AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCING AN UNEVEN SURFACE IN WOOD AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WALKER WOOD, of Chester Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting. :
:
WHEREAS Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, in and by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-fifth November last, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, did
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Walker Wood, Her special licence,
full power, sole. privilege and authority, that. I, the said Henry Walker
Wood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by
myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants.
or agents, or such others as I, the said Henry Walker Wood, my executors,
administrators, or 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
unexpired, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCING AN UNEVEN SURFACE IN WOOD
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES;" within that part of the United Kingdom. of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, our Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her Colonies and Plantations abroad,
in such manner as to me the said Henry Walker Wood, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, in my or their discretion should seem meet, in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said

page_text: .
Henry Walker Wood, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Walker Wood, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the following
description thereof, that is to say :-
My improvement in producing an uneven surface in wood and other
substances, consists of a new combination or the application of hot moulds
or dyes to the surface of wood or other combustible substance to be rendered
uneven or of an uneven form on the surface, in order to remove from the
surface all extraneous matter which is not required to form the uneven part
of the surface or object or figure, so that a charred or burnt appearance be not
seen upon the uneven surface or object or figure produced on the wood or
other combustible substance. My new combination is thus made:-I form as
perfect a model as I can procure of the of the object or figure which I wish to
produce on the surface of the wood or other substance, from which model I
make a matrix or reverse model, I then cast in hard metal, a fac-simile of the
matrix, which must be carefully made accurate in all its parts. Having
this mould or die, the reverse model of the object or figure to be produced
either in one piece, or if the object or figure be large or from its shape more
readily made in separate pieces, I place it in an ordinary furnace for the
purpose of being heated; when red hot the mould or die is brought out of the
furnace and placed under a press. A piece of wood or other substance to
be operated upon is placed upon the hot mould or dic, and they are immediately
pressed smartly together, but it may be done by putting the wood or substance
below, and letting down the mould or die quickly upon it, allowing a short
time for the combustion to take place. Care must be taken to perform this
part of the operation with great quickness, otherwise the expansion of vapour
or gaseous matter will tear and split the work; I then suddenly raise the press
and throw the article into water or other liquid, I then carefully clean it by
scraping or brushing away the burnt parts, and repeat the operation a con-
siderable number of times until the production is what I wish it to be. The
number of pressures required depends principally upon the depth of the
matter to be removed, and the operation is again and again repeated, until
the object or figure is satisfactorily completed. In some cases I find it

page_text: unnecessary to throw the article, after each pressing, into a liquid; and in such
cases the burnt parts are removed by scraping and brushing only; but I
generally prefer throwing the article into cold water immediately after it has
received the pressure. The work is placed in racks slowly to dry, and when
dry it may be gilt or varnished or oiled, or painted, or otherwise treated accord-
ing to the purpose for which it has to be applied.
I do not claim the form of the press to be used, but it must be a press which
can be suddenly raised and quickly applied, I claim the above-described new
combination of means or mode of producing any uneven surface or object or
figure upon wood or other combustible substance by repeated contact with hot
moulds or dyes operating against the wood or other combustible substance
in the manner above mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-
fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-one
HENRY WALKER (L.s.) WOOD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fifth day of May,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Henry Walker Wood came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.