Floor Plates, or Moulded Articles.
Year: 1885

page_text: Floor Plates, or Moulded Articles.
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the county of Middlesex,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention for "IMPROVED MANU-
FACTURE OF POWDER OR MATERIAL FOR PARQUETS FLOOR PLATES OR MOULDED
ARTICLES (a communication from Carl Wittkowsky of Charlottenburg, in the
German Empire, Manufacturer) and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
"
The present improvements relate to the production of an improved powder or
material from which parquets or floor-plates or moulded articles may be produced
by pressing said powder or material in hot moulds and covering or coating it with
wood or metal if desired these operations being performed in a well known
manner.
In preparing this powder or material for the purpose of making parquets or floor
plates and articles moulded in imitation of sculpture it is advisable for the latter
purposes, where the article to be manufactured has raised figuring to supply the
powder or material with such substances as have more plasticity than those
intended for smoother or flatter surfaces.
For clearness sake the preparation of the powder or material will be first
described so far as it does not differ in its manufacture for the two different
purposes.
To produce the plastic powder or material which is capable of withstanding all
bydraulic influences take a quantity of fine sawdust of any suitable wood and pour
upon it an aqueous solution of a fatty soap of any suitable composition-These are
next stirred or mixed up until the soap water thoroughly impregnates or permeates
the sawdust in all parts. The sawdust is next thoroughly dried and the pulve-
rulent product treated with a more or less strong solution of lime in water, so

page_text: called milk of lime and again dried-It is necessary that the material dried after
impregnation with the soap or soap water should be thoroughly impregnated with
or permeated by the milk of lime, when afterwards dried it is thoroughly proof
against all influences of moisture and may be said to be "hydraulised."
To the sawdust "bydraulised" by impregnation with soap water and milk of
lime and thoroughly dried by exposure to the atmosphere, is added if the powder
is to be employed chiefly for surfaces with rather shallow figuring (so called
bas-reliefs) a mixture of caseine and burnt, air slaked lime.
It has to be remarked however that this mixture must not be added until the
lime has with the caseine been thoroughly intermingled and formed into a pulpy
liquid and the whole is after drying fit for use- -Good results suitable for flat
surfaces or such with a low relief are obtained by working up the said substances
in the manner above stated and in the following proportions.
Take 5 to 30 Liters of Sawdust 0.1 to 0-5 fatty soap 05 to 30 of slacked lime,
namely add 3 to 8 liter of Casein which by mixing with 0.5 to 3 Liter of burnt air
slaked lime has been transformed into a pulpy liquid.
"
These approximate proportions indicate the limits in which the mixture may
take place this must however not be taken to mean that they shall not be altered
according to circumstances such as the available pressure the degree to which the
moulds are heated and the like In the methods hitherto employed for preparing
compositions consisting chiefly of sawdust or wood pulp or "artifical wood
wherefrom to make objects with strong relief such as "haut reliefs" or "carvings
or even plastic objects made in imoulds the endeavour has always been to add such
materials to the sawdust or the wood pulp which would increase the plasticity of
the material and enable the same when under the simultaneous influence of heavy
pressure and heat to assume a somewhat viscous state so that the particles of the
material which were previously loose will thoroughly bind together whilst the
excess material between the parts of the mould exudes at the sides and the finished
article on hardening by cooling, will also become proof against water and against
atmospheric influences.
To attain the first of these objects cellulose plaster of paris, clay, Dextrine,
Albumine flour, water glass, casein have been employed and other similar materials
which are either cementitious in their nature or will fuse on being heated-To
render the articles waterproof the sawdust as well as the materials mixed therewith
have been subjected to "hydraulisation" by soap and lime.
The whole of the required properties however or all the substances required for
their production are to be found united in the potato. As a plastic material it
contains a dry substance acting in a manner analogous to that of cellulose, the
cork like cellular structure of the skin and lastly a considerable proportion of
starchy substance-As adhesive and fusible substance it contains not only the
starch which is of importance in this respect also, but likewise grape sugar, gum,
pepsines (gelatines) and above all the albuminous materials which are present in
considerable proportions. The latter two together with the solanine which is also
present being insoluble in water ensure protection against the effects of water to a
considerable degree.
or
To enable potatoes to be worked up and to obtain the material in question
therefrom the following proceeding is adopted. Ripe potatoes are " steamed
cooked by exposure to steam of at least 100° C. until the greater part of the water
contained therein is evaporated or has drained off and the potatoes are soft or
cooked through-It has to be observed that the potatoes are used with their skins
and the steaming must not be carried so far as to burst the skin as this latter
serves as the envelope which retains for use the substances above referred to and
more notably the layer of albumenous substances which is most dense just under
the skin. Useful results may be attained with pecled potatoes also, but they are
not as satisfactory as those obtained by the method just referred to.

