IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR-CLOTH
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Versmann, Ph.D., Consulting Chemist, of
New Charlton, in the County of Kent, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR-CLOTH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Versmann at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st October 1881.
FREDERICK VERSMANN, Ph.D., Consulting Chemist, of New Charlton, in the
County of Kent. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR-CLOTHI."
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One of the principal materials in the manufacture of Bloor cloth is cork dust or
powder, the supply of which is very limited, and it is therefore expensive; for this
reason many substances have been proposed as a substitute, such as sawdust and
other vegetable fibre, also common peat or turf, but for practical reasons none of
theso have been found to answer the required purpose. Now my Invention
consists in the employment as a substitute for cork dust in the manufacture of
floor cloth of a peculiar kind of moss peat of the genus sphagnum which I prepare
for the purpose as hereinafter described. This moss peat or sphagnum is chiefly
met with in various parts of the continent of Europe, especially in Germany, and
is generally known under the name of light moss peat. I find that this light moss
peat prepared as hereinafter described forms a very good substitute for cork dust
in the manufacture of floor cloth on account of its being lighter in weight and in
colour than any of the substitutes hitherto proposed.
then
I prepare this light moss peat as follows-I take it as it is dug out of the bog,
and dry it either by the action of the open air or by artificial means, and I select
in preference those parts which are lightest both in weight and color;
reduce it to a powder, and for this purpose I may with advantage pass it through
a machine similar to "devil" to tear it up and separate therefrom any hard
lumps or roots; the material thus obtained forms a mixture of a spongy fibrous
mass, and of a coarse powder which I separate from each other by passing them
over or through one or more sieves. It is this coarse powder which I employ as a
substitute for cork dust in the manufacture of floor cloth, but the spongy fibrous
mass may likewise be reduced to such powder by being passed again through
the devil, or by being submitted to the action of any other suitable reducing
machine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Frederick Versmann in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th March 1882.
FREDERICK VERSMANN, Ph.D., Consulting Chemist, of New Charlton, in the
County of Kent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR CLOTHI."
One of the principal materials in the manufacture of floor cloth is cork dust or
powder, the supply of which is very limited, and it is therefore expensive; for this
reason many substances have been proposed as a substitute, such as sawdust and
other vegetable fibre, or common peat or turf, but for practical reasons none of
these have been found to answer the required purpose. Now my Invention
consists in the employment as a substitute for cork dust in the manufacture of
floor cloth of a peculiar kind of moss peat of the genus sphagnum which I prepare
for the purpose as hereinafter described. This moss peat or sphagnum is chiefly
met with in various parts of the continent of Europe, especially in Germany, and
is generally known under the name of light moss peat. I find that this light moss
peat prepared as hereinafter described forms a very good substitute for cork dust
in the manufacture of floor cloth on account of its being lighter in weight and in
color than any of the substitutes hitherto proposed.
I prepare this light moss peat as follows:-I take it as it is dug out of the bog,
and dry it either by the action of the open air or by artificial means, and I select
in preference those parts which are lighter both in weight and color; I-then-
reduce it to a powder, and for this purpose-I-may-with-advantage-pass-it-through
a machine similar to a "devil" to tear it up and separate therefrom any hard lumps
or roots; the material thus obtained forms a mixture of a spongy fibrous mass
and of a coarse powder which I separate from each other by passing them over or
through one or more sieves. It is this coarse powder which I employ as a
substitute for cork dust in the manufacture of floor cloth, but the spongy fibrous
mass may likewise be reduced to such powder by being passed again through
the devil, or by being submitted to the action of any other suitable reducing
machine.
I employ the pent powder or dust in the manufacture of floor cloth in a similar
manner to that in which cork dust is used. I take linseed oil and boil it with
some of the well known driers to a viscous gelatinous mass, to which I add a
sufficient quantity of peat powder, first roughly mixing the two, and then passing
and repassing them through the usual kneading machines; to the perfectly
uniform homogeneous mass thus obtained I further add a certain proportion of
white lead, red lead, yellow ochre, or other ingredients generally used by floor
cloth manufacturers; I then again pass the whole mass through a kneading
machine, and thereby obtain a perfectly uniform compound which is worked into
floor cloth by passing it through rollers in the usual well known manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Versmann, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty second day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and eighty two.
FRED. VERSMANN. (LS.)