Improved Manufacture of Furniture of Cherry-tree Wood, and Processes Employed therein.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improved Manufacture of Furniture of Cherry-tree Wood, and
Processes Employed therein.
I, MAX GRÜNHUT, of II Schiffamtsgasse No. 5, Vienna, Export Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved manufacture of furniture form cherry-
tree wood, which owing to its peculiar properties and great elasticity, requires
to be subjected to special processes of preparation, as I will now describe.
Fresh cherry-tree wood has a very unpleasant odour which diminishes however
in proportion to its age and degree of dryness, eventually even becoming an agree-
able odour.
For the purposes of this invention the wood (which may consist of either straight
or bent branches) after being cut is first dried for about 18 days either in the open
air or in drying chambers, the wood being subjected to a gradually increasing
degree of heat, after which it is boiled in a bath composed of about 56 litres of
water, 1 kilo of calcined soda, and 0.7 kilo of alumn for improving its colour.
The removal of the objectionable odour may be simply but imperfectly effected
by immersing the wood for from one to 8 days in a bath containing such sub-
stances in solution which shall either only hide the odour of the wood, or shall
impart thereto a different odour; for the first named purpose chloride of lime may
for example be employed, or permanganate of potass; for the last named purpose
all more or less strong scents in aqueous or alcoholic solution can be used, or such
scents may be added to an oil with which the surface of the wood is rubbed by
means of a cloth.
The specific pleasant odour of old cherry-tree wood can be increased by reducing
waste pieces thereof and extracting the same by means of alcohol, which extract
is then used in aqueous solution as a bath for the wood to be worked.
Both the above purposes are more perfectly effected by introducing the wood
into a boiler containing the said baths, in which the wood is held submerged while
the air exhausted from the boiler and consequently from the pores of the wood,
whereby the impregnation is more rapidly effected, the process being accelerated
by heating the boiler.
As the boiling of the wood in water also constitutes a preliminary treatment
for bending the wood, these operations can be combined, in which case however, a
steam boiler may be advantageously used in which are a series of tubes open at
each end containing the wood, the steam from the said baths being allowed to pass
through the tubes in contact with the wood.
The wood so treated must then be rapidly subjected to the bending operation,
for which purpose the previously shaped piece of wood first has a metal band
secured to that side thereof which in bending assumes a convex form so that the
stretching of the wood on that side is restricted by the metal band the other side
being compressed to a correspondingly greater extent. The band is for this

page_text: purpose provided with a shoe at each end, into which the ends of the piece of
wood are fitted. The bending is effected in any known manner.
For enabling a metal band to serve for varying lengths of wood the shoe at one
or both ends may be made adjustable by screws or otherwise.
In order to economize bending moulds during the drying of the bent wood, the
bent portions can be retained in their bent position by means of binding cords.
In this case wood cheeks are interposed between the cords and the wood to be bent.
In all cases, whether the wood be bent or not, the prepared wood must be dried;
with the bent wood this is effected while still on the bending mould, and the
subsequent drying has for its object to deprive the wood more or less of its exces-
sive elasticity which may be unpleasant in certain articles of furniture; such
as seats.
For shortening, the drying process, or for carrying it as far as possible, the
drying chamber is not only heated but also exhausted of air; in this treatment it
is advisable not to produce any sudden vacuum, but to gradually exhaust the air,
in order not to injure the wood thereby.
After complete drying, the prepared wood is subjected to any known farther
treatment for the manufacture of furniture therefrom, which need not be farther
described.
The ends of the prepared pieces are advantageously provided with metal caps
which cover the end grain and also serve to strengthen the wood, and which may be
secured by a tapering wood screw tending to expand the wood closely into the cap.
For connecting the separate parts of the wood together without weakening them by
screw-holes, the junctions may be effected by two or more clamping rings, secured
together and clamped tightly round the wood by flanges with screws.
As cementing material for securing the parts together and for plugging holes and
joints, I employ a mixture of glue with Vienna White, and nut-stain, corre-
sponding in colour to cherry-tree wood.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improved Manufacture of Furniture of Cherry-tree Wood, and
Processes employed therein.
I, MAX GRÜNBUT, of II Schiffamtsgasse No. 5, Vienna, Export Merchant, 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:
This invention relates to an improved manufacture of furniture from cherry-tree
wood, which owing to its peculiar odour, requires to be subjected to special processes
of preparation, as I will now describe.
Fresh cherry-tree wood has a very unpleasant odour which diminishes however
in proportion to its age and degree of dryness, eventually even becoming an agree-
able odour.
According to the nature of the furniture to be manufactured either the straight
shoots alone, or also the curved branches are employed and subjected to the process
forming the subject of the present invention.
As the cherry-tree wood employed varies not only in its odour, but also in colour,
the present invention has the advantage that while improving and rendering
uniform the odour thereof but also the colour.

page_text: For the purpose of this invention the freshly cut wood is first dried for about 18
days either in the open air or in drying chambers the wood being subjected to a
gradually increasing temperature, after which it is boiled in a bath composed of
about 56 litres of water, one kilo of calcined soda, and 0.7 kilo of alumn for
improving its colour.
The wood thus treated or the furniture made therefrom is then subjected to a
bath of cherry-tree wood extract, for both increasing and rendering uniform the
pleasant odour, and for rendering the colour uniform.
For this purpose, waste pieces of cherry-tree-wood, whether with or without the
bark in a reduced condition, such as chips, shavings, sawdust and the like are
boiled with water or alcohol (in the former case about 25 parts by weight of wood
to 100 parts of water; in the latter case about 75 parts of wood to 25 parts of
alcohol) with an addition of about 6 p.c. of caustic soda lye, the boiling being con-
tinued until a dark brown decoction is obtained to which is then added 0:05 p.c.
of benzoic acid.
The wood, or wood articles are then immersed in this bath and are left there for
from 6 hours to three days, the odour and colour being rendered the more uniform
the longer the wood is left in the bath. If the impregnation is to be effected to
It is to be
a greater degree the operation is carried on under partial vacuum.
observed that the operation must be carried on in the cold, as the heating of the
bath produces an imperfect result.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. Process for treating cherry-tree wood for the manufacture of furniture, con-
sisting in subjecting the wood or articles of furniture made therefrom for some time
to the action of an alcoholic or aqueous extract of waste cherry tree wood, whereby
the wood has uniform pleasant odour and colour imparted to it, substantially as
described.
2. As a new manufacture articles of furniture prepared from cherry-tree wood
subjected to the treatment referred to in the first claim.
Tlated this 7th day of December 1897.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.