IMPROVEMENTS IN BACKS AND HANDLES FOR BRUSHES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Ritchie Pearson, of Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, for the Invention of
T
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Ritchie Pearson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th February 1875.
I, DAVID RITCHIE PEARSON, of Kensington, in the County of
Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BACKS AND HANDLES FOR BRUSHES," to be
as follows:
This Invention relates to certain improvements in hair brushes, tooth
brushes, nail brushes, and other brushes employed for toilet or other
purposes, such as crumb brushes, whereby greater cleanliness and a
more elegant appearance are obtained, combined with economy of pro-
duction.

page_text: "toughened glass," that is to say, glass which has been heated and
subsequently cooled in oil.
The bristles or hairs may be secured in the backs of the said brushes
by any of the methods now in use, and the said backs and handles are
formed by moulding in matrices of any desired form, or shaped by the
aid of the glass blower's lamp, thus in a great measure dispensing with
the labour heretofore employed for cutting and shaping such backs or
handles when made of ivory or other like substance.
If desired the holes for the reception of the hairs or bristles may be
cast or moulded in the said backs, or they may be drilled therein, as
found most expedient.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Ritchie Pearson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th August 1875.
L
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
RITCHIE PEARSON, of Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor
of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said David Ritchie Pearson, Her special
license that I, the said David Ritchie Pearson, my executors, admi-
nistrators and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Ritchie
Pearson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BACKS AND HANDLES FOR BRUSHES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Ritchie Pearson, 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, and in what manner the
17

page_text: same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme.
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Ritchie Pearson, 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 :-
My said Invention has for its object improvements in the backs and
handles for toilet or other brushes, whereby greater cleanliness and a
more ornamental appearance, combined with economy of production, are
ensured, and consists in the application and use of glass, either clear,
opaque, or colored, which has been strengthened, "toughened," or
hardened by any suitable annealing process as a cleanly substitute for
the materials hitherto employed in the manufacture and ornamentation
of the backs and handles of brushes.
1 may here observe that I do not confine or restrict myself to any
special mode of or process for strengthening, "toughening," or
hardening the said glass, as any thoroughly efficient annealing process
may be employed, such for example, as that now known as the
La Bastie process, or processes of an analogous character producing
similar results.
The mode in which I prefer to make and apply my improved backs
and handles for hair brushes, crumb brushes, clothes brushes, nail
brushes, and other similar brushes, consists as follows:-The back or
back and handle in one is moulded, pressed, rolled, or shaped by any of
the means well known to workers in glass. The bed of the brush
proper has a recess moulded on its face, and if desired; countersunk
screw holes may be made through the glass back to receive screws for
securing the bristle foundation to the said back. The glass back and
handle, shaped as aforesaid, is then subjected to any suitable process of
annealing which will impart thereto the greatest amount of strength,
"toughness," or hardness compatible with the retention of the shape
and plain surface of the said back and handle.
1
The glass back and handle may be subjected to various processes of
ornamentation, such as are commonly employed by workers in pressed
glass...Or if preferred it may be engraved by the action of the sand

page_text: blast machine, or by fluoric acid, or otherwise, or be cut by hand or by
the wheel.
The bristles are worked into a foundation of of wood or other suitable
material, according to any of the methods now in use.
"
When required for brushes having a clear glass back the ordinary i
working of the wire may be completely concealed by inserting a lining,
say for example, of foil on cardboard between it and the clear glass
back. Or in some cases the bristles may be worked at the back in
longitudinal slots, as at present practised in the case of tooth brushes, or
these slots may be arranged in various geometrical patterns and then
filled in with white or coloured wax, giving an ornamental appearance
through the clear glass. Or the wire may be drawn through longi-
tudinal canals, as also now practised, leaving a plain surface on the
back of the bristle foundation, which may be then covered with such
ornamentation as photographs, lithographs, and the like, or the inside of
the glass recess may be silvered to form mirror-backed brushes.
The wooden or other suitablo foundation for the bristles is cemented
or otherwise secured into the recessed bed left for its reception in the
glass back, and it may be further secured by screws in a similar
manner to that which is now employed generally in screwed-back
brushes.
If preferred the ornamental glass back may take the form of a thick
veneer or plate of glass cemented or cemented and screwed to the
foundation carrying the bristles, the said veneer being engraved or
otherwise ornamented before being fixed. This method is chiefly
applicable to clothes and other brushes not requiring handles.
In the case of shaving brushes the handle and bed of the brush are
first formed in one or more pieces in glass by any of the methods
employed by glass makers, and shaped as in the bone, ivory, or metal
handled brushes in common use. The shaped portions of glass are
"toughened" directly on leaving the heating chamber by what is
known as the La Bastie process, or other analogous process producing
like results; and when ready the hairs or bristles are secured in the bed
of the brush in the ordinary manner, the cement being coloured accord-
ing to the clearness and colour of the glass employed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used

page_text: or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein set forth, but what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
application and use to and in the manufacture of the backs and handles
for brushes of glass which has been strengthened, "toughened," or
hardened, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Ritchie Pearson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-five.
DAVID R. PEARSON. (L.s.)
Witness,
EDWIN P. ALEXANDER,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
14, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane,
W.C.