Improvements in Parquet Floors and Wall Linings.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 13th June, 1893-Accepted, 22nd July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Parquet Floors and Wall Linings.
I, MARIE FIRMIN CHARLES TURPIN of Claraville, Lion Gate Gardens,
Richmond, in the County of Surrey, Joiner, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
:-
My invention relates to the construction and fixing of parquet and wood block
floors and wall linings and has for its object to avoid as far as possible the injurious
effects of expansion and contraction under the action of damp and heat.
The invention consists in the combination, with tongue and groove joints by
which the blocks or sections of the parquet flooring or lining are united to one
another, of a dovetail joint by which they are at same time firmly united to the
cement upon which they are bedded.
For the purposes of my invention, I may either use separate tongueing strips of
wood, metal, or other material, received in corresponding grooves in the abutting
edges of the panels or blocks to be united, or I may use tongues worked solid with
the blocks or sections, such tongues being generally used for parquet of the herring
bone pattern and in that case may be provided only at the ends of the blocks or
sections and be received in corresponding mortises in the sides of the adjacent sections..
Whichever kind of tongue is used, the edges of the panels, blocks, or sections, when
laid make a close butt above the tongues but at the underside of the latter an open
groove or joint is left between the adjacent sections, such groove being of dovetail
section, so that in the act of fixing the sections and of uniting them by their
tongued joints, the plastic cement on which they are bedded will be forced into
such open dovetailed groove so that when set it will act as a key to effectually
secure the blocks or sections to the cement bed, their union to each other and to the
bed of cement being effected at one operation and in such a manner as to prevent
their becoming disturbed by contraction or expansion. The cement bed is off a
waterproof composition and may either be of a bituminous character, so as to be
softened by heat, or it may be one which is gauged with water and sets in the
ordinary way.
My invention possesses the following advantages
1st. Greater speed in the laying of the floors, skilled labor being no longer required,
saving from thirty to forty per cent. in the cost of laying the floors by the use of the
combination of the tongued and dovetailed groove joints;
2nd. Great saving in the cost of laying, by avoiding the planing of the floors.
after being laid, which by this method will no longer be required;
3rd. Perfect interlocking of the blocks or sections of the parquet floors or lining
through the keying of each block by means of grooves and tongues, thus ensuring
greater durability and stability of the floors after laying by maintaining them at
their proper level and preventing the panels and blocks bulging and being disturbed
in the event of disintegration of the plastic cement bedding composition generally
used for fixing. It will also counteract as far as possible the injurious effects of
expansion and contraction under the action of damp and heat and will also
minimize the dangers arising through the use of any inferior material which the
cement foundation may have been composed of;
4th. Reduction of cost of the plastic cement bedding composition on which the
panels, blocks, or sections, of floors are bedded on the foundation, by enabling it to
be replaced by an equally effectual cement susceptible of a very much easier and
cheaper mode of application :

page_text: 5th. My system can be applied equally and as effectually on a wooden, as on a
cement, foundation.
Dated this 13th day of September 1892.
M. F. C. TURPIN,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Parquet Floors and Wall Linings.
I, MARIE FIRMIN CHARLES TURPIN of Claraville, Lion Gate Gardens,
Richmond, in the County of Surrey, Joiner, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to the construction and fixing of parquet and wood block
floors and wall linings, and has for its object to avoid as far as possible the injurious
effects of expansion and contraction under the action of damp and heat.
The invention consists in the combination, with tongue and groove joints by
which the blocks or sections of the parquet flooring or lining are united to one
another, of a dovetail joint formed between the blocks and the cement bed by which
the blocks are in the act of laying them at same time firmly united to the cement
upon which they are bedded.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, wherein.
Figure 1 is a plan view (partly in perspective) of a floor or lining of which the
blocks have tongues only at the ends.
Figure 2 shews a similarly tongued floor with the addition of dowels.
Figure 3 is a section on line 1-1 Figure 1, and
Figure 4 is a section of a floor with loose tongues.
For the purposes of my invention, I may use tongues A worked solid with the
blocks or sections, such tongues being generally used for parquet of the herringbone
pattern, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, and in that case may be provided only at the
ends of the blocks or sections and be received in corresponding grooves B in the
sides of the adjacent sections. These tongues A are bevelled on the upper faces,
as shewn, to increase their strength and to facilitate fitting them in the corre-
spondingly shaped grooves B. For convenience of grooving the blocks, the
grooves B extend the full length of the blocks although only a portion of the groove
may be used to receive the tongue. In addition to these tongues, dowel-pins a of
wood or metal may also be used, as shewn in Figure 2, such dowel pins being
generally applied at the sides of the blocks or sections when the tongues A are used
at the ends. Or I may use separate tongueing strips A of wood, metal, or other
material, received in corresponding grooves B in the abutting edges of the panels
or blocks, as shewn in Figure 4.
Whichever kind of tongue is used, the edges of the panels, blocks, or sections,
when laid, make a close butt above the tongues but at the under side of the latter
the edges of the panels, blocks, or sections, are so worked that an open groove or
joint C is left between the adjacent sections, such groove being of dovetailed form
in cross-section and extending quite up to the underside of the tongue, so that in
the act of fixing the sectious and of uniting them by their tongued joints, the
plastic cement D on which they are bedded will be forced into such open dovetailed
groove and fill the same without preventing the blocks being closely butted together
and when set will act as a key to effectually secure the blocks or sections to the
cement bed, the union of the blocks to each other and to the bed of cement being
effected at one operation and in such a manner as to prevent disturbance of the
blocks by contraction or expansion. The cement bed is of a waterproof composition
and may either be of a bitumenous character, so as to be softened by heat, or it

page_text: may be one which is gauged with water, oils, or spirits, and sets in the ordinary
way. The sub-floor E may be of wood, stone, cement, concrete, asphalte, tiles, or
other material.
My invention possesses the following advantages
1. Speed and economy in laying the blocks, no skilled labor and little, if any,
planing being required.
2. Perfect interlocking of the blocks to each other and to the cement bed,
ensuring greater stability and durability and preventing disturbance by expansion
and contraction under the action of damp and heat or by disintegration of the
cement bed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
In a parquet and wood block flooring or wall lining, the combination of tongue
and groove joints, of a dovetail joint formed between the blocks and the cement
bed on which they are laid, the dovetail groove extending quite up to the under-
side of the tongue and being filled with the cement in the act of laying, substan-
tially as specified.
Dated this 13th day at Juna IXUK
M. F. C. TURPIN,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.