CERTAIN METHODS OF PREPARING IN METALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES THE PARTS AND FEATURES OF ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION AND DECORATION, AND FOR APPLYING THE SAME. IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF HOUSES AND OTHER
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
VOSE PICKETT, of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, 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 Seventh day of May (One thousand eight hundred and
forty-four), in the seventh year of. Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Vose Pickett, my
exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Vose Prickett, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said William Vose Pickett, my exors,
admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN
METHODS OF PREPARING IN METALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES THE PARTS AND
FEATURES OF ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION AND DECORATION, AND FOR APPLYING
THE SAME. IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF HOUSES AND OTHER

page_text: BUILDINGS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said William Vose Pickett, to particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same
to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after he 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
William Vose Pickett, do hereby declare the nature of my 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
Drawings hereto annexed, by the letters and numeral figures marked thereon
for the purpose of such reference, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in or has reference to the constructing and arrang-
ing the component parts of forms devised and fabricated with the view to their
combination with each other, or with certain primary parts of the designs,
forms, and arrangements of existing general architectural constructions as
commonly practised, such combination being for the purpose of producing
certain optical effects.
The leading feature of my said Invention is, the providing practical means of
effecting the improvement of the general effect of architecture by the produc-
tion of other and different visible result or effects from those produced and
exhibited in the general practice of architecture, and capable of being produced
by extensions of the same principles of design and construction, such visible
effects or results consisting in the production and exhibition of optical forms
of protean or varying and changeable character, produced by the natural
agency of light acting upon and in combination with actual and tangible forms
and arrangements of other and additional bodies and constructions of decora-
tive character which are superadded externally to the aforesaid primary parts
of the existing forms of architectural constructions, and this whether such
light so acting upon such forms and arrangements be natural or artificial light,
or be compounded of both. The practical modes of carrying the same into
effect is by the external application and addition of forms of mechanical
construction, of the requisite architectural character, to existing architectural
constructions, as commonly practised, or by the substitution of the same either
wholly or in part of such architectural constructions, so as to embody new
combinations of actual and tangible forms with the colors and general optical
effects produced by the natural action of light in the projection of shadows and

page_text: modifications of color, as governed by the known laws of optics relative to
such projection of shadows and such modifications of color, such shadows and
such modifications being projected upon the aforesaid parts of architectural
constructions, or the substitutions thereof, from the external edges or border
lines of the aforesaid additional and applied mechanical and architectural con-
structions. I also arrange and combine other bodies and forms of similar
general character with the before-mentioned additional bodies and forms, but
secondary or supplemental thereto, with the intention and for the purpose of
producing such aforesaid exhibitions of optical effects as upon and amongst
each other in super-addition to their joint action upon the before-mentioned
primary parts. The mechanical constructions which I superadd to architec-
tural constructions as aforesaid I make of an architectural as well as of a
purely ornamental and decorative character, and of any such forms of indi-
vidual parts such general designs and such combinations of the same, as under
the general principles and distinct styles of architectural constructions and
their modifications respectively, produce the most pleasing and beneficial
results as regards the general pictorial or visible architectural effects produced
by such shadows and such modifications of light and of color when projected
on the parts of the architectural constructions to which they are applied directly,
or as upon and amongst themselves as aforesaid. For this purpose I prepare-
a suitable design for the before-mentioned additional and applied mechanical
and architectural construction in any of the metals or other suitable substance
of harmonious keeping and character with the construction and appearance of
the primary building to which the application is to be made, and by means of
pins, cramps, or other similar means of support I affix the same to the
outer surface thereof, or I fix it by such modes of holding at any required
distance therefrom and in advance thereof within such limit as that it shall,
under the ordinary circumstances of bright solar light (sunshine), project its
shadow with distinctness upon the surface thereof. Such additional and appli-
cative mechanical and architectural constructions, designed as aforesaid, may be
made in any of the metals or other suitable substances, in their character of
workmanship either of plane surfaces of simple form and without ornament, or
of more elaborate forms, enriched and ornamental character, produced and
wrought by the processes of casting, chasing, carving, or any other of the
known modes of producing ornamented works in the metals and other hard
substances; and I make such said constructions of continuous or unbroken
surface, or perforated in devices of open work, in both cases with the view and
intention of exhibiting the individual character and appearance of the con-
struction, as regards its actual and tangible form, in combination with the

