IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING OF FABRICS TO BE USED IN COVERING ROOFS, FLOORS, AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1842

page_text: of Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex, RICHARD TAPPIN CLARIDGE,
of Weymouth Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, and RICHARD
HODGSON, of Salisbury Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS we did, by our Petition, humbly represent unto Her most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria that, in consequence of a communication from
a certain Foreigner residing abroad, we were in possession of an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING OF FABRICS TO BE USED IN COVERING ROOFS, FLOORS,
AND OTHER SURFACES ;" and whereas Her said Majesty, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-sixth day of April, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Raoul Armand Joseph
Jean Comte de la Chatre, Richard Tapping Claridge, and Richard Hodgson,
our exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that wo, the said Raoul Armand Joseph Jean Comte de la
Chatre, Richard Tappin Claridge, and Richard Hodgson, our exors, admors,
or assigns, and every of us, by ourselves or by our deputy or deputies, servants
or agents, or such others as we, the said Raoul Armand Joseph Jean Comte de
la Chatre, Richard Tappin Claridge, and Richard Hodgson, our exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of fourteen years therein expressed,

page_text: should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend the said Invention
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 Majesty's Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also
in all Her Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as to us, the said
Raoul Armand Joseph Jean Comte de la Chatre, Richard Tappin Claridge, and
Richard Hodgson, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or any. of us, should in our
discretions seem meet; and in which said Letters. Patent is contained a proviso
obliging us, the said Raoul Armand Joseph Jean Comte de la Chatre, Richard
Tappin Claridge, and Richard Hodgson, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Raoul Armand Joseph Jean Comte de la Chatre, Richard Tappin Claridge,
and Richard Hodgson, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to
consist in making a certain composition which we herein-after call oropholithe,
and which is herein-after described, and in preparing of fabrics to be used in
covering roofs, floors, and other surfaces, by covering one or both of the
surfaces of such fabrics with such composition. And in further compliance
with the said proviso we do hereby particularly describe and ascertain in
what manner the same is to be performed, by the following statement, that
is to say:
We make the composition, which we call oropholithe, by mixing together
linseed oil, litharge or white lead, dry powdered whiting, and dry sand, and in
the following proportions by weight; that is to say, linseed oil, eight parts;"
litharge or white lead, four parts; dry powdered whiting, nine parts; and dry
sand, thirty-six parts. And we usually mix the same in manner following;
that is, to say, we first place the oil in any convenient vessel, the shape and
form of which are immaterial, and we then add to it the litharge or white lead,
and we thoroughly mix the oil and the litharge or white lead by stirring them
together; we then add the dry powdered whiting, which we also thoroughly
mix with the previous mixture, in the same way as the oil and litharge or
white lead were mixed; we then add the sand, which we in like manner
thoroughly mix with the previous mixture; but altho' we find this order to be
the most convenient in mixing the substances of which the oropholithe is com-
posed, it is not essential to adopt it, the only object being to mix the substances

