A DURABLE COPY BOOK OR WRITING TABLET, AND IMPROVED DELIBLE INK TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
SMITH and WILLIAM DOLIER, both of Liverpool, Gentlemen, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of October, in the second
year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said John Smith and William Dolier, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John Smith and
William Dolier, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said John Smith and William Dolier, our exors, adññors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, our Invention of "A DURABLE COPY BOOK OR WRITING TABLET, AND
IMPROVED DELIBLE INK TO BE USED THEREWITH;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging us, the said John Smith and William Dolier,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large

page_text: • NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Smith and William Dolier, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention to consist,-
First, in an economical copy book or writing tablet to be used when learn-
ing the art of penmanship, and made in such manner that the surface of the
leaf or tablet on which the writing is to be performed gives peculiar facility
to the action of the pen, while at the same time it is of such a durable nature
that, if the writing or other exercise be performed with suitable delible ink,
it may be obliterated with a wet sponge, and the leaf or tablet thus rendered
fit for a second exercise, and so on for almost any required number, there
being scarcely any limit to the repetition of these operations without any
apparent injury to the surface of the leaves or tablets of the copy book, which
in fact improve the first few times that these obliterations are made. And the
nature of our said Invention consists,-
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Secondly, in a delible ink particularly suitable, from the simple and
innocuous nature of its component parts, to be used with the said copy book
or writing tablet for the purpose of instruction in the art of penmanship.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, we, the said John Smith
and William Dolier, do hereby describe the manner in which our said Invention
is to be performed in and by the following description thereof, that is to say:-
First, as regards the making of the copy book or writing tablet. Take a
piece of stout white linen cloth, of any convenient dimensions, strain or stretch
it upon a frame, and rub it well with pumice stone on both sides to remove or
reduce the knots and loops that may be in it, then size it with a mixture of
size, whiting, and linseed oil, in the proportion of fourteen pounds of good
single size to one pound of whiting and a quarter of a pound of linseed oil
well mixed together by heat, say from ninety to one hundred degrees. of
Farenheit, and, when cold, carefully laid on with a trowel in the manner
adopted for priming painters' canvas. After remaining a short time for the
size to absorb, rub it down with a heavy flat smooth stone to lay all the
thick threads and knots as even as possible, then leave it to dry, and when
thoroughly dry repeat the sizing and rubbing down. When quite dry again,
it will be ready for what is termed, in priming painters' canvas, the colouring,
which must be composed of the best white lead mixed with fine Paris white.
These are to be in the proportion of fourteen pounds of white lead to two
pounds of Paris white, ground well together in as much linseed oil as will
form the ingredients into a paste, which must then be thinned with some
more linseed oil to the consistency of treacle or molasses, so as to be con-
veniently used with the trowel, adding about a quarter of a pound of sugar of

page_text: lead ground fine in linseed oil to assist its drying hard; this preparation answers
for the three first colourings or coatings after the sizing, and is laid on with a
trowel, allowing two or three days between each coating for it thoroughly to
dry. For the next and last colouring or coating, the preparation is different,
a mixture of the proper consistency of treacle as aforesaid being used, but
composed of white lead and turpentine only, in order to obtain a proper dead
surface, commonly called flatting, and to remove the greasiness and slime of
the former colourings or coatings. This last coating is also laid on with a
trowel, and after remaining four or five days on the frame to harden, the
cloth may be taken off the frame and applied to use, as hereafter described.
We have been thus particular in describing the process of forming the
surface of our .leaf or tablet, because the ordinary method of preparing
canvas called primed canvas for painters' use, which it most resembles, is too
coarse an operation to form a proper surface to facilitate the action of the
pen's point. It is in order to obtain this object that we use white linen for
our ground instead of brown canvas, and that we introduce the substance
called by colourmen Paris white into our said three first colourings.
Having thus formed the proper surface for the leaves or tablets of the copy
book, we cut the prepared linen cloth into such sized pieces as may be
required, say about the dimensions of a quarto page, and having prepared
two millboards with a back to form the cover of the copy book, we glue
a piece of flannel evenly over the inside surface of each millboard, and then
carefully and evenly glue down the piece of prepared linen cloth upon the
flannel, and the copy book is made. It is evident there are many other ways
of arranging our leaves or tablets to which the aforesaid durable surface has
been given into copy books; for instance, two pieces of the prepared linen
glued together, with a piece of flannel between them, and their prepared
surfaces outwards, would form a good leaf or tablet, and might be bound by
itself or others in a millboard or other cover, and form a good copy book; but
we consider the examples and instructions here given quite sufficient for the
manufacturer as regards the making of the copy book, and shall, therefore,
now proceed to describe,--
Secondly, the manner of making our improved delible ink to be used with
the said copy book. For this purpose we take one gallon of pure soft water,
and pour about a pint of it into a pan, with one pound avoirdupoise of the
best gum arabic; place this mixture over a slow fire, warm it to blood heat,
or thereabouts, continually stirring it till the gum is.dissolved; then remove
it, and add, for black delible ink, four ounces avoirdupoise of the best lamp
black, which must be well mixed up with the gum and water by smart

