AN IMPROVED MODE OR MODES OF ORNAMENTING THE SURFACES OF EARTHENWARE, ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Venables, of Burslem, in the County of
Staffordshire, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OR MODES OF
ORNAMENTING THE SURFACES OF EARTHENWARE, ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
Sealed the 22nd May 1861, and dated the 23rd November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Venables at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
November 1860.
I, JOHN VENABLES, of Burslem, in the County of Staffordshire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR MODES
OF ORNAMENTING THE SURFACES OF EARTHENWARE, ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE ORNA-
MENTING OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES," to be as follows:―
I take a plate or plates for producing an intended ornament, and in lieu of
engraving them in the ordinary manner, the pattern is cut through the same.
This pattern plate being laid upon the surface of a bat or sheet of clay in the
plastic state, the material to be used in forming the intended ornament is
introduced into the cut-through pattern in the plate, so as to produce a layer
of the material of the same thickness as the plate, or nearly so, throughout
the whole of the pattern. The plate is then removed, leaving the ornament
upon the surface of the bat of clay, and the bat is then to be moulded into the
intended article in the ordinary manner, so that the ornament may remain
upon the surface of the article when completed.
An ornament may be applied in a similar manner to the surface of any

page_text: article of earthenware (whether burnt or unburnt) upon which the pattern
plate can be conveniently placed, so that under surface of the plate may come
in contact with the surface of the article to be ornamented.
The surface of a bat of clay may also have an ornament put upon it as
follows: Place some of the material to be used for making the ornament
upon a table or other convenient surface, and lay the pattern plate upon it;
the surface of the bat of clay is then to be laid upon the plate, and a portion
of it pressed down through the cut-through pattern, so that the portion so
pressed down may take up a portion of the ornamenting material on those
parts which are to be ornamented.
The bat of clay may then be moulded as before mentioned. Instead of what
may be called the direct application of an ornament to the surface of a bat of
clay or other article by means of a cut-through pattern plate, as above described,
the ornament or ornaments may, in the first place, be produced upon the sur-
face of paper or other convenient thin material in like manner as above
described, and then after removing the plate from the ornament on the paper,
the ornament may be transferred from the paper or other material either to
the surface of the bat of clay or article to be ornamented, or it may be trans-
ferred to the surface of a mould, by means of which a bat of clay is to be
moulded, so that the surface of the clay may receive and take the ornament
from the surface of the mould.
Articles made of clay of any description and ornamented in this manner may
be burnt or otherwise finished in the ordinary way. Ornaments may in like
manner be produced upon the surfaces of slates, stones, glass, papier maché,
or other articles, and afterwards burnt or baked for fixing the ornaments or
rendering them permanent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Venables in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 3
VENABLES, of Burslem, in the County of Staffordshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, 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 3
me, the said John Venables, Her special licence that I, the said John

page_text: Venables, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Venables, 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 IM-
PROVED MODE OR MODES OF ORNAMENTING THE SURFACES OF EARTHENWARE, ALSO
APPLICABLE TO THE ORNAMENTING OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Venables, my executors or administra-
tors, 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 John Venables, 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 said Invention consists of a mode or modes of ornamenting the surfaces
of earthenware and other articles. For the purpose of ornamenting articles of
earthenware, I take a plate or plates capable of being used in producing the
intended ornament or ornaments, preferring to use metallic plates for that pur-
pose. In lieu of engraving plates in the ordinary manner to obtain patterns
for ornamenting earthenware, I cause each pattern to be cut through the
whole substance of the plate. I lay a pattern plate prepared in this way upon
the surface of a bat or other piece of prepared clay in the plastic state. The
material to be used in forming the intended ornament I prefer should be in a
plastic state, and it must be clay or some other material capable of adhering to
the surface of the clay and of bearing the action of the fire in a pottery kiln.
It should also be of such a nature as to contract in the fire to the same extent
as the ornamented article.
The material used in forming an ornament may be either colored or un-
colored, according to the effect intended to be produced; and when I color the
material I mix it with a coloring matter which is capable of bearing the action
of the fire, or which, when burnt, will produce the intended color. I take a
portion of the material to be used in forming au ornament, and introduce it into
the cut-through pattern, or into each cut-through pattern (if more than one)
in the plate, and I rub or press the material down upon the clay which is to
receive the ornament, and into every part of the pattern cutting, so as to pro-

