IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD, AND IN THE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Clayton, of Oldham, Mechanic, and Robert
Harrop, of Lowside, near Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD, AND IN THE
Sealed the 20th March 1855, and dated the 26th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Clayton and
Robert Harrop at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 26th September 1854.
We, THOMAS CLAYTON, of Oldham, Mechanic, and ROBERT HARROP, of
Lowside, near Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD,
AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
Our improvements apply to the production or transferring of the various
elaborate and beautiful "grains" or markings of the choicer woods (as maho-
gany, rosewood, oak, &c.) on to or upon the surface of commoner or cheaper
wood, as deal or pine." The advantages obtained by our process over the
present method of producing figures by painting, graining, and varnishing are
economy and beauty, as the choicest grain may be multiplied on a surface or
panelling of coarse or cheap wood to a great extent with extreme speed and
durability, and repainting rendered unnecessary.

page_text: The method of producing our effective "grainings" is by employing heated
rollers, having the graining." &c. engraved upon their surface, which are
passed over and upon the surface of the common wood upon which the design
is to be transferred; the deeper indentations of the roller do not necessarily
press upon the wood, the more elevated projections first coming in contact with
it, thereby causing a slightly charred or scorched surface. By this method a
beautiful and highly coloured grain may be burned in or produced with half
tints, the design precisely coinciding with that engraved upon the surface of
the heated roller.
Our second improvement relates more particularly to the machinery or appa-
ratus used or employed in connection with flat dies, for the production of scroll
work, borders, and other devices and designs. At one end of a long bar or
block of iron we sustain our dies with designs engraved upon the face of
them. We purpose enveloping within a furnace the end of the long iron bar
(opposite to that which carries the dies) to such an extent that the heat may be
conducted from the furnace through the bar to the die, and by means of the
intervening space of the bar (between the red or white heat of the furnace and
the die) the die inay always be kept at a heat nearly uniform. By depressing
the hot dic, the design is transferred to the wood to be operated upon, which
may be at once removed, and the operation continuously repeated.
means we can form appropriately tinted borders for our improved process of
graining, and by their combination produce many beautiful varieties of orna-
mentation upon wood, in imitation of inlaid work, &c.
By this
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Clayton and Robert Harrop in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 26th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
CLAYTON, of Oldham, Mechanic, and ROBERT HARROP of Lowside, near
Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Clayton and Robert Harrop, fer especial license that
we, the said Thomas Clayton and Robert Harrop, our executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Clayton and
Robert Harrop, 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 Treland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOOD, AND IN THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Thomas Clayton and Robert Harrop, or one of us,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, 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 Thomas Clayton, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our improvements apply to the production or transferring of the various
elaborate and beautiful "grains" or markings of the choice woods, as maho-
gany, rosewood, oak, &c., on to or upon the surface of commoner or cheaper
wood, as deal or pine. A considerable advantage is obtained by our process
over the present method of producing figures by painting, graining, and var-
nishing, as the choicest grain may be multiplied on a surface or panelling of
coarse or cheap wood to a great extent with extreme speed, and repainting
will be rendered unnecessary, owing to the durability of the pattern produced
by this Invention.
The method of producing our effective grainings is by employing heated
rollers (or flat dies, if preferred,) having the device or pattern of the grain-
ing engraved upon the surface, which rollers are passed over and upon
the surface of the common wood on which the design is to be transferred; the.
deeper indentations of the roller do not necessarily press upon the wood, the
more elevated projections forming the pattern first coming in contact with
it, thereby causing a slightly charred or scorched surface. By this method a'
beautiful and highly colored grain may be burned in or produced with half
tints, &c., the design precisely coinciding with that engraved upon the surface
of the heated roller, and of course made to imitate as closely as possible the
finer woods.
Secondly, our improvement relates more particularly to the machinery or
apparatus used or employed in connection with flat dies (or rollers, if pre-

page_text: ferred,) for the production of scroll work, borders, and other devices and designs.
The dies are placed at one end of a long bar or block of iron, with designs
engraved upon the face of them. We place one end of this iron bar in a
furnace, that is, the opposite to that which carries the dies, so that the heat
may be conducted from the furnace through the bar to the die, and by means.
of the intervening space of the bar, the die may always be kept at a nearly
uniform heat; by depressing the hot die, the design is transferred to the wood
to be operated upon, which may be at once removed; and the operation con-
tinuously repeated. By this means we can form appropriately tinted borders
for the improved process of graining, and by their combination produce
many beautiful varieties of ornamentation upon wood, in imitation of inlaid
work, &c.
In order that our Invention may be the better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawing, made upon a scale of
about one quarter the full size, and having similar letters of reference marked
upon corresponding parts of the machine or apparatus in both Figures. In
the, Drawing attached is illustrated one method which we prefer of heating
the large engraved top cylinders or rollers; but the same desired end may be
obtained by simply adapting a gas tubing with several jets, so that it may at
will be passed in or out of the engraved revolving cylinder or roller. The
heating by gas is especially preferable where small rollers are employed,
whether for transferring, graining, or ornamental borders.
It will be evident
that different sizes of rollers will be required, the size being regulated
according to the width of the design under operation. Fig. 1 represents a
front elevation of these improvements, the upper and engraved roller as well
as the furnace being partly shewn in section, to render more distinct the
method by which the top roller revolves round the stationary furnace. Fig. 2
exhibits a side elevation; a, a, a, represent the framing and standards sup-
porting the various parts of the machinery or apparatus; is the top or
engraved roller, and c the lower or presser roller, supported by and in con-
nection with the counterbalance lever d; e is the counterbalance weight, which
may be regulated or shifted on the lever d, according to the pressure desired
to be given from the lower roller or cylinder c. When the operation of im-
pressing the wood and transferring the design from the top roller is desired to
be put into effect (supposing the engraved roller sufficiently heated to impress
the design), the attendant passes the piece of wood under operation between
the top and bottom rollers, as indicated by the dotted lines (Fig. 2), the lower
roller yielding in proportion to the thickness of the piece of wood. The
operator then turns the handle f, giving motion to the bevil gearing 7 and h,

page_text: from whence it is transmitted through the worm j and worm wheel to the.
upper or engraved roller, and by means of the irregular surface of the upper
roller c, causes the piece of wood to pass between the rollers simultaneously
with the impressing of the design upon the wood. When the rollers or
cylinders are heated with gas, the furnace cylinder may be entirely dispensed
with. After the design is impressed upon the wood, it is only necessary lightly
to scrape it or rub down with fine sand or glass paper, when the wood is fit for
varnishing, which completes the process.
Having now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be put into practical effect, I wish it to
be distinctly understood that we claim principally the transferring of designs
of the grainings or markings of the choicer woods, as mahogany, rosewood,
oak, &c. from engraved heated metallic rollers (or flat dies, if preferred,) to
surfaces of common or cheaper woods, such as deal or pine, 'whereby a close
imitation of such choicer woods is produced; and also the transferring of other
ornamental designs from engraved heated metallic rollers (or flat dies, if pre-
ferred,) to the surfaces of wood, as well as the machinery or apparatus for
the above purposes, as herein particularly described and set forth, and fully
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Clayton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
THOMAS CLAYTON. (L.B.)