Improvements in the Treatment of Wooden Surfaces for Imitating Mahogany, Rosewood, Enamel, Tortoiseshell, and other Materials, or for Producing Decorative Effects.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 27th May, 1896.
Complete Specification Left, 1st Mar., 1897-Accepted, 27th May. 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Partly communicated from abroad by FRIEDRICH RECKE, Furniture Manu-
facturer, of Holzmarktstrasse 12, Berlin, in the German Empire.]
Improvements in the Treatment of Wooden Surfaces for Imitating
Mahogany, Rosewood, Enamel, Tortoiseshell, and other Materials,
or for Producing Decorative Effects.
I, HUGO BEYER, Chemist, of 9 Leicester Place, Leicester Square, in the County
of London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object to treat ordinary wooden surfaces in such a
manner that they have the appearance of polished mahogany, rosewood, boxwood,.
or other expensive kinds of wood, or of enamel, or tortoiseshell, or other materials.
For this purpose I first apply a ground stain according to the nature of the
wood to be imitated or the desired colour effect; subsequently a decorative or
texture stain to imitate the grain or texture of a given material, or to produce a
pattern, and finally, I polish the stained or ornamented surface, as hereinafter
described.
The ground stain is composed of a suitable colouring matter (mineral or aniline
colour), spirit, oil, water, or other known solvent or vehicle, and an acid such as.
sulphuric, hydrochloric, or nitric acid.
The texture stain differs from the ground stain in the nature or shade of the
colouring matter and in the quantity or strength of the acid used. Two or more
different texture stains may be applied to different parts of the surface and
separated from each other by gold lines, so as to produce a variegated pattern.
In the case of soft wood, it is generally advantageous to prepare the surface for
the ground stain by treatment with ammonia or spirit. The texture stain or
grain, or ornamental design may be applied by means of a brush or pattern rollers
after the ground stain has thoroughly dried. After graining or ornamenting the
surface is again allowed to dry, then ground or scraped with sandpaper and finally
polished, but instead of the pumice stone usually employed for this operation,
I take a fine polishing powder chiefly consisting of steatite or soapstone and chalk.
Dated this 27th day of May 1896.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in the Treatment of Wooden Surfaces for Imitating
Mahogany, Rosewood, Enamel, Tortoiseshell, and other Materials,
or for Producing Decorative Effects.
I, HUGO BEYER, Chemist, of 9 Leicester Place, Leicester Square, in the County
of London, 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:-
This invention has for its object, to treat ordinary wooden surfaces in such a

page_text: manner that they have the appearance of polished mahogany, Brazilian rosewood,
boxwood, or other expensive kinds of wood, or of enamel, or tortoise-shell or other
materials.
For this purpose I first apply a ground stain according to the nature of the wood
to be imitated or the desired colour effect; subsequently a decorative or texture
stain, to imitate the grain or texture of a given material, and finally, I polish the
stained or ornamented surface, as hereinafter described.
The ground stain is composed of a suitable colouring matter (mineral or aniline
colour), water, which serves as a solvent or vehicle for the same, and an acid, such
as sulphuric, hydrochloric or nitric acid, or a suitable acid salt or ammonia or other
chemical which is compatible with the nature of a stain. In some cases ammonia
may be used as a vehicle instead of water, and in some cases the colouring matter
may be used without the addition of an acid or other chemical, as will be seen from
the examples described hereafter.
The texture stain may differ from the ground stain by the nature or shade of the
colouring matter and by the quantity or strength of the acid or other chemical
used, but the ground-stain and the texture stain must be so chosen and combined
that they are not mutually destructive or repellent; they should be mixible or have
some chemical affinity.
Two or more different texture stains may be applied to different parts of the
surface and separated from each other by gold lines, so as to produce a variegated
pattern.
In the case of soft wood, it is generally advantageous, to prepare the surface for
the ground stain by treatment with ammonia or spirit. The texture stain or
grain, or ornamental design may be applied by means of a brush or stencil plate on
pattern rollers, after the ground stain has thoroughly dried. After graining or
ornamenting, the surface is again allowed to dry, then ground or scraped with
sandpaper and finally polished.
The following examples of stains have given good results:—

page_text: Gum arabic
White lead (Kremserweiss)
Water
100 grammes
25 grammes
1 litre
N.B. In the Examples 29 and 30 the gum arabic should be boiled in the
water, before the stain is prepared.
The proportions of ingredients mentioned in the above Examples 1 to 30 are only
approximate, and may be varied according to the nature of the wood to which the
stains are applied, and according to the shade of colour desired. In preparing the
stain with potash salts, the latter should always be dissolved in the water when
boiling. Iron is used in the shape of iron filings dissolved in nitric and hydrochloric
acid. Nitrate of silver is dissolved in ammonia, about 5 drops to one gramme, and
afterwards diluted with water. The other ingredients are dissolved in cold water
or added to the mixture when cold.
To imitate the structure of different kinds of wood, I proceed as follows:-
a. Brazilian Rosewood.-I prepare a wood stain as described under No. 25 or 26,
apply it to the smoothly planed wooden surface by means of a hair brush or sponge
and allow it to dry, after which the surface is gently ground or polished with
sand paper.
Subsequently I make a brush of flattened canes, dip it into the texture
stain No. 28, and paint or draw on the prepared wooden surface the grain or
texture of rosewood, which, of course, requires some skill and practice. When the
operation is completed and the design or grain has become dry, the surface is
gently brushed over with strong polish; this causes the grain or design to appear
in fine and uniform dark tints, which effect in the natural wood is produced by
the oil.
After drying, the surface is again gently rubbed or ground with oiled sand
paper, and then polished as usual. To obtain the desired shade, a polish may.
be made with Bismarck brown and ruby coloured aniline, and applied to the surface
until the desired tint is produced.