page_text: duce a layer of the ornamenting material of the same thickness as the plate, or
nearly so, throughout the whole of the pattern cutting in the plate, and form a
complete pattern upon the surface of the clay.
During this process the pattern plate must be held securely down upon the
surface of the piece of clay to be ornamented, so that there may, be no space
between the under side of the plate and the surface of the clay.
it
In order to prevent the adhesion of the clay to the under side of a plate,
may be convenient to strew over the surface of the clay a thin layer of dry
powdered clay or other material, which will prevent the adhesion of the plate
to the clay, without preventing the adhesion of the pattern.
A pattern or patterns having been formed upon the surface of a piece of
clay by means of a pattern plate in manner above described, the plate is to be
carefully detached, so as to leave the pattern or patterns upon the surface of
the clay, which may, if desired, be further ornamented by having other
patterns formed in like manner upon its surface.
A bat or other piece of clay which has had its surface ornamented with a
pattern or patterns in this way is to be placed in or upon a mould, by means
of which the intended form or configuration is to be given to it with the
patterns or ornamented surface against the interior surface of the mould, and
the piece of clay is to be moulded or pressed into an article of the intended
form in the ordinary manner with the patterns or ornaments put upon the sur-
face of the clay, as above described, upon the exterior surface of the article
when completed.
In moulding the piece of clay into an article, care should be taken to avoid
destroying the patterns or deranging the surface to which they are attached
more than shall be necessary to press it into the intended shape within the
mould. The patterns or ornaments upon the surface of an article ornamented
and moulded in this manner will, by the force used in the moulding, be pressed
into the body of the piece of clay upon which the ornaments shall have been
formed, so as to cause the exterior surfaces of the patterns or ornaments to be
even with the surface of the clay, or nearly so.
An ornament may be applied in a similar manner to the surface of any
article of earthenware (whether previously burnt or not) upon which the pat-
tern plate can be conveniently placed, so that the under surface of the plate
may come in contact with the surface of the article to be ornamented.
The surface of a bat of clay may also have an ornament put upon it, as
follows: Place some of the material to be used for making the pattern or
patterns in a powdered state upon a table or other convenient surface, and
spread it evenly upon the table so as to form a level surface upon which is to

page_text: be laid a pattern plate having cut-through patterns formed in it, as above
described.
A bat or sheet of clay in the plastic state is then to be taken, and
the surface of it which is intended to receive a pattern or patterns is laid upon
the pattern plate. Pressure or rubbing is then to be applied to the upper sur-
face of the bat or sheet of clay, so as to press portions of its under surface
down into the cut-through patterns or portions of the plate, and through those
portions against the powdered material below, and so as to take up as much of
the powdered material as will cover the parts of the surface of the clay upon
which patterns may be intended to be formed.
The powdered material used to produce the pattern or patterns must be of
such a nature as to be capable of adhering to the surface of the clay, and be
in other respects similar to the ornamenting material above described.
A bat or sheet of clay which has had a pattern or patterns formed upon its
surface in this way is then to be moulded into the intended article, as above
mentioned.
Instead of what may be called the direct application of a pattern or patterns
for ornamenting to the surface of a bat or other picce of clay, or other article,
by means of a cut-through pattern plate, as above described, the pattern or
patterns to form the intended ornament or ornaments, may, in the first place,
be produced upon the surface of paper or other convenient tbin material in
like manner as above described with respect to the formation of a pattern or
patterns upon the surface of a bat or piece of clay, and then, after removing
the pattern plate from the paper or other thin material upon which the pattern
or patterns shall have been formed, the pattern or patterns may be transferred
from the paper or other thin material to the surface of a bat, piece of clay,
or article to be ornamented. For this purpose a pattern deposited upon the
surface of paper or other material should be placed against the surface to
which it is to be transferred, and then pressure or friction is to be applied to
those parts of the paper or other material which contain the pattern, so as to
cause the material of which the pattern may be composed to adhere to the
surface to which it is to be transferred. The paper or other thin material may
be removed or allowed to remain and be burnt in the kiln.
In case of an article already formed being ornamented in the manner above
described, it may be so ornamented when in the biscuit state or in a glazed
state, and be afterwards burnt.
A pattern or patterns formed upon paper or other thin material, as above
described, may also be transferred in like manner to the interior surface of a
mould, within which a piece of clay is to be moulded into an article of the
intended shape or description, taking care to place the pattern or patterns upon

page_text: such portion or portions of a mould as may be proper for enabling the pattern
or patterns to be afterwards transferred to the intended part or parts of an
article fashioned within or by the mould. In transferring a pattern or patterns
to the surface of a mould in this way, the paper or other material from which
it is transferred must be removed, in order to allow a piece of clay when intro-
duced into the mould to come into actual contact with the material of which
the pattern or patterns shall be composed. When a pattern or patterns shall
have been transferred to the surface of a mould in this manner, a piece of clay
is to be introduced into the mould and moulded in the usual manner, but with
sufficient pressure of the clay against those parts of the surface of the mould
to which the pattern or patterns shall have been transferred, as will enable the
clay to take up and hold the pattern or patterns upon its surface.
When patterns shall be formed upon articles not afterwards moulded, those
patterns will appear in relief or somewhat raised from the surface upon which
they shall have been formed.
Articles made of clay of any description and ornamented in the manner
above described may be burnt (one or more times) or otherwise finished in the
ordinary way.
Patterns or ornaments may be produced upon the surfaces of articles made
of slate, glass, or other material which will bear firing in like manner as above
described with respect to the forming of patterns or other ornaments upon the
surfaces of clay and other articles, and in such cases I use materials to form
the ornaments which will, when burnt, adhere to the articles upon which they
may be formed, either in a vitrified or semi-vitrified state.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Venables, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN VENABLES. (L.S.)