IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC WORK
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel, Mosaic
Maker, of Paris (France), for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC WORK."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Théodore Alexandre
Zinkernagel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd August 1855.
I, JULES THEODORE ALEXANDRE ZINKERNAGEL, Mosaic Maker, of Paris,
(France), do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC WORK" to be as follows:-
Instead of obtaining mosaic work as has been hitherto done, by imbedding
fragments of different coloured substances in any suitable cement so as to
produce the effect of a picture, I form the same by glueing or cementing
together squares or tablets of suitable size, the colours of which correspond
with those of the picture to be copied. The surface of this latter having been
previously divided in squares by this means, I obtain suitable billets or blocks,
each of which has the colours arranged in correspondence with the line of
squares it has to represent. In this manner billets are obtained for each line
of-squares of the picture. These billets are now divided in slices of suitable
dimensions, and in such manner, that, on taking one slice of each of the billets
and glueing or cementing them together, they will form a parallellopiped,

page_text: the surface of which represents a copy of the picture. These parallellopipeds
may now be cut in tablets or slices, in the same manner as is done with wood
veneer, each of which slices or mosaic veneers will be a true copy of the
picture, and on being afterwards fixed in a solid manner against any suitable
back or ground, will offer as many copies of the mosaic work. The same
method I apply to. wood, marble, or any other suitable material; for wood I
prefer having the whole executed in such manner that in the mosaic veneer
the fibres of the wood are laying as in ordinary veneer in the plank way
of the wood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel in the Great Seal
Patent, Office on the 22nd February 1856. **
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES
THEODORE ALEXANDRE ZINKERNAGEL, Mosaic Maker, of Paris (France), send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day-of August, in, the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give-and grant unto me, the
said Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel, Her special licence that I,
the said Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinker-
nagle, 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 Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MOSAIC WORK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My improvements consist in an easy mode of manufacturing mosaic work,
whether in wood, marble, or other natural or artificial stone, glass, bone, ivory,
whalebone, or other materials suitable for the manufacture of mosaic work;
and though in this Specification I will more particularly describe the mode of
manufacturing the said mosaic work in wood, the same method is applicable
to the other materials above mentioned. Mosaic work has been hitherto
obtained by imbedding fragments of different colored substances, for instance,
as wood, glass, stones, &c., in a suitable cement, so as to produce the effect of
a picture. This method required much skill and considerable labour and time,
so as to render such mosaic work extremely high in price, and consequently
preventing its being employed on a large scale for ornamental or other pur-
poses. By my method a great many copies of the same mosaic work may be
obtained with great facility, and will consequently permit of producing. the
same at a low price, which the use of this mode of ornamenting will be
considerably increased.
In order to make the description of my process more readily understood, I
will in this Specification refer to the Figures of the annexed Drawing, in which
corresponding parts are indicated by the same letters of reference, and in
which Fig. I. represents the work in its finished state, whereas the other
Figures show the different phases of the manufacture.
I commence by dividing into regular squares the surface of the picture that
is to be copied in mosaic work, in the same manner as is generally done for
needle tapestry, or for the designs for shawls, indicating the series of horizontal
divisions of Fig. 1, by the letters 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. I commence by forming a
piece B, Fig. II., by means of sheets of wood A, united together in a solid
manner by means of glue, or any other suitable cement, and in such manner
that the said piece B offers the colors in the same order as those of the divisions
of the series 1, and in a corresponding number, and taking care when working
in wood that the fibres of the wood remain in the vertical direction, as indicated
in the Drawing by the shades. I repeat the same operation for each horizontal
series of the picture or design to be reproduced, and I obtain in this manner
as many separate pieces B similar to the Figures II., III., IV., and corre-
sponding with the series 1, 2, 3. The same is continued for all the horizontal
series of the picture or design, and I obtain, consequently, as many separate
pieces B as there are horizontal series 1, 2, 3, &c. in the picture. Thus, for
instance, for the picture or design, of which the face of Fig. 1 would represent
the colours, it would be required to form 15 of these in separate pieces B, but

page_text: of which I have only indicated the three first ones, represented in the Figures
II., III, and IV. I now cut off each piece B a sheet C, according to the
line a, b, and the thickness of which sheet is to correspond with the width of
each of the series 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. of Fig. I.; and it will consequently be evident
that where these sheets will be afterwards superposed and glued or cemented
together, in the same order as the series 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. of the divisions of the
picture or design, they will form a block D, of which each broad face c, d, e, f,
will offer a true representation of the picture or design, and of any required
thickness. Fig. V. represents the beginning of the operation, that is to say,
the superposing of the three first sheets c cut off from the pieces B, Figures
II., III, and IV. The importance of the process may now be readily under-
stood, observing that the block D obtained in the above manner may be cut
according to its thickness f, g, in a great number of slices, each of which will
offer a perfect representation of the picture or design, and this number is
also multiplied by the number of sheets which are to be cut off from each
piece B.
When working in wood and according to this method, the fibres of the
wood of the ultimate slices (each of which forms a sheet of the desired mosaic
work) will lay, as in ordinary veneer, in the plankway of the wood, and this
is a point of great importance for the durability and beauty of the work, and
it is by not having observed this point that those who tried before to obtain
mosaic work by similar means constantly failed. My method may serve for
copying large or small pictures or designs, and the same may be applied,
not only for large mosaic works, but also for forming small ornaments for
inlaid work.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim as my Invention consists in the above-described method of forming
mosaic work, offering the advantage that, for wood or other fibrous materials
employed, the fibres of the work lay in the plankway.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Théodore Alexandre Zinkernagel,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JULES THEODORE ALEXANDRE ZINKERNAGEL. (L.S.)