IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR REFLECTORS FOR LIGHTING PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Hackforth, of Bentinck Street, Manchester
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Painter and Decorator, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR REFLECTORS FOR LIGHTING
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 4th August 1863, and dated the 7th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Hackforth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th February 1863.
I, MATTHEW HACKFORTH, of Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Painter and Decorator, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR REFLECTORS FOR LIGHTING
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of shades or reflectors, for
lamps or lights of all kinds, of porcelain or china, by which an economical
reflector or shade is obtained, which can also by being simply washed be at all
times cleansed from dirt and impurities, the first cost being little more
than that of paper shades at present in use, such paper shades being of a very
perishable nature. These improved shades are also equal to the shades of opal
sometimes used, the expense being at least one-fourth less.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Hackforth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
HACKFORTH, of Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Painter and Decorator, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, 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 Matthew Hackforth, Her special license that I, the said Matthew
Hackforth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the sa
said Matthew Hackforth, my executors, administrators, or 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR REFLECTORS FOR LIGHTING
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Matthew
Hackforth, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should parti-
cularly 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.
I NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Matthew Hack forth, 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, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a new manufacture of shades or reflectors
for lamps or lights of all kinds, and consists in forming them of porcelain or
china. These materials afford an economical reflector or shade, which can be
at all times easily cleansed from dirt and other impurities by simply washing
them with water. Their first cost is not much more than that of the paper
shades now in use, and they are much more durable inasmuch as the latter
are very perishable.
My new shades are superior in utility to the opal shades which are
sometimes used. They will stand heat much better, and their employment is

page_text: attended with a considerable saving in the consumption of gas, a saving which
I estimate at from 50 to 60 per cent., whilst the cost is much (at least
one-fourth) less than the opal shades. These shades may be made plain or
ornamental, and their shapes may be indefinitely varied to suit the taste of
the public. They may be supported over or around the light by any of
the means commonly employed to support the shades now in use, for
example, by an internal support of metal or by an external clip, according to
the peculiar form of each, and they may be easily adapted by cheap holders to
all kinds of lights. They are peculiarly suitable for lamps or lights employed,
amongst other purposes, for the illumination of offices, banks, private houses,
either chandeliers or table lamps, shops, both inside and outside railway
carriages, and as the foot lights of theatres.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Hackforth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
MATTHEW HACKFORTH. (L.S.)