IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD PAVEMENTS, FLOORINGS, AND VENEERS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
AUSTIN, of No. 87, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty hath granted unto me
Her Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
May, in the sixth year of Her reign, for making, using, exercising, and
vending, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-
land called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also within all Her Majesty's Colonies. and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD PAVEMENTS, FLOORINGS, AND VENEERS,"
subject to the usual proviso, obliging me to particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause
the same to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Austin, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as follows (that
is to say):
The nature of my Invention consists in glueing or cementing, in the manner
after described, blocks of wood, cut and placed, as after described, on to planks
or slabs, or other pieces of wood, or on to stone, slate, or iron, for wood pave-

page_text: ments; and in gluing or cementing in like manner, as after described, veneers
or surfaces of wood, for floorings and other building purposes, cut and placed,
as after mentioned, on to wood, metal, slate, stone, cement, tile, or any other
suitable substance. The wood, stone, slate, or iron, on which I glue or cement
the blocks for pavements, I denominate the bed or foundation of the blocks.
The wood for the blocks and veneers or surfaces is to be cut at a right angle,
or any considerable angle less than that to the fibre or grain of the wood.
The bed or foundation, when of wood, of the pavement blocks is to be placed
or laid down on the earth or road with the fibre or grain of this wood running
horizontally; and any wood on which the veneers for floorings or other
building purposes are to be laid or fixed, as after mentioned, must in a similar
manner run in the opposite direction or angle to the fibre or grain of the
veneer.
To make my wood pavement with wood foundations for roads, I take
any suitable number of planks or slabs, or pieces of wood of convenient size
and thickness, for the foundation, and this foundation is to be glued, cemented,
keyed, pinned, or otherwise fastened together in compartments, upon which
foundations I glue or cement the wooden blocks of any convenieut shape and
size, without any fastening or connection together of the blocks, and with
intervals or spaces between them to the entire depth of the blocks; these
intervals or spaces may be of the width of an inch and a half, or thereabouts,
and are to be filled in with broken stone, refuse or broken slate, grit, gravel,
sand, or any hard or any fibrous substances, this filling in being cemented or
concreted together with liquid lime or cement poured in, or with pitch or lac
and caoutchouc dissolved in naphtha, melted and poured in, or with any other
adhesive liquid materials. The pavement thus formed will present a constant
secure footing, and avoid that slipperiness which is prevalent in other wood
pavements when worn; and the great advantage which will be found in this
mode of pavement is, that the footing in its wear will keep pace with the wear
of the blocks, and still present the same secure foothold. The compartments
are to be strengthened by means of ledges, glued or otherwise secured across
them underneath; and for the purpose of securing the whole paving together
when wood is the foundation; the compartments should fit into each other,
or be glued, nailed, or screwed, or otherwise fastened on to separate pieces of
timber laid underneath; they may also be tied down where necessary by
means of iron ties, or in any other convenient mode. If the blocks be square
or oblong, the ends may be laid together without the intervals or spaces
between the ends, but forming parallel lines, and intervals in the lengths only
to be filled in, as herein described. When the foundation is stone, slate, or

