Improvements in or relating to Surface Decorations and Ornamentations.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Nov., 1899-Accepted, 6th Jan., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Surface Decorations and
Ornamentations.
I, AUBREY EDGERTON MEYER, of Whitehall, in the County of Washington,
State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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:-
My invention relates to surface decorations and ornamentations, such as may
be used for walls and ceilings of houses and for other purposes. It has for its
object to provide a new article of commerce or a new material that may be used
as a substitute, for instance, for wall paper and fabrics used for similar and
other purposes. My improvement consists essentially of a new article of manu-
facture or a new surface ornamentation consisting of a web or webs of non-
woven fibres suitably applied to a suitable backing or support and suitably
secured thereto, said fibres lying substantially parallel to the face of the backing
and in the main running substantially parallel to each other over the backing.
I prefer that the fibres shall be non-spun as well as non-woven, and I prefer
also that the fibres shall be of silk and of non-spun silk and that the backing
or support shall be flexible. The webs may be of longer or shorter lengths and
widths on the backing and the webs may run in different and varying directions
on the backing. The web or webs constituting the ornamental face or surface
of the new article of manufacture may consist of non-woven natural fibres or
of non-woven artificial fibres, and many different varieties of fibres would be
suitable for the purpose. The backing or support may be of paper, cloth, leather,
wood or otherwise, so long as it does not prevent or substantially prevent or
interfere with the ornamental characteristics or features of the web or webs of
non-woven fibres constituting the face of the new article of manufacture. Many
beautiful effects may be produced through the coloring of the non-woven fibres
and through control and variation of the method of arrangement of the fibres,
In no case, however,
or of the web or webs of fibres upon the face of the article.
are the fibres to be woven prior to the application to the backing or support.
In order to secure the adhesion of the web or webs of non woven fibres to the
backing or support, some form of adhesive substance may be used, such as <lex-
trine, gelatine, &c. In the selection and manipulation of the adhesive substance
care should be exercised so as not to interfere with the desired ornamental appear-
ance of the web or webs.
In carrying out my invention in the best and cheapest form known to me,
I may utilize silk waste as follows with excellent results. Describing such
process in detail, (which process however forms no part of my present invention)
the silk waste is first freed from gum and dirt by boiling &c.; it is dried and
then passed through an opener," being a machine which has feed rollers and
combs which tend to separate the fibres and draw them into some degree of
o parallelism; then the lap of fibres is passed through the filling. engine, having
feed rollers and combs, in which the lap drawn out and cut into parallel
"

page_text: strips then the strips are combed; the combed stock is next passed through a
spreader, which equalizes said stock and forms a more uniform lap of nearly
parallel fibres; the lap is then passed through a set-box" which forms the
lap into slivers; the slivers are then drawn several times in drawing boxes to
equalize and perfect the same; all of said operations tending to produce
parallelism and regularity in the distribution of the fibres; the collection of
fibres is finally passed through a drawing box that has a provision for gathering
the fibres together and which causes the fibres to leave the machine in a con-
tinuous flattened web or ribbon of non woven fibres lying substantially parallel
to one another and contiguous and so forming a continuous web. This web is
now ready to be attached by suitable adhesive material to the backing or support.
Any other suitable method than that above set out may be employed to prepare
the web or webs of non-woven fibres for application to the backing or support.
Such application of the web of non-woven fibres to the backing or support may
be conveniently attained by the use of such apparatus as is shown in Fig. 3
of the drawings, which is a diagrammatic representation of machinery suitable
for applying a continuous web of non-woven fibres to a continuous flexible
backing or support. Referring to Fig. 3, a is the continuous sheet of non-woven
fibres, is the flexible backing, c is the new article of manufacture. The web a
is continuously fed between rubber-faced iron roller d and a copper roller e
which revolves in a fountain f of suitable adhesive material.
The pressure
between the rollers and a limits and graduates the amount of adhesive applied
to the web a. The moistened web and the flexible backing bare fed between
the rollers and 'g where the pressure applies the one reliably to the other
and with the adhesive causes them to reliably adhere together.
Fig. 1 is a face view and Fig. 2 a sectional view, greatly enlarged, of an
illustrative sample of the finished article, in which represents the web or webs
of non-woven fibre and i represents the backing. The web or webs h of non-
woven fibres is so colored as to represent parallel stripes, indicated in the drawings
by different shading lines.
A web of non woven fibres of any desired number of such webs side by side,
adjacent webs touching each other, if desired may be continuously fed to a con-
tinuous web of paper or other flexible backing and pressed upon the face thereof
with a suitable adhesive layer intervening and then passed over heated rollers
to dry it. The article so produced in continuous lengths may be cut and manipu-
lated in any desired way for sale and use. The fibres may be dyed before being
arranged into the web form and so before application to the backing, or they
may be dyed or printed with a pattern or both after arrangement into webs
and before application to the backing, or they may be dyed or printed after
application to the backing, and novel and varied and beautiful effects may be
produced, and cheaply. Any other method or means may be employed to apply
the web or webs of non woven fibres to the backing or support.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven fibres applied to a suitable backing
or support with an adhesive material, said fibres lying substantially parallel to
the face of the backing and in the main running substantially parallel to each
other over the backing.
2. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven and non-spun fibres applied to a suit-
able backing or supported with an adhesive material, said fibres lying substan-
tially parallel to the face of the backing and in the main running, substantially
parallel to each other over the backing.
3. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of

page_text: an ornamental web or webs of non-woven silk fibres applied to a suitable backing
or support with an adhesive material said fibres lying substantially parallel to
the face of the backing and in the main running substantially parallel to each
other over the backing.
4. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven and non-spun silk fibres applied to a
suitable backing or support with an adhesive material, said fibres lying sub-
stantially parallel to the face of the backing and in the main running substan-
tially parallel to each other over the backing.
5. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven fibres applied to a suitable flexible
backing or support with an adhesive material, said fibres lying substantially
parallel to the face of the backing and in the main running substantially parallel
to each other over the backing.
6. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven and non-spun fibres applied to a
suitable flexible backing or support with an adhesive material, said fibres lying
substantially parallel to the face of the backing and in the main running sub-
stantially parallel to each other over the backing.
7. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven silk fibres applied to a suitable flexible
backing or support with an adhesive material, said fibres lying substantially par-
allel to the face of the backing and in the main running substantially parallel
to each other over the backing.
S. The new article of manufacture, substantially as described, consisting of
an ornamental web or webs of non-woven and non-spun silk fibres applied to a
suitable flexible backing or support with an adhesive material, said fibres lying
substantially parallel to the face of the backing and in the main running sub-
stantially parallel to each other over the backing.
9. The new surface ornamentation, consisting of a web or webs of non-woven
fibres suitably secured to a backing or support, as set forth, said fibres lying
substantially parallel to the face of the backing and in the main running sub-
stantially parallel to each other over the backing.
Dated this 1st day of Novashou 1900
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicant,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C., London.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicant,
Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C., London.

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