IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMP SHADES MADE OF PORCELAIN
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Herrmann and Arthur Laurent, of
Quaregnon, Belgium, Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMP SHADES MADE OF PORCELAIN,
Sealed the 4th October 1872, and dated the 8th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Herrmann and
Arthur Laurent at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, the 8th April 1872.
We, LOUIS HERRMANN and ARTHUR LAURENT, of Quaregnon,
Belgium, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMP SHADES MADE
OF PORCELAIN, CERAMIC, OR OTHER PLASTIC MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
The lamp shades or reflectors are made of the ordinary conical,
spherical, oval, or tulip shapes, or of any shapes and dimensions that
may be required.

page_text: The manufacture of the shade consists of two operations distinct from
each other, the first consisting in the formation of the shade itself, and
the second in the baking of the shade, and it is this second operation
that is first described.
As in the baking of ordinary porcelain the shades are placed in the
kiln on holders, but for each shade we employ a hollow support exactly
similar in form to the shade to be baked. The supports are formed in
moulds or in the lathe, and the materials of which they are made are
similar to those used in the manufacture of porcelain, and as these
materials differ in different manufactories, the materials for the supports
may differ, it being only necessary that they can withstand the several
bakings of the shades after they have themselves been baked at a great
heat, and the supports are coated with sand or other refractory matter.
The shades, which are made of China clays, or of lithophanic or
ceramic matters, are formed in hollow moulds in the ordinary manner,
but it is when they have to be baked that this improved combination of
holders and supports is indispensible, and the mode of their employment
is as follows :-
The first operation is the piling or building up of the several parts,
and this can be performed either in the kiln or elsewhere; but in either
case on the bottom holder, which is to be on the floor of the kiln, is
placed a well baked and coated support, which is covered by the first
unbaked shade, care being taken to place it central, and then on the first
holder is placed a second holder, a support, and an unbaked shade, and
so on to the height required, and any number of these piles are made
according to the requirements and size of the kiln, the heating of which
is effected in the same manner as with ordinary porcelain. It will be
readily perceived that this system of employing holders and supports
can be used in the manufacture of lamp shades and reflecters made of
porcelain, buscuit, and earthenware, and all other ceramic materials,
either plain or ornamented.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Louis Herrmann and Arthur Laurent in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, LOUIS
HERRMANN and ARTHUR LAURENT, of Quaregnon, Belgium Manu-
facturers, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Louis Herrmann and Arthur Laurent, Her
special licence that we, the said Louis Herrmann and Arthur Laurent,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Louis Herrmann and Arthur Laurent, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF LAMP SHADES MADE OF PORCELAIN, CERAMIC, OR OTHER PLASTIC MATERIALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Louis Herrman
and Arthur Laurent, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Louis Herrmann and Arthur
Laurent, 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, reference being had
to the Figures on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters of reference marked thereon (that is to say) :—
The lamp shades or reflectors are made of the ordinary shapes, such
as truncated cones, spherical caps, tulips, sinombres, or of any shapes
and dimensions that may be required.
'

page_text: The manufacture of each shade or reflector consists of two operations
perfectly independent and distinct from each other, the first consisting
in the formation of the shade or reflector itself, and the second in the
baking of it, and it is this second operation that we first describe, as it
is the most interesting part of our Invention or discovery, and in which
experiments hitherto made have signally failed.
As in the baking of ordinary porcelain we make use of holders, but
with this difference; that ours are made of particular or special forms,
'the manufacture of which is exceedingly simple, the materials employed
not differing in any way from those used in the manufacture of ordinary
holders, the difference being only in the form.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Fig. 1 is a plan of a holder
and a section of the same at the line A, B, and the simple inspection of
this figure enables its form to be understood; and as regards dimensions
they vary according to the dimensions of the shade, those shewn being
holders employed for baking shades of about 30 centimeters in diameter.
Thus it is only necessary (to obtain holders used when shades are being
baked) to make them in the form shewn, enlarging or diminishing
them according to the required dimensions of the shades, but a second
piece is indispensable for the proper baking of the shade, that is, the
support, which we designate as the most important part. The supports
are made of any required shapes, that is, they are constructed in such a
manner that they shall be adapted to the shades they have to support
during the baking, and these supports are made in hollow moulds, and
in the lathe according to their shape; and Fig. 2 represents a support
suitable for a shade of 30 centimeters in diameter, and the materials or
paste of which they are made are similar to those that manufacturers
generally employ in the manufacture of ordinary porcelain, and thus the
composition of the pastes can be different, in order that the support shall
perfectly resist the different bakings in which it is used, it having itself
been subjected to a baking at intense heats.
The forms and dimensions of the supports are varied according to the
forms and dimensions of the shades and reflectors they have to support,
whether shaped as cones, spherical caps, tulips, boxes, sinombres, or any
other shapes, the conditions being that the supports shall be perfectly
adapted to the shades or reflectors when they are being baked, and there
is this difference between, our supports and those generally employed

page_text: in the manufacture of porcelain, that ours can be continuously used,
whereas the ordinary supports employed in the manufacture of porcelain
can only be once used, and thus it will be seen that after executing the
operations before described, porcelain supports which are afterwards
coated with sand or other refractory substance by means of any suitable
agglutinating matter, and the supports are now ready to receive the
shades or reflectors to be baked.
The two subjects we have just described, the formation of the supports
and their baking, are entirely new, and are indispensable necessities for
a perfect and continuous manufacture of lamp shades, the manufacture
and baking of which we will now describe.
The lamp shades or reflectors are made in hollow moulds in the
ordinary manner after preparing the paste chosen for making the shades
or reflectors of smooth porcelain, or with the application of lithophany,
and after they are made and dried it is necessary to bake them, and it is
here that the holders and the supports are indispensable; and we now
describe the mode of employing them.
The first operation is that of piling or building up, which can be per-
formed either in the kiln or elsewhere, and the method of proceeding,
which is as follows, is shewn in Fig. 3, in which the holders are about 0.410
of a metre in diameter, suited to shades of 30 centimeters in diameter.
One of the holders marked A is placed on the floor of the kiln, and on
this holder is placed a support B, baked and coated as before described,
the support being afterwards covered with a lamp shade C (care being
taken to place it central), and on the first holder A is placed a second
one A¹, carrying a second support covered by a second lamp shade C',
and so on until the pile is sufficiently elevated, and then other piles of
holders, supports, and shades of the same or other dimensions are built
up until the kiln is full, and then the fire is lighted and the operation of
baking takes place as in the ordinary manufacture of porcelain.
Thus our Invention consists in the production of lamp shades and
reflectors in porcelain, biscuit, or earthenware, or all other ceramic
matters, smooth, or ornamented with lithophanic designs, and in the
modes of their manufacture..
Having now described our said Invention, we claim,―
First. The manufacture of lamp shades and reflectors of ceramic
matters, cither smooth or having lithophanic designs, by the mode of

page_text: production before described, and also all other articles connected with
the ceramic arts.
And, secondly. The manufacture of the supports and holders as before
described in all their details, and which truly constitutes the key of our
Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said Louis Herrmann and Arthur
Laurent, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirtieth
day of September One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
LOUIS HERRMANN.
(L.S.)
ARTHUR LAURENT. (L.S.)