Improvements in and relating to the Attachment or Fixing of Sheets or Plates of Glass to Walls, Ceilings, and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: This Print is in accordance with the Original Specification as it stands after
Amendment (under Section 18 of the Patents, &c. Act, 1883) as allowed by
the decision of the Chief Examiner of the 15th day of April 1898.
Date of Application, 15th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 15th May, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (AMENDED).
Improvements in and relating to the Attachment or Fixing of Sheets
or Plates of Glass to Walls, Ceilings, and the like.
I, GUILLAUME MEERT, of 43, Rue du Niveau Molenbeck, St. Jean, near Brussels,
in the Kingdom of Belgium, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
This invention relates to an improved means of attaching or fixing sheets or
plates of glass to all parts to be coated therewith, such as to walls, ceilings and
the like, by means of cement, plaster, or any other mortar, and consists essentially
in the application, without the use of glue, solvent flux or enamel, of a vitrifiable
paste of similar nature to glass, on one of the surfaces or sides of the sheet or plate
of glass, the other surface or side being left untreated, in such a manner that
attachments are produced thereby which are proof against acids, and which are
not affected in any way by atmospheric influences. The said application is effected
with the aid of a sheet or plate of metal, preferably of zinc, of variable thickness,
according as it is desired to have asperities or roughness of greater or less coarse-
ness on the sheet or plate of glass.
This metal plate is pierced with any suitably sized holes, which may be square,
round, or of any other shape, and situated more or less far apart, according as it
is desired to obtain attachments of larger or smaller size, or more or less near
together.
The operation is effected by applying upon the sheet of glass, to be treated the
said plate of perforated metal, the holes in which are then filled with the vitrifiable
paste hereinbefore described, by means of a scraper in the form of a thin blade of
steel of suitable width which is charged with the paste which is then drawn over
the whole surface of the plate covering the glass which is to receive the attachments,
and so as to spread the paste. In this manner the holes of the perforated plate are
filled with the paste.
The sheet of metal is then removed and the paste remains adherent to the glass
in the shapes determined by the holes formed in the metal plate. It is necessary
that the paste should be sufficiently firm, but still workable, so as to retain the
shape imparted by the holes of the plate until it is placed in the baking furnace.
The glass thus prepared is subjected to the temperature of a baking or annealing
furnace, of a glass furnace, or of any other kind of furnace capable of producing a
sufficiently high temperature, but which shall not be able to affect injuriously the
quality of the glass itself, nor that surface of the sheet of glass which is intended
to be seen after being finally applied to its backing.
The attachments formed by the paste are thus completely welded together, and
the two distinct bodies, namely the paste and the glass, form now only one single

page_text: piece, and are in perfect union. If desired the glass to be shaped or the shaped
glass may be dulled by means of the sand blast or by any other dulling process,
but this operation is not necessary to the complete success of my process.
My system is applicable to all kinds of glass, either of the opal, white, or coloured
kind; to ordinary white and coloured window glass; and to all kinds of decorated,
ornamented and shaped glass.
This system can be employed with entire satisfaction in the production of plates
for covering walls and the like composed of my prepared glass, and of a layer of
mortar composed of cement or other materials of a thickness varying from five to
iwenty millimetres as desired. My system will be employed with the same success
for applying sheets of glass directly to bricks of various shapes intended for build-
ing covering or lining purposes, and even directly to walls, ceilings and the like.
This invention has nothing in common with any other system heretofore known,
because my process requires, in order to form the desired attachment, only one
material which welds itself to the glass without the aid of the adhesive required
in other processes. Therefore my invention is undoubtedly novel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
(1) A process of forming attachments on sheets or plates of glass, consisting in
applying to one of the surfaces of the sheet of glass, a perforated plate in the
apertures of which there is introduced the material which is designed to form the
attachments, and then fusing the said attachments to the glass, as herein set forth.
(2) A process for forming attachments upon sheets or plates of glass by means
of a vitrifiable paste of the same substance or nature as but fusible at a lower tem-
perature than the glass, the latter being heated after the application of the
attachments so as to form thereby one single piece with the attachments sub-
stantially as described.
(3) As an article of commerce plates or sheets of glass for covering or coating
purposes, having attachments of vitrifiable material having the same composition
as the sheets of glass fused or welded to the latter without the intermediary of a
solvent or an enamel, substantially as described.
Dated this 18th dox of Alarch 1807
h day of
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Asso. M. Inst. C.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Associate Agent.