A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL POTTERY WARE
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Westwood and Richard Alfred Windmill, both of
Brierley Hill, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturers and Copartners, and
trading as Westwood and Moore, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL POTTERY WARE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Westwood and
Richard Alfred Windmill at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on
the 9th March 1881.
CHARLES WESTWOOD and RICHARD ALFRED WINDMILL, both of Brierley Hill,
in the County of Stafford, Manufacturers and Copartners, and trading as Westwood
and Moore. "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL POTTERY
WARE."
Our Invention consists of the new or improved manufacture of ornamental
pottery ware hereinafter described, whereby a variegated or marbled appearance is
given to the articles manufactured, the said variegated or marbled appearance being
wholly independent of the glaze.
We take clays of various colours, for example, red clay, fire clay, and china clay.
The several kinds of clay being separately prepared in the usual way, we take
portions of each, and placing or piling them on one another, and forcing them into
intimate contact by "wedging," that is, by percussion or pressure, we form a mass
containing the several clays in strata or layers. We cut up the stratified mass into
several portions, and placing these on one another unsymmetrically, we again, by
'wedging," form the whole into a compact mass. The process of cutting up and
wedging" is repeated until a greater or less subdivision and intermixture of the
strata has been effected, according as coarse or fine variegation is required in the
articles to be manufactured from the clay treated as described.
Articles are manufactured in the ordinary way on the potter's wheel from the
prepared clay, and the burning and glazing are also effected in the ordinary way.
CD 1

page_text: During the fashioning of the vessel or article, the intermixed clays become
distributed irregularly on the surface of the article, and in the burning the colours
due to the greater or less degree of vitrification of the different clays are developed,
a variegated or marbled surface being thereby produced.
Although a great variety of colours is produced by the use of natural clays, yet
we do not limit ourselves to the use of natural clays, as clays having mineral
colouring matters, such for example as oxide of manganese or oxide of cobalt, either
mixed with them or sprinkled upon them, may be employed, so as to produce a
greater variety of colour than can be obtained by the exclusive use of natural
clays.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles Westwood & Richard Alfred Windmill in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 30th August 1881.
CHARLES WESTWOOD and RICHARD ALFRED WINDMILL, both of Brierley Hill,
in the County of Stafford, Manufacturers and Co-partners, and trading as Westwood
and Moore. "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL POTTERY
WARE."
Our Invention consists of the new or improved manufacture of ornamental
pottery ware hereinafter described, whereby a variegated or marbled appearance is
given to the articles manufactured, the said variegated or marbled appearance being.
wholly independent of the glaze.
In carrying our Invention into effect, we take clays of various colours, for
example, red clay, fire clay, and china clay, or other varieties of clay, the number
of different clays we employ depending on the amount and kind of variegation we
wish to produce in the article to be made.
The several kinds of clay being separately prepared in the usual way, we take
portions of each, and placing or piling them on one another, and forcing them into
intimate contact by "wedging," that is, by percussion or pressure, we form a mass
containing the several clays in strata or layers. The lumps of different kinds of
clay which we thus wedge or mass together may either be of the same size, or the
sizes may differ according to the kind of variegation we wish to produce. We cut
up the stratified mass into several portions, and placing these on one another
unsymmetrically, we again by "wedging" form the whole into a compact mass.
By placing the portions of stratified clays upon one another unsymmetrically, that
is, by placing the pieces upon one another so that their edges are not parallel but
cross one another at different angles, an irregular and marble like appearance is
produced in the articles manufactured, as when the unsymmetrically arranged
layers are wedged into a stratified mass the edges of some of the layers are in
the wedging process made to overlap the edges of the others and the regularity of
the stratification is destroyed.
Where however it is wished to manufacture articles in which the variegation
shall consist of nearly parallel bands of colour we arrange the layers of clay to be
wedged symmetrically, that is, we place their edges parallel and avoid any
overlapping of the different layers.
The process of cutting up and "wedging" is repeated until a greater or less sub-
division and intermixture of the strata has been effected, according as coarse or fine
variegation is required in the articles to be manufactured from the clay treated
as described.
Articles are manufactured in the ordinary way on the potter's wheel from the
prepared clay, and the turning, drying, and glazing are also effected in the
ordinary way.
During the fashioning of the vessel or article the intermixed clays become
distributed irregularly on the surface of the article, and in the burning the colours
due to the greater or less degree of vitrification of the different clays are developed,
a variegated or marbled surface being thereby produced.
Although a great variety of colours is produced by the use of natural clays, yet
we do not limit ourselves to the use of natural clays, as clays having mineral
colouring matters, such, for example, as oxide of manganese or oxide of cobalt, or
such other colouring materials as are or may be used by potters, either mixed with
them or sprinkled upon them, may be employed so as to produce a greater variety
of colour than can be obtained by the exclusive use of natural clays.

page_text: Having described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we claim as our
Invention,―
The new or improved manufacture of ornamental pottery ware herein described,
that is to say, manufacturing ornamental pottery ware by the employment of
different kinds of clay, which on being burned or fired acquire different colours, the
the said clays being stratified and "wedged" as herein described, whether the
different kinds of clay employed are used with or without the addition of colouring
matter.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Westwood and Richard Alfred
Windmill, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-seventh day
of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
Witness,
GEORGE TAYLOR,
Brierley Hill,
Staffordshire.
CHARLES WESTWOOD.
(L.S.)
RICHARD ALFRED WINDMILL. (L.S.)