IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING COVERINGS FOR FLOORS, ROOFS, AND OTHER SURFACES, ALSO WAGON COVERS AND THE LIKE, ALSO FLEXIBLE HOSE OR TUBING AND BAGS OR CASINGS; AND ALSO IN MAKING VARIOUS RIGID ARTICLES, SUCH AS SLABS, TABLES, MANTLEPIECES, BATHS, CISTERNS, VESSELS, AND RIDGES OR CRESTING
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John George Zoller and David Scott, of Dundee, in the
County of Forfar, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAKING COVERINGS FOR FLOORS, ROOFS, AND OTHER SURFACES, ALSO WAGON
COVERS AND THE LIKE, ALSO FLEXIBLE HOSE OR TUBING AND BAGS OR
CASINGS; AND ALSO IN MAKING VARIOUS RIGID ARTICLES, SUCH AS SLABS,
TABLES, MANTLEPIECES, BATHS, CISTERNS, VESSELS, AND RIDGES OR CRESTING."
Sealed the 22nd August 1876, and dated the 16th June 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John George Zoller_and
David Scott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th June
1870.
JOHN GEORGE ZOLLER and DAVID SCOTT, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar
North Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING COVERINGS FOR FLOORS, ROOFS, AND
OTHER SURFACES, ALSO WAGON COVERS AND THE LIKE, ALSO FLEXIBLE HOSE OR
TUBING AND BAGS OR CASINGS; AND ALSO IN MAKING VARIOUS RIGID ARTICLES,
SUCH AS SLABS, TABLES, MANTELPIECES, BATHS, CISTERNS, VESSELS, AND RIDGES
OR CRESTING."
This Invention consists in employing rock asphalte, alone or combined with other
matters, in making various articles for which it has never hitherto been used, but for
which it is advantageously applicable on account of its impermeability, durability,
and other characteristics.
In making articles intended to be more or less flexible bitumen is intimately
mixed with the simple rock asphalte in proportions depending upon the degree of
flexibility desired, and in making coverings for floors, roofs, and other surfaces
the asphalte compound is combined with a woven fabric, such, for example, as is
employed in making ordinary floorcloths. The compound may be combined with
the woven fabric in the manner adopted and by apparatus used in combining
existing floorcloth or imitation leather compositions with woven fabric, or the
fabric may be first laid on the floor or other surface and the asphalte compound
be applied in situ.
It is an important advantage of the asphalte that seams between widths of
asphalte coated cloths can be made even with the general surface and invisible.
Flexible hose or tubing and bags or casings are formed as in making such
articles of combined rubber and cloth, but without the curing process required in
the case of rubber.
In making rigid articles the rock asphalte is employed, but with a very small
admixture of bitumen, and is simply shaped by rendering it plastic by heating
it to a temperature of about 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and then putting it into
suitably shaped moulds. In this way a great variety of rigid articles may be
[Price 4d.]

page_text: formed, such as slabs, tables, mantelpieces, baths, cisterns, vessels, and ridges or
cresting. The substance when cold and hard admits of polishing, but is at the same
time tough and not easily broken.
In some cases it is intended to subject the articles made with the asphalte or
asphalte compound to steam with the view of driving off volatile constituents which
cause an unpleasant smell, and of replacing them by a slight proportion of moisture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of, the Letters Patent filed by the
said John George Zoller and David Scott in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th December 1876.
JOHN GEORGE ZOLLER and DAVID SCOTT, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar,
North Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING COVERINGS FOR FLOORS, ROOFS, AND
OTHER SURFACES, ALSO WAGON COVERS AND THE LIKE, ALSO FLEXIBLE HOSE OR
TUBING AND BAGS OR CASINGS; AND ALSO IN MAKING VARIOUS RIGID ARTICLES,
SUCH AS SLABS, TABLES, MANTELPIECES, BATHS, CISTERNS, AND RIDGES OR CRESTING."
Our said Invention consists in employing rock asphalte, alone or combined with
other matters, in making various articles for which it has never hitherto been used,
but for which we have discovered it to be advantageously applicable on account of
its impermeability, durability, and other characteristics.
In making articles intended to be more or less flexible bitumen is according to
our Invention intimately mixed with the simple rock asphalte in proportions
depending upon the degree of flexibility desired, and in making coverings for
floors, roofs, and other surfaces we combine the asphalte compound with a woven
The
fabric, such, for example, as is employed in making ordinary floorcloths.
compound may be combined with the woven fabric in the manner adopted and
by apparatus used in combining existing floorcloth compositions or imitation leather
compositions with woven fabric, or the fabric may be first laid on the floor or other
surface and the asphalte compound be applied in situ.
