IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEA TRAYS, PICTURE FRAMES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM PAPIER MACHE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Delacourt Blyth, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEA TRAYS, PICTURE FRAMES, AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES FROM PAPIER MACHE."
Sealed the 13th November 1855, and dated the 17th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Delacourt Blyth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th May 1855.
1, FREDERICK DELACOURT BLYTHI, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEA TRAYS, PICTURE FRAMES, AND OTHER
SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM PAPIER MACHÉ," to be as follows:-
The method hitherto adopted in the manufacture of papier maché tea trays,
picture frames, and other similar articles from paper pulp, has been to press
the pulp between wrought-iron pans, the top & bottom pan being of the same
size and shape. By this method it has been impossible to obtain an upright
edge or rim to the trays, picture frames, &c., & whereby it has been neces-
sary to form the rim at a very obtuse angle with the bottom of the tray,
thus

page_text: My improvements consist in the employing top and bottom pans or dies of
different sizes and shapes, the bottom pressing pan being made larger in size
at the bottom of the tray and the rim smaller, while the top pan is smaller in
the diameter of the bottom of the tray, but larger in the rim, thereby leaving
plenty of room for pressing a thickness of pulp between the two pans or dies,
and yet of forming an upright rim at right angles with the bottom of the tray,
& a deep return curve, thus:-
These improvements apply more especially to the manufacture of tea trays
and waiters and picture frames; but they are also applicable to the manufac
ture of other articles in which the sides or rims are made so nearly at right
angles with the bottom that they cannot be pressed by pans of the same shape.
The improvements also relate to forming picture frames of large size in one
piece, by pressing the pulp between plates of the forms desired in place of pro-
ducing such frames by joining at the angles; and if it be desired to increase
the size of such a frame, the same can be effected by cutting through the
sides & inserting a piece between the parts, thereby leaving the angles intact.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Delacourt Blyth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, FREDERICK
DELACOURT BLYTH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Delacourt Blyth, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Delacourt Blyth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Frederick Delacourt Blyth, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEA TRAYS, PICTURE FRAMES, AND OTHER.
SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM PAPIER MACHE," upon the condition (amongst others):
that I, the said Frederick Delacourt Blyth, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Delacourt Blyth, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 (that is to say) :-
-
The method hitherto adopted in the manufacture of papier maché tea trays,
picture frames, and other similar articles from paper pulp has been to press the
pulp between wrought-iron pans, the top and bottom pan being of the same
size and shape. By this method it has been impossible to obtain an upright
edge or rim to the trays, picture frames, &c.; hence it has been necessary to
form the rim at a very obtuse angle with the bottom of the tray.
Figure 1 shows a section of one of such trays as ordinarily used; and
Figure 2 shows several of the trays piled one above another with layers of pulp
between the several trays. When thus piled together with the pulp between
them, they are subjected to considerable pressure, in order to press out the
moisture from the pulp, and thereby obtain hardness to it. It will, however,
be seen that the articles produced by these means are necessarily of unequal
thickness, they being thicker at the bottom and thinner at the parts from a
to b, and the variation in thickness at those parts will be in proportion as the
angles from a to b approach towards a vertical line. And my improvements
consist in the employing for such purposes top and bottom pans or dies of
different sizes and shapes, the bottom pressing pan being made larger in size
at the bottom of the tray and the rim smaller, while the top pan is smaller
in the diameter for the bottom of the tray, but larger in the rim, thereby
leaving room for pressing a thickness of pulp between the two paus or dies,
and yet of forming an upright rim at right angles with the bottom of the tray
and a deep return curve.
Figure 3 shows a pair of pans in position with pulp between them arranged
according to my improvements. c is the bottom die or pan, and d the top die
or pan; e and fare blocks of wood, or they may be of metal, fitting closely to
the forms of these top and bottom pans, by which proper pressure is more.
readily obtained all over the surface of the pan. By this arrangement, it will
be seen, forms may be obtained with perpendicular sides thereto, or approaching

page_text: to perpendicular, such as could not be obtained by the use of pans or trays
placed above each other, all of which are of the same shape and size.
These improvements apply more especially to the manufacture of tea trays
and waiters and picture frames; but they are also applicable to the manu-
facture of other articles in which the sides or rims are desired to be made so
nearly at right angles with the bottom that they cannot be pressed by pans
of the same shape. When the pulp has been pressed between these pans, the
pans with the pulp between them are removed from the blocks to be stoved,
and during this process they are held closely together by suitable clips or
holding means, as is usual when using other descriptions of pans.
The improvements also relate to forming picture frames of large size in one
piece, by pressing the pulp between plates of the forms desired in place of
producing such forms by joining at the angles. In carrying out this part of
the improvements, the plates will be of a quadrangular or other figure, corre-
sponding with the form of the desired frame, and will be bent or otherwise
formed to the figure to be produced on the face of the frame.
Figure 4 shows a plan of one form of such plate; and Figure 5, a section
thereof through the line 1, 1, of Figure 4.
Having thus described the nature of my said improvements, and the means
which I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein shown and described,
so long as the peculiar character of either part thereof be retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Delacourt Blyth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
FREDERICK D. BLYTH. (L.S.)
Witness,
BENJAMIN BROWNE.