An Improved Method of Manufacturing Marquetry Plates or Designs.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Oct., 1896-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of Manufacturing Marquetry Plates or
Designs.
I, KARL ZUPPINGER, of Zollikon near Zurich, in the Republic of Switzerland,
Mechanician, 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 :-
According to the methods heretofore known, mosaic plates are made of wood or
the like by placing a suitable number of small rods or bars parallel by the side of
each other and glueing them together to form a prism, upon whose transverse
section the several small rods constitute the figures to be produced. This prism is.
cut in the transverse direction into a number of similar sheets with a. saw.
The industrial manufacture according to this method presents considerable
difficulties owing to the fact that the various small rods must be cut out singly and
then also glued together singly, so that the special cutting and glueing of each
separate small rod takes much time and is troublesome and expensive.
The present invention relates to a method which differs from the well-known
methods in that, in lieu of the small rods, use is made only of plates, which latter
are glued together and then cut in an appropriate manner.
Several plates of different colour are glued together to form blocks, and the latter
are cut transversely. Then several blocks differing in composition as regards the
colour are produced and then likewise cut in the transverse direction. From the-
several plates of the different blocks a new block is next composed in accordance
with the design to be produced, whereupon this new block is in its turn cut in
the transverse direction, and the plates thus formed present the desired mosaic.
With this new method single blocks in a loose state do not occur at all, and the
mere cutting of plates and composing of blocks from plates, as compared with the
composition of the small rods, takes place in such a simple manner that the new
method is thereby rendered available for manufacture on a large scale, and that a
simplification in the manufacture is achieved.
The improved method is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a view of the design to be produced.
Figure 2 shows a number of plates in different colours, it being for instance.
supposed that the plates section lined closely and longitudinally are black, the plates.
section lined obliquely and widely are brown, the plates section lined widely and
longitudinally are yellow, and the plates not section lined are white.
Figure 3 represents a block from which the several plates are cut.
Figure 4 shows different plates as cut from blocks composed in various blocks.
Figure 5 shows the plates combined according to Figure 4 to form a block and
Figure 6 shows by way of example several different designs which may be used for
carrying out this method.
The improved method is as follows:
Several plates of different colour, for instance (Figure 2) black, brown, white and
yellow are so composed and connected with each other by a binding agent that they
form a solid block furnished with stripes (Figure 3). Of these blocks several are
made, in the present case for instance seven, each block corresponding to a row in
the design and being obtained by changing the different plates relatively to each
other.

page_text: From each block is now cut, in the direction of c-d-e of Figure 3, a plate of a
certain thickness-thus Figure 3 corresponds to the fourth row of the design-and
the seven plates produced are laid one on the top of the other in accordance with
the design (Figure 4) and are connected by binding agents or the like (Figure 5).
If a plate is now cut from the block shown in Figure 5 in the direction of the
line c-d-e this plate will represent the desired design according to Figure 1. In this
manner it is possible to produce simple as well as composite designs, according as the
designs Figure 6 are changed more or less.
It is evident that in this manner an unlimited number of similar designs may
be produced without trouble, which, considerably simplifies the manufacture of the
plates.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I déclare that what I
claim is :-
A method of manufacturing mosaic plates or designs, characterized by the feature
that from a number of different blocks which are composed of coloured plates are
obtained differently composed plates by cutting in the transverse direction, which
plates are joined together to form a block according to the design to be produced, this
block being cut transversely into plates for the purpose of working, not with single
small rods, but with plates, and thereby simplifying the manufacture of mosaic plates.
Dated this 10th day of October 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.