Improvements in Floor-cloth. applicable also to American Leather- cloth and to Leather used for Upholstery and other purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Oct.. 1890-Accepted, 15th Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Floor-cloth. applicable also to American Leather-
cloth and to Leather used for Upholstery and other purposes.
I, ALFRED FRAMPTON, of 62 and 63 Basinghall Street, in the City of London,
Architect, 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 oil-cloth, linoleum, corticine and like floor-cloths, and to
American leather-cloth and leather applicable for upholstery and other purposes.
My said invention is designed to render the tread of such floor coverings soft and
elastic, approximating to that of a thick woven carpet, and moreover to increase their
durability by protecting them from excessive wear due to irregularities of the floors
on which they may be laid. My said invention, moreover, as applied to leather is
designed to improve the evenness of the said material when applied to certain uses as
for instance in upholstery and other purposes where evenness is a desideratum.
According to one part of my said invention as applied to floor-cloths I attach to the
underside or lower face of the said floor-cloths by means of glue or in any other
suitable manner a backing or layer of felt, feltine wool, hair, cotton, paper, india-
rubber cork or similar soft or elastic material. The said backing may be of any
desirable thickness to suit different requirements, the softness of the tread being of
course improved by an increased thickness of backing. In some instances I prefer to
corrugate the backing to improve the softness of the tread of the combined fabric.
In a modification of my invention instead of attaching the soft layer of material to
the back of the floor-cloth, I insert the said material into the floor-cloth itself, or in
other words I attach a layer of felt or similar soft substance or composition as above
described to the back of the floor-cloth and I then affix another layer of floor-cloth on
the said layer of soft material. In this manner I produce a compound floor covering
having both faces of ordinary floor-cloth, and between which said faces is inserted a
wadding of more or less soft material. The said compound floor-cloth has a soft or
elastic tread which forms a great improvement on the hard tread of floor-cloth as
heretofore manufactured.
It is obvious that the backing or the insertion above described will yield where
resting on ridges or other irregularities of the floor on which the said compound cloth
may be laid and will prevent excessive wear of the floor-cloth at those parts,
consequently prolonging considerably the life of the said cloth.
When applying my invention to American leather-cloth or to leather applicable for
upholstery purposes and the like I may attach a backing, similar to that bercin
described with reference to floor-cloth to the inner face of the said leather, or may
insert the layer of soft material in the leather or between two folds of the leather and
thus form a compound soft and elastic fabric having in the latter case a leather face on
each side enclosing a soft wadding in precisely the same manner as hereinabove
described with reference to floor-cloth. The seats of chairs, sofas, and other articles
upholstered with my improved compound fabric will be more durable, and even than
when upholstered in ordinary leather.
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 1
claim is :-
First. The combination, with oil-cloth, linoleum, corticine or like floor-cloth, of a
backing or an insertion of a layer of soft or elastic material as, and for the purpose,
substantially as sot forth

page_text: Second. The combination, with American leather-cloth, or with leather suitable for
upholstery and like purposes, of a backing or an insertion of a layer of soft or elastic
material as, and for the purpose, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 9th day of October 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.