A MINERAL PAPERHANGING INTENDED TO PRESERVE APARTMENTS FROM DAMPNESS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John
Gedge, and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A MINERAL
PAPERHANGING INTENDED TO PRESERVE APARTMENTS FROM DAMPNESS."-A
communication from abroad by Victorin Tybur, of No. 15, Passage
des Petites Ecuries, Paris, France, House Painter.
Scaled the 28th August 1868, and dated the 3rd March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd March 1868.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son,
of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A MINERAL PAPERHANGING INTENDED TO PRESERVE APARTMENTS FROM
DAMPNESS," a communication to me from abroad by Victorin Tybur,
of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries, Paris, France, House Painter,
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in applying coats of paint upon paper of every
kind and of any size, such paint being composed only of matters obtained

page_text: from lead, such as minium or red lead, ceruse or white lead, litharge,
calcined ore, or lead ashes, which may be prepared with any of the
liquids used in painting.
To the paper thus prepared is added a coating of sand or any analogous
material which is not decomposed by humidity, this conting being
applied so as to form ridge and furrow, or simply an even surface,
according to the state of the wall to which it is to be applied. The
sanded face of this paper is pasted against the damp wall and further
secured by small flat-headed nails placed along the top of the piece at
from 6 to 8 inches apart, and elsewhere if deemed requisite, the paper
being held at the bottom by a small strip of tin or zinc, and the heads
of the nails coated with a lead paint to prevent rust. If two pieces of
paper are required the bottom sheet should overlap the other about one
inch. The mineral paper being fixed the paperhanging with which the
apartment is to be decorated may be pasted over it without fear of its
being injured by exudation of moisture from the wall.
Where the walls are very damp paper coated with sand in longitudinal
ridge and furrow should be used, as these furrows carry off the moisture
without permitting it to spread; but where no great degree of dampness
is apprehended a paper with an even sanded surface will suffice.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licence
that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Gedge,
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 MINERAL PAPERHANGING INTENDED TO PRESERVE APARTMENTS FROM DAMP-
NESS, a communication to me from abroad by Victorin Tybur, of No. 15,
Passage des Petites Ecurics, Paris, France, House Painter, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Edward Gedge, 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:―
This Invention consists in the preparation and application of a paper-
hanging termed by the Inventor "mineral paper," the object of which
is to preserve apartments against damp without suppressing it, and
by means of coats of paint applied on a paper of any kind and of
any size.
This painting must be composed only of materials obtained from lead,
such as minium or red lead, ceruse or white lead, litharge, calcined ore,
or lead ashes, which may be applied with any of the liquids used in
painting. This paper bears a relief forming ridges, this relief being
composed of sand or of any material which is not decomposed by damp.
These reliefs in ridges permit the damp to circulate without being
constrained to rise again or to descend. These ridges are made of various
thicknesses according to requirement, thus necessitating several prices
and several Nos. of paper. This mineral paperhanging may also be made
without ridge and furrow and without sand or analogous material. The
same system may be applied on cloth, or cloth and paper combined, or
other textile fabric, in lieu of paper, or upon caoutchouc or other suitable
material, upon which this system may be applied, and either by heat
or cold. The sand applied may be covered with a coating of paint, or
this may be dispensed with, according to requirement. The reliefs are

page_text: made in several ways and in various directions, but always so as to
permit the circulation of the saltpetre and an issue to the water which
might come upon the walls in rainy weather.
This mineral paperhanging is applied as follows:-The prepared face
of the paper is nailed against the wall, beginning at the top. The paper
should be nailed on a thin tin or zinc plate, and to prevent the head
of the tack from rusting it should be coated with a little red lead or a
bit of painted paper. This paper is all the more easily hung that it
requires no previous preparation of the walls, and the ornamental paper-
hanging may be immediately pasted over it. When the paperhanging
does not overlap the mineral paper by at least an inch and a half either
top or sides a strip of thin zinc of at least an inch in breadth should be
placed over it; but this is unnecessary at the bottom of the paper when
the skirting or ogee is placed over the paper. It is advisable to place a
small strip of paper on the strips of zinc and the little plates receiving
the tacks to prevent their thickness being apparent.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.