IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING AND EMBOSSING WOOD AND OTHER MATERIALS, IN ORDER TO APPLY THE SAME TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WELLS INGRAM, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen. Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of June, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Wells Ingram, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Wells Ingram, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Thomas Wells Ingram, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING AND
EMBOSSING WOOD AND OTHER MATERIALS, IN ORDER TO APPLY THE SAME TO
VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said Thomas Wells Ingram, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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 in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Wells Ingram, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say):
My improvements in pressing and embossing wood and other materials, in
order to apply the same to various useful purposes, consists in producing raised
or embossed surfaces upon wood and other materials (which I shall hereafter
describe) for the purpose of ornamenting the faces of discs, rings, tablets, and
mouldings, the surfaces of bosses, and a great variety of other forms, by means
of, dies or moulds, which embossed wood and other materials are to be
employed as substitutes for horn, metal, papier maché, and other substances
heretofore applied to such uses.
These embossed articles so produced I denominate "stenoxyle," which I
manufacture in the following way. In the production, for instance, of discs
and rings for the ends of reels for reeling on and holding certain quantities of
thread, silk, cotton, and such like filimentous material; for buttons, medallions,
draft pieces, counters, cushion and box tops, scutcheons, &c.; for rosettes to be
employed in ornamenting various kinds of fancy articles, and for furniture and
other things to which the same may be applicable; I take circular or other
shaped discs of wood turned or cut to the required sizes, thicknesses, and forms
either flat, curved, or bevilled on their faces and backs, as may be desired.
These discs or rings I place severally between dies and counter dies engraved
with the required devices, of the construction usually employed by horn button
makers, and having subjected the dies to pressure with the discs or rings of
wood between them, I produce, by means of that pressure, the reverse figures
and device of the dies upon the discs or rings of wood, which, when so made,
I call "stenoxyle" discs, rings, buttons, rosettes, &c. In embossing tablets for
inscriptions, for finger plates to be attached to doors, for fancy boxes, cigar
cases, spectacle cases, ladies' work cases, and various similar sorts of things,
for the backs of brushes, for book covers, and a great variety of other uses, I
prepare tablets of wood of the required size and shape by cutting and planing,
and then press the said tablets of wood between dies, in the manner before
stenoxtyle tablets
described, which when so operated upon produce
applicable to the purpose above mentioned. In producing "stenoxyle"
mouldings, I first prepare the wood by cutting and planing it in lengths to the
necessary dimensions and figure, and then at several operations compress these
lengths between suitably formed dies, in the manner above described, such dies
being engraved or cut with the desired ornamental devices.
"
"

page_text: After an impression has been given to a portion of the length of the
moulding, I relieve the dies by withdrawing the pressure, and pass the length
of the moulding onward to receive a similar impression in another part of its
length, and by these means several dies may be brought into operation' upon
the length of moulding, so as to produce a variety of figures or devices thereon.
These "stenoxyle" mouldings may be applied to the purposes of forming
picture frames, cornices, beadings, and various other ornamental uses. The
same operation of embossing between dies may be performed upon a variety of
wooden articles, as umbrella, parasol, and other wooden handles, the means"
of effecting which, by dies, is so well understood in reference to embossing"
horn and metal, that it is not necessary I should further explain the operation."
Though I have alluded to the use of dies of the ordinary construction, in which
horn and metal have been commonly embossed, yet I do not intend to confine
myself to the use of such constructions of dies only, as in some cases I com-
press the wood where the pattern or device extends to any considerable length
by means of embossing rollers, which are made to pass over the surface of the
wood under great pressure.
The other materials beside wood which I
propose to operate upon by pressure in order to produce embossed surfaces
are, first, a composition of granulated wood, with or without other materials,
the particles of which granulated wood are made to adhere firmly together,
and to produce a hard substance by means of pressure alone. For this
purpose I take the sawdust of any ordinary wood (that from oak, maple, or
beech will answer very well); this must be reduced as fine as convenient; for
example, I may say such dust as will pass through a sieve of sixty apertures
in an inch I should prefer, but I do not intend to confine myself to that
particular degree of fineness. I sometimes mix calcined sulphate of iron in a
dry pulverized state with the granulated wood, in the proportion of from one-
half to one-fourth of the calcined sulphate of iron to the bulk of the granu-
lated wood. This composition is particularly applicable to making rings,
discs, tablets, buttons, medallions, rosettes, and all the finer descriptions of
articles. I sometimes mix with the granulated wood dry pulverized pitch, or
other bituminous matter, in the proportions of about one-fifth of the bitimine
to four-fifths of sawdust in bulk, but other proportions would do, observing
that the finer the subject to be produced by the embossing process the less of
the bitumine should be employed. This composition would also answer for
picture frames, cornices, mouldings, coffin furniture, and a variety of other
articles. In order to apply these compounds, I provide a mould suited to the
form of article to be produced, the interior of which must be engraved with
the required device. The mould I fill with the pulverized níaterials, and then

page_text: submit them to great pressure in the mould, which will cause the pulverized
materials to adhere firmly together, and when discharged from the mould it
will have assumed a hard, solid, and firm consistency in the form and with the
device accurately embossed upon its surface. I also combine with my
embossed wood or ligneous composition, cloth, silk, leather, or other suitable
materials. This I do by first embossing the surface of the wood or lignious
composition, and then covering the surface thereof with the material, having
introduced between them an adhesive matter, to render the attachment secure..
The article must then be again placed in dies and pressed a second time, which
will give the external surface the embossed face or device required; this may,
in some cases, be done by one operation, but will generally require two, to
prevent the outer covering of silk, &c. being injured. This last-described
combinaton will apply to book covers, reels, buttons, and to several other
articles, which need not be enumerated. In conclusion, I wish it to be under-
stood that I lay no claim to pressing or embossing horn, papier maché, or metal,
by means of dies or rollers, as that constitutes no part of my improvements; but
I claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, producing raised or embossed surfaces upon wood or ligneous
compositions, either alone or in combination with other materials, by means of
dies, moulds, plates, or rollers as above described, for the purpose of orna-
menting the faces of discs, rings, tablets, and mouldings, the surfaces of bosses,
and a great variety of other forms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wells Ingram, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three
GEM, junr., Extra.
T. WELLS (L.S.) INGRAM.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of December, in the
year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Thomas Wells Ingram came before our
said Lady the Queen in her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.