AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS FINGER PLATES FOR DOORS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eliezer Edwards, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS FINGER PLATES FOR DOORS, AND
OTHER ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE"
Sealed the 25th September 1858, and dated the 3rd April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eliezer Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd April 1858.
I, ELIEZER EDWARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS FINGER PLATES POR DOORS, AND
OTHER ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after explained
of making finger plates for doors and such other ornamental and other articles
made of glass as are nearly flat in form as rosettes, and ornamental slabs,
plates, or tablets for such ornamental or other purposes as the same are or
may be applicable to. For convenience of description I will describe my
Invention as applied to the manufacture of finger plates. When the said finger
plates are made by the ordinary method it is impossible to finish them by the
application of what is called fire polish, as the necessary heat causes the
articles to warp or lose their form.

page_text: I make the said finger plates and fire polish them as follows:-I make a
mould somewhat resembling a square bottle or vessel, the sides of the mould
having thereon the design of the finger plate; glass is pressed by the
ordinary method into the mould, and there is thus formed a bottle or vessel on
cach side of which is a finger plate in relief; the said vessel or bottle may be
heated so as to fire polish its sides without risk of the said sides losing their
flatness. The bottle or vessel after being annealed is divided at its angles and
the four sides are ground at the back until the portions surrounding the design
in relief are ground away. There is thus produced four finger plates which
have been fire polished, and which are flat. The bottle or vessel may
any other number of sides than four, and the same or various designs may be
made on its several sides, or one side may have a design for a finger plate
thereon, another side a design for a rosette, and the other sides designs for
other articles.
have
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eliezer Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIEZER
EDWARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Eliezer Edwards, Her special licence that I, the said Eliezer Edwards,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Eliezer Edwards, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS FINGER PLATES FOR DOORS, AND
OTHER ARTICLES OF LIKE MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Eliezer Edwards, my executors or administrators, 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,

page_text: 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 Eliezer Edwards, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after explained
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing of making finger plates and such
other articles made of glass as are nearly flat in form, as picture frames, pro-
jecting letters and numerals, rosettes, and ornamental slabs, plates or tablets,
for such ornamental or other purposes as the same are or may be applicable to.
I will first describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture of glass
finger plates. I make an iron or brass mould somewhat resembling in its
interior a four-sided prism; each side of the interior of the mould having
engraved or sunk therein a design for a finger plate. A mould of the kind
described is represented in plan in Figure 1, and in vertical section in Figure 2
of the accompanying Drawing. The said mould consists of the four sectors
a, b, c, d, jointed together at a, b, c¹; when closed the inner surfaces of the
said sectors enclose the space e, having the figure of a four-sided prism. The
designs for the finger plates are engraved or sunk at f, g, h, i, respectively;
the mould is opened and closed by the handles k, l, and is held in its closed
position by the catch m. The said catch m turns on a joint at m¹, and is
screwed tight by the screw m²; when closed the mould is depressed so that
its lower conical end engages in a conical hole in the bed plate n, as seen in
Figure 2. The top of the mould is partially closed by the covering plate o,
which turns upon a joint at p, and is raised and lowered by the handle 9.
When in its place on the top of the mould the plate o is held down by a
tooth or projection on the lever r, the said lever turning upon a joint upon
the upright s.
A series of screws having conical ends marked t pass through the sides of
the mould and project into its interior so as to form conical or countersunk
depressions on the face of the finger plate made in the mould.
When the backs of the finger plates are ground as herein-after described,
the said depressions constitute holes in the said finger plates, through which
holes screws or nails may pass for the purpose of attaching the finger plates to
doors. The distance to which the screws t enter the mould, may be regulated
by the use of plates u of different thicknesses. The mould described, is placed
upon an ordinary glassmaker's press, and glass in a molten or plastic state is

page_text: introduced into the mould, and the descent of a plunger, shown separately in
Figure 3, into the said mould forces the glass into every part of the said
mould. There is thus formed a four-sided vessel, on each side of which is a
finger plate in relief.
After the ascent of the plunger from the mould, the lever r is thrown back,
and the covering plate o lifted by the handle 9; the catch m is lifted so as to dis-
connect the handles k, l, and the mould is raised out of the conical hole in the
This lifting of the mould is effected in the following manner :-
worked by an arm or lever x. By'
turns upon its axis, and raising the
bed plate n.
v is a cam turning upon an axis w, and
depressing the arm or lever x, the cam
block y, on which the mould rests, lifts the said mould out of the bed n. The
mould may now be opened by the handles k, l, and the moulded vessel removed.
The said moulded vessel is next supported, while being heated to acquire the
polish called fire polish, in the following manner :-A square post, that is, a
square cake or disc of glass is formed on a pontil, and the said post introduced
into and attached to the bottom of the vessel, the said vessel thus supported is
then heated and fire polished. Or, where the finger plates are large or thin, and
there is danger of the vessel, on whose sides they are formed, changing figure
while undergoing fire polishing, I employ an iron plug fitting the interior of the
vessel, which plug I place on the end of the pontil, instead of the before
mentioned glass post. The glass vessel is supported by the said plug while
undergoing the fire-polishing process. The vessel after being annealed, is
divided at its angles by a diamond or the pointed end of a hard steel file
being drawn up the interior angles both of the sides and bottom of the vessel.
The four finger plates being thus separated, the waste glass on their edges
is detached by drawing a diamond or pointed file round the edge of the finger
plate, and removing the waste glass by gentle blows. The finger plates are
then ground at the back until their thickness has been sufficiently reduced,
when they are polished and thus completed. The vessel, on the exterior of
which the finger plates or other articles are moulded, may have any other
number of sides than four, and the same or different patterns or designs may
be made on its several sides. Or, the several sides may bave on them designs
for different articles; one side may have a design for a finger plate thereon,
another side a design for a rosette, and the other sides designs for other articles.
When the articles to be made are small or narrow, the vessel on whose
exterior they are made may have a cylindrical figure, as represented in
Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying Drawing. Figure 4 representing an
elevation, and Figure 5 a plan, of a moulded cylindrical vessel, on the exterior
of which four escutcheons for keyholes are moulded. One of the escutcheons

page_text: z is represented separately in Figure 6. The vessel, Figures 4 and 5, may be
divided into four parts, and the escutcheons separated from the waste glass by
a diamond or steel cutter, and the escutcheons finished by being ground flat
on their backs.
Although I have principally described my Invention in its application to
the manufacture of finger plates and escutcheons in glass, yet my said Inven-
tion is applicable to the manufacture of all such articles in glass as are nearly
flat in form. But I believe my Invention will be sufficiently understood
by the description of it herein given with reference to finger plates and
escutcheons,
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in the manufacture
of glass finger plates for doors and other articles of like manufacture herein-
before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing; that is to say,
manufacturing glass finger plates for doors and other articles flat, or nearly
flat on one side, by moulding the said articles on the exterior of a vessel,
which said vessel is afterwards divided and the articles detached from the
superfluous glass, and finished by being ground at the back, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eliezer Edwards, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ELIEZER EDWARDS. (L.S.)