page_text: iron, the blocks are to be glued or cemented on to such foundations in like
manner as on to wood foundations, and the pieces or slabs are then to be
laid down and embedded on the earth or road.
The method of making foot pavements is precisely similar to road pave-
ments, except that I prefer not to leave intervals between the blocks, and the
materials used may be of lighter substance, and the blocks of less depth than.
for carriage roads.
To make my floorings, I cut in the same manner, in respect of the angle as
to the fibre, as before described with respect to the blocks for pavements, the
wood to form the veneers or surfaces of the floors, this wood being properly
prepared and seasoned, and cut thin in the nature of a veneer; this I call
my surface veneer, and I prefer for most purposes for this surface veneer the
thickness of about a quarter of an inch, but I use other thicknesses, as
circumstances may require. I glue or cement this veneer on to the floor boards
or other materials composing the floor, in a similar manner, as before described,
with respect to the glueing or cementing of the blocks for pavements on to
their foundations. This, then, forms the surface of the flooring; and it will
sometimes be convenient first to form and lay the veneer on a thin bedding.
or foundation of planking instead of the immediate floor in compartments, to
be nailed, screwed, glued, or otherwise fastened on to the floor; the vencer
being glued or cemented on to this thin bedding or foundation of planking in
the mode described, where it is to be glued or cemented on to the floor
boards or flooring direct.
For ornamental floors I use various colored woods, natural or artificial; and
after the wood has been cut into the required thicknesses for the surface
veneer, I, for the most part, stamp or cut the pieces into any forms desired by
means of stamps or cutters; but sometimes the pieces of wood for the veneers
are shaped by suitable planes to the forms required throughout their length,
and are then cut across with fine saws of the thicknesses required. If the.
pattern consists of very small parts, the pieces of wood to form it I glue toge-
ther in lengths, and I then cut the piece so formed into lengths across with
fine saws into the required thicknesses as veneers, and with the veneers, so cut,
I form different patterns, by arranging and glueing or cementing them as
vencers, according to the pattern, on to the flooring boards or other floors or
bedding, as already described; and, in the operation of glueing, I apply pres-
sure to the parts, by any convenient means, in order to obtain as close a joint
as practicable. When the work will admit, I glue the surface veneer on to
the floor or bedding, as the case may be, as above described), in as large pieces
or sections as practicable; and in order to guard against and avoid warping,

page_text: from damp or beat, which might occur, and at the same time to produce more
decidedly the effect or resemblance of mosaic work, I divide these large
pieces or sections, after they are glued to the floor or bedding, as described,
into smaller parts, either by stamping them, or by cutting them through in
opposite directions by a series of fine saws; I then fill up the spaces or joints
which will be thus formed with glue or suitable cement.
The surface veneer,
prepared in manner herein-before described, I lay or fix in the required
position upon, and so as to form the surface of the flooring, with glue or
cement, as above described, where there is no intermediate bedding, as above
mentioned; and where there is such a bedding, then, by fastening that .by
nails, screws, glue, or other suitable means on to the floor boards or floor.
The surface veneer being laid and fixed, should be planed and scraped, or
rubbed to an even surface, and polished, if required, by sand or glass paper, or
by other desirable means.
My method of veneering and preparing veneers for other building purposes
than floorings, and which I use for staircases, wainscoting, ceilings, and other
building purposes, is precisely similar to my flooring, above described. For
joining my wood pavements together, and my surface veneers to any foundation
except wood, I prefer to make use of glue composed of crude naphtha and
caoutchouc and lac, boiled together until perfectly amalgamated, and to be used
in a heated state; and the proportions of these materials may be, two ounces
of caoutchouc dissolved in one gallon of crude naphtha, and three times the
quantity of those two articles by weight of lac. The glue I prefer to make
use of for my flooring and other veneers where, wood is the foundation, is com-
posed of one part of isinglass and two parts of shellac, boiled together in
alcohol until perfectly amalgamated, and to be used in a heated state; but for
either of these purposes, any glues sufficiently strong, and not so affected by
moisture or such a degree of heat as to injure the joints, would effect the
object.
I have described the method to be pursued with my improvements in wood
pavements, floorings, and veneers, which is most simple, in my apprehension,
though it must be evident that there are other ways of effecting some of the
details pointed out. I am aware that small pieces of wood cut in some such
way as to resemble what is before described have been at times applied in the
manufacture of small ornamental furniture and fancy articles, and I do not
claim this; but I do claim as my Invention,-
First, the glueing or cementing of wood, cut at such angle as to its fibre as
before described, on to planks or slabs or other pieces of wood, or on to stone,
slate, or iron, for wood pavements; or on to wood, metal, slate, stone, cement,

page_text: tile, or any other suitable substance, for the purposes of veneers for flooring,
and other building purposes.
Second, the securing of wood paving blocks on to planks or slabs or other
pieces of wood, or on to stone, slate, or iron, without any fastening to each
other, with intervals or spaces between the blocks, except at the ends where
the blocks are square or oblong, as before described, and the intervals to be
filled in, in the manner herein-before described.
Third, the application of such veneers, as herein-before described, to flooring
and other building purposes.
And such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used for the same purpose or purposes within
that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, or in Her said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad, and I do
hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily
believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without
reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain the exclusive
right and privilege of or to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-three.