IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR LAYING OF WOODEN FLOORS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR LAYING OF WOODEN
FLOORS." A communication from abroad by Edouard Hamelle, of St.
Quentin, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 9th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th March 1863.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
5 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR
LAYING OF WOODEN FLOORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the construction or laying of wooden
floors relates to that description of floor in which pieces of wood of suitable
shape, colours, or dimensions are arranged as a flooring in any convenient
manner to produce a kind of pattern or design. The Invention consists of a
cheap and novel mode of securing the pieces of wood.
In carrying out the Invention, the ground on which the floor is to be laid
must be well rammed down and made quite flat. Laths or battens are then
laid thereon at suitable distances apart, according to the circumstances of the
case, the laths or battens being of course laid transversely to the direction in
which the flooring boards are to be placed. The ground and the laths or

page_text: battens thereon is then covered with a layer of hot bitumen, asphalte, or other
suitable mastic or preparation, and then the pieces of wood which are to form
the flooring are placed thereon with their edges well fitted together. In order
to cause the pieces of wood to be held securely, they should be grooved on
their under sides, so that the softened bitumen or asphalte may enter therein
and hold them down firmly from behind.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, 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 Ire-
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR LAYING OF WOODEN FLOORS," being a communication
from M. Edouard Hamelle, of Saint Quentin, in the Empire of France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-

page_text: This Invention of " Improvements in the Construction or Laying of Wooden
Floors relates to that description of floor in which pieces of wood of suitable
shape, colours, or dimensions are arranged as a flooring in any convenient
manner to produce a kind of pattern or design. The Invention consists of a
cheap and novel mode of securing the pieces of wood.
In carrying out the Invention, the ground on which the floor is to be laid
must be well rammed down and made quite flat. Laths or battens are then laid
thereon at suitable distances apart, according to the circumstances of the case,
the laths or battens being of course laid transversely to the direction in which
the flooring boards are to be placed. The ground with the laths or battens
thereon is then covered with a layer of hot bitumen, asphalte, or other suitable
mastic or preparation, and then the pieces of wood which are to form the
flooring are placed thereon, with their edges well fitted together. In order to
cause the pieces of wood to be held securely, they should be grooved on their
under sides, so that the softened bitumen or asphalte may enter therein and
hold them down firmly from behind.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a plan or top view of a
wooden floor; Fig. 2 is a plan of the under side, shewing the laths or battens,
which are placed on the naked ground; Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical
section or end view of a piece of the flooring; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal eleva-
tion; Fig. 5 is another transverse sectional view taken in the line A, B, of
Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section taken in the dotted line C, D,
of Fig. 2.
In carrying out the Invention the workman commences by making a very
smooth, hard, well rammed, and compact surface, whatever the surface may be
composed of; ceiling laths or narrow strips of wood b, b, are then placed at
regular distances apart, the distance between them depending upon the
circumstances of the case; these laths should be so arranged that they should
be placed transversely to the flooring boards or battens c, c, which will form
the surface of the flooring. A layer of boiling bitumen or asphalte d, d, or
other analogous preparation or composition is then spread over the ground, so
as to cover the laths, and on this bitumen or asphalte while still soft are placed
the flooring boards c, c, with plain edges (that is to say), not tongued and
grooved. By means of these laths 6, b, which secure the flooring boards
together, as shewn in the Drawings at Figures 2 and 5, the flooring is made
of very great strength, and is less costly to construct than with joists, as now
used. In order to prevent the flooring boards c, c, from rising from their
places, and also to make them afford each other some support, the edges on
one side of the plank are made concave, and on the other side convex, as

page_text: shewn at Figures 7, 8, and 9, which represent side plan and edge views of a
plank or flooring board. The planks or boards will therefore interlock with
each other, and one cannot rise without displacing the contiguous ones.
Another manner of firmly securing the flooring boards together consists in
fixing at each end of the boards, by means of nails or screws, little iron plates e,
Figures 10, which project beyond the ends of the boards, so that in laying the
boards the projecting part of the iron on one board is placed under the end of
the board that is already placed. By this arrangement all the boards will be
connected together, and will afford each other mutual support.
In order to cause the boards c to adhere with greater tenacity to the soft
asphalte or bitumen, their under sides are provided with a number of rough
grooves, as shewn in Figures 7, 8, and 9. It will be found perfectly impossible
ever to remove boards prepared in this manner, except by breaking them up
into small pieces. Flooring boards prepared in this manner will form a very
solid flooring when placed upon plaster or cement.
It will be understood that in this kind of flooring it is not absolutely
necessary that the boards c, c, should all be of the same length or width. They
may be placed and arranged according to taste, and any pre-arranged patterns
or designs, that is, either in a diagonal direction, as shewn in the Drawing, or
longitudinally, as in ordinary floors. It will also be evident that, as the flooring
is laid on the solid ground without any interstices beneath, there will be no
harbour for rats, mice, beetles, and other vermin, as is now the case with all
floors which are laid upon joists.
Having now described this Invention of "Improvements in the Construction
or Laying of Wooden Floors, and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid the
mode herein set forth of laying or constructing wooden floors.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)