Improvements in Parquetry and Wood Block Flooring.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 1st Apr., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Parquetry and Wood Block Flooring.
I, JOSEPII FRANCIS EBNER, of 150, Old Street, in the City of London, Manu-
facturer, 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:-
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This invention has for its object to provide means whereby wood blocks or
parquetry may be cheaply and expeditiously laid in such a manner that the blocks
or pieces of which the same consists are bonded together so that should the
underlying surface not be quite even and the load on the surface of the parquetry
be unequally distributed or the locality be damp, the floor will have less tendency
to "rise" and thereby to become uneven.
Hitherto this has been attained by nailing the blocks to the bed underneath or
by inserting long strips of metal into grooves or recesses extending along the
edges of the blocks; in some cases dowels have been provided for bonding the
blocks as aforesaid. Now all these means are inconvenient and expensive.
According to the present invention I secure the blocks in the manner and by
the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan
of a portion of a parquet or wood block flooring embodying this invention.
Figure 1 is an elevation (on an enlarged scale), Figure shows a portion of
parquet flooring of different pattern but also embodying this invention, and
Figure 2 is an elevation on an enlarged scale. Figure 3 is a plan of one of the
metal fasteners used in accordance with this invention. Figure 3 is drawn to a
considerably larger scale than the other figures.
In these drawings A, A, A, indicate the blocks of which the floor consists,
B, B, B are triangular pieces of metal (say sheet iron) serving to connect the same.
It will be seen that every block A has at each of its corners a kerf or recess just
large enough to receive one half of one of the metal fasteners B. These recesses
are best produced by a simple saw cut. The fasteners B may conveniently be
cut from strips of sheet iron (hoop-iron) and are in the form of triangles as shown
in Figure 3. In laying down the floor the first row of blocks is laid down, a
fastener is inserted in each of the recesses or kerfs in the manner shown in the
drawings, and the blocks forming the next row are simply pushed up against
the first, so that the half of the fasteners B projecting beyond the edges or corners
of the first row of blocks, enter the recesses in the second row, and so on. It will
then be found that each block by means of the fasteners in its corners is bonded
with four adjoining blocks and all are so rigidly connected that no part of the
parquet will have any tendency to rise or to become separated from the rest.
The blocks represented in the drawings are shown to have undercut grooves a
in the under surfaces so as to bind with a layer of cement, mastic or the like, as
is well understood, but this is not in all cases necessary. They may also have
spaces b for any excess of cement &c. to enter into.
The fasteners are so readily inserted as not appreciably to increase the cost of
workmanship and are in themselves cheaply producible. The cost of cutting

page_text: the kerfs or recesses in the blocks is also insignificant. This invention therefore
is easily and cheaply applied and without materially adding to the cost, renders
the flooring much more secure and durable.
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:
In parquetry or wood block flooring providing each block or piece of which
the same consists with a kerf or recess at each corner, each recess being
of such size as to receive one half of a triangular fastener, each
fastener entering into two contiguous blocks, each block being bonded with four
adjoining blocks or pieces all as set forth and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
1000
BERNHARD DUKES,
226, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.