Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Veneer Fabrics or Material for Decorative Purposes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Jan., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 1st Oct., 1892-Accepted, 5th Nov., 1392
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Veneer Fabrics
or Material for Decorative Purposes.
We, ANDREW DAVIDSON, Advocate, of 75 Union Street, Aberdeen, and ROBERT
THOM, Manufacturer, of 41 Mount Street, both in the City and County of Aberdeen;
do hereby declare the nature of our invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to and comprises a new or improved mode and means
or method of preparing and treating various kinds of thin cut wood or veneer, and
fixing or solutionizing same by a new waterproof cement or paste on to a backing
of cloth, paper, or other flexible like substance, so as to produce a practical fabric
material suitable for decorating walls, ceilings, floors, or other surfaces in the
interior of buildings or apartments, ships, cabins, railway carriages or other vehicles,
dados and panels, articles of furniture, and for such like decorative purposes; so as
to have the grain and all the appearances of natural wood, and which will resist the
action of sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen, and withstand the deleterious
effects of damp and ordinary temperatures.
Hitherto various attempts have been made to produce a combination veneer and
cloth or paper fabric, but these have ended in failures, as such a material has
never come into practical use, while by our new process and mode of treatment we
have made the manufacture of this combination material a demonstrated success.
According to our improvements we cut various kinds of wood into thin strips of
veneer and pass same into and through a trough or vessel containing dilute sulphuric
acid, until it gets thoroughly saturated, which has the effect of toughening and
parchmentising the fibres of the wood and making it applicable to the purposes for
which it is to be used. The veneer is then removed from the acid bath, and placed
in a trough or agitating vessel containing cold water, so as to cleanse and remove
the acid on its surfaces, and it is preferably passed through one or more succeeding
water baths to remove all acid traces, and after being allowed to dry, it is ready
for being attached to the cloth or paper backing by waterproof cement or paste as
hereinafter described.
The new waterproof solutionizing cement consists of a combination of the following
ingredients, ordinary glue, tannic acid, boiled linseed oil, and glycerine, treacle or
molasses preferably in the following quantity proportions.—
Ordinary glue
Tannic acid
Boiled linseed oil
-
Glycerine treaals
-
50 per centum.
"2
"
-
40
"
"
In preparing this waterproof composition the glue is first mixed and heated with the
tannic acid. The boiled linseed oil and glycerine or its equivalent, are then added
to the above while hot, and the whole four ingredients mixed together. This
compound mixture is retained in a trough or vessel which is always kept hot while
the manufacturing operations are proceeding, preferably by a steam pipe or coil
placed within the vessel, or by a steam or circulating hot water jacket surrounding
the vessel, and the cloth, paper, or equivalent web or sheet material to form the
backing is fed through this trough or vessel below guide rollers and above a coating
roller to get solutionized on one of its surfaces as hereinafter described.
Under one arrangement the veneer would be attached to the cloth or paper
backing all as follows.-The cloth or paper should be of a nature or quality to suit
the stretching qualities of the particular class of veneer or wood to be used, and is
wound in web form on a releasing reel or beam mounted on end journals in a suitable
[27

page_text: frame. From this reel the cloth or paper is led through between the rollers in the
waterproof solutionizing trough and then passes by guide rollers over a horizontal
table cylinder, or like surface where it receives the veneer, and then passes through
one or more pair of pressing rolls, and after traversing a sufficient distance to get
dried, the combined fabric is finally wound in its finished state on to a rotating reel
or beam which draws the cloth or paper material at a regulated speed from the
before mentioned supply reel. In traversing under the guide rollers in the bath
containing the waterproof cement the web of cloth or paper gets the solution spread
on its under surface by a roller, and after travelling past guide rollers the solutionized
surface which becomes the upper surface above the horizontal table, gets the layer
of veneer laid on it in continuous sheets to form a web by hand, or by an automatic
continuous feed mechanism such as is ordinarily used for feeding or delivering sheets
of paper in printing machines, and the combined veneer and solutionized cloth or
paper web material then passes through one or more pair of pressing rollers to
firmly bind it together, before passing in a dried state to be wound on to the receiving
reel or beam. For certain kinds of veneer, such as maple, walnut and mahogany
woods, these can be wound on to rolls or reels in continuous web form and guided
between feeding rollers on to the solutionized surface to be pressed and combined.
with the traversing web of cloth or paper.
The veneer web material thus prepared could be embossed or printed with orna-
mental designs, such as to represent carved figures or objects, by means of male and
female dies compressed by rollers, hydraulic or other presses, the material being
preferably damped before embossing the designs.
In applying the veneer web material to decorate the surfaces of walls, railway
carriages and the like, it would or may be attached by paste or otherwise to the
surfaces to be covered in the manner ordinary wall papers and other sheei material
have heretofore been secured, and may afterwards have its exposed wood or grained
surface polished or varnished.
Dated the 31st December 1901
W. R. M. THOMSON & Co.,
96, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Veneer Fabrics
or Material for Decorative Purposes.
We, ANDREW DAVIDSON, Advocate, of 75 Union Street, Aberdeen, and ROBERT
THOM, Manufacturer, of 41 Mount Street, both in the City and County of Aberdeen,
do hereby declare the nature of our invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, that is to say :-
This invention has reference to and comprises a new or improved mode and means
or method of preparing and treating various kinds of thin cut wood or veneer, and
fixing or solutionizing same by a new waterproof cement or paste on to a backing of
cloth, paper, or other flexible like substance, to produce a practical fabric material
suitable for decorating walls, ceilings, floors, or other surfaces in the interior of
buildings or apartments, ship's cabins, railway carriages, or other vehicles, dados
and panels, articles of furniture, and for such like decorative purposes; so as to
have the grain and all the appearances of natural wood, and which will resist the
action of sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen and withstand the deleterious
effects of damp and ordinary temperatures.
Hitherto various attempts have been made to produce a combination veneer and
cloth or paper fabric, but these have ended in failures, as such a material has never
come into practical use, while by our new process and mode of treatment we have
made the manufacture of this combination material a demonstrated success.
According to our improvements we cut various kinds of wood into thin strips or

