IMPROVEMENTS IN VENEERING
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MEADOWS, of Princes Street, Coventry Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Carver and Gilder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of
September (One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine), in the thirteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Meadows, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Meadows,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Meadows,
my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VENEERING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said John Meadows, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing, under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Meadow, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My invention consists of causing surfaces of wood to be veneered in such
manner that in place of using several pieces of veneer coming together at or
near the angles or edges as heretofore, the same piece of veneer is caused to
fold over the angles and to be bended over and into the varied parts of the
surfaces to be veneered, by which not only will labour be diminished but the
work will be better done.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed
in the various Figures, of which the same letters are employed to indicate
similar parts.
Figure 1 shows so much of a section of an apparatus used by me as will,
aided by the other figures of the Drawing, enable me to describe my Inveution.
a is a fixed hollow metal bed, with a surface suitable for one class of moulding.
This bed is in connexion with a steam boiler, in order to keep the same heated
by steam, or other means may be resorted to for heating the same. The bed a
may be of any desired length, according to the greatest length of work to be
b
done thereon. b is a hollow bar, running the whole length of the bed a, and
the bar b is also to be heated by steam or otherwise. The bar 6 is hinged to
the bed a, so that it can be folded up towards it or fall off therefrom, as indi-
cated in Figure 1 of the Drawing, and it is retained by means of the stop or
catch c, kept up by a spring d, against the ratchet e fixed to the bar b, and
these ratchets are to be fixed at intervals along the bar b, and to have similar
stops c, so that the bar 6 may be held up tightly to the veneer when required.
There is a folding bar f, which is caused to move up to and press on the
veneer by means of the handle g, the end of which moves on a fulcrum in the
slotted opening at g', carried by the bar 6, as shown. The arm g³ enters a groove
at the back of the bar f, and is fixed thereto by a pin joint, so that when the
handle is moved from the position indicated by the red lines into the position
shown by Figure 1, it presses that part of the veneer which rests on it against
the piece to be veneered. The lever handle g will be retained by means of
the ratchet catch i, which receives the projecting tooth g³ on the lever handle g,
and there are to be several of such apparatus along the bar b, and then the
final pinch is obtained by the screw clamps j, as shown by the blue lines. A is

page_text: the section of a piece of moulding in the act of being veneered. The veneer
is placed on the bed a, and the piece of wood A is pressed thereon at intervals
by screws k, by which the veneer will be caused to take the form of the
moulding, and so far the process of veneering would not materially differ from
that ordinarily resorted to, but the veneer in this case extends far beyond the
surface, and is large enough not only to cover the lower surface A¹ of the
moulding A, but also the angle A³, then the concave surface A³, then the
angle A, and then the surface A, all which parts, according to my Invention,
will be veneered by the same piece of veneer, and at one process, in place of
baving, as heretofore, one piece of veneer to cover the surface A¹, another to
cover the surface A³, and another to cover the surface A5, and laid on at three
different periods, allowing one to get hard before the other is applied, and in
all cases showing more or less of the joints at or near the angles. The sur-
face A¹ being pressed on the veneer placed on the bed a by the screws k, the
bar b is to be raised by the handle b', so that the veneer will be caused to fold
over the angle A² and into the curved or concave surface A³; then the veneer
is to be folded over the angle A' and against the surface A³, and in order to
give a final pinch the clamps j are applied, should the bar f not be pressed up
sufficiently tight without, and screw clamps j are to be used to the bar 6 in
like manner when the other means above described are not sufficiently tight,
or other means may be resorted to for holding the veneer; and I wish it to
be understood that I make no claim to the mechanical parts separately here
shown, nor do I confine myself thereto so long as veneers are caused to be
folded over angles and forced to cover several surfaces at angles to each other
as herein explained. In like manner to that above explained, very differently
formed surfaces or mouldings may be veneered and the same apparatus be
employed, using, however, therewith such filling or additional pieces as will
bring the parts a, b, f, to offer the counterparts of the particular mouldings or
surfaces.
And in order that this may be understood, I have shown as examples
Figures 2, 3, and 4, where very differently formed mouldings are in the act of
being veneered, using filling pieces a¹, 61, according to the requirement of the
particular cases; and in like manner may other mouldings or surfaces be
veneered, varying the bed a, and parts working therewith, accordingly.
Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, show the sections of mouldings before veneering the
same, and Figures 9, 10, 11, and 12 show the same when veneered. In place
of using ordinary glue when veneering with light-coloured woods, particularly
when the veneers are very thin, I prefer to use a preparation consisting of
parchment cuttings boiled down into a strong size, and I mix with such size a

page_text: quantity of whiting to bring it to the consistency of stiff paste, which I spread
over one surface of the veneer, and with a brush I wet the other surface with
water; I then apply the veneer as above explained, and I have found it
desirable to apply very thin sheet brass to the outer surface of the veneer, and
between it and the parts a, b, f, and a', 6', and between such sheet metal and
the veneer I place a sheet of paper to prevent the glue or cement getting to
the sheet metal. Heat is applied to the parts a and b till the veneer is bent
to the moulding or surface A, and then the whole is allowed to cool, and the
glue or size used is allowed to become hard, and the veneered surface finished
and polished in the ordinary manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Meadows, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our