IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SMALL MODEL, OR TOY BOATS OR SHIPS PROM PAPER OR CARDBOARD
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Albert Fournier at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th May
1867.
? }
T
I, ALBERT FOURNIER, of La Rochelle, in the Empire of France, Notary,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for ".IMPROVEMENTS. IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SMALL MODEL, OR TOY BOATS OR SHIPS PROM PAPER OR
CARDBOARD," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the manufacture of small ships of paper or card-
board glued in strips, or gauffered, or moulded and coated with a colored
varnish, which rendering them waterproof prevents the water dissolving the
glue employed:
I first make a mandrel of wood, metal, or other material, and of the size of
the ship to be constructed, the inner shape of which it exactly represents; I
then cut paper or cardboard into strips more or less broad according to the
degree of perfection to be given to the curves; these strips of paper are
successively coated with glue on one side only as they are applied on the
mandrel. I begin at the keel of the boat by laying on a strip in its entire
length; this strip of paper is placed in such a way that a straight line drawn
from the stem to the stern post would cut it into two equal parts; the second
strip is then laid on, being glued over the half in breadth of the first, and
therefore may be said to be entirely starboard of the line above mentioned; a
similar strip is then placed on the starboard side, and so on until the mandrel
is entirely covered, glueing alternately starboard and larboard; a cardboard

page_text: keel is then placed fixed with glue, and by glueing a few strips of paper on
each side the operation-above described-is-then-recommenced-until-the-first
layer is itself entirely covered. The art consists in placing these side pieces
in a regular manner pleasing to the eye, and in conformity with the rules
of naval architecture. The mandrel having been previously coated with
some greasy matter the paper when dry, may be detached, the glue having
adhered but very slightly to the mandrel. By these means I obtain a little
vessel of an extreme lightness and a perfection that only very small models
have hitherto attained. The interior is completed by fixing, always with glue,
ribs of cardboard, waist cloths, hatches cut out by stamping or otherwise, a
deck, if required, seats if it is a boat, in fact, all the accessaries which make it
a complete vessel of whatever description. The adhesive material which I use
gum arabic. When the ship is completed-I prepare a varnish, that which
I use is simply composed of sealing wax, white, red, or of any other colour
dissolved in alcohol; a great quantity of this varnish is poured inside the boat
of which it penetrates every part entering even. into the pores of the paper,
and when it has spread everywhere the excess is poured back into its original
receptacle by letting the boat drain. In one day the varnish becomes- quite
dry, and the outside of the vessel may then be coated with a brush; this
varnish possesses the great advantage of not impairing the gum arabic, which
as is well known is insoluble in alcohol.
is
20.
Instead of following the process above indicated the hull of the vessel may
be made by the processes of gauffering, or of moulding already used in the
manufacture of other articles, and this would simplify the manufacture but
given an equal strength the finish would be inferior.
.: 1.