A PROCESS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MANUFACTURE OF ENGLISH PORCELAIN
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JAMES MASON, of Lane Delph, near Newcastle-under-Line, in the County of
Stafford, Potter, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, now last
past, in the fifty-third, year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles James Mason, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles James Mason,
'my exórs, adñiors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or
by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I,
the said Charles James Mason, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein-after expressed, should and lawfully might,
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-
Tweed, in such manner as to me or them should in our discretions seem'meet,
my Invention therein-before recited of "A PROCESS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF
THE MANUFACTURE OF ENGLISH PORCELAIN;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Charles James Mason, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months then next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in & by the same, relation being there-
unto, had, may appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles James Mason, by this present Instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, do describe, declare, ascertain, and specify the nature of my said
Invention, and the method in which the same is to be performed, in manner
following, that is to say :-
The iron stone which contains a proportion of argil and silex is first
roasted in a common biscuit kiln to facilitate its trituration, and to expel
sulphur and other volatile ingredients which it may contain. A large earthen
crucible is constructed after the exact model of an iron forge, a part of the
bottom of which is filled with charcoal or coaks; these, having been previously
strewed with ore and about one third part of lime, are raised to an intense
heat by a strong blast of air introduced under the coaks at the bottom. By
this heat the ore is fused, and the fluid iron drops through the fuel to the
bottom, then follows the scoria, which floats upon the top of the fluid iron.
This latter scoria, or, as the workmen call it, slag, is the material used in the
manufacture of the china, and is much impregnated with iron, and of a
compact and dense structure. The slag is next let off by a hole through the
forge into a clean earthen vessel, where it cools. This last vessel is then broken,
in order to detach the slag from it with hammers. The above part of the pro-
cess we do not consider as essential, as it is merely conducive to the cleanliness
of the ware. The scoria is next pounded into small pieces and ground in water
to the consistence of a fine paste at the flint mills of the country. This
paste is next evaporated to dryness on a slip kiln well known amongst potters.
Thus evaporated to dryness, it is used with the other ingredients in the
following proportions, viz:-
Prepared iron stone
Cwt. Qr. .Lb.
3
0
0.

page_text: prepared is, of course, used in the usual way in the fabrication of the several
kinds of vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Mason, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirteen.
C. J. MASON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1813, the aforesaid Charles James Mason came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirteen.