Improvements in or relating to the Construction of Wooden Floorings.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Dec., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Sept., 1892-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Construction of Wooden
Floorings.
I, FRIEDRICH THEISSING of Münster, Westphalia in the Empire of Germany,
Saw Mill Proprietor do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The floors or parquets made in new buildings are, as is well known, liable to
rapid decay owing to the dampness of the building, and this is particularly the case
with dry hard woods.
Hard woods are, for this reason, now frequently laid in a bed of asphalt placed
upon cement; the deleterious action of the moisture has not, however, been able to
be avoided, as, owing to the damp penetrating, the flooring boards expand and thus
are lifted out of the support.
In order to do away with this drawback, wooden floorings are, by this invention,
constructed which cannot, as such, expand, but in which, on the contrary, the
expansion of the separate parts of which the flooring is composed is equalised in
the flooring itself.
The deleterious action of the damp is thus avoided and these floorings may then
be laid direct in mortar like any other, and, consequently, the use of even dry hard
woods is rendered possible in damp rooms.
The flooring consists of two layers of boards of hard wood, placed diagonally
one above the other, which are combined into one by means of a composition, pre-
ferably asphalt, serving as connecting material in such a way that the mixture fills
up the joints which occur between the two sets of boards where the individual
boards meet one another.
The lower surfaces which are to be set in the mortar, as well as the four side
surfaces, are covered with a water-tight coating, so that damp can only penetrate
and again evaporate from above. In order to give the flooring boards a suitable
hold in the mortar, they are provided with projections on the lower side.
Any sideways displacement of the boards among each other is prevented by the
lower boards being connected with the upper ones by means of nails.
In order to prevent the flooring boards from rising off the mortar in consequence
of their expansion owing to damp which cannot be prevented, the above named
composition, which serves to unite the boards into a whole, has such a degree of
flexibility that it yields to a long continued pressure and allows of the lateral
expansion and adjustment of the individual boards.
The groove formed of the mixture between the edges of the individual boards
where they meet corresponds in size to the greatest possible extension of the
individual planks, and the composition in the grooves between the planks rises so
far that each plank may expand in width by its rising out, by which means the
object is attained that the flooring boards preserve their former size outside, even
if they should remain several days completely under water.
2nd day of December 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Construction of Wooden
Floorings.
I, FRIEDRICH THEISSING of Münster, Westphalia, in the Empire of Germany,
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 :-
The floors or parquets made in new buildings are, as is well known, liable to rapid
decay owing to the dampness of the building, and this is particularly the case with
dry hard woods.
Hard woods are, for this reason, now frequently laid in a bed of asphalt placed
upon cement; the deleterious action of the moisture has not, however, been able to
be avoided, as, owing to the damp penetrating, the flooring boards expand and thus
are lifted out of the support.
In order to do away with this drawback, wooden floorings are, by this invention,
constructed, which cannot, as such, expand but in which, on the contrary, the
expansion of the separate parts of which the flooring is composed is equalised in
the flooring itself.
The deleterious action of the damp is thus avoided and these floorings may then
be laid direct in mortar like any other, and, consequently, the use of even dry hard
woods is rendered possible in damp rooms.
The accompanying drawing is illustrative of a flooring constructed according to
this invention.
The flooring consists of two layers of boards a and b of hard wood, placed cross-
wise one above the other, which are combined into one by means of a composition,
preferably asphalt, serving as connecting material in such a way that the mixture
fills up the joints c which occur where the individual boards meet one another.
'The lower surfaces which are to be set in the mortar, as well as the four side
surfaces, are covered with a water-tight coating, so that damp can only penetrate
and again evaporate from above. In order to give the flooring boards a suitable
hold in the mortar, they are provided with projections on the lower side.
Any sideways displacement of the boards among each other is prevented by
the lower boards 6 being connected at both ends with the upper ones a by means
of nails.
In order to prevent the flooring boards from rising off the mortar in consequence
of their expansion owing to damp which cannot be prevented, the above named
composition, which serves to unite the boards a and b into a whole, has such a degree
of flexibility that it yields to a long continued pressure and allows of the lateral
expansion and adjustment of the individual boards.
The groove c, filled by the mixture between the edges of the individual boards
where they meet, corresponds in size to the greatest possible extension of the
individual planks, and the composition in the grooves between the planks rises so
far that each plank may expand in width by its rising out, by which means the
object is attained that the flooring boards preserve their former size outside, even
if they should remain several days completely under water.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is :-
The improvements in or relating to the construction of wooden floorings, which
consist in forming such of two layers of boards a 6 placed crosswise, the lower
ones being connected with the upper ones, so as to prevent extension of the total

page_text: width, the layers and boards being further connected among themselves by a
flexible mixture, as and for the purposes set forth, all substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Dated this 22nd day of September 1892.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.