page_text: and continued rubbing between the hands, the mixture being occasionally
re-warmed, if requisite, so as not to become less warm than the hands can
comfortably bear; for this purpose continue the rubbing until the mixture is
perfectly smooth and equalized throughout; then place it over the fire, adding
to it the remainder of the gallon of water; stir it well together for ten
minutes; let it just boil, and then gradually lessen the fire. When the ink is
lukewarm, begin to strain it off through coarse flannel, woollen or hair cloth,
and bottle it for use. If any other colour than black is required, proceed as
above, but substitute for the lamp black an equal portion (or more or less,
according to the strength or shade of the colour required) of any of the well-
known colouring materials used in making water colours, such materials,
when pulverized, being soft and tasteless, others being objectionable from their
'tendency either to precipitate or to ferment.
*
Having now described the manner of making the durable copy book and
the delible ink, we will proceed to describe their application to instruction in
writing and in the art of penmanship generally. From a clean fiue free pen
write with the delible ink anything that may be desired, as in an ordinary
copy book, from a slip or other example, on the prepared surface of the linen
cloth, leaf, or tablet, and erase it when the leaf is filled by washing the said
surface with a sponge moistened with pure water, and drying it with a soft
towel. When perfectly dry the surface may be again written upon as before,
and this may be repeated over and over again as often as required to teach
the pupil. When greasiness appears on the surface apply a little whiting in
the washing, or in obstinate cases sponge it gently over with a little spirits of
turpentine. The delible ink should be kept closed up when not in use, to
prevent waste by evaporation; and whenever it appears too thick to flow freely
from the pen add a little fresh delible ink, or dilute it with a little warm
water. The same copy book, with delible ink, may be applied equally to
lessons in arithmetic, where it is required to learn to write figures with a pen,
I and also to lessons in geography; by tracing maps with a pen, and printing in
the proper names of countries, towns, rivers, &c., with a pen, and various other
applications connected with the art of penmanship generally, where the economy
obtained by the power of repeated obliterations, without injury to the surface
of the sheet or tablet of the copy book, together with the great facility
afforded to the action of the pen by the peculiar quality of the said prepared
surface, become objects of importance.
And whereas we hereby claim as our Invention the durable copy book or
writing tablet, made as herein-before described, for the purpose of facilitating
instruction and improvement in the art of penmanship, and also the delible

page_text: ink herein-before described as applicable to the said copy book or writing
tablet for purposes of economy; and such our Invention being, to the best of
our knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part
of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, we
do hereby declare this to be our Specification of the same, and that we do
verily believe this our said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and
without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore we do hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to our said Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Smith and William Dolier, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixth day of April, in the year
of our: Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
JOHN (L.S.) SMITH.
WILLIAM (L.S.) DOLIER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord 1832, the aforesaid John Smith and William Dolier 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 stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.