antoine François Mennons, of the British and
Foreign Patent Offices, 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of
France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEALING
LETTERS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS."-A communication from L. M. H. Fro-
mont, a person resident at Paris.
Sealed the 19th February 1861, and dated the 11th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marc Antoine François
Mennons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th September 1860.
I, MARC ANTOINE FRANÇOIS MENNONS, of the British and Foreign Patent
Offices, 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SEALING LETTERS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS," to be as follows:-
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents this apparatus in its
simplest form.
A, A, is a plate of metal or other suitable matter, in the thickness of which
is formed a cell, as in B, B. At the centre of this cell the plate is pierced
throughout, as in C, to the form of the seal required. A second plate D, D,
(seen apart in Fig. 2) in the centre of which is fitted the seal E, corresponding
with the orifice C, is hinged to the plate A, A, as seen by the dotted lines;
F, F, is a channel or outlet for the excess of wax.

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Figures of the
accompanying Drawing, and to the letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Figure 1 represents the improved sealing apparatus in its simplest
form.
A, A, is a plate of metal or other suitable matter, in the thickness of which
is formed a cell as in B, B. At the centre of this cell the plate is pierced
throughout as in C, to the form of the seal employed. A second plate D, D,
seen apart in Figure 2, in the centre of which is fitted the seal E corres-
ponding with the orifice C, is hinged to the plate A, A, as shewn by the dotted
lines. F, F, is a channel or outlet for the excess of wax.
To produce the impression, the apparatus being opened as in the Drawing
and the plate A, A, laid on the paper to be sealed, the melted wax is dropped
into the blank space C, and the plate D, D, being pressed down a clear repro-
duction of the seal E is obtained, as seen in Figure 4. When required, a
handle in ivory, bronze, or other matter may be adapted to the upper
plate D, D, as in Figure 3. Instead of this handle a small statuette or other
object may be fitted to the apparatus, which may thus serve as paper
weight..
Figure 5 represents an arrangement which may be employed with seals
having open-worked or other complicated designs. A, A, is the main plate
with its cell B, B; D, D, is the second plate, on the lower face of which is
mounted the seal E. This seal is provided at the back with a stalk F, which
passes through the plate D, D, into the ferrule G, fitted to the latter, and
carrying the handle H. In this ferrule is lodged a spiral spring I, I, sur-
mounted by a metallic washer J, J, kept down by the pivot K, K, which
passes through a small vertical slot formed in each side of the ferrule near the
top, and through a hole drilled at the same height in the seal stalk F. The
impression being produced with this apparatus in the manner already described,
a slight downward pressure on the knobs L, L, fitted to the extremities of the
pivot K, K, causes the latter to slide in the vertical slot of the ferrule G, and
depresses the spiral I, I. In this movement the seal passes to a short distance
through its counterpart formed in the bottom of the lower plate, and detaches
the wax completely, leaving a sharply cut impression on the document beneath.
On removing the fingers from the knobs L, L, the spiral expands and carries
back the seal E to its original position.
Figures 6, 7, represent the plates of the apparatus above described, with the
open-worked seal in relief and its pierced counterpart.
Figures 8, 9, represent an arrangement in which the pressure is produced

page_text: by a small lever instead of the finger or an upright handle, is in those above
described. In this apparatus, which is somewhat similar to the ordinary
embossing stamp, the back of the seal is provided with a small metallic. ring
or strap, in which the lever slides freely at each up or down stroke.
From the above examples it will be seen that the pressure required to
produce the impression and section of the wax may be obtained by any of
the known means, such as handles, levers, screws, &c., &c., and that the
Invention entirely reposes on the combination shewn in Figure 1,, which,. as
before stated, represents the apparatus in its simplest form. As for the
mechanism shewn in Figure 5, it is only noted as one of the means by which
the wax may be readily detached from open-worked or intricately ornamented
seals, the simple combination represented in the other Figures being amply
sufficient for all ordinary purposes.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying it into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details of form and general arrangement above laid down, as
these may obviously be modified without deviating from the principle or main
features of the Invention; but what I claim is the construction of an apparatus
for sealing letters and other documents by the combination of two plates in
metal or other suitable matter, one of which plates serves as holder to the
seal, while the second or counterpart, hollowed to correspond with it, serves to
confine the melted wax within a limited space, the whole in substance as
above described, and represented by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, in Figures
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, of the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
M. F. MENNONS. (L.S.)