IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINES FOR GRAINING IN IMITATION OF WOOD AND MARBLE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINES FOR GRAINING IN IMITATION OF WOOD AND MARBLE."- A
communication from abroad by Robert Adams, residing at Chicago,
State of Illinois, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by tlie said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 20th January 1866, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT
KNOWN that I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR GRAINING IN IMITATION OF WOOD
AND MARBLE," (communicated to me from abroad by Robert Adams, à person
resident at Chicago, State of Illinois, United States of America, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say. :--

page_text: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodying the said
improvements; Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the same designed
to shew the interior of the cylinder A.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the Invention I will
proceed to describe its construction and operation. A is a hollow air-tight
drum or cylinder shaped like a barrel, or straight, or concave, or of any
other shape suitable to the work to be done. For general use it should be
convex or barrel-shaped, as shewn in the Drawings. In this shape it will
accommodate itself to a great variety of surfaces by means of its elasticity
and compressibility, and its capacity in this particular may be increased by
letting out more or less of the air as hereafter shewn. It may be made of
different sizes according to the work to be performed. It is formed by
attaching to each end of a bag a hollow ball of rubber or rubber cloth, or
any other suitable material, two circular metallic discs or plates, one on the
outside and one on the inside, as shewn at C, C. Each of the two outside
plates is firmly attached to its corresponding inside plate by the screws a, a,
thus holding a portion of the rubber bag closely pressed between them.
Through the centre of these circular plates there projects on each side the
metallic axle D running through the whole machine, on which the cylinder
A is intended to revolve. This axle is fitted at each end into the handles
G, G, so as to turn smoothly and with little friction. This axle D is made
hollow and closed at one end, with a moveable air-tight valve at the opposite
end, as shewn at H, and an interior opening at I, by means of which the
cylinder A may be inflated either by the application of the mouth of
the operator or by other means. When the air is to be expelled this may
be done by simply pushing in the valve H and pressing on the sides of the
cylinder A. K is a stuffing box of the ordinary construction intended to
prevent any leakage of air where the circular plates C, C, slide on the axle
D, as hereafter shewn. On the opposite end no stuffing box is required,
the circular plates C, C, being there soldered fast to the axle. L is a
washer and M a set screw, which follow the stuffing box and keep it fixed
at any desired point upon the axle. N and O are elastic composition or
rubber rollers intended to distribute the coloring matter upon the graining
plate B. The color is put upon the first roller O, is taken from O by N,
and thence transferred to the graining plate or belt B. These two rollers
N and O turn in boxes P, Q, which slide on the rods R, R, and may be
fixed at any point by the set screws T, T. The rods R, R, are connected at
their outer ends by the bar S; this bar is secured by the screws U, U, and may
be taken off at pleasure. The rod R, with its connecting part V, together

page_text: with the metallic parts of the handle X, are all composed of a single piece..
Around the cylinder A is placed an endless elastic graining belt or band B,
made of rubber or elastic composition, and constructed in the following
manner-I first take a cylinder of wood or soft metal of the same size and
form as I wish to have the graining plate or belt B, but made in sections.
so as to be easily taken apart by first withdrawing the interior sections. On
the curved surface of this cylinder I carve the grain of the wood I wish to.
imitate; I then enclose this wooden cylinder within a larger hollow
cylinder of wood or metal, and fill the space between them with liquid
plaster or any other materiał suitable for making the mould. When the
plaster is set I remove the inner cylinder by taking out first the inner pieces
or sections so as not to injure or disturb the plaster cast. Inside this cast
thus obtained I place the rubber, air-tight cylinder, or bag, and inflate it
with air, leaving sufficient space between the two to give the proper thick-
ness of about the eighth of an inch for the elastic plate; I fill this space
with the composition or rubber poured in in a liquid state. When this has
cooled I draw out the air from the inside of the air-tight cylinder or bag,
thus collapsing it, and then easily withdraw it, together with the endless
elastic plate from the plaster cast. The surface of the air-tight cylinder or
bag should be first oiled before putting it into the plaster mould, so that
the elastic plate may not adhere to it, but may be removed at pleasure, as
hereafter shewn. Instead of using the air cylinder in the way just described
for making the elastic plate, a plain wooden cylinder, convex or barrel-
shaped, or of such other form as may be desired, and made in sections so
as to be removedble from the inside, may be employed for this purpose. A
space is left between this cylinder and the mould, and is filled with the
composition in the same way just described. After the composition has
cooled the cylinder may be withdrawn by first taking out the inside sec-
tions and then the graining belt may readily be taken from the mould.
This graining belt can be taken off from the air-tight drum or cylinder,
and put on again at pleasure, or another belt be substituted in its place by
first taking off the colour rollers N and O, the cross bar S, and one of the
handles. These parts are then replaced, the cylinder is inflated by blowing
through the tube formed by the axle D, and the machine is ready for use.
This requires but little explanation. The operator grasps one of the
handles in each hand, and thus rolls the compound graining cylinder A, B,
forward from one end to the other of the board or other article to be
grained. If he wishes to grain surfaces of different widths the compound

page_text: graining cylinder A, B, may be readily made shorter in the direction of its.
axis by means of the sliding stuffing boxes and set screws on the axle.
The endless graining plate will readily accommodate itself to this change
by continually rolling in at the edges as the two ends of the cylinder
are brought nearer together.
The advantages of this machine are manifest. By its use more graining
can be done and in a better manner than by any other graining machine now
known. By its elasticity and compressibility, arising from the elastic and
yielding nature of the air within, the hollow cylinder A carrying the endless
graining plate adapts itself readily to every inequality of surface. Owing
to the same elasticity and compressibility, and the readiness with which the
air yields to every pressure, there is no danger of smooching or blurring the
impression, as is often the case with graining machines depending solely on
the elasticity or thickness of the graining plate itself. The graining plate
or belt being endless and without seam, any length of surface can be grained
at one operation in a single piece without any break or joint, thereby saving
the great trouble and difficulty of matching the joints, as has to be done in
the ordinary mode. By moving in or out the circular discs C, C, the
machine may be adapted to a great variety of widths. By using differenţ
elastic graining plates all kinds of wood may be imitated by the same
machine.
In the machine first made the compound graining cylinder A, B, was
about eight inches in length and eight inches in diameter in the middle,
both length and diameter varying somewhat according as the circular discs
C, C, are moved in or out. The diameter of the cylinder at the ends may
be about one and one-fourth inches less than in the middle when made of
the size just mentioned.
Larger or smaller machines may be made in the same way, both to be
worked by hand or power. If worked by power some slight changes, not
involving, however, any change of principle, would of course have to be
made.
Having thus described the construction and operation of the machine,
I declare that I do not claim the endless elastic plate or belt separately,
nor a cylindrical graining machine generally; but what I claim as the
Invention to be secured by Letters Patent is,-
First, the combination of the hollow elastic air bag or drum with an
axle so as to form a hollow elastic air cylinder, substantially as before
described.

page_text: Second, the combination of the said hollow elastic air cylinder or bag
and endless graining belt forming a compound elastic graining cylinder or
drum, substantially as before described.
Third, the combination of the said hollow elastic air cylinder or bag and
axle with devices for permitting the cylinder or bag to be inflated and
collapsed, substantially as before described.
Fourth, the combination of the hollow elastic air cylinder or bag and
axle with devices for regulating its width, substantially as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD.
(L.S.)