AN IMPROVED VENEERING APPARATUS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Weston, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, Cabinet Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED VENEERING
APPARATUS."
Sealed the 9th February 1855, and dated the 12th August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Weston at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
August 1854.
I, GEORGE WESTON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Cabinet Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
VENEERING APPARATUS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain new mechanical arrangements or appa-
ratus designed for performing the operation of "veneering" in a more
efficient manner than that heretofore practised; and important features in
this Invention are, firstly, in transmitting heat through a sheet of metal to tho
glue after the veneer has been placed upon the foundation, to which it is to be
permanently connected by such said glue; and, secondly, in the use and em-
ployment of metal screw clamps, in lieu of clamps made of wood, as heretofore
employed in veneering operations; the object and intention of this Invention
being to dissolve the glue after the veneer is screwed down to its place, and by
these means to ensure generally more perfect adhesion of the parts than
lieretofore.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Weston in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WESTON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Weston, Iler special licence that I, the said George
Weston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Weston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
VENEERING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Weston, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Weston, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, 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): -
My Invention relates to certain new mechanical arrangements or apparatus
designed for performing the operation of veneering in a more efficient manner
than that heretofore practised; and important features in my said Invention
are, firstly, the transmitting heat through a sheet of metal to the glue after the
veneer has been placed upon the foundation, to which it is to be permanently
connected by such said glue; and, secondly, in the use and employment of
metal screw clamps, in lieu of clamps made of wood, as heretofore employed in
veneering operations; the object and intention of my said Invention being to
dissolve the glue after the veneer is screwed down to its place, and by these
means to ensure generally more perfect adhesion of the parts than heretofore.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now proceed

page_text: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a vencering apparatus constructed accord-
ing to my said Invention, shewing the application thereof to the purpose of
veneering wood. Figure 2 is a plan view of the under side of said apparatus.
Figure 3 is a transverse and vertical section of the apparatus taken through
the line A, B, at Figures 1 and 2. Figure 4 is a top plan view of the upper
clamp. At cach of the foregoing Figures I employ similar letters of reference
to denote corresponding parts, in so far as such parts appear or can be seen
at each of the said Figures respectively. At Figures 1 and 3, A represents a
piece of wood, which it is desired to veneer; B, the veneer; C, a piece of thin
sheet metal (sheet iron, for example); D, a grid or grating (shewn in plan at
Figure 2; E, F, are metal clamps, between which the wood A, vencer B,
plate C, and grid D, arc forcibly pressed or squeezed together by screws G, G,
and nuts H, H. The construction of the clamps E and F is as follows:-I
form the upper clamp E with as many brackets or bearers e, e, (placed or dis-
posed at right angles, or nearly so, to the other part of the clamp,) as are
necessary, according to the size of the clamp and the nature of the work to be
operated upon thereby; I also form a long and short slot in those parts of said
clamp through which the bolts G, G, pass, by which the clamp can be discon-
nected without removing the nuts H from the screwed parts of the bolts G;
and I form the nuts H in such manner as that a washer h remains in per-
manent connection therewith, and this I effect by constructing the same in
the manner exhibited at Figure 5. And I propose to form the said clamp
as light as possible, consistent with the strength thereof; and as regards
the lower clamp F, instead of forming the bearing or pressing surface con-
tinuous, as at E, I form this lower clamp with openings f, f, for the purpose
of exposing as much as is practically possible of the grid or grating D to
the action of heat, in the manner herein-after stated; and with the apparatus
thus constructed I operate in the following manner :-

page_text: upon a piece of millboard I, or other similar material, which serves as a
cushion for pressing the veneer into close contact with the wood to which it is
to be connected; the nillboard I rests upon a thin piece of sheet metal C,
which rests upon the grid or grating D, and finally this grating rests upon the
bearing parts of the lower clamp F, of which, as also the upper clamp, I
employ as many as are necessary for exerting the requisite amount of pressure
upon the wood and veneer; and I further ensure the general diffusion of the
pressure from the upper clamps over the back of the body of the wood, by
affixing strips of hard wood i to the under side of the brackets or bearings e, e,
and having arranged and disposed the several parts of the apparatus in the
order and manner above described, I screw the clamps E and F tight up, and
thus cause the veneer to be forcibly pressed and held against the wood which
is to be veneered, and in this state I submit the apparatus to the action of
heat, either from jets of gas, lamps containing oil, naptha, tallow, or other
inflammable matters. The effect of imparting heat to the under side of the
plate c is to keep the glue moist, or in other words to prevent the glue from
setting before the veneer has been pressed as near as may be into close con-
tact with the wood to which it is to be attached, and by these means to ensure
more perfect adhesion of the veneer than heretofore.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of "An
Improved Vencering Apparatus," and in what manner the same is to be and
may be performed, I would remark, in conclusion, that what I claim is, the
novel and improved mode, above particularly described and represented, of con-
structing veneering apparatus, and the mode set forth of operating therewith,
for the purpose of effecting more perfectly than heretofore the operation of
veneering.
In witness whercof, I, the said George Weston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
SAMUEL BRAMHALL,
Sheffield.
GEORGE WESTON. (L.S.)