Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Nov., 1886
Complete Left, 27th July, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 16th Sept., 1887.
I, CARL WITTKOWSKY of Charlottenburg near Berlin in the German Empire,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to a method of making wooden relief plates, which are used
in the place of genuine leather relief plates and which have all the good qualities
of the latter.
My method of making these wooden relief plates is as follows:
I take a number of wood veneering plates, as many as may be required to give
the relief plates the necessary thickness and join all these plates in a block by pressing
them against each other. Before pressing them together I give them a coating
of a cementing medium either on one side only or on both sides.
For this cementing medium I find it most practical to use either albumen or
caseïne or a mixture of both. When applied I let it dry on the veneering plates. I
give the uppermost and the undermost plate of the block a coating of this cementing
medium on one side only, that is to say on that side, with which they come in contact
with the other plates. On the outer side of the uppermost or cover plate, on the side
visible to the eyes, I apply a mixture consisting of some suitable colour and of
a water-proof. cementing medium. Likewise in this case I prefer to use albumen or
caseine or a mixture of both as the cementing medium. By this mixture of colour
and albumen a correct connection between the colour and the wood is gained, so that
the colour never can loosen itself from the wood. By these means the veneering
plate receives the appearance of a genuine leather relief plate.
When the plates have been prepared in the manner just described I lay then
crosswise one above the other, taking care at the same time that the fibres of the one
plate cross, or rather lie across the fibres of the plates above and below it. Having
laid the veneering plates together in this way I place them in moulds or forms
(patrices and matrices) heated to about 95° C. and subject them to a strong pressure
in hydraulic presses.

page_text: The above mentioned cementing medium has the peculiarity that it gets soft at a
temperature of 85° C. and hardens and becomes perfectly water-proof when the
temperature rises a few degrees more. When the plates are placed in the heated
moulds both they and the cementing medium gradually acquire the temperature
prevailing in the moulds; and the cementing medium will therefore first get soft and
finally harden and become perfectyly water-proof. The mixture of colour and cementing
medium with which the uppermost or cover plate is coated undergoes the same
changes and the colour becomes so closely and durably connected with the wood, that
the outer surface of this uppermost or cover-plate assumes the appearance of a genuine
leather relief plate.
The pressing of the block lasts from 1 to 2 minutes according to the thickness
of the plates that are to be pressed. The moulds (matrices and patrices) may
be of any shape whatever, so that any desirable relief may be given to the plates.
The pressing surfaces of the mould may be smooth or corned, for the purpose
of producing a leatherlike appearance.
The uppermost or cover plate may be of leather, metal or woven stuff or wood.
In addition to this the uppermost plate need not have the coating of colour
and cement, if it is not wished to give it the appearance of leather.
By a judicious selection of the thickness and number of the veneering plates
the elasticity of these wooden relief plates can be made equal to that of genuine
leather relief plates. The wooden relief plates can offer much more resistance than
the leather ones do and can be made considerably cheaper. The wooden relief plates
show the reliefs of the pressing surfaces much more sharply than the leather relief
plates do.
The method just described can likewise be used in making albums and box lids
and in making any other kind of relief plates for furniture and fancy articles.
Dated this 6th day of November 1886.

page_text: Improvements in Wooden Relief Plates.
I, CARL WITTKOWSKY of Charlottenburg near Berlin, Germany, 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 a method of manufacturing wooden relief plates, which are
also used in the place of genuine leather relief plates and which have all the good
qualities of the latter. The chief object of my invention is to do all the different
steps in the operation of manufacturing wooden relief plates at one time and rendering
the plates thoroughly waterproof.
I am aware that wood veneering plates have been made heretofore by laying two
plates crossway on upon another and by gluing or cementing them on the adjoining
sides by a common cementing medium and by applying a waterproof finishing on the
outside, and by then putting these two plates between a press until the cementing
medium becomes dry or nearly so and the plates are joined. After this being done,
the plates were run through pebbling or embossing rolls of a pebbling or an embossing
machine, so as to give it the appearance of leather and subsequently they were
coloured and shellaced and varnished in the ordinary way of finishing leather-boards.
All these different operations to produce these leather like wood-veneering plates,
namely the adjoining, embossing, colouring and finishing, have been heretofore made
but subsequently one after the other. I am not aware however, that such wood
veneering plates were joined and coloured and finished up all at the same time and
thereby being rendered thoroughly waterproof. This I do in the following way.
I prepare the plates by applying a cementing medium, namely albumen or caseïne
or a mixture of both, which have the peculiarity that they get soft at 85° C and
harden and become perfectly waterproof when the temperature rises a few degrees
higher. I also mix one of these two cementing mediums or both together with
a suitable colour and apply this mixture to the topside of the uppermost plate
of a block. Having done this, I lay them with the grain crossway one upon the
other, as already told, and then I place them in moulds or forms (matrices and
patrices) which are heated to about 95° C and I subject them to a strong pressure in
a hydraulic press.
When the plates are placed in these heated moulds, both they and the cementing
medium gradually acquire the temperature prevailing in the moulds and the
cementing medium will therefore get first soft and will finally harden and become
perfectly waterproof. The mixture of colour and cementing medium, with which the
uppermost or cover-plate is coated, undergoes the same changes and the colour
becomes so closely and durably connected with the wood that the outer surface of this
uppermost or cover-plate assumes the appearance of a genuine leather relief-plate.
The pressing of the blocks lasts from to 2 minutes, according to the thickness
of the plates that are to be pressed. The moulds (matrices and patrices) may be

page_text: of any shape whatever, so that any desirable relief may be given to the plates. The
pressing surfaces of the moulds may be smooth or corned for the purpose of producing
a leather-like appearance.
The uppermost plate may be of woven stuff or wood.
In addition to this the uppermost plate need not have the coating of colour and
cement, if it is not wished to give it the appearance of leather, and the plates may be
only joined and pebbled or embossed at the same time.
The method just described can likewise be used in making album and box-lids and
in making any other kind of relief-plates for furniture and fancy articles.
By a judicious selection of the thickness and number of the veneering-plates the
elasticity of these wooden-relief-plates can be made equal to that of genuine leather
relief-plates. These wooden relief-plates can be made and finished in a much shorter
time as heretofore, and can be manufactured at a much smaller expense as those
of leather or those already known of wood. These wooden relief-plates show the
relief much more sharply, than the leather relief-plates ect. do.
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 :
1.) The method of manufacturing wooden relief-plates, consisting therein, that
several veneering plates which are coated with a cementing medium that only softens
at a certain degree of warmth and that hardens again when the temperature rises
a few degrees higher, and an uppermost or cover plate of wood, leather or wooven
stuff, which can be left in its natural state or is coated with a mixture of a colour and
the just mentioned cementing medium, are thoroughly water-proof and closely united
and at the same time pebbled or embossed by being subjected to heat and pressure
in a heated mould all substantially as described.
2.) In the method of manufacturing wooden relief-plates the use of albumen
or caseïne or a mixture of both as a cementing medium for the plates on the inside,
and a mixture of one or both of these cementing mediums with colour for the topside
of the uppermost plate of a block, all applied substantially in the manner set forth.
OFIL 1
T11007
CARL WITTKOWSKY.
By A. Kuhnt & R. Deissler,
38, Alexander Str., Berlin, Germany,
Agents for Applicant.