IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD MOSAIC AND TESSELLATED WORK
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. we, ПENRY
AUSTIN and THOMAS WEBSTER RAMMELL, both of No. 10, Walbrook, in the
City of London, Civil Engineers, send greeting
WHEREAS Iler present most Excellent Majesty hath granted unto us Her
Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of June,
in the tenth year of Her reign, for making, using, exercising, and vending,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in
Her said Majesty's Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,
and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, our
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOD MOSAIC AND TESSELLATED WORK;" subject
to the usual proviso, obliging us to particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the band and
seal of one of us, and to cause the same to be enrolled in the High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Henry Austin and Thomas Webster Rammell, do hereby declare and describe
the nature of our said Invention to consist of "Improvements in Wood Mosaic
and Tessellated Work," that is to say -
First, in the preparation thereof with an elastic and easy compressible

page_text: material surrounding each separate square or tessera, so as to allow of the
expansion and contraction of the wood, as herein-after described. And,
Secondly, the mode, herein-after described, of putting together and forming
such work when the tessara is square with such material surrounding each
square or tessera
And in further compliance with the said proviso, we, the said Henry
Austin and Thomas Webster Rammell, do hereby particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
represents a DIOCK
sana
final state of preparation, with a full design or pattern shewn upon and
running through it, and merely requiring to be cut into sheets of the required
thicknesses for use in the manner-after described.
Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, represent five different blocks of the various colored
woods of which the design or pattern in Fig. No. 1 is comprised, made up,
and arranged as after described in the various compartments, and in the order
of such design or pattern, ready for sawing into planks, to be made up and put
together in the mane after described, in order to form the above block
(Fig. No 1) of the full design or pattern.
Fig. 7 represents a block of our wood mosaic and tessallated work, shewing
the introduction into the design or pattern of diagonal work.
We first take planks of convenient thickness of well seasoned woods of the
colors and descriptions desired, and as to color either naturally colored or to
be produced artificially at the stage of the manufacture herein-after pointed
out, and cut them into separate pieces of a convenient length and width, say,
nine inches long by four and a half inches wide. We plane them to an exact
thickness, which must correspond with the size of the square or tessera of the
intended mosaic, these pieces being regulated in number and color and
description of wood, according to the design or pattern intended. We then
take sheets of cork, carefully cut or prepared to a thickness in proportion to
the size of the square or tessera, viz, in the proportion of about one twentieth,
and then tim or fit this cork so prepared to the length and width of the
before-mentioned pieces of wood; and we then glue or cement these pieces of
wood and sheets of cork alternately together, forming them into different blocks,
such blocks being regulated in number by 'the number of the compartments

page_text: into which the intended design or pattern may be divided. For instance, in the
design on pattern shown at Fig 1, the full design or pattern it will be seen is
divided into or consists of five compartments, and there are consequently five
of these blocks, viz, Figs 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, each block being confined to its
distinct compartment of the full design or pattern, as shewn at e, f, g, h, i, in
Fig. 1; and in forming or making up these blocks the different colored and
description of pieces are to be arranged in the order requned to form the
pattern, as shewn at e, f, g, h, and i, in Fig 1, and in the said Figs. Nos. 2,
3, 4, 5, and 6, the cork sheets being denoted by the intervening double lines
We next cut up these blocks so arranged and prepared after the following
manner, viz. When it is desired that the mosaic should be prepared with
the grain or fibre of the wood vertical or nearly so, we first cut these blocks
so arranged and prepared in half in the direction of the dotted line a, a, a, and
then cut each of the halves into separate planks or pieces of the requied
thicknesses in the direction of the dotted lines b, b, b, as shewn in Fig. 2, and
when it is desired that the mosaic should be prepared with the grain or fibre
of the wood horizontal, we then cut these blocks so arranged and prepared
across in the direction of the dotted lines c, c, c, as shewn in Fig 3 We
afterwards plane these separate planks or picces to the exact size of the square
or tessera of the work, and then proceed to make up the block of the full
design or pattern, as shewn at Fig. 1, in the following manner -We take one
plank from each of the five separate blocks 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and then glue
them together in the order of the pattern, and of the numbers of the blocks
with other sheets of cork cut and prepared and of the thickness as before
described alternately together, and which, by reference to e, f, g, h, i, in Fig 1,
and to Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, it will be seen will complete the full design or
pattern, and we then continue on as before, repeating the making up of the
full design or pattern to the desired length of the block, as shewn at Fig 1, as
to which about thirty inches will be found a convenient length. The block
thus obtained is then to be sawn in the duection shown by the dotted line
d, d, d, into sheets of the thickness desired, say r inch, and each sheet will
present precisely the same design or pattern, and each square or tessera to be
surrounded by the cork so introduced in the work as before mentioned, and be
in a state for use according to the purpose for which it is intended, except
that in cases where we use wood to be artificially colored, these sheets, or
such parts of them as are intended to be artificially colored, will first require
to undergo that process, which is well known, it being at this stage of the
manufacture that we prefer to color the wood when we use wood artificially
colored.

