IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR AND OTHER CLOTH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Denny Lane, of Cork, Ireland, Secretary to the
Cork Gas Consumers' Company, Limited, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR AND OTHER CLOTH OR
Sealed the 2nd October 1868, and dated the 7th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Denny Lane at th
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th April 1868.
I, DENNY LANE, of Cork, Ireland, Secretary to the Cork Gas
.Consumers' Company, Limited, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR AND OTHER
CLOTH OR COVERINGS FOR FLOORS, AND IN COVERING FLOORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of floor and other cloth or coverings for floors, and in covering floors.
I prepare a block by gluing or cementing together a number of pieces
of woods of different colors, and I cut from the block so prepared thin
[Price Sd.]

page_text: woven cloth, or it may be on
Each slice or veneer of wood
slices or veneers, which I cement on to a
to strong paper or other flexible material.
will have upon it a pattern resulting from the arrangement of the pieces
in the block from which the slice or veneer is cut, and by assembling a
number of such slices or veneers, as above described on a flexible fabric
the desired effect is obtained; or when the pattern desired is simple the
slices or veneers may each be cut from a block of wood in one piece, and
the pattern may be obtained by assembling slices or veneers of various
sorts of wood on the surface of woven fabric or other material. In some
cases also a pattern may not be required and the slices or veneers may
then all be of one sort of wood.
may be cemented or glued down to
or for temporary purposes it may be secured by pins or nails. A floor
cloth or covering thus prepared has the advantage of great portability,
it is readily rolled up for transport from place to place, and when tem-
porary fastenings are employed it is readily laid or removed. Also in
covering floors to obtain an ornamental surface I sometimes employ thin
pieces or veneers of hard wood or other material cut to suitable forms
to produce when assembled an ornamental pattern; these pieces or
veneers are reduced in thickness at their corners or other parts, and at
these places pins or nails are inserted to attach the pieces or veneers to
the floor beneath, and then the pius or nails are covered over with small
pieces of other thinner veneer of suitable shape and material to form
part of the ornamental pattern; these pieces are glued or cemented into
their places, and the whole forms a flush and smooth surface.
A floorcloth or covering thus prepared
the floor which it is desired to cover,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Denny Lane in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DENNY
LANE, of Cork, Ireland, Secretary to the Cork Gas Consumers' Company, 3
Limited, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-

page_text: first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Denny Lane, Her special licence that I,
the said Denny Lane, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Denny Lane, 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
FLOOR AND OTHER CLOTH OR COVERINGS POR FLOORS, AND IN COVERING FLOORS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Denny Lane, 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 Denny Lane, 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
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of floor and other cloth or coverings for floors, and in covering floors.
According to the first part of my Invention I prepare a covering for
floors, which may also be employed as a covering for walls, by a com-
bination of several compound slices or veneers of timber, the several
slices being attached together by webs of woven cloth, by parallel
threads, by paper, or by other flexible material or materials applied at
the back thereof. I prepare this new article of manufacture, which I
propose to call "flexible parquetry," in the following manner:-First,
I prepare a "compound plank" by glueing or cementing together by
the broad surfaces several planks of timber of the same or different grains
and colors arranged according to the pattern which is to be produced.
I call that surface of the compound plank where the several long edges
(not the ends) of the several planks can be seen the "face." Secondly,
I divide the compound planks by cuts, all perpendicular to the face,
but forming different angles with the glued surfaces into blocks, so that

page_text: Fifthly, I assemble
every section of each block parallel to the original face shall form an
element of the proposed pattern. Thirdly, I glue or cement several of
these elementary blocks together, so that every section of the compound
block so formed, which is parallel to the original face, shall form the
whole or a portion of the proposed pattern. Fourthly, I divide the
compound block by several cuts into slices or veneers, each of which
forms the whole or part of the proposed pattern.
several of these slices or veneers together, so as to form or repeat the
proposed pattern, and I glue or otherwise attach them to a woven cloth,
to parallel threads, to paper, or to other flexible material or materials,
or to a combination of the foregoing. When I wish the material to be
easily transported I arrange the pattern and dispose the several slices
so that they shall have parallel edges, which are laid side by side, but
not cemented to each other; thus in each parallel joint a hinge is
formed by means of the flexible material at the back, and these hinges
allow the flexible parquetry to be folded backwards, so as to facilitate
removal and transport from place to place. The new manufacture may
be temporarily attached to the floor by tacks or studs, but if it is
intended to leave it down for a considerable time it may be cemented
or glued down.
It a thick piece of paper be interposed between the
material and the floor, by splitting the paper the flexible parquetry can
easily be removed. In some cases also where the pattern is very large
and simple the slices may be attached directly to the floor and assembled
so as to produce the desired result.
In order to make the several operations more clear I will explain
each as applied to the production of a pattern consisting of white squares
having a small square of black at the centre and a narrow margin of
black. First, I glue a narrow plank of black wood on each side of a
broad plank of white wood and form the "compound plank," shown in
perspective in Figure 1. I call the surface A, B, C, D, the "face," and
A, E, C, F, the top. Second, I cut this compound plank by cuts per-
pendicular to the face, but making angles of 45 degrees to the top
8, y, z, x, y, z, x, y, z, so as to form elementary blocks, shown in per-
spective in Figure 2. Each of these prisms,,, sal and, y 5,
,, if cut in a plane parallel to the face a, y, el, will give a section
the same as the "face," viz., an isosceles right-angled triangle. Third,
I glue or otherwise cement together four of these triangular prisms,

page_text: applying the right angles to each other, and I thus produce a prism of
which the face and every section parallel to the face will be a square
principally composed of white wood, but being a small black square in
the centre and a narrow black margin, shown in perspective at Figure 3.
I may cement several of these squares together. Fourth, I divide by
cuts parallel to the face the block consisting of the said square or
squares into slices or veneers, each of which will contain one or several
of the said squares. Fifth, I apply several of these slices having parallel
edges to some of the flexible materials already mentioned and cement
them thereto on the back only, leaving the parallel joints without glue,
so that each joint may with the flexible material form a hinge, allowing
the material to be folded backwards, as is shewn at Figure 4, where the
lines a, a, are joints. In place of employing a flexible back sometimes
I apply a thin slice of the ornamental pattern to another plain piece of
the wood, leaving out at first some portions of the ornament pattern.
At the uncovered places the plain wood can be nailed to the floor and
the portions of the ornamental pattern which were at first left can now
be inserted (so as to cover the nail heads) and glued or cemented into
their places. Also in some cases I print, stain, or paint on the surface
of the floorcloth so prepared as above stated ornamental patterns to
cover all or part thereof.
According to another part of my Invention in covering floors so as to
obtain an ornamental surface I employ thin slices of hard wood, either.
simple or compounded, as already described, and cut to suitable forms to
produce when assembled an ornamental pattern; these thin slices are
reduced in thickness at their corners or at other parts, and at these
places pins or nails are inserted in order (either with or without cement)
to attach them to the floor underneath, and then the pius or nails are
covered over with small pieces of thinner wood so arranged as to form
part of the original pattern. These pieces are glued or cemented into
their places, and the whole forms a flush and smooth pattern.
This method of covering a floor is illustrated by Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 5 is a plan of a portion of a floor so covered, and Figure 0 is a
vertical section of the same..
a, a, is the rough floor; b, b, are the thin ornamental slices of wood
applied over-it, they have their thickness reduced at the corners; c, c,

page_text: are nails holding them down; d, d, are ornamental plugs cemented into
their places and covering the nails.
In witness whereof, I, the said Denny Lanc, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
DENNY LANE. (L.S.)