Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1887
Complete Left, 14th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 27th Jan., 1888
I, GEORGE HULME LEVIS, of Lombard House, George Yard, Lombard Street, in
the City of London, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
My invention is designed to provide an improved flexible fabric or structure formed
of strips of wood or other material united by means of wires as hereinafter described,
and which can be advantageously used in place of carpets, floor-cloth or the like, for
covering floors.
My improved fabric or structure is, however, applicable for use as flooring or
wainscotting and for similar purposes.
The chief feature of my said invention consists in placing strips of wood or other
material side by side or edge to edge and fastening or securing them together by
means of wires which are bent or curved so that they will have considerable
elasticity, and which are passed through holes bored or pierced transversely through
the said strips at suitable distances apart, the ends of the said wires being secured in
any convenient manner so as to retain the said strips in close contact with each other.
By employing strips of different kinds of wood, or differently coloured strips of the
same kind of wood suitably arranged side by side or edge to edge, a very ornamental
floor-covering may be produced. A great variety of effects may, moreover, be
obtained by using strips differing in width.
I sometimes unite the said strips by means of spiral springs or spirally coiled wire
passed through the transverse holes in the said strips. In all cases, it is preferable
that the wires should be under considerable tension and yet be capable of being

page_text: further stretched without breaking, so that, should the strips of wood shrink after the
wires have been secured at their ends, the said wires will draw the said strips tightly
together.
The strips used may be of any desired length. The edges of the said strips may
be either square or bevelled or otherwise suitably shaped so that they may be fitted
closely together.
Floor-coverings or floorings made as above described possess a considerable amount
of flexibility and are much more serviceable than the parquet-floorings or parquetry
heretofore frequently employed, any liability to springing or warping of the strips
being obviated or diminished by the elasticity of the wires.
Dated this 1st June 1887
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Floor-coverings, Flooring,
Wainscotting, and the like.
I, GEORGE HULME LEVIS, of Lombard House, George Yard, Lombard Street, in
the City of London, Manufacturer, 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 floor-coverings, flooring, wainscotting and the like, and is
chiefly designed to provide an improved flexible fabric or structure, which will be
more serviceable than the parquet-floorings or parquetry heretofore frequently
employed, and which can be advantageously substituted for carpets, floor-cloth or
the like for covering floors.
In carrying my said invention into practice I place side by side or edge to edge,
strips of wood or other suitable material having elongated or other holes bored or
pierced transversely through the same, and I fasten or secure them together by means
of spirally coiled wires, or wires curved or bent in a peculiar manner as hereinafter
described, and passed through the said holes. These wires are stretched or tightened
so that any liability to defects in the said floor-covering or similar fabric through
shrinkage or expansion of the strips will be obviated or diminished by the elasticity
of the said wires.
My said invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a plan of a piece of my improved floor-covering.
Figure 2 is an edge view showing the position of the elongated or other holes for
the reception of the transverse wires.
Figure 3 is a piece of the transverse wire shewing the peculiar bends or curves.
Like letters indicate similar parts throughout the drawing.
a, a are the strips of wood or other material fastened by the transverse wires b, b
which are shown by the dotted lines. 6', 6' are the peculiar bends or curves of the
said transverse wires; and c, c the holes in the strips, which may be elongated as
shown or of other suitable shape.
The wires are provided with bends or curves 6 at the part which occupies the
centre of each strip a. Or the said wires may be bent or curved in any other suitable
manner so that they will yield when necessary, or will contract to draw the strips a, a
closely together as hereinafter described. The strips a are sometimes united by
means of spiral springs, or of spirally coiled wire passed through the elongated or
other holes c.
The wires should be in a considerable state of tension, and yet capable of being
further stretched without breaking, so that, should the strips a shrink from any cause
after the wires 6 have been secured therein, the latter will contract and forcibly draw
the said strips together; moreover should the said strips expand through moisture or
from any other cause, the wires will stretch, thus avoiding the breakage thereof.

page_text: The strips a are constructed of any convenient length with their edges either
square or hevelled, or shaped in any other suitable manner, so as to admit of their
fitting closely together. My improved floor-covering is sometimes constructed of
strips of different kinds of wood, or of strips of the same kind of wood differently
I am thus enabled to produce an ornamental design the effect of which can
be considerably varied by employing strips of different widths.
colored.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The manufacture of floor-covering, flooring, wainscotting or the like by uniting
strips of wood or other material by means of curved or bent wires, or of spirally
coiled wires extending through transverse holes in the said strips, substantially as,
and for the purpose, above specified.
GEORGE
HULME-LEVIS.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London.
Agents for the Applicant.
Dated this 21st day of October 1887.
GEORGE HULME-LEVIS.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London.
Agents for the Applicant.