IMPROVEMents in the Manu- FACTURE OF PAVements or SurfACE COVERINGS, FLOORCLOTHS, CARRIAGE COVERINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hawksworth, of Doncaster, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMents in the Manu-
FACTURE OF PAVements or SurfACE COVERINGS, FLOORCLOTHS, CARRIAGE
COVERINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
Sealed the 16th October 1874, and dated the 6th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hawksworth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th June 1874.
I, SAMUEL HAWKSWORTH, of Doncaster, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAVEMENTS OR SURFACE COVERINGS, FLOORCLOTHS, CARRIAGE
COVERINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN,'
to be as follows:-
.
"
The primary object of my Invention is to manufacture pavements or
surface coverings resembling in appearance what are known as Minton's

page_text: +
tiles, and suitable for tessellated pavements, mosaic, and other similar
work, but the Invention also applies to the manufacture of floorcloths,
carriage coverings, and other similar fabrics.
•
I proceed as follows:-I take linseed oil and evaporate it by heat
until it becomes of the consistency of tar. I then mix with it earths
and pigments of any suitable nature and color. Next I place this
compound in a masticator or mixing machine where it is mixed with
various coloring matters, according to the effects desired to be obtained.
I then roll out the compound upon tissue paper and immediately
transfer it to a non-absorbent surface, for example, sheets of tin, zinc,
iron, or wood, but by preference canvas or other fibrous material painted
and made smooth. When the plastic sheet of the compound has been
transferred to any of the above-mentioned surfaces I strip off the
tissue paper, which is uppermost, leaving a perfectly smooth surface.
The sheet of compound thus fixed may remain for a considerable time,
for while the surface becomes dry the under side remains moist and
adhesive. Sheets of compound of various colors and fixed in this
manner may be inlaid or printed with any desired pattern, or grained
in imitation of woods or marbles. I afterwards lay a coating of enamel
varnish evenly all over the sheets and then hang them up in a room or
chamber heated to about 120° Fahrenheit, where they are allowed to
remain for about 24 hours. The surface is thus rendered hard and
bright. While the sheets of compound are still adhering to the surface
to which they were originally transferred they are cut into various
devices or patterns suitable for forming pavements, mosaic, or other
work of various colors, or marbles, so that they may be fitted together
and laid upon canvas or other fibrous material which has been prepared
by a coating of the same plastic material in a more fluid state.
When the devices or patterns have been cut or marked upon the
plastic sheets I pass them through rollers with a fixed knife which
strips off all the devices so cut, and they fall upon a travelling belt and
are then fitted together and laid upon the canvas or other material, as
above mentioned. I then press the whole with a heavy roller upon a
smooth hot plate; the various pieces or colors are thus pressed into the
canvas or other material.
:
Where the sheets of compound are used for painting no preparation
of the surfaces is required.

page_text: The sheets of the compound may be made of any desired thickness
and enamelled, so as to be suitable for covering floors or surfaces of
various descriptions, either wood or stone, without the use of canvas or
other fabric.
For covering ships' decks, and the tops of railway carriages, and for
brattice canvas for coal mines, I proceed as above explained, except
that the canvas is prepared with a solution of boiling tar instead of with
the plastic material.
My improvements in machinery consist of the machine herein-before
described composed of rollers with a knife fixed in such position as to
strip the compound off the surface to which it is attached as the com-
bined sheet passes between the rollers, and of the belt upon which the
stripped off pieces are received.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Hawksworth in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Samuel
HAWKSWORTH, of Doncaster, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four,, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Hawksworth, Her special
licence that I, the said Samuel Hawksworth, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Hawksworth,
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 PAVEMENTS OR SURFACE COVERINGS,

page_text: FLOOR CLOTHS, CARRIAGE COVERINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Hawksworth, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
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 six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
•
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Hawksworth, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
0
The primary object of my Invention is to manufacture pavements or
surface coverings, resembling in appearance what are known as Minton's
and porcelain tiles, and suitablo for tessellated pavements, mosaic, and
other similar work, but the Invention also applies to the manufacture
of floorcloths, carriage coverings, and other. similar fabrics, and the
decoration of the interior and exterior of dwelling houses.
I proceed as follows :- -I take linseed oil and evaporate it by heat
until it becomes of the consistency of tar. I then mix with it earths
and pigments of any suitable nature and color. Next I place this
compound in a masticator or mixing machine where it is mixed with
various coloring matters, according to the effects desired to be obtained.
I then roll out the compound upon tissue paper and immediately
transfer it to a non-absorbent surface, for example, sheets of tin, zinc,
iron, or wood, but by preference canvas or other fibrous material painted
and made smooth. When the plastic sheet of the compound has been
transferred to any of the above-mentioned surfaces I strip off the
paper tissue, which is uppermost, leaving a perfectly smooth surface.
The sheet of compound thus fixed may remain for a considerable time,
for while the surface becomes dry the under side remains moist and
adhesive. Sheets of compound of various colours and fixed in this
manner may be inlaid or printed with any desired pattern, or grained
in imitations of woods or marbles. I afterwards lay a coating of enamel
varnish evenly all over the sheets and then hang them up in a room or
chamber heated to about 120° Fahrenheit, where they are allowed to

page_text: I also claim, constructing machinery for stripping off the plastic sheets,
or the pieces of the plastic sheets, from the surface to which they are
attached, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hawksworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
SAMUEL HAWKSWORTH. (L.S.)