IMPROVE- MENTS IN ANNEALING RAISED HOLLOW VESSELS."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thomas Watts, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Metal Dealer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ANNEALING RAISED HOLLOW VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thomas Watts
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th September 1868.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS WATTS, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Metal Dealer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING RAISED HOLLOW VESSELS," to be
as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the prevention of flying or cracking
in raised hollow vessels during the process of annealing. With this
view I confine the article under operation in such manner as to prevent
or control its expansion, and for this purpose I employ hoops or annular
dics forming a case into which the article is closely fitted, or I can attain
the same result by means of staves or wedge-formed pieces surrounding
the article and hooped or otherwise secured after the manner of forming
a cask, or I can employ a loosely fitting die with a packing of sand or

page_text: other suitable dry material, or even moist plaster of Paris or other plastic
material which has been allowed to set and become perfectly dry,
securing these packing materials from lifting from the expansion of the
article by a suitable cover or lid closing the opening of the die. The
closely fitting die is more applicable to forms of a parallel or straight
sided cylinder, whilst the loose die with packing is applicable to intricate
or irregular forms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Thomas Watts in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS WATTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Metal
Dealer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-cight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Thomas Watts,
Her special license that I, the said William Thomas Watts, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Thomas
Watts, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING RAISED HOLLOW VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Thomas Watts, 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 William Thomas Watts, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the prevention of flying or cracking
in raised hollow vessels during the process of annealing. With this
view I confine the article under operation in such manner as to prevent
or control its injurious expansion centrifugally, and for this purpose I
employ hoops or annular dies, forming a case or jacket into which the
article is closely fitted, or I can attain this same result by means of
staves or wedge-formed pieces surrounding the article and hooped or
otherwise secured after the manner of forming a cask, or I can employ
closely fitting dies with a packing of sand or other suitable dry material,
or even moist plaster of Paris or other plastic material which has been
allowed to set and become perfectly dry, securing these packing
materials from lifting from the expansion of the article by a suitable
cover or lid closing the opening of the die.
For some purposes I form moulds of fire-clay, plumbago, or other
suitable material shaped to the contour of the vessel requiring to be
annealed, and formed in one or more parts which when fitted together
upon the article under operation may be held in position whilst under
the action of the fire by means of rings or hoops, and with or without
the addition of suitable packing.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention,.
and the manner in which the same is to be carried into effect, I claim,
the several "Improvements in Annealing Raised Hollow Vessels,"
substantially in manner as hercin more fully set forth and specified.
In witness wheroof, I, the said William Thomas Watts, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
WILLIAM THOMAS WATTS. (L.S.)