page_text: To produce a surface which has the appearance of Brazilian rosewood provided
with panels of tortoiseshell, the said panels are first divided off by means of a sharp
style, and grounded with stain No. 27. The rosewood panels are then polished,
subsequently the tortoise shell panels are ground or rubbed clean, and the structure
or pattern peculiar to tortoise shell is imitated with the texture stain No. 21 by
means of a fine hair-brush. When the whole has become dry, the entire surface is
grounded, and the shade peculiar to the rosewood is brought out by polishing with
a mixture of Bismarck brown and aniline red (ruby); the scarlet tint of the
tortoise shell appears without any special treatment. The tortoise shell panels
should, of course, be surrounded or divided off with gold lines.
b. Boxwood and Enamel.-I take as a ground stain the composition No. 8, and
as a texture stain the composition No. 28, which produces on this ground stain
a greenish brown shade. The manipulation is similar to that described for
rosewood.
To produce the appearance of a boxwood surface containing panels of enamel,
either in the shape of flowers or geometrical figures, the panels are first divided off
by means of a sharp style, the enamel composition No. 29 or No. 30 is applied by
means of a fine hair brush and allowed to dry. Subsequently the entire surface is
gently ground and then polished. The panels should, however, be enclosed with
gold lines before the polishing is completed.
c. Walnut. This occurs in a variety of shades requiring different stains. For
Italian walnut I use as a ground stain No. 15, 16, 17, or 19, and as a texture
stain No. 1 or No. 2, which act chemically on the ground stain and on the
wood fibre.
For Caucasian walnut I use preferably No. 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14 as a ground
stain, and No. 24 as a texture stain.
For American walnut, any one of the compositions Nos. 7, 9, 10, 18, 20 and 23
are suitable as a ground stain, and No. 24 or No. 27 as a texture stain, but several
others may be used to produce special effects.
To imitate the grain of walnut, the rose wood stain No. 25 may be used as a
ground stain, and the pattern or design of the grain may be drawn by taking
alternately a mixture of 50 grammes of pyrogallic acid with 1 litre of water, and
the rosewood texture stain No. 28 (the latter for the dark coloured design).
If a lighter ground colour be desired for the grain, compositions Nos. 20 or 22 may
be used. '
To produce the appearance of inlaid or mosaic surfaces, the evenly planed wood
is carefully impregnated with a mixture of dextrine, glue, or gum arabic (from 5
to 15 per cent.) and water (from 89 to 95 per cent. of water added bot) by means of a
hair brush or cotton wool. After drying, a design is made on the wooden surface
thus prepared, by means of a pencil or stencil plate, which may be made of strong
oiled paper or tinplate.
After the design has been made with the stencil plate, or with a brush, and the
surface allowed to dry, the stained surface is impregnated with a thick shellac
polish, in order to insulate the design. Subsequently the texture stain is applied
to the parts of the wood which have remained free, and after drying, a texture stain
depending on the nature of the wood to be imitated.
In this manner any linear design (whether produced with a stencil plate or with
a brush) together with an imitation of any kind or kinds of wood may be produced
on the same wooden surface.
I am aware, that it has been proposed to produce decorative effects on a ground
stain by means of a lacquer, and I do not, therefore, claim the consecutive
application of a ground coating or colour and of a design or pattern colour, unless
both have the nature of an aqueous stain, being capable of penetrating into the
wood without completely obliterating the natural grain or structure of the same, nor
do I claim the consecutive dipping of a wooden surface into two different wood
stains for producing a special colour.

page_text: 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. The treatment of wooden surfaces for imitating various kinds of wood and
other materials or for producing decorative effects, which consists in applying to the
suitably prepared surface a ground stain, allowing it to dry, and subsequently
applying a texture-stain to represent the special grain, structure, or pattern of the
material to be imitated, substantially as described.
2. The treatment of prepared wood surfaces by the consecutive application of a
ground stain and texture stain, drying, grinding and polishing in the manner and
order substantially as described.
3. The application of one, two, or more of the stains described above and
designated by Nos. 1 to 30, in the treatment of wooden surfaces as specified
in Claims 1 and 2.
4. The process or processes of treating wooden surfaces for producing the
appearance of Brazilian rosewood or rose-wood and tortoiseshell, substantially as
described.
5. The process or processes of treating wooden surfaces to imitate the appearance
of boxwood and enamel, substantially as described.
6. The treatment of wooden surfaces for producing the appearance of walnut,
substantially as described.
7. The treatment of wooden surfaces to imitate mosaic or inlaid work, substantially
as described.
Dated this 27th day of February 1897.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
37 and 39, Essex Street, Strand, London, Agents.