Improvements in Treads or Wearing Surfaces for Floors, Staircases, and the like.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 11th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 10th Nov., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Treads or Wearing Surfaces for Floors, Staircases,
and the like.
I, WILLIAM HENRY LINDSAY, of The Coil Clutch and Pulley Company
Limited, Ashton Gate Bristol, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows :-
The object of my invention is to provide a wearing surface for floors, or the
treads of stairs and the like capable of withstanding a greater amount of wear
and it may he also for giving a better foothold than the lead covering frequently
used. For this purpose I provide a covering composed partly of lead and partly
of steel or other metal.
One way of forming the covering is to take a thin plate of steel which has had
holes punched through it in such a way that the metal displaced in forming each
hole produces around each hole a short tube projecting out from one side of the
plate then to place a sheet of lead over the surface of the steel plate which has
these short tubes projecting outwards from it and to pass the two together between
rolls. In this way the lead gets driven into and completely fills the holes in the
steel plate and the lead covering is securely locked to the steel and is thereby kept
from buckling or getting out of shape when exposed to wear.
If desired a sheet of lead may be secured in the same way to both sides of the
steel plate one half of the holes being for this purpose punched from one side of
the plate and the other from the other-and a sheet of lead being then placed on to
each side and the whole rolled together between rolls.
Another way is to produce a sheet of lead with steel projections standing out
from one or both of its sides so as to give increased wearing power and better
foot-hold. This may be done by forming in wrought or cast steel a number of rivet
like pieces ranged side by side at distances apart from one another. A sheet of
lead may then be placed over the ends of the stems of the rivet like pieces and the
two then passed together through rolls-one of the rolls having in it holes for the
rivet heads to enter. In this way the lead is forced down onto the rivet stems and
the stems themselves are flattened and rivetted over so that the lead gets held
between the turned over stems and the rivet like heads.
A similar effect may be obtained by pressing the lead on to fine meshed wire
net work.
Dated this 10th day of November 1893.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Treads or Wearing Surfaces for Floors, Staircases,
and the like.
I, WILLIAM HENRY LINDSAY, of The Coil Clutch and Pulley Company
Limited, Ashton Gate, Bristol, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to provide a wearing surface for floors, or the
treads of stairs and the like capable of withstanding a greater amount of wear
and it may be also for giving a better foothold than the lead covering frequently

page_text: used. For this purpose I provide a covering composed partly of lead and partly
of steel or other metal.
One way of forming the covering is to take a thin plate of steel which has had
holes punched through it in such a way that the metal displaced in forming each
hole produces around each hole a short tube projecting out from one side of the
plate, then to place a sheet of lead over the surface of the steel plate which has
these short tubes projecting outwards from it and to press the two together. In
this way the lead gets driven into and completely fills the holes in the steel plate
and the lead covering is securely locked to the steel and is thereby kept from
buckling or getting out of shape when exposed to wear.
If desired a sheet of lead may be secured in the same way to both sides of the
steel plate, one half of the holes being for this purpose punched from one side of
the plate and the other from the other, and a sheet of lead being then placed on to
each side and the whole pressed together.
Another way is to produce a sheet of lead with steel projections standing out
from one or both of its sides so as to give increased wearing power and better
foothold. This may be done by forming in wrought or cast steel a number of rivet
like pieces ranged side by side at'distances apart from one another. A sheet of
lead may then be placed over the ends of the stems of the rivet like pieces and
the two then pressed together. In this way the lead is forced down onto the rivet
stems and the stems themselves are flattened and rivetted over so that the lead
gets held between the turned over stems and the rivet like heads.
A similar effect may be obtained by pressing the lead on to fine meshed wire
net work.
Figure 1 is a plan view of a thin plate of steel or other hard metal with holes
punched through it. Figure 1A is a cross section of the plate on a larger scale on
the line A. B. Figure 1 and a sheet of lead placed above it. Figure 1B is a cross
section on a larger scale of the steel and lead plates after they have been pressed
together. Figure 1 is a cross section on a larger scale of a steel plate having
sheets of lead secured to both of its sides in the same manner.
Figure 2 is a plan view of a thin steel or other hard metal plate with a series
of rivet like stems standing up from it and with holes punched through between
the stems. Figure 2A is a cross section on line C. D. Figure 2, and Figure 2B is a
cross section of the plate when a plate of lead has been pressed on to it. Figure 2º
is a similar cross section of a modified form.
Figure 3 is an underside view and Figure 3A a section on the line E. F.
Figure 3, of a sheet of lead pressed on to a sheet of wire network.
To make the tread or wearing surface shown at Figure 1B, holes a¹ are first
punched in a sheet a of thin steel in such a way that the metal displaced forms
a series of short tubes standing up from the plate, on to these is placed a sheet of
lead band the sheets a and b are then pressed together with heavy pressure
between hard flat surfaces. In this way the upper ends of the short tubes get
bent outwards and the lead pressed below the bent out edges as well as into the
interior of the short tubes so that the two plates become firmly rivetted together.
To make the tread or wearing surface shown at Figure 2B, a thin sheet of
steel with rivet like stems c' standing up from it is first cast or rolled, the
holes are then punched between the stems, afterwards a sheet of lead is placed
on to the stems el and the two sheets are pressed together with heavy pressure
between hard flat surfaces.
To produce the tread or wearing surface shown in cross section in Figure 2º,
one of these hard surfaces between which the plates are pressed would have small
coned holes formed in it to correspond with the stem on the steel plate.
To produce the tread or wearing surface shown at Figures 3 and 3^ a sheet of
hard wire net work is placed below a sheet of lead and the two are placed together
with heavy pressure between two hard flat surfaces. In this way the lead is
pressed down into the spaces between the wires and to some extent below the
wires so that the two sheets become rivetted together, and at each of the points

page_text: where the wires lap over one another the uppermost wire comes in close proximity
to the upper surface of the lead.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The hereinbefore described process for forming a wearing surface, stair-case
treads and the like, which consists in squeezing together with heavy pressure a
sheet of lead, and a perforated or reticulated sheet of hard metal, and causing the
lead to fill the perforations or interstices in the hard metal sheet.
2. A wearing surface for floors, stair-case treads and the like, composed of a
sheet of lead having in it a sheet of hard metal with projections, recesses or
interstices, the lead filling the interstices and the metal in one perforation being
connected with the metal in other perforations, substantially as described.
3. A wearing surface for floors, stair-case treads and the like, composed of a
sheet of wire net-work embedded in a sheet of lead, substantially as described.
4. The manufacture of treads or wearing surfaces for floors, stair-cases and the
like, substantially as described.
Dated this 9th day of Aunst 1801
W. H. LINDSAY.