page_text: of which the oropholithe is composed thoroughly together. In ordinary cases:
we use linseed oil, not boiled, but when we wish to have a peculiarly white
colour, we prefer boiled linseed oil. In all cases where a light colour is not
required, we prefer the red litbarge; but in lieu of the red litharge the same.
proportion of pale litharge or ground white lead may be used, and when a
light colour is wanted the red litharge cannot be used. The whiting must be
thoroughly dried and pulverised. We prefer the sand to be that usually called
white sand or silver sand. In lieu of the white or silver sand, the same pro-
portion of yellow sand, or brick or tiles ground to powder may be used; but
we prefer the white sand or silver sand. The sand or its substitute, whatever
that be, must be in a fine powder, and thoroughly dry and clean. We usually
dry the sand, or its substitute, by exposure to the atmosphere when the atmo-
sphere is sufficiently dry, or by artificial heat; but the mode of drying is imma-
terial, and we pass both the whiting and the sand, or its substitute, through a
fine sieve. When the composition is required to be of a particular colour, we
ordinarily grind or rub the requisite colouring matter into a small portion of
the oil to be used in the composition, and then either add the colouring matter
thus mixed with a small portion of the oil to be used in the composition to the
remainder of the oil before the oil is mixed with the litharge or white lead, as
the case may be, or to the mixture of the remainder of the oil and litharge, or
oil and white lead, or to the mixture of the remainder of the oil, litharge or
white lead, and whiting. The latter mode is the one which we ordinarily use;
or we add the colouring matter, rubbed thoroughly smooth, without oil to, and
mix the same with the mixture of oil, litharge or white lead and whiting, pre-
viously described, the precise mode of mixing the colouring matter with the
other substances of which the composition is composed being immaterial. To
produce a dark colour, we use, in the manner above mentioned, one half part
by weight, or thereabouts, of lamp black, according to the intensity of the
colour required; and other colours are produced by using the ordinary
colouring materials. But the composition has the greatest tenacity when no
colouring matter is combined with it; and in ordinary cases we prefer
litharge to ground white lead in making the composition, because the com-
position made with litharge dries more rapidly than the composition made with
white lead. When the whiting and sand, or its substitute, or either of them,
are or is from any circumstance not sufficiently dry, it becomes necessary to
add rather n:ore oil than the proportion above stated; but the composition is
not so good as when the proportions above mentioned are adhered to. The
composition above described, and made in any of the modes and with any of
the substances above mentioned as being capable of being used in the com-

page_text: position thereof, and either combined or not combined with colouring matter,
we call "oropholithe;" and we prepare the fabrics to be used in covering:
roofs, floors, and other surfaces, by covering one or both sides of such fabrics
with such oropholithe to the thickness of about the sixteenth of an inch.
When the fabric is to be placed in a situation exposed to the weather or to wet,
we cover both sides of it with the oropholithe to the thickness aforesaid, or
thereabouts, on each side. When the fabric is to be used as a covering for a
wall or other purpose, not exposed to the weather or the wet, a covering of one
surface with the oropholithe and to the thickness aforesaid is sufficient. The
fabric which we prefer for ordinary purposes in canvass of rather an open
texture, so that the oropholithe on one side may penetrate through the pores
of the canvass, and combine with the oropholithe on the other side. What-
ever be the fabric, it must be tightly stretched previously to being covered with
the oropholithe, and all inequalities must be carefully removed from its surface.
And we cover such fabric with the oropholithe in manner following; that is to
say, we take a substantial rectangular wooden frame with a smooth surface,
and cause it to be firmly fixed upon wooden bearers and legs at the extremities.
and centre of it. Within this frame, and filling up the surface enclosed in it,
and on a level with the top of it, is fitted a smooth surface of Roman
cement or slate of sufficient thickness, so that we have a perfectly smooth
rectangular horizontal surface of Roman cement or slate fitted into a smooth
frame of wood on the same level with it. The surface of Roman cement or
slate is the same width as the width of the part of the fabric intended to be
covered with the composition, and twice as long as it is wide. The width of
the wooden frame at the sides is between three and four inches, or thereabouts;
the width of the ends of the wooden frame is not quite so great.
Along each
of the sides of the wooden frame, about two inches or thereabouts from the
outer edge thereof, is a circular groove running from one end of the frame to
the other, sufficiently deep and large to permit a substantial circular iron rod
to rest in it, so that the top of the rod may be on a level with its surface.
Each of the said rods is fitted with a thick row of short straight spikes, two
inches or thereabouts apart from each other, each of which projects beyond
the rod about three fourths of an inch, or thereabouts, the precise distance
and length being immaterial. Each of the said rods is retained in its groove
by staples, which staples are placed over such rods, but not so tightly
prevent their being easily turned round. The rods are turned by means of
small iron handles parallel to and in the same line with the rows of spikes,
and which handles, when the spikes are turned from the cement or slate, fit
into little cavities cut for them in the outer edge of the said wooden frame.
as to

