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Date:7th of November 1796
Description:Glazes and Ovens
Printed notice from inventor Ralph Wedgwood.
He claims to have devised a way of recycling waste pottery to make glaze.
The glaze is touted as being of superior quality to lead glazes. It is also cheaper.
Ovens, ideas and disputes
Wedgwood goes on to state that he will be visiting companies interested installing his ovens for firing pottery.
At the time it seems that he was in dispute with local industrialist James Keeling over the design of this oven.
In another document from the Enoch Wood collection (dated 29th Nov) Keeling issues a warning to the manufacturers in the area. In it he declares that he owns the patent for the oven Wedgwood is trying to sell.
Keeling states that Wedgwood's design steals from his own but makes a few irrelevent changes in the name of claiming originality for the idea.
About this document
Burslem pottery manufacturer Enoch Wood collected this document, and it is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.