In preparing our asphalte compound for forming roofing in situ we heat the
rock asphalte to a temperature of about 300 or 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and
thoroughly mix with it 3 per centum of bitumen and 20 per centum of coarse sand
or fine clean gravel that has passed through a riddle having inches mesh. The
compound may be heated in an open tank or boiler directly acted on by a fire, or
a bath of any suitable substance may be interposed between the fire and the
vessel containing the compound. We employ a woven fabric of jute or other
suitable material, and for roofing and similar purposes such fabric may have
10 to 12 threads to the inch. This fabric is stretched tightly over the roof or
surface to be covered, and is kept in position in any convenient way whilst the
heated asphalte compound is applied evenly thereon. The compound is rubbed
smooth by means of floats or spatulas, and a mixture of dry Portland cement and
fine sand is finally rubbed in whilst the compound is still hot to form a finished
surface.
In laying our asphalte compound on wooden floors we put on the woven fabric
as herein-before described for roofing, and similarly apply thereon the asphalte
compound, but we reduce the proportion of bitumen in such compound to 2 per
centum.
There is the advantage in introducing a woven fabric between the wooden
roofing or flooring and the asphalte compound, that it avoids the ordinary practice
of primarily preparing the surface with cement or concrete necessarily applied in
a wet state, and which moistens and injures the wood, and cannot afterwards
accommodate itself to the expansion and contraction of the wood.
It is also an important advantage of our asphalte compound and mode of
application that seans between widths of asphalte coated cloths can be made even
with the general surface and invisible.

page_text: In making wagon covers, imitation leather, and the like, we employ a woven
fabric similar to that herein-before described as to be used in laying roofing and
flooring in situ; it may, however, be advantageously of somewhat finer texture.
The rock asphalte is ground to a fine powder and is mixed with 20 to 25 per
centum of bitumen, and is heated to 300 or 350 degrees Fahrenheit when about
to be applied. The fabric is attached to a travelling board or bench of a length of
20 to 25 yards, or of any other length suitable for the cooling and setting of
convenient quantities of the asphalte compound. The board with the fabric and
compound on it is passed through between two, three, or more pairs of rollers, the
compound being run upon the fabric from a narrow opening in the bottom of a
hopper just before entering between the first pair of rollers. The rollers may be
of cast iron, either with plain smooth surfaces or covered with wood or other
suitable material to which the asphalto compound will not adhere.
After passing
through the rollers the compound may be acted on by stamping or embossing
apparatus, or pigment patterns may be applied to it by means of blocks or plates, as
in treating ordinary floorcloth.
Flexible hose or tubing and bags or flexible casings are formed as in making
such articles of combined rubber and cloth, but without the curing process required
in the case of rubber. In the case of such flexible articles the rock asphalte should
have combined with it 25 to 30 per centum of bitumen.
In making rigid articles the rock asphalte is employed by preference with a
small admixture of bitumen (say 1 to 2 per centum), and is simply shaped by
rendering it plastic by heating it to 300 or 350 degrees Fahrenheit and then
putting it into suitably shaped moulds. Such moulds may be of wood, and their
internal surfaces should be coated or treated with tallow, or soap, or milk of lime,
or founder's blackening, or plumbago, or other suitable substance, to prevent the
adherence of the asphalte. In this way a great variety of rigid articles may be
formed, such as slabs, tables, mantelpieces, baths, cisterns, vessels, and ridges or
cresting. The substance when cold and hard admits of polishing, but is at the
same time tough and not easily broken.
In some cases we intend to subject the articles made with the asphalte or asphalte
compound to steam, with the view of driving off volatile constituents which cause
an unpleasant smell, and of replacing them by a slight proportion of moisture.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the
precise details herein-before described or referred to, but that what we believe to
bo novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is-
1. The making of coverings for floors, roofs, and other surfaces, also wagon covers
and the like, and also flexible hose or tubing, and bags or flexible casings, with
rock asphalte combined with suitable proportions of bitumen, and applied to woven
fabrics, substantially as herein-before described.
2. The making of rigid articles, such as slabs, tables, mantelpieces, baths, cisterns,
vessels, and ridges or cresting, with rock asphalte, and substantially in the manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Scott, on behalf of the said John George
Zoller and myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-81X.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
DAVID SCOTT. (L.S.)