page_text: To each side of the firstly-mentioned wooden frame is attached, by means of
hinges, a thin smooth surfaced flap of iron, of sufficient width when turned
down to cover the rod and the part of the wooden frame between the rod and
the surface of cement or slate. This flap has on the under side a slight iron
ridge running along its whole length. When the flap is turned upon the
wooden frame this ridge is about an inch or thereabouts from the surface of
cement or slate, and it serves to prevent the trough herein-after mentioned
from slipping out of its place while such trough traverses from one end of the
table to the other, as herein-after mentioned. At each end of the firstly-
mentioned wooden frame is a flat piece of wood, as wide as the surface of
Roman cement or slate, and about one inch or thereabouts thick, and six
inches or thereabouts deep, which we call a "slide," and which is made to
slide up and down the end bearer of the table. We usually for this purpose
cut two vertical holes about two inches long, and on a level with each other, at
equal distances from the end of the slide, and into the adjoining parts of the
bearers we put an iron pin with a head or button at the top of it through each
of these holes, so that the slides may be drawn up and down to the distance of
the holes, but yet work tolerably tightly on the pins, so that when not pressed
down they may remain with the bottom of each hole touching the under surface
of each pin. In this position the tops of the slides are nearly level with the top
of the table, or the slides may be made to slide up and down the end legs of
the table, the mode by which the sliding is accomplished being immaterial.
The top of each slide is fitted with a row of hooks, and each slide is depressed
or raised by means of two levers attached to the bottom of each slide, each of
which works vertically from a point in the adjacent leg of the table, such point
being rather lower than the bottom of the slide. The levers project a sufficient
length to permit them to be easily worked. When the boards, herein-after
mentioned, are placed at the end of the table, and when each slide is depressed,
it is retained in its place by means of the friction of the pins and the holes cut
in the slide. At each end of the table are two arms supported by legs. The
arms at the end of the table at which the process commences are severally
about one and a half foot long; those at the other end of the table are severally
about one foot long each. Each arm is formed of a substantial straight
piece of wood, projecting in a line with the side of the firstly-mentioned wooden
frame, but rather below the surface of the table, so that when the slides are
depressed, and a board is, as herein-after mentioned, placed at each end of the
table on the said arms, the surface of such board may be on a level with the
surface of the inner edges of the flaps. In each arm is cut a groove suffi-
ciently deep to admit two small wheels placed at the bottom of each side of the

page_text: boards herein-after mentioned; this groove is placed so that the inner edge of
it is in a line with the outer edge of the corresponding ridge when the flap is
turned upon the table. In order, then, to cover the fabric, we place it upon
the table constructed in manner aforesaid, and at such time the several flaps
are turned from the surface of the said table, and the several rods are respec-
tively turned so that the points of the said several rows of iron spikes may
touch the inner sides of the groove, and project upwards, and rather towards
the centre of the table. The fabric is then fixed at the sides upon the spikes
of the rods, and it is at the same time fixed at each end to the hooks on the
slides. The rods are then turned round, the fabric being fixed to the rows
of iron spikes of such last-mentioned rods, and the points of the said last-
mentioned rows of iron spikes are turned round so as to point from the table,
and the fabric is thus stretched. breadthwise. The flaps are then turned over
such last-mentioned rods, and such flaps do by their weight retain the rods
and the rows of iron spikes in their places, and consequently keep the fabric
stretched breadthwise; and such flaps, so turned over as aforesaid, prevent the
said rods from being drawn back to their former position. Each slide is then
depressed by the levers, as herein-before described, until the fabric is stretched
lengthwise; the. fabric is then carefully dressed and cleaned, and where there
are any inequalities on the surface, such as knots on canvass, these are care-
fully cut off or otherwise removed. For the purpose of spreading the
oropholithe upon the fabric, we use a rectangular oblong iron trough or frame,
four inches deep or thereabouts, without top or bottom, the length of which,
measured from the inside, is exactly the same as the distance or width between
the inner edges of the side flaps when they are respectively turned upon the
table in manner above-mentioned; that is, as the surface of the Roman cement
or slate, and the distance or width between its outer edges is rather less than
the distance between the inner edges of the ridges of the side flaps, so that
the side ridges prevent it from slipping while it traverses upon the inner edges
of the smooth flaps from one end of the table to the other. The back of this
trough or frame is not formed of one piece, but the upper half is formed of
one nearly straight piece of iron, and attached to this upper piece by means of
two screws is a lower piece of iron, capable of being elevated or depressed at
pleasure, so as to regulate the thickness of the layer of composition. At each
side of the trough or frame there is a strong iron arm for the purpose of
facilitating the passage of the trough or frame from one end of the table to
the other. A. flat board, rather wider than the frame, is placed upon each pair
of arms at the extremities of the table, the surface of which board thus placed
is on a level with and adjoining to the surface of the flap so turned upon the

