Improvements in Machines for Graining or Producing Patterns on Wood, Paper-board, and other suitable Materials.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 5'h Apr., 1992-Accepted, 14th May, 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by WILLIAM WATSON GRIER, of Hulton, Allegheny,
in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Machines for Graining or Producing Patterns on
Wood, Paper-board, and other suitable Materials.
I JAMES JOHNSON of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool in the County, of Lancaster
Patent Agent 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 :-
Figure 1 shows my improved machine in plan view.
Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line II-II of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the machines.
The figures
on the third sheet of the drawing are detail views illustrating the
construction of the roller for indenting soft wood or other material, such. as paper-
board, in imitation of the natural grain of hard wood or other pattern.
Figure 4 is an axial section of the indenting roller.
Figure 5 is a view showing the roller partly in end view and partly in cross
section.
Figure 6 is a perspective view showing one of the styles of indenting type used
in my machine.
Figure 7 shows in section the types of Figure 6 set in a bed b of glue or other
plastic material on the shell of the indenting roller.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of another variety of type; and
Figure 9 shows it in section on the indenting roller.
Figure 10 is a perspective view of a third variety of type; and
Figure 11 illustrates a mode of fastening the type to the roller.
Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each.
The object of my invention is to provide efficient means for producing on soft
wood or other material an imitation of the grain of ornamental hard woods, such as
oak, or other surface pattern, such as representations of leaves and figures. Such
imitation may be made by making on the surface of the soft wood indentations or
surface cuts disposed in such order as to imitate the hard wood or other pattern,
and after filling in such indentations or cuts with a suitable filler or paste, a smooth
surface is imparted to the wood, and the pattern is brought out distinctly.
Machines heretofore devised for such work have not given perfect satisfaction
because of the stiffness of the patterns which they produce and by reason of defects
in the operation of the mechanism. My invention however, provides means for
obtaining beautiful patterns, of great variety, and the machine is of such con-
struction that its parts are easy to make and easy to keep in order. It affords
means also for filling the artificial pores produced in making the pattern.
Referring now to the drawings (Figures 1. 2 and 3), 2 represents the table or
frame of the machine, having a flat surface 3 on which the board B to be indented
is placed. 4 represents the indenting-roller journalled on a shaft ö on the under
side of the machine-frame, and having that portion of its periphery directly above
the shaft 5 flush with or projecting slightly above the surface of the table. This
roller preferably constructed as hereinafter described, has its periphery formed
with a multitude of types or projections adapted to indent the wood and to produce
on its surface the necessary artificial pores.
Above the roller 4 is a pressure roller 6 whose surface may be covered with a
coating of indiarubber or other elastic substance 7, the purpose of which is to give to
the board under treatment a yielding downward pressure on the roller 4.
At one
side of this roller there may also be, rollers. 8, 9, connected together by gearing 10

page_text: (Figure 1) and driven by a belt 11 or other power connection from the pulley 12
on the shaft 5 of the roller 4. The function of the rollers 8 and 9 is to feed the
board to the indenting roller, and it is desirable therefore that they should be made
to rotate at the same surface speed as the latter.
For the purpose of cleaning the surface of the board before it is acted upon by
the indenting roller and thus ensuring a cleaner pattern and saving injurious wear
on the roller surface, I employ a rotatory brush 14 set so that its bristles shall be
in contact with the board and shall loosen from the board-all adhering dirt or grit,
and in advance of this brush I use a pipe 13 having a series of perforations from
which jets of air or steam are discharged on the board in order to blow off the dirt
which has been loosened by the brush.
As the rollers 8 and 9 are driven, they will feed the board B forward in the
direction of the arrow, and as the board passes over the indenting-roller, its surface
will be impressed with the desired indentations or artificial surface pores.
In advance of the indenting roller is situate the mechanism for applying the filler
to the board. This comprises a tank 15, secured to the underside of the table and
adapted to contain a liquid or viscous filler 16. A roller 17 having its surface
covered with rubber, felt, or other soft material is journalled in the tank 15 so that
its periphery shall be partly immersed in the filler, and so that a portion of its
periphery shall touch the surface of the board. In advance of the roller 17 is
a second roller 18, the function of which is to wipe off the surplus filler from the
board, and another roller 19 in advance of this may be used for a like purpose, and
may be hollow so that it may be heated with steam. Other scraping or wiping
appliances may be used in addition to these rollers.
20 is a roller with an elastic surface, journalled above the tank 15 and adapted
to bear on the upper side of the board and to force it into contact with the
rollers 17 and 18. 21 and 22 are driven rollers which bear on the board and act
to draw it through the machine. They are driven by belting 23 preferably at
the same surface speed as the roller 4. The roller 19 may be connected with the
roller 21 by gearing 28 (Figure 1), so that it shall rotate therewith. After the
surface of the board has passed the roller 4 and has been indented thereby, it passes
in contact with the roller 17 which spreads the filler thereon so as to fill the
artificial pores produced by the indenting roller. The surplus filler is wiped off by
the roller 18 and the board is still further cleansed by the roller 19 so that when it
passes said roller, it is finished and ready to be dried and sand-papered to put it in
condition for use.
The feeding of the board through the machine is performed by the rollers 8, 9,
19, 21, and 22, so that very little work except the work of indenting has to be
performed by the roller 4, and as the feed rollers travel at the same surface speed
as the roller 4, no traction or longitudinal strain is put on the teeth of the
latter and I am therefore able to use it for a long time without the necessity of
repair.
I shall now proceed to describe the manner in which the roller 4 is preferably
constructed.
The roller comprises a hub or frame which is set on and fixed to the shaft 5, and
a cylindrical shell which is preferably set on the frame in such manner that it can
be removed therefrom and can be handled or shipped independently of the frame.
The frame may be composed of two end pieces or spiders 32 set on the shaft and
having peripheral flanges 24 to which the roller shell may be bolted as shown.
The indenting surface is composed as follows:-The roller-shell which is
cylindrical in form, has marginal flanges 25. The indenting surface is composed of
a number of types 26, having projecting edges sufficiently sharp to penetrate and
indent the wood. These types may consist of metal blocks, like printers types,
with sharpened ends, or strips or pieces of metal of various forms may be employed
according to the style of pattern desired to be produced, the sharp edges being set
transversely to the axis of the roller so that the indentations shall be in the line of
the grain of the wood operated upon. Such types are set on the surface of the