page_text: The potatoes thus steamed are whilst warın crushed or mashed and mixed with
a suitable quantity of hydraulised sawdust and a small proportion of Burgundy
pitch.
The addition of Burgundy pitch is made partly for the purpose of making the
product more waterproof partly to enable the unyielding sawdust better to unite
with the crushed potato when they are mixed or kneaded up together.
In this mixture of the prepared sawdust and of the warm potatoes crushed to a
floury mass, the latter from being loose, will, on taking up the sawdust, alter into
a stiff glutenous mass which ultimately becomes so consistent that it may be cut
with a knife.
When in this state the mass is completely dried and hardened by exposure to
the air. The mass is now ready for use i.e for moulding and has all the qualities
above referred to, that is to say it is capable of becoming plastic or fictile when
submitted to pressure in heated moulds, it will from being in the form of irregular
loose, broken or cut pieces coalesce into a homogeneous body and the excess will by
itself be forced out of the mould, whilst being in the viscous condition, it will by
reason of its flexibility when warm, readily part from the mould and thoroughly
harden and become thoroughly waterproof on cooling and it will moreover by its
adhesiveness strongly attract and retain the veneers or metal plates or sheets with
which the article may be coated.
The last mentioned covering with wood veneer or thin metal is effected in the
well known manner by coating the same with a waterproof adhesive material and
simultaneously placing the covering material and the plastic substance into the
mould and then combining the covering material with the body or article whilst
this is being formed from the plastic mass by heavy pressure.
The proportion in which the potatoes are mixed with the hydraulised sawdust
depends on the amount of available heat or pressure and is therefore variable
within considerable limits, good results will be obtained if these substances are
worked up in the above described manner in the following proportions Take 10
to 30 litres of prepared viz. hydraulised sawdust to which add a mixture consisting
of from 5 to 40 liter crushed or mashed potatoes steamed or cooked by steam of
about 100º C. to which potatoes 0.5 to 5 liter of Burgundy pitch are added.
These proportions may likewise be altered as required.
The fact above referred to that the potato possesses in correct proportions all the
substances requisite for making plastic objects under heat and pressure (which
qualities have hitherto been obtained by an intentional mixing of dissimilar
substances) has the important effect that the sawdust whether hydraulised or not
only serves as it were as a filling material employed for cheapness sake, other
materials forming bye products may therefore be used with more or less advantage
such as coal dust, ashes or some other cheap filling such as plaster of paris,
infusorial earth and the like. Experiments have shown that plastic objects may
be produced from the potato alone under the influence of beat and pressure.
For this reason the use of the potato which contains a natural combination in
the required proportions of all the substances required for the purpose is an
essential part of this Invention.
As this "artificial wood" will retain its light colour even at a high temperature
it may be coloured to any desired shade by the addition of suitable colouring
matters, metallic ones for instance, which will not be altered by heat so that the
"artificial wood" will by itself give an article with a suitable coloured surface
0 even if not covered or but partly covered with wood or metal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
(1.) The preparation of a powder on artificial wood composition "substantially as
5 specified capable of being molded by pressure and of resisting the effects of water

page_text: which consists in impregnating sawdust with soap water say for about 5 to 30 litre
of sawdust 0.1. to 0.5. of a litre of fatty soap or thereabouts dissolved in the
requisite quantity of water) then drying the powder thus obtained and treating
with say 0:5 to 30 litre of a solution of lime in water (milk of lime) after which
this "hydraulised" sawdust is treated as follows:-
(a.) For producing high reliefs add a mixture consisting of about 5 to 40 litre
of crushed or mashed potatoes which have been steamed or cooked by steam of
100° C and 0.5. to 2-5 ground Burgundy pitch, metallic colouring matters being
added to the mass if required.
(2.) For producing articles in relief, imitation sculptures and the like by pressure
in heated moulds, the employment of potatoes for the purposes of obtaining a
material which is viscous and plastic under heat and pressure and flexible before
cooling.