page_text: table as aforesaid. The board runs upon wheels which fit into the grooves
made for their reception in the said arms of the table. We place the trough
or frame herein-before described upon the board which is at the end of the
table where the arms are the longest, and we pour into it the oropholithe
until the trough or frame is filled. We adjust the metal plate at the back of
the frame according to the required thickness of the oropholithe, and we then
draw the frame along the table from one end to the other; and the oropholithe,
by means of the hercin-before described metal plate at the back of the frame;
is evenly spread over one surface of the fabric to the required thickness. After
traversing the table the frame rests upon the board placed on the arms at the
opposite end of the table to that at which the process commenced; the com-
position is then smoothed with a trowel by the hand. The board, with the
trough upon it, is then lifted upon the flaps, and the wheels running at the
outer sides of the ridges, it is easily passed along the table for the repetition
of a similar operation on another fabric. One side of the fabric being then
covered, the fabric is hung up to dry, and when thoroughly dried, which is
ordinarily after about eight days, the other side, when both sides are required
to be covered, is covered in a similar manner, save that the stretching process
is not necessary.
When different coloured layers are wanted we fit the frame
with perpendicular slides, which divide the frame into different compartments,
and into the different compartments, we pour oropholithe of the required
colour, and then spread the same in manner herein-before described. To
represent designs or images in oropholithe, after the fabric has been laid and
stretched on the table, as before described, we place in their proper places
on the fabric moulds of the required designs or images; the moulds have
no bottom.
We then fill these moulds with the oropholithe of suitable colours
and thickness; we then remove the moulds and cover the oropholithe which
they contained with paper; we then pass the frame or trough filled with
oropholithe in manner previously described, and the oropholithe which consti-
tutes the ground of the picture or design is deposited; we then remove the
paper which was placed upon the oropholithe, as previously described, and the
required design or image remains on the fabric. The fabric thus prepared is
adapted for the covering of flat surfaces. Where a surface other than flat is
required to be covered, the fabric must first be placed in the form required,
and then it can be covered over with the oropholithe with a trowel by hand, or
with any other suitable instrument. We polish the oropholithe with pumice
stone, fine sand, oil, or brown freestone, applied in the ordinary modes.
Now, whereas, we do not claim the table or any of the instruments herein-
before described or mentioned to be used in applying the said composition

page_text: called "oropholithe," but we do claim as our Invention the following im-
provements; that is to say, the making the said composition herein-before
called "oropholithe," in whichever of the modes herein-before mentioned, and
with whichever of the substances herein-before mentioned as being capable
of being used in the composition thereof the same may be composed, and
whether combined or not combined with colouring matter, and the covering one
or both of the surfaces of fabrics to be used in covering roofs, and floors, and
other surfaces with the said composition. And such Invention being, to the
best of our knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within
that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her said Majesty's Dominion of Wales, the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, any of Her Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad,
or the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney or Sark, we do hereby
declare this to be our Specification of the same, and that we do verily believe
that this our Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve
or disguise, with the said proviso in the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore we do hereby claim and maintain exclusive right
and privilege to our said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hodgson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.