page_text: shadows projected by it upon the primary parts of the architectural arrange-
ment to which it is affixed.
The following are examples set forth in illustra-
tion of such constructions and applications in the Drawings Nos. 1 and 2, that
is to say:
In the Drawing No. 1, Figure 1 represents a specimen of my aforesaid
method of constructing and the mode of applying ornaments to the walls of
houses and other buildings by means of double plates of metal, one of which
is affixed on each side of scantlings, uprights, or tie-bars, and connected with
each other by pins or rivets, each of which is furnished with an ornamental
head or termination, also composed of metal. The metal plate is coated or
plated with copper, zinc, carbonate of barytes (or barium), or finished in oil or
other colors; the head or termination of the pin being held in advance of the
surface of the plate, the shadow and modification of light of the head of the
pin, and a portion of its stem, will have their forms projected on the face of
the wall, as herein-before described. The Figure 2, in Drawing No. 1, repre-
sents the application of the same principle of construction to the like intention,
but having the pins or their ornamented terminations projecting beyond and
in advance of the surfaces of each plate, videlicet, on the interior as well as
the exterior surface of such primary wall. The Figure 3, in Drawing No. 1,
represents the application of a pin of similar character inserted in the face of a
wall or primary surface of brick or other material having its surface covered
with cement or other composition or substance admitting of being tinted of
light color, and so exhibiting various effects of shadows, as regards the modifi-
cations of color produced thereby. The Figure 4, of Drawing No. 1, repre-
sents a portion of a primary surface or wall, whether of stone, brick, metal, or
any other suitable substance, having a wrought and perforated screen of metal
or other hard substance erected over and in advance of its surface, and which,
being coated or prepared with any suitable composition of light tint, exhibits
the projection of the forms of the shadows of such screen on the said primary
surface. This mode of application I usually employ in the construction of
the basements and other portions of an edifice of that nature. The Figure 5
(of Drawing No. 2) represents a construction of canopy or semi-cupola.
formed of open work of ornamental character, and having a surmounting
crown or fan head. This construction I make of cast or of wrought iron or
other metal; and when the effect to be produced requires it, I coat or cover
it with any of the other metals, as gold; silver, copper, or brass, and I line it
or fill up its interstitial openings with metallic wire gauze, or other fine open
work. This construction I usually apply to the external summits of windows
for the general purposes of a sunshade, or in other parts of an edifice where

page_text: constructions of this character may be found desirable for effect, producing in
any of such cases the optical effects due to the construction of their forms,
their position, and their arrangement in the projection of the shadows thereof.
I also occasionally apply the upper portion of this construction or its sur-
mounting fan head or crown without the canopy or semi-cupola as the crowning
member to windows, doors, and other parts of buildings in which they may
be required. The Figure 6 (Drawing No. 1) represents a specimen of con-
struction of metallic bars connected together by open or ornamental work, and
I apply such constructions to the support or the decoration of cornices or other
projecting members of a building, the section of each single bar and the cha-
racter of the open work being made in harmony with the general design of the
building to which it is applied. The Figure 7 (Drawing No. 1) represents a
specimen of construction of perforated or decorative fine open work, made in
any of the metals or other hard and suitable substances, and applied to the
purposes of ornamental pediments and columns for doors, windows, and other
parts of any primary architectural arrangement with the projection of the
shadows thereon. The Figure 8 (Drawing No. 2) represents a portion of a
specimen of perforated or open work of decorative character made in the
metals or in any hard and suitable substance adapted to the purposes of appli-
cation as the central portion of a pendentive cornice, and similar members of
architectural arrangement with the projection of its shadows upon the primary
parts of the construction. The Figure 9 represents a specimen of modified
character. The Figure 10 (Drawing No. 2) represents a segmental portion
of a cupola or inner surface of a domed roof, having its panels made of deco-
rative metal work or other ornamental constructions thereof suspended there-
from, and in advance of its inner surface, which I make of light color to receive
and exhibit the shadows of the suspended decorative portions.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim as of my Invention
the designing, fabrication, or application of the component parts of architec-
tural constructions in the metals taken simply as in substitution of metallic
forms in architecture for forms composed of the usual building materials; nor
do I claim as of my Invention the employment of the metals in the production
of the forms and dispositions applied as adjuncts in the composition of archi-
tectural constructions, as balconies, rails, supporting columns, beams, trusses, and
other portions of architectural arrangements of similar character and purpose.
But I do claim as of my Invention the construction and arrangement of the
mechanical parts of secondary or supplementary forms of architectural or
decorative character, and the application thereof to existing and primary forms

page_text: of architectural constructions for the purpose of producing the optical effects
thereon, as the same are herein-before described and set forth.
said William Vose Pickett, have hereunto
Seventh day of November, in the year of
In witness whereof, I, the
set my hand and seal, this
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid William Vose Pickett, came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.