AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FLOORCLOTH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Charles Jeune, of Gresham Street, in
the City of London, India-rubber Manufacturer, for the Invention of
CODE OR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Charles Jeune
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th May 1856.
I, FREDERICK CHARLES JEUNE, of Gresham Street, in the City of London,
India-rubber Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FLOORCLOTH, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a covering for floors which will
be soft to the foot, and yet possess a considerable amount of toughness. For
this purpose, I propose to mix with india-rubber in a masticating machine.
gutta percha, the cuttings or waste of vulcanized india-rubber, and fibrous
substances in length, such as cocoa-nut fibre, hemp, cotton waste, and hair..
By the introduction of these fibrous substances iuto the plastic mass, I
impart great toughness thereto. While the mixing operation is proceeding, I
throw into the masticator ground cedar wood, or other vegetable dust, to
lighten the compound and increase its bulk. When the mixing of the
materials is completed, I subject the compound to pressure between a pair of
rollers, and thus reduce it into sheets, which I subsequently paint and ornament.
in the manner usually adopted by floorcloth manufacturers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Charles Jeune in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CHARLES JEUNE, of Gresham Street, in the City of London, India-rubber
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Charles Jeune, Her special license that I, the said Frederick
Charles Jeune, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Frederick Charles Jeune, 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FLOORCLOTH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Charles Jeune, by an instru-
.ment 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 Frederick Charles Jeune, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the.
following statement.(that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is, to manufacture a covering for hall, office,
and other floors, which will be soft or yielding to the foot, and yet possess a 3
considerable amount of toughness. For this purpose I propose to mix together
in a masticating machine india-rubber (consisting in part of the cuttings and
waste of vulcanized india-rubber) and gutta percha, so as to produce a cement
or binding substance. When this mixture is reduced to a plastic state, I throw
into the masticator ground cedar wood, or other vegetable dust, for the purpose s
of increasing the bulk and reducing the cost per pound of the compound..
When the mixing in of a proper quantity of this dust is effected, (special care:
being taken that not more is used than the india-rubber compound will well

page_text: bind or concrete), I add to the mixture fibrous substances in length, such as
cocoa-nut fibre, hemp, cotton waste, and hair, in order to impart toughness to
the plastic mass, and remove that character of "shortness" which is posessed
by the india-rubber floor coverings at present in the market.
When the mixing of these materials is completed, I subject the compound
to pressure between a pair of rollers, and thus reduce it into sheets, varying
from about one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. In this state
I submit the compound to steam or hot air, to set the fabric or complete the
adhesion of the particles or atoms. When submitting the sheets to steam, I
roll them up into a tight roll and place them in a steam-tight chest; but when
air is the heating medium I hang up the sheets loosely in an air chamber, and
admit air thereto heated to about the temperature of three hundred degrees
Fahrenheit. Exposure to a dry or steam heat for about three hours will
suffice for ordinary thicknesses of material. I subsequently paint and orna-
ment the surface in the manner usually adopted by floorcloth manufacturers.
The proportions of the above mentioned ingredients admit of being varied,
but those which I prefer are, india-rubber, in its native state, fifteen parts by
weight; the cuttings of vulcanized rubber three parts; gutta percha eight parts;
ground cedar or other dust twenty-four parts; cotton waste eight parts; and
cocoa-nut fibre, hemp, or cow hair two parts. In my experiments I have
found that by the addition of a small portion of antimony, say, four parts by
weight of prepared antimony to the above described compound, the fabric will
be rendered capable of resisting grease, and also of retaining its consistent
quality in presence of a higher temperature than it will otherwise be safe to
subject it to..
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of "An
Improved Manufacture of Floorcloth," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to claim
the exclusive use of the above mentioned substances, however combined, in the
manufacture of floorcloths; but what I claim under the above in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
First, giving tenacity to such fabrics when composed of the aforesaid elastic
vegetable gums masticated with woody matters, as explained, by the intro-
duction to the compound of fibrous substances in length, as described, whereby
the necessity for matting in a coating of hair, as heretofore proposed, or-the
application of a woven sheet of cloth or canvas, to give strength to the fabric,
is avoided.
And, secondly, I claim the application to the manufacture of floorcloths of

page_text: gutta percha, in combination with india-rubber, as a binding or cementing
substance.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Charles Jeune, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
F. C. JEUNE. (L.S.)