The Washington times., 1901-08-04
FREAK CARPETS and RUGS
What Inventors Have Done to
Find Novel; Effects.
Paper, Leaves. Wood, Cement, Rush
es, Grass. and Metal Fibre Have
All Been Tried without Success-A
Cover Made From Ostrich skins.


to quote one of the inventors advertise
ments which appeared at the time
Francis Guy was quite well known in hi.
day as the proprietor of two large hotels
one in Philadelphia and the other in Bal
timore.
The natives of Brazil long ago adorned
their homes with feather mats. which
they hung the walls of their dwellings
and occasionally placed before the doors
of their houses, though they invariably
placed a common mat bv the side of the
handsome one for use. These mats and
hapgings were made from the plumage
of tropical birds. and the brilliant natural
hues produced handsome effect. The
I birds were caught in nets and slaughtered
by the hundred, after which the feathers
| We're dried in the sun.
A retired ships captain is the proud
possessor of a curious rug, made of seven
ostrich skins, with the feathers entire,
sewed together with catgut strings The
owner procured this valuable article on
one of his voyages to Patagonia. The
color effect is quite unique and the ig-
norant native who put the skins together
| must have been natural artist. 1t would
be next to impossible to place a valuation
| on this rug, which is probably the only
one of its kind in existence.
In 1889 company was formed in New
YORK for the purpose of manufacturing
| mating from rushes which grow wild in
Georgetown County, S. c.
| During the past year there have been
| several attempts to produce floor cover
ings from unusual materials. Late in the
summer of 1850 an inventor by the name
of Rosewig obtained the right to cut all
the cattail plants in several counties of
the State of New Jersey, where they
grow in immense quantities 1t was Mr.
| Rosewig's plan to weave the stems OF
the plants into a sort of mating
The inventor even went so far as to
build special machine for decorticating
the stem of the plant. 1t was claimed at
the time that the fibre thus produced was
superior to the ordinary Chinese or Japa-
nese straw. being tougher and at the
same time more durable, and producing
a pleasant effect when woven.
number of samples of the goods were
shown in New York, and several individ-
uals who ought to know pronounced the
fabric excellent. The inventor has so far
been unable to weave the stun SO as to
place 1t on the market. but there is no
doubt taatH the raw material could be pro-
cured in great quantities, at slight cost
except the gathering
One of the most curious fbres that has
been used for weaving carpets is peat. A
man bearing the euphonious title of
Zschorner, of Vienna, after much expert |
menting, succeeded in producing some |
novel results. At the exhibition in Vienna |
one of the buildings was completely fur |
nished from top to bottom with the prod |
ucts of peat. The carpets on the floors.
the curtains at the windows, and the COW
erings on the wall were all made of this |
peculiar substance. Mr.. Zschorner's ex-
periments tends to prove that. while the
properties of weeds and grasses that con-
stitute peat are somewhat altered by de-
the fibre still remains intact,
and possesses great teughness and dura-
bility. Peat is also, to certain extent
elastic, non-combustibie, and a non-con-
1uctor of heat.
Peat has also been made use of in Ire 7
land in very much the same manner as
described above, and with some degree of
success.
A new process of producing floor cover
ngs from wood WIS employed first in
1855. The first step was to- reduce the
wood 10 -four and then to the con-
sistence of pulp, and then to press it be-
.ween rollers which forced out all mois- ,
ure and removed all humps from it. This
was then mixed with oil and rolled into
sheets, which were then ornamented by ,
printing designs upon the surface. A {
coat of shellac or varnish was added to ,
give a smooth surface, impervious to ,
water. !
Within the past two years the Ameri- G
an manufacturers of linoleum have had :
,ffered to them by a German concern ,
pecies of what they called wood -four" r
which possessed great deal of resiliency, Y
nd which they stated could be used sue +
essfully as pulp from which to man &
facture linoleums. American manufac- a
urers, however would have none of it, n
tating that they had experimental with +
some years before and found that, al n
hough slightly fabric could be made "
rom it, after a short time it dried up and !,
ecame so brittle that it cracked all to c
ieces. i
In 1885, there was firm that made mats. | n
lxA inches in size, from fine wooden a
rips shavings woven together with a II
.out warp. These mats were finished in n
bright-colored border and presented p.
ute attractive appearance. They were
lown at some of the stores and a num- d.
er of them were sold, but the idea was n
,on abandoned impractical. G
In the fall of 1854 novelty was intro n
need in Brussels and extra super ingram n
lrpeting by weaving gold and silver tin b.
i into the fabric This gave the carpet "
bright and rich appearance. but the cl
nsel was found soon to wear off. For the "
me being, however these glstening car In
It's sold for about 10 cents yard more hi
IAN the ordinary patterns. la
A gentleman who makes a practice Of al
queer things to print in the n
lpers had a particularly joyful night C,
are one balmy evening last summer. He RI
rote an article on how to make ''beauti- at
l, novel. artistic and inexpensive rugs" III
It of lamp wicks. a,
About eight years ago there appeared on dc
e scene, or rather on the floors of some nj
the large buildings of New York and | af
a new kind of mat made | or
ON leather pieces from shoe factories | 20
lese very unique mats consisted of little of
scs of old leather cut into various or
apes and fastened together with long
re staples. on
A great question that faces the manu- 81
cturer of modern times is how to utilize 90
e waste that must occur in all lines ;
industry to greater less extent.
almost every business there is pro- hr
sion made for disposng of its waste. ro
that it may be used for some other Al;
rpose, and this is true OF the floor a.
vering industry. -,
Waste cork from the big fac tories that g.,
rn out the various products If this ma -
'ial is utilized in the making of limo ~.
I'm. -.
IN innovation in the construction of -
ors was invented by one Otto Kramer. ~
ChemnitZ, Germany, in 1896. 1t was a 49,
acial preparation of paper pulp, which -