AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING TIMBER, WHEREBY THE SAME IS PREVENTED FROM SHRINKING
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SMART, of Ordnance Wharf, Westminster Bridge, in the Parish of Saint
Mary, Lambeth, and County of Surrey, Timber Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of May.
in the fifty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said George
Smart, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
priviledge and authority, that I, the said George Smart, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein
mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF PREPARING TIMBER, WHEREBY THE SAME IS PREVENTED FROM SHRINKING;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
George Smart, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months.
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the
same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Smart, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained as follows, that is to say :-
In many cases in which the shrinkage occasioned in timber (by exposure to
hot or dry air, or to any circumstance which abstracts moisture from the pores
of the wood,) is productive of injurious consequences; I prevent this effect
from taking place by a previous compression of the wood, by a proper appli-
cation of mechanical powers, into a less volume than can ever be induced
by the common causes which occasion shrinkage. This Invention will be
particularly useful to coopers, vat makers, and builders. For example, in
preparing staves for vats or casks, I cut my staves square on the edges, and pass
them between a pair of rollers made with bevel'd grooves in them, so as to
press the wood on the edges into the bevel that is necessary to give the required
redunity, according to the width of the staves that are to form the casks or vats,
and the heading I pass through parallel rollers loaded in proportion as the wood
is hard or thick. For canteens or small work I press my staves with a screw
press or lever, which not only bevels them, but, by its action on the inner
edges, gives them a degree of curvature which facilitates the subsequent
cooperage. Vessels made of staves previously submitted to such a process as
I have described, by any means fitted to produce the effect required, will be
always tight, whether full or empty, the wood being pressed into a closer
state than it ever could attain by shrinking, nor do they require the insertion
of rushes between the joints, as is often done in the common ways of priming
casks and other vessels destined to contain liquors. Again, in carpentering
the best performed trussing commonly gives way, owing to the subsequent
shrinkage of the timber. This evil is prevented by my Invention; all that is
necessary being to press (by means of a screw press) what is commonly called
the crown of the king post, and also the case of the truss, into a less volume
than drying could ever occasion before inserting the trusses. The boards to be
employed for flooring should be passed edgeways between rollers, to close the
fibres of the wood, before laying down the floor. From the above description, no
competent workman will be at a loss to adopt his wood to the purpose to
which it is to be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Smart, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twelve.
GEO. SMART. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1812, the aforesaid George Smart came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowleged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twelve.