IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC VENEERS OR TILES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC
VENEERS OR TILES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."-A communication
from abroad by Hermann Friedrich Krause, of Brooklyn, New York,
United States of America, Civil Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th March 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
MOSAIC VENEERS OR TILES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," a communication,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of mosaic veneers or mosaic
tiles produced from blocks which are composed of a number of strips
coloured and made of a suitable composition.
The apparatus used in the manufacture of these blocks has a die with

page_text: a number of holes acted upon by punches, and through which the
compound is forced to form strips of the desired size and shape. The
strips thus formed are deposited upon a platform which rests on an
endless apron, and whereon the said strips are compressed into flat
cakes; and when a sufficient number of such cakes has been formed
they are compressed into blocks, from which veneers or tiles are after-
wards cut off.
I employ a frame with two standards which form the bearings for a
double crank shaft geared with the driving shaft that has its bearings in
the lower part of the said frame. From the cranks of the said shaft
rods extend to slides which move between suitable guide bars, and each
of which carries a number of punches. These punches are guided in
stationary plates secured between the guide bars, and they correspond in
number and position to a series of holes in dies which are slipped in
between the guide bars, and which can be withdrawn for the purpose of
charging the holes with the required composition.
Beneath the dies is an endless apron, which is stretched round drums
that have their bearing in the frame, and to which a slow revolving
motion is imparted whereby the aprons are caused to move in the
required direction. As the punches move down the composition in the
dies is forced out in the form of thin strips, which arrange themselves on
the aprons side by side in regular order. On each of the said aprons I
place a board which moves forward with the apron to receive the strips
forced out of the dies, and whenever one of these boards has received a
charge of strips it is taken from its apron, and the strips are forced
together so as to adhere to each other and form a band or cake. When
a sufficient number of such cakes is ready they are placed one on top of
the other and compressed to form a solid square block, and by cutting
up this block in a direction transversely to the strips into thin layers I am
enabled to produce mosaic veneers or mosaic tiles with comparatively
little trouble and expense.
The composition which I use for tiles is made of china clay, marble
dust, copal varnish, and double boiled linseed oil, with suitable pigments
to impart to the various strips the required colour. I mix these
ingredients together in about the following proportion:-China clay
17 pounds; marble dust, 5 pounds; copal varnish and linseed oil in
such quantities that a plastic mass is formed capable of being forced
through the dies,

page_text: For veneers or other purposes different compositions may be used,
and by charging the holes in the dies with composition of different
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said William
Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th October
1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC VENEERS OR TILES, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR," a communication to me from abroad by Hermann
Friedrich Krause, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America,
Civil Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within seven
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of mosaic vencers or mosaic
tiles produced from blocks which are composed of a number of strips
colored and made of a suitable composition.
The apparatus used in the manufacture of these blocks has a die with
a number of holes which is acted upon by punches, and through which
the compound is forced to form strips of the desired size and shape. The
strips thus formed are deposited upon a platform which rests on an
endless apron, and on which the said strips are compressed into flat
cakes; and when a sufficient number of such cakes has been formed
they are compressed into blocks, from which the veneers or tiles are
aftomando out off

page_text: the dies, and whenever one of these boards has received a charge of
strips it is taken from its apron, and the strips are forced together so as
to adhere to each other and form a band or cake. When a sufficient
number of such cakes is ready they are placed one on top of the other,
and compressed so as to form a solid square block, and by cutting up this
block in a direction transversely to the strips into thin layers I am
enabled to produce mosaic veneers or mosaic tiles with comparatively
little trouble and expense.
The composition which I use for tiles is made of china clay, marble
dust, copal varnish, and double boiled linseed oil, with suitable pigments
to impart to the various strips the required color. I mix these ingre-
dients together in about the following proportion:-China clay, seventeen
and a half pounds; marble dust, five pounds; copal varnish and linseed
oil in such quantities that a plastic mass is formed capable of being
forced through the dies.
For veneers or other purposes different compositions may be used, and
by charging the holes in the dies with composition of different colors
tiles or veneers with manifold designs may be produced.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. A mosaic tile or veneer produced in the manner herein set forth.
Second. The die f and punches d in combination with an endless
apron E, serving to receive the strips as the same are discharged from
the dies, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twelfth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy
three
Witness,
JAMES EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)