IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOONS AND FORKS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Joseph Robert, of No. 112, Rue du Temple,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer of Spoons and Forks,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOONS
AND FORKS."
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 27th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Joseph Robert
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th April 1863.
I, JEAN JOSEPH ROBERT, of No. 112, Rue du Temple, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Manufacturer of Spoons and Forks, do hereby declare
the nature of tho said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SPOONS AND FORKS," to be as follows:-
My Invention applies to the manufacture of plated spoons and forks, and
consists in covering with small plates of silver those parts where the plating
most rapidly wears off. For this purpose when the spoon or fork comes from
the stamping press in which it is shaped, I ascertain the parts on which it
rests when laid down and from which in general wear the silver is most
rapidly worn off, these parts I cover with a small plate of silver, about 15
grains troy weight, which I cause to adhere by means of silver soldering,
incrusting it as it were to the spoon or fork by subjecting it to heat almost
sufficient to melt the metal; it is then submitted to the usual acids employed
in this manufacture, after which it is for a second time passed under the

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Joseph Robert in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
JOSEPH ROBERT, of No. 112, Rue du Temple, Paris, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturer of Spoons and Forks, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jean Joseph Robert, Her special licence that I, the said
Jean Joseph Robert, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Jean Joseph Robert, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to timo
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 THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOONS AND FORKS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jean Joseph Robert, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describo 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 Jean Joseph Robert, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My Invention applies to the manufacture of plated spoons and forks and
consists in covering with an extra coating of silver those parts most exposed
to wear. The plan of silver tipping the ends of forks has been employed for
some time, but in spite of this in a comparatively short time both spoons and
forks become unusable from the silver wearing off those parts on which they
rest when on the table.

page_text: My Invention entirely obviates this, and the spoon or fork treated in the
manner herein-after described preserves its beauty, and lasts at least twenty
times as long as those coated in the ordinary manner.
The modus operandi is as follows:-When the spoon or fork comes from the
stamping press, the parts on which it rests are ascertained, and on theso a small
plate of silver is soldered, the size and weight of which varies of course
according to tho sized spoon, and the durability which it is intended it shall
have. The plates are made to adhere to the spoons and forks by means of
silver soldering, incrusting them on as it were by subjecting them to heat
almost sufficient to melt the metal. The spoon or fork is then subjected to
the acids usually employed in this manufacture, after which it is again passed
under the stamping press, where it undergoes a pressure of from thirty to
forty thousand kilogrammes; the spoon or fork is then plated in the usual
manner.
In the accompanying Drawings, I have shown the parts to which I encrust
the silver plates, and which, in the pattern represented, are those on which the
spoon or fork would rest when placed on the table, they are lettered respec-
tively A, B, and C, D, I do not of courso confine myself to affixing the plates
in any one part, my Invention being to protect that part or those parts of the
spoon or fork most subjected to wear.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desiro" to securo
by Letters Patent, is the mode of protecting spoons and forks by plates in tho
manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Joseph Robert, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JEAN JOSEPH ROBERT