page_text: Our said wood mosaic and tessellated work is applicable to flooring,
wainscoting, and all kind of panelling or veneering for building purposes,
also to all purposes of cabinet work, furniture, and useful & fancy articles
for which veneers are now commonly used, and in the fine sorts where
the square or tessera does not exceed 2ths of an inch, may be used as
a loose covering When used for the purpose of making floorings and
wainscotings or panelling against walls, we prefer before fixing it, which may
be done by any of the known ways, to glue, cement, or otherwise fasten each
sheet of the mosaic so prepared upon a separate suitable groundwork o
foundation, and we find a double set of thin boards glued, cemented, or
other wise fastened together, transversely to each other as to gram, does extremely
well; but it is obvious that other groundworks of suitable material would also
answer the purpose When used as a vencer for any of the other purposes
stated, we prefer to lay it in the manner of a common veneer
When used
as a loose covering we fasten it on to a thin surface of papier maché, or felt,
or a preparation of indian rubber and cork, known by the name of 1amptulicon,
or other suitable material. The material wo have named throughout the
description already given of our said Invention as the surrounding material
for the square or tessera has been confined to cork, and which is the material
we should most prefer; but any other material which is or may be of an elastic
or yielding or easily compressible character, such as caoutchouc in its various
states of preparation, or soft leather, papier maché, felt, gutta percha, and other
materials partaking of the like properties, may be used and will answer the
purpose. Some of the materials here referred to for surrounding each of the
squares or tessera may also be applied in a fluid or soft or plastic state, and
poured or pressed in between the squares or tessara, instead of being applied
in the way described; but in our opinion this would be attended with no
advantage to the work in any way, and we only allude to it as being possible.
The glue we use we regulate according to the work to which the mosaic is to
be applied, that is to say, foi cabinet and fancy work or other work not exposed
to moisture we use the common cabinet maker's glue; and when the work may
bo exposed to moisture we prefer using a solution of shell lac in alcohol in the
proportions of one pound of the former to one pint of the latter, or a solution
of india rubber in turpentine in the proportions of two pounds of india rubber to
one gallon of turpentine, but any other glues or cements which aio fiee from
offensive smell, or any of the present known ways of glueing, cementing, or
fastening, may be made to answer the purpose, although in our opinion not
so well as those we have pointed out In diagonal work, or in such cases
where the tessera of the mosaic is otherwise than square, we make up and

page_text: form the pattern or design in the usual way of preparing and forming inlaid
work when made up into blocks, except that we introduce the elastic and casy
compressible material before described all round each tessera, and where com-
bined with work in square tessciæ, as shewn at Fig. 7, in the Diawing, we
apply the pinciple of making up the pattern when formed of square tesseræ,
as already described, so far as it may be practicable. The square or tosseia of
the work may be made of any size, varying from two inches or more to one
Sixteenth of an inch or less. For flooings and wainscotings, we prefer to
make them from one inch to one third of an inch, or thereabouts; for cabinet
work and furniture in general, from half an inch downwards, and the thick-
ness of the elastic and easily compressible material which in all our wood.
mosaic and tessellated work surrounds each square or tessera will vary accord-
ing to the size of the square or tesscia, as before described. Our wood mosaic
and tesselated work may be glued, cemented, or otherwise fastened to, or laid
or veneered upon stone, slate, brick, iron, papier maché, millboard, or other
like materials of which either floors or cabinet work in general may be
formed, and in its application to floors we sometimes, for the purpose of
deadening sound, glue, cement, or otherwise fasten to the under foundation
before described of the work (excepting it be of papier maché), sheets of cork
properly prepared and cut (or other clastic material) to the thickness of
about th of an inch
Now it follows from our said Invention, that the consequences of contraction
and expansion in wood mosaic and tessellated work are not only guarded
against to a great degice, if not effectually, by reason of the application of the
before-mentioned elastic and easily compressible material around cach square
or tessera, as before described, but the manufacture and making up of such
work, particularly when consisting of square tessera alone, greatly facilitated,
and consequently produced at much less expence than by any of the present
modes. But whereas we have described the mode of using and applying our
said Invention. for the purposes herein described, as the most plain and simple
in our apprehensions to enable any practical person to carry out and apply the
same, though it must be evident that there are a variety of ways of carrying
out many of its details. And we claim as our Invention,
Fust, the application to wood mosaic and tessellated work of an elastic
and casy compressible material, heiein-before described, surrounding each
separate square or tessera, as herein-before described
And,
Secondly, the mode heren-before described of putting together and forming
such work, when the tessera is square, with such elastic and easily compies-
sible material surrounding each square or tessera, as before described.

page_text: And such our said Invention being to the best of our knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used in that part of Iler said Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion
of Wales, or Town of Berwick-on-Tweed, or in Ici said Majesty's Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Man, or in Iler said Majesty's
Colonies or Plantations abroad, we do hereby declare this to be our Specifica-
tion of the same, and that we do verily believe this our 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
we do hereby claim to maintain the exclusive right and privilege of or to our
said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
THOMAS WEBSTER (LS) RAMMELL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of December,
in the year of our Loid 1846, the aforesaid Thomas Webster Rammell came
before our said Lady the Queen in Hei Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Eniolled the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Loid One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.