page_text: sheets of veneer and pass same into and through a shallow trough or vessel con-
taining dilute sulphuric acid, until it gets thoroughly saturated, which has the
effect of toughening and parchmentising the fibres of the wood and making it
applicable to the purposes for which it is to be used. The veneer is then removed
from the acid bath, and placed in a trough or agitating vessel containing cold
water, so as to cleanse and remove the acid on its surfaces, and it is preferably
passed through one or more succeeding water baths to remove all acid traces, and
after being allowed to dry, it is ready for being attached to the cloth or paper.
backing by waterproof cement or paste, as hereinafter described.
The new waterproof solutionizing cement consists of a combination of the
following ingredients, ordinary glue, tannic acid, boiled linseed oil, and glycerine,
treacle or molasses, preferably in the following quantity proportions:-
Ordinary glue-
Tannic acid
Boiled linseed oil
Glycerine, treacle, or molasses -
50 per centum.
2 "
40
8. "
"
"
"
دو
-
In preparing this waterproof composition the glue is first mixed and heated with
the tannic acid. The boiled linseed oil and glycerine or its equivalent, are then
added to the above while hot, and the whole four ingredients mixed together.
This compound mixture is retained in a trough or vessel which is always kept hot
while the manufacturing operations are proceeding, preferably by a steam or circu-
lating hot water jacket surrounding the vessel or by a steam pipe or coil placed
within the vessel, and the cloth, paper, or equivalent web or sheet material to form
the backing is fed through this trough or vessel below guide rollers and above a
coating roller to get solutionized ou one of its surfaces as hereinafter described.
And in order that the manner of performing our said invention may be fully
understood we have hereunto appended an explanatory sheet of drawings repre-
senting a diagram elevation of one arrangement of appliances for carrying our
improved methods into practice.
Referring to this drawing-Under this arrangement the vencer would be
attached to the cloth or paper backing all as follows:-The cloth or paper should
be of a nature or quality to suit the stretching qualities of the particular class of
veneer or wood to be used, and is wound in web form on a releasing reel or beam a
mounted on end journals a' in a suitable frame a². From this reel a the cloth or
paper is led through between the rollers in the waterproof solutionizing trough A
heated by steam led into the under jacket or compartment A' and then passes over
a cylinder B, or like surface where it receives the veneer, and then passes through
one or more pair of pressing rolls c, c', and after traversing a sufficient distance to
get dried, the combined fabric is finally wound, in its finished state, on to a rotating
reel or beam d, which draws the cloth or paper material at a regulated speed from
the before mentioned supply reel a. In traversing under the guide rollers b, b, in
the bath A, containing the waterproof cement, the web of cloth or paper gets the
solution spread on its under surface by a large roller A2, mounted by end journals
in bearings in the frame of the trough A, and after travelling past the guide
rollers the solutionized surface becomes the upper surface above the roller or
cylinder B, and is traversed at a slow speed over the endless traversing belt B,
carried by the rollers B, B¹, or over a horizontal table, and gets the layer of
veneer Claid on it in continuous sheets from the angled table top C, under the
guide roller to form a web by hand; or this may be done by an automatic con-
tinuous feed mechanism such as is ordinarily used for feeding or delivering sheets
of paper in printing machines, and the combined veneer and solutionized cloth or
paper web materialz then passes through one or more pair of pressing rollers c, c¹,
to firmly bind it together, before passing in a dried state to be wound on to the
receiving reel or beam d. One of the belt rollers, as say B', and the reel d, would
be rotated at the same slow speed by bands and pulleys from any motive power
shaft, so as to traverse the web material in a regular manner. After the vencer

page_text: is laid on to the traversing web material z, any blisters or raised parts would
preferably be pressed or laid down flat by an oscillating cork or other presser e,
shown in dotted lines as carried on the lower end of an oscillating vertical rod e¹
hung at e from an overhead beam, and having a reacting spring e² in a slot in the
lower end. This rod would receive its motion from a wheel or crank at e³, con-
necting rode, and stud e³, working in a curved slot in the rod e', all so as to press
or scrape the surface of the veneer outwards from the centre in one direction
only.
For certain kinds of veneer, such as maple, walnut, and mahogany, these can
be wound on to rolls or reels in continuous web form and guided between feed
rollers, such as c² on to the solutionized surface to be pressed and combined
with the traversing web of cloth or paper.
The veneer web material thus prepared could be embossed or printed with
ornamental designs, such as to represent carved figures or objects, by means of
male and female dies compressed by rollers, hydraulic or other presses in a usual
manner, the material being preferably damped before embossing the designs.
In applying the veneer web material to decorate the surfaces of walls, railway
carriages, and the like, it would or may be attached by paste or otherwise to the
surfaces to be covered in the manner ordinary wall papers and other sheet material
have heretofore been secured, and may afterwards have its exposed wood or
grained surfaces polished or varnished.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
First. The herein described method of treating veneer in acid and water baths
to toughen and parchmentise the fibres of the wood, substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.
Second. The preparation and use of a waterproof solutionizing cement con-
taining the chemical compounds described for being applied to the surface of the
fabric on to which the veneer is placed, substantially as set forth.
Third. The method of manufacturing veneer fabrics or material in web form
for decorative purposes, substantially as herein described in reference to and
shown in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 30th September 1892.,
W. R. M. THOMSON & Co.,
96, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Agents.