IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE ORNAMENTATION OF WOODEN OR OTHER SURFACES.
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Anthony Hunter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th September 1882.
WILLIAM ANTHONY HUNTER of Deepgill Cottage, Plumpton, near Penrith in the
County of Cumberland. IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE ORNAMENTATION
OF WOODEN OR OTHER SURFACES.
"
My invention consists in part of an improved method of ornamenting wood and
other materials by transferring or producing the forms of plants (either in the
green or fresh state or after being dried and pressed) on the surface of wood,
or woven fabrics, or leather, or paper, or other material, capable of being acted
upon by dyeing and other materials, in the manner or manners I shall describe.
And instead of plants or leaves or parts of plants imitations of them or artificial
patterns of any form may be substituted when found desirable, or feathers may be
used as patterns
When artificial patterns are used they must be made of such a material as will
not be deleteriously affected by, or affect the chemical reagents employed to produce
the intended design.
For imprinting the forms of plants or artificial patterns upon wood I find out by
experiment what chemical re-agent will act upon the natural coloring matter of
the wood so as to produce another or varied shade of the same color.
Then I form a soft yielding pad of any suitable material that will absorb the
chemical re-agent to be used without injuriously affecting it or being injuriously
affected by it
1 This I place upon a firm and even bed of any suitable material such as wood
or iron or any other metal or stone, and preferably I lay a piece of rubber or any
other firm yet yielding, water or other liquid proof material, next the wood or iron
or other bed, and upon that I lay the absorbing pad and after it has been saturated
more or less with the chemical reagent to be used I lay the plants or leaves or other
patterns upon this pad, in the form I wish their impressions to appear on the wood
to be ornamented
Having smoothed the surface of the wood (though that is not absolutely
necessary) I lay it upon the plants or patterns and then apply pressure, either by

page_text: .
means of cramps or weights or any other convenient method so that the pressure is
evenly distributed over the upper surface of the wood that it is wished to ornament,
or the pressure may be applied from below, or the pad may be uppermost their
position is not material if they are evenly pressed together with the plants or
patterns between
This pressure must be continued till the chemical reagent absorbed in the pad
has had time to change the color or shade of that part of the wood that is not
covered by the plants or patterns.
The time required for this action to take place may be from less than a minute
to many hours according to the nature of the wood and the chemical reagents being
used.
2. The pad may be impregnated with a dyeing material capable of imparting its
color to the wood or other material to be ornamented and when the wood or other
material is pressed upon it with the plants or patterns between a more or less
correct representation of their form will be shown on the wood or other material
that is being operated upon.
Or the wood or other material may be previously dyed, and the pad impregnated
with a chemical reagent that will alter the color of that dye
When by pressing the wood and pad together with the plants or patterns between
their form will be more or less correctly shown on the wood which after being
dried may be polished or varnished in the usual way except where the chemical
reagent used acts injuriously upon any particular varnish or polish when others
must be substituted instead
Where dyes are required to be used that would wash off if not fixed by a mordant
or that cannot be printed in the manner already described, I use a mordant with
the pad, and when the mordant has well soaked into the wood and its solvent has
evaporated I apply the dye to the entire surface in the usual manner washing
away the dye from the unmordanted parts-these parts can then in some cases be
dyed another color. Thus boxwood might be dyed black all round the pattern
and then the pattern a fern perhaps dyed green when it would look like a green
fern inlaid in a block of ebony Similarly discharges can be used so as to give a
somewhat similar effect by removing or altering the color of parts not covered by
the pattern. In this instance again the dye can be uniformly laid on. By either
of these means a more uniform, deep sunk, and permanent shade of dye can be
produced than when merely printed on.
3 In some cases it may be necessary to form a pad of the same shape as the
wood or other material to be ornamented as in the case of mouldings and carved work
Or the pad may be formed around a roller and the wood or other material and
patterns or plants upon it passed under or over the roller, where the time required
for the dyeing material to act is short
4 Or the plants or patterns may be made to adhere to the wood or other
material to be ornamented by means of gum or any suitable adhesive substance and
the wood or piece of furniture etcetera may then be placed in a close room or box and
there exposed to a vapour or gas or gases or fine dust or spray or steam or acid or
alkaline vapours that will alter the color or shade of the wood or piece of furniture,
except where the plants or patterns are attached to it-In this case the pad and
pressure are not required.
5 Or the plants or patterns may be made to adhere by means of an adhesive
substance easily removed from the wood or other material being used. Then over
all put on a varnish or coating of any kind of material that will prevent the reagent
to be used from acting upon the wood or other material through it
When if you now take off the plants or patterns the wood underneath them may
be acted upon by the reagent you desire to use The color or shade of the wood
or other material being changed on that part of its surface from which you have
removed the plants or patterns their form by that means will appear, or by
gumming or otherwise causing the plants or patterns to adhere to the wood or
other material then coating over all with glue, or other suitable sticking substance

page_text: and afterwards causing fine dust as ground granite or limestone or colored wood, as
logwood, to fall upon the yet soft glue or other sticking substance, so that it will
adhere to it, and cover the surface all over but when you remove the patterns or
plants their form will appear from the contrast of bare wood and the color of dust
you have used. In this case the wood is not stained but only a surface coating
put on, and if paint be applied with a brush over all and then the plants or
patterns removed their form will also appear from contrast of bare wood and
paint.
6 Another method of obtaining the forms of plants and patterns on any desired
and suitable material is to press them upon a yielding material such as plaster of
Paris or other cement or clay, or other material of that kind that will after a
time get sufficiently hard to allow molten metal to be run into the impressions left
by the plant or patterns
These metal castings to be used either as blocks or rollers for indenting the forms
of plants or other patterns upon wood or other suitable material Or to be used as
printing blocks, or rollers in the ordinary way by the application of a dyeing
material to their surface which then must be pressed upon the material to be
ornamented.
What I believe to be new and original is the use of plants (especially in the green
or fresh state) as patterns and the particular manner by which I transfer their
forms to wood and other materials capable of being dyed or changed in color by
the action of reagents either gaseous or liquid or in the form of fine dust or
powder.