page_text: shell and are retained thereon by glue, preferably fish-glue of great tenacity, the
types being embedded on a surface or bed of such glue. When the glue is partially
set, I confine it to the shell by inserting bolts 27, from the inner side of the shell,
as shown in Figure 7; or the bolts may be put on the shell with the bolt heads on
the outer side before putting on the glue. These bolts may be drawn up by nuts 29
after the glue has set. When the types have thus been set on the shell, white lead,
varnish or other plastic protecting material may be placed on the glue between the
types, or I may use for like purpose paper pulp, which being wedged between the
types hardens there and serves to hold them with great security. Other plastic
material capable of hardening, such as sulphur, plaster-of-Paris, rubber &c. may
also be used as the matrix in which the types are set, or the types may be set in
place, and held by pouring metal, such as lead around their bases.
Various forms of these types are shown in the drawings. Thus in Figures 6
and 7, I show types constructed of strips of metal, preferably steel, having serrated
edges, which may extend entirely or partially around the cylindrical shell.
In Figures 8 and 9, I show a type made of a steel strip with peripheral teeth
bent laterally in both directions, and in Figure 10 I show types constituted of steel
strips bent to impart curved or irregular patterns to the wood. Other forms of
type, such as nail-like points &c., may be used either interspersed with those above
named, or alone. The bases of the types may conveniently be formed with per-
forations or indentations 30 which afford lodgment for the plastic material and
enable it to hold the types with greater firmness. As an additional means of
holding the types to the roller when the types are constituted of metal strips, I may
form on the roller dove-tailed projections 31 (Figure 11) and cut on the lower edges
of the strips recesses of corresponding shape which, when fitted on the projections
will lock the types rigidly to the roller-shell.
In making the type preparatory to setting them on the roller, I may assemble
together a number of separate pieces and connect them by leather or any suitable
fabric, or I may build up sections of any desired size connected by glue or otherwise
and then apply such sections to the roller.
As a useful means for holding the plastic matrix more securely on the cylinder,
when strips such as shown in Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9, are used, I may bend lateral
lipse of some or all of such strips over the plastic material, and then as the strips
are held to the cylinder by the keys 31 or by extending the strips around the
cylinder and fastening them together at the ends to form encircling hoops, the lips
will serve to lock the plastic bed in place. The holes 30 by affording cavities in
which the plastic material may lodge, serve to accomplish the same end.
The
A roller made as above described will be found to be of very great use.
types are capable of such variety of arrangement that almost any patterns of hard
wood surface or other material can be reproduced on soft wood, and as the roller-
shell, without difficulty, can be removed and replaced by another of different
pattern, the work of patterning the wood is made cheap and easy.
I believe that I am the first to use for graining wood an indenting surface
composed of individual separately formed toothed types, and I therefore intend to
claim it broadly, whether the types be applied to a cylinder as illustrated in the
drawing or set on a flat form, and used with mechanism for pressing the board to be
grained against the type or the type against the board.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
First. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, an indenting roller composed of individual types having sharp edges
adapted to iudent the article to be grained, said types being set in a form with their
edges substantially parallel, and having intervals corresponding with the pattern
to be produced; substantially as and for the purposes described.
Second. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other

page_text: materials, an indenting roller composed of a series of flat or plate types having
cutting edges arranged in substantially parallel lines, and having intervals
corresponding with the pattern to be produced, the space between the types being
filled with a matrix of plastic material which maintains the relation of the types
and binds the same together; substantially as and for the purposes described.
Third. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, an indenting roller having a removable shell provided with types adapted
to indent the article to be grained and means for securing the shell to the drum,
substantially as and for the purposes described.
Fourth. In apparatus for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, an indenting-cylinder having types disposed so as to produce on the wood
a pattern, said types having sharp edges, and being set in a bed of plastic material
such as glue, with their edges substantially parallel, and secured to the cylinder by
bolts substantially as and for the purposes described.
Fifth. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, the combination with the indenting mechanism, of a filler-containing
vessel situate on the delivery side of the indenting mechanism on the under side of
the article under treatment and a roller revolving in the vessel, and adapted to bear
on the article to apply filler to the latter substantially as and for the purposes
described.
Sixth. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, an indenting roller, situate beneath the path of the article to be grained,
and a filler coating device, also situate on the underside of the article and on the
delivery side of the roller; substantially as and for the purposes described.
Seventh. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, the combination with the indenting mechanism, of a brush adapted to
bear on the article before its indentation and a blast pipe; substantially as and for
the purposes described.
Eighth. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, an indenting surface composed of individual types having projections
adapted to indent the wood and a supporting roller or frame to which said types
are keyed substantially as and for the purposes described.
;
Ninth. In a machine for graining and producing patterns on wood and other
materials, an indenting roller composed of types disposed so as to produce in the
wood, a pattern adapted to indent the article to be grained, said types being set in
a plastic matrix and held thereby, and having lateral projections or indentations
adapted to hold the plastic matrix; substantially as and for the purposes described.
Dated the 4th day of April 1892.