A CERTAIN MANNER OF PREPARING MARQUETRY AND ALL OTHER KINDS OF INLAID WORK IN VENEERS OF VARIOUS THICKNESSES, AND FOR FIXING THE SAME TO WALLS AND CEILINGS OF WHATEVER KIND, AND IN OR UPON FLOORS OF WOOD, STONE, OR METAL, AND FOR RENDERING SUCH. FLOORS WATER AND FIRE PROOF
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Alexander, of No. 373, Albany Road,
Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "A
CERTAIN MANNER OF PREPARING MARQUETRY AND ALL OTHER KINDS OF
INLAID WORK IN VENEERS OF VARIOUS THICKNESSES, AND FOR FIXING
THE SAME TO WALLS AND CEILINGS OF WHATEVER KIND, AND IN OR
UPON FLOORS OF WOOD, STONE, OR METAL, AND FOR RENDERING SUCH.
FLOORS WATER AND FIRE PROOF."
Sealed the 23rd March 1854, and dated the 23rd September 1853..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Alexander
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd September 1853.
I, CHARLES ALEXANDER, of No. 373, Albany Road, Camberwell, in
5 the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "A CERTAIN MANNER OF PREPARING MARQUETRY AND ALL OTHER
KINDS OF INLAID WORK IN VENEERS OF VARIOUS THICKNESSES, AND FOR
FIXING THE SAME TO WALLS AND CEILINGS OF WHATEVER KIND, AND IN OP.

page_text: UPON FLOORS OF WOOD, STONE, OR METAL, AND FOR RENDERING SUCH FLOORS
WATER AND FIRE PROOF," to be as follows:-
The veneers of various but chicfly large sizes are glued upon thick
brown paper coated with a solution of shellack to render it waterproof.
After the walls or ceilings have been warmed with hot water pans
(made especially for that purpose) the veneers are fixed to them with
glue prepared for that purpose by the introduction of other ingredients
therein, and fastened with wooden hammers and other machinery also
invented for that purpose.. The marquetry for floors when made of
thin veneers is prepared and fastened in the above manner, but if
thicker and glued upon boards the said boards are coated with metallic
paint mixed with cement, and sprinkled with a layerof sand, forming.a
hard crust impervious to water and dampness, and through which in
case of fire the wood will only become carbonized without inflaming.
The marquetry is fixed upon stone or metal with the before-mentioned
glue, but of a thicker substance to form a cement. The stone or metal
panels are dowled to each other, the veneered edge of one panel over-
lapping the stone or metal edge of the next, so that no connecting
joint can be seen.
*SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Alexander in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES ALEXANDER, of No. 373, Albany Road, Camberwell, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Alexander, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Alexander, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Alexander,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"A CERTAIN MANNER OF PREPARING MARQUETRY AND ALL OTHER KINDS OF
INLAID WORK IN VENEERS OF VARIOUS THICKNESSES, AND FOR FIXING THE
SAME TO WALLS AND CEILINGS OF WHATEVER KIND, AND IN OR UPON FLOORS
OP WOOD, STONE, OR METAL, AND FOR RENDERING SUCH FLOORS WATER AND
FIRE PROOF," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Alexander, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed; and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Alexander, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
'
My Invention, firstly, consists in the preparation of marquetry and
other inlaid works formed by veneers, so as to enable their being readily
and firmly fixed to walls, ceilings, and floors; and, secondly, in rendering
such floors water and fire proof. This I do by the following means:
F tako a piece of marquetry or a veneer or veneers of wood of the
required thickness, and glue it upon coarse brown paper, canvas, or any
other suitable material, which I afterwards cover with a solution of
shell-lac, Burgundy pitch, or resin, dissolved in spirits of wine, spirits of
turpentine, or in water mixed with borax, potash, or any other alkaliś
which will dissolve shell-lac. The proportion of ingredients which I have
found answer best to form my solution for coating the veneers consists
of two pounds of shell-lac dissolved in one gallon of spirits of. wine.
If Burgundy pitch or rosin is used, I put three pounds thereof in one
gallon of spirits of turpentine; but I have found as a substitute for
shell-lac dissolved in spirits of wine that an equally useful solution can
be made by reducing two pounds of shell-lac in one gallon of water,

page_text: having mixed with it four ounces of borax or potash. The dissolving
of the shell-lac in spirits of wine, and of Burgundy pitch or rosin in
turpentine, takes place by placing a vessel containing those ingredients
in a warm sand or warm water bath, or exposing them otherwise to a
moderate heat; but when water and alkali are used the entire com-
pound must be boiled until the substances are dissolved.
When the coating of solution on the papered side of the veneers has
become dry I cover it with a cement in a hot state, composed of one
pound of glue, four table spoonfuls of rosin, and four table spoonfuls
,of Flanders brick reduced to powder; these substances are added to one
.quart of water; they are then placed over the fire until the glue and
rosin have become melted; a frequent stirring is necessary that the
Flanders brick may be equally mixed, and held in solution with the
other substances.
While the cement on the veneer is in a hot state
the marquetry or veneer is to be fixed to the wall or ceiling, which is
previously heated on the surface by the application of fire, hot water,
or heated irons, conveyed in an apparatus suited for such purpose.
The veneers on being applied to a wall or ceiling are rubbed over the
face with a vencering tool, until they have become firmly attached by
the friction. The wall or ceiling so lined is then divided into panels
by fixing mouldings or stiles over the joints between the vencers, which
mouldings or stiles are fixed by means of nails known as "Paris
points," which are driven through them into the wall or ceiling.
In fixing a pattern in marquetry or other veneered work, so as to
form an ornamental or other surface to a floor or portion of a floor,
I prepare it in the same way as heretofore described for walls and
ceilings, the floor having heat applied to it previous to fixing the mar-
quetry or veneered work upon it. In order that there should be firm
and equal adhesion of the marquetry to the surface of the floor it is
necessary to apply great pressure, which may be done by a lever press
or any suitable means.
To render an inlaid floor laid as heretofore described fire-proof, I
.introduce, first, under the planking of the floor upon which the mar-
quetry is laid a surface of slate, stone, or metal, or the floor may first
be formed alone of a surface of slate, stone, or metal laid on metal

page_text: girders; and to render the upper surface of the inlaid work both water
and fire proof when fixed I cover it over with several coats of a solution
formed as follows:-I dissolve twelve ounces of gum animi or gum
copal in two quarts of spirits of turpentine, to which I add one gallon
of linseed oil, containing within it four ounces of finely powdered
asbestos and four ounces of finely powdered alum. This solution may
be laid on with a brush.
Having now described and set forth the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which I perform the same, I wish it to be understood
that I rest my claim to novelty, firstly, in the method set forth of
preparing marquetry, inlaid work, and veneers, so as to enable their
being easily and firmly fixed to walls, ceilings, and floors in a much
thinner state and larger size as to surface than ever done heretofore;
secondly, in the manner of rendering floors composed either of mar-
quetry or veneers water and fire proof by the means before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Alexander, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
CHARLES ALEXANDER. (L.S.)