IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FACES OR DIALS FOR CLOCKS, WATCHES, BAROMETERS, GAS METERS, AND MARINERS' COMPASSES, OR OTHER ARTICLES REQUIRING SUCH FACES' OR DIALS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HERBERT
MINTON, of Harts Hill, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman, and AUGUSTUS
JOHN HOFFSTAEDT, of Bridge Street, Blackfriars, in the City of London,.
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of March, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Herbert Minton and Augustus John Hoffstaedt, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Herbert Minton and
Augustus John Hoffstaedt, our exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as
we, the said Herbert Minton and Augustus John Hoffstaedt, our exors,
adñiors, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FACES OR DIALS FOR CLOCKS, WATCHES, BAROMETERS, GAS
METERS, AND MARINERS' COMPASSES, OR OTHER ARTICLES REQUIRING SUCH FACES'
OR DIALS," being partly a communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us, the said Herbert
Minton and Augustus John Hoffstaedt, by an instrument in writing, under
our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
J

page_text: 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
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Augustus John Hoffstaedt, on behalf of myself and of the said. Herbert
Minton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
Our Invention refers to the substitution for the wood, metal, and enamel
faces or dials of clocks, watches, barometers, gas meters, and other indi-
cating instruments of porcelain or earthenware faces or dials, whereby a
great saving in the manufacture will result; and when desired the facilities
possessed by potters for ornamenting their goods may be applied to the
decoration of such faces or dials. In carrying out this Invention, we
first form the slabs or shapes constituting the body of the graduated faces
or dials by pressing plastic clay, prepared in the ordinary manner;. into
moulds, or by throwing them on the wheel and afterwards turning them down
in the lathe, and then submit them to the drying and firing or baking pro-
cess, in the same same way as other articles of china or earthenware, stone-
ware, stone-china, or semi-porcelain, which drying, baking, or firing process
must be regulated (as is well understood by potters and china manufacturers,
according to the quality or composition of the plastic material whercof the
slabs or shapes are made; or instead of employing plastic clay, these slabs or
shapes may be produced by the dry powder process in the manner pursued by
Messrs. Minton and Company in making tiles by pressure from powdered clay
or powdered minerals, according to Richard Prosser's Patent, dated June
Seventeenth, One thousand eight hundred and forty. The slabs or shapes
having been obtained by either of the above-named processes, they are now to
receive the graduations, figures, or patterns which are to fit them for the
several processes above indicated. This may be done in several ways, firstly,
by printing the graduations, figures, or patterns on paper in the same way as
patterns for earthenware or china are printed, and transferring them to the
bisque, which after undergoing the well-known preparation process prior to the
glazing operation, is then glazed and passed through the glost oven; or the
slabs or shapes are first glazed and passed through the glost oven, and then
the graduations, figures, or patterns appropriate to the article for which the
slabs or shapes are intended are applied to the glazed surface, either by
printing by hand, or by the printing process; and when thus prepared they
are passed through the enamelling kiln, whereby a combination will be effected
between the glaze and the colors used in finishing the slabs or faces.
In

page_text: some cases the device for the slabs or shapes may be obtained and applied after
the manner pursued by Messrs. Herbert, Minton, and Company, under the.
surface-printing process, for which Letters Patent were granted to Frederick.
William Michael Collins and Alfred Reynolds, dated Fourteenth March, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
Another mode of applying the devices to the slabs or shapes is, by employing
the process patented by Samuel Wright on the Twenty-sixth January, One
thousand eight hundred and thirty, and used by Messrs. Herbert, Minton, and
Company in the manufacture of their encaustic tiles. By this process the
ornamental or other characters or figures forming the device are pressed into
the clay before the article is submitted to the process of baking or firing, and
the indentations are filled up with a liquid clay or slip of one or more colors,
as the case may require. The article thus treated is then submitted to the
process of firing, after which it will present a beautiful appearance, even with-
out being glazed; but if thought desirable, it may be submitted to the process
of glazing, which, in some instances, will greatly increase the beauty of the
colors employed in decorating the article.
Having now described the manner of carrying out this Invention, we would
remark that this new manufacture of faces or dials is applicable to a variety
of instruments besides those enumerated, as for instance, counting apparatus,
electric telegraphic apparatus, thermometers, &c., we do not therefore limit
the application of our Invention to the articles already enumerated, but intend
to extend its application to all articles for which it may be suitable.
Under the above in part recited Letters Patent we claim,―
First, manufacturing faces or dials of plastic clay or other analogous plastic
material, having devices thereon suitable for the purposes to which they are
respectively to be applied.
Secondly, we claim manufacturing the faces or dials of clocks, watches,
barometers, and other articles requiring such faces or dials, from powdered clay,
or other analogous compound or substance by pressure, and applying the
requisite devices thereto by any of the well-known printing or painting
processes.
And lastly, we claim the application of the process now employed in the
manufacture of encaustic tiles to the manufacture of faces or dials of clocks,
watches, and other articles requiring the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus John Hoffstaedt, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
(L.B.) A. J. HOFFSTAEDT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of September, in
he year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Augustus John Hoffstaedt came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
n form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.