IMPROVEMENTS IN BLANCHING, FORCING, AND PROPA- GATING GARDEN POTS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Pascall, of Chislehurst, in the County of Kent,
Manufacturer, and George Fry, of Lee, in the same County, Gardener,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLANCHING, FORCING, AND PROPA-
GATING GARDEN POTS."
Sealed the 23rd October 1855, and dated the 11th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Pascall and George
Fry at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 11th May 1855.
WC, JOSEPH PASCALL, of Chislehurst, in the County of Kent, Manufacturer,
and GEORGE FRY, of Lee, in the same County, Gardener, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLANCHING, FORCING, AND
PROPAGATING GARDEN POTз," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in constructing pots for the blanching of sea kale, and
all other plants requiring to be blanched, which pots can be made available,
when not required for blanching purposes, for propagating and other garden
uses.
Sea kale pots are required in the winter and spring months, and we form
our pots in two separate parts, each of which when separated may be used
for general gardening purposes. We form the bottom kale pot with a groove

page_text: in the top, into which a similar shaped pot, without a groove, but with the
upper edge formed so as to fit into the groove in the bottom pot, is made to fit
when inverted. By the exclusion of light the kale becomes blanched; the two
pots may then be separated, and will be useful for general gardening purposes.
By using the lower kale pot with the groove in the upper edge, and placing
a closed glass in the groove, an excellent forcing and propagating pot will be
formed. We form the outer edge of the groove, where necessary, lower than
the inner edge, to allow of any condensed water which may be deposited in
the groove running outside of the pot instead of into the earth inside thereof.
In some cases, instead of forming a hole directly through the bottom of the
pots, we make the bottom of sufficient thickness to allow of a hole being made
therein without passing through, and cause apertures or channels to radiate
therefrom to the outside of the pot.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Pascall and George Fry in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
PASCALL, of Chislehurst, in the County of Kent, Manufacturer, and GEORGE
FRY, of Lee, in the same County, Gardener, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her roign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Joseph Pascall and George Fry, Her special licence that we, the said Joseph
Pascall and George Fry, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Joseph Pascall and George Fry, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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, aud vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLANCHING, FORCING, AND PROPAGATING GARDEN
Pors," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Pascall
and George Fry, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Pascall and George Fry, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in constructing pots for the growing and blanching
of sea kale, and all other plants requiring to be blanched, in such manner that
they can be made available, when not required for blanching purposes, for pro-
pagating and other garden uses.
Sea kale pots are required in the winter and spring months, and we form
our pots in two separate parts, each of which when separated may be used for
general gardening purposes. We form the bottom pot with a groove in the
upper edge or rim, into which a similar shaped pot, without a groove, but with
the upper edge formed so as to take into the groove in the bottom pot, is made
to fit when inverted. By the exclusion of light the kale becomes blanched.
By using the lower pot with the groove in the upper edge, and placing a glass
bell in the groove, an excellent forcing and propagating pot will be formed.
We make the outer edge of the groove, when necessary, lower than the inner
edge, to allow of any water which may be deposited in the groove running
outside of the pot instead of into the earth inside thereof. In some cases,
instead of forming a hole directly through the bottom of the pots, we make
the bottom of sufficient thickness to allow of a hole being made therein without
passing through, and cause apertures or channels to radiate therefrom to the
outside of the pot.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed we have shewn the manner in which
we carry our Invention into effect. Figure 1 represents an external elevation
of a pair of garden pots superposed, and Figure 2 a section of the same..
A, A, is the lower or sea kale pot into which the plants required to be forced
and blanched are placed. This pot is formed with a groove a, a, either
made in the thickness of the pot, or a flange is moulded round its upper part
and hollowed out to form a channel, as shewn in Figure 3. B, B, is the
upper pot, which is made of some opaque ware to exclude light from the plants
inside. The rim of this pot fits into the groove a, or into the channel in the
flange, Figure 3. These pots are used as follows:-The plants are taken up
in the autumn, as soon as they are thoroughly ripened, and planted in any
suitable mould in a shed, or some sheltered place, where they will always be
ready to hand. The pots are to be filled with plants in or about the first week

page_text: of November, and are to be introduced successively into a forcing house or pit,
say, one each day, or at intervals of two or three days. By the time the last
pot is taken in, the first will be fit for use, and thus a good succession of plants
may be obtained throughout the winter. As the kale is cut, so the pots should
be refilled with plants from the reserve bed, and thus a constant supply will be
maintained. The kale can thus be grown in these pots in any place where
the temperature is warm enough to excite the plants into growth. If fer-
menting material is used, the pots can be partly plunged in a bed of coal
ashes in some sheltered corner or shed, and covered, as in the ordinary way,
with leaves, &c.
When the pots are not required for sea kale, they can be used in every way
in the cultivation of flowering plants as common garden pots, or for sowing in,
or protecting seedlings from frost, rain, or vermin. When it is desired to use
these pots as propagating pots or pans, they will not require to be made of so
large a size as for growing sea kale, and we place over the lower pot a glass
shade or pot, as represented in Figures 4 and 5, which respectively represent
sections of a propagating pot and pan. The bottom of the glass shade rests in
the groove or channel a of the pot. Whatever condensed vapours settle on
the inside of the glass shade run down into the groove or channel, which, as
can be seen from the Figures, being lower on the outside than the inside,
prevents any of the condensed vapours entering into the pot. For the same
reason no water falling on to the glass shade can find its way into the insido
of the pot. These pots or pans will also be found applicable for the culture of
ferns, mosses, and generally of all tender plants and seedlings. Figure 6
represents a pot in which the hole in the bottom, instead of running directly
through, is only made partially through the bottom, and communicates with
the channels c, c, which radiate therefrom to the outside of the pot. Where
required, the groove may be filled with sand, clay, water, or other like
stopping material, in order more effectually to provent the entrance of
cold air into the interior of the pots; and when our pots are used for
blanching, the holes or apertures in or around the bottom of the upper pot
must be plugged up, or otherwise closed.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim as our
improvements in blanching, forcing, and propagating garden pots is,-
First, the constructing of pots for the blanching sea kale, and all other plants
requiring to be blanched, in two separate parts, the bottom pot or part being
formed with a groove or channel in or around its upper part, into which is
fitted the edge of the upper part or pot, in the manner and for the purposes

page_text: herein-before described, and represented in Figures 1, 2, and 8 of the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Second, the constructing or forming of pots or pans with a groove or channel
on the top edge thereof for the reception of a cover of some opaque ware, or
of a glass cover or shade, as represented in Figures 4 and 5 of the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
And, third, the forming of the ordinary hole in the bottom of garden pots
only partially through the bottom, and causing apertures or channels to radiate
therefrom to the outside of the pots, as herein-before described, and represented
in Figure 6 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Pascall and George Fry, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventh day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
ממTA