AN IMPROVED COVERING FOR WALLS, CEILINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th September 1868.-A communication from abroad by
Frederick Woolcot Armstrong, of Plainfield, New Jersey, United
States of America.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED COVERING FOR WALLS, CEILINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES," a
communication, to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to furnish a material which may be
advantageously used as a substitute for ordinary paperhangings for
covering the walls of dwelling houses and other buildings, the said
material being also applicable to veneering furniture and to other
decorative purposes.
In practicing the said Invention I take thin sheets or laminæ of wood,
which may be cut from a log by turning or by any other suitable process.
To one side of such thin laminæ I apply paper pulp or sheets of paper,
cloth, or other textile fabric, the two materials being closely united by

page_text: I
pressure or by the intervention of any adhesive substance. The
compound fabric thus produced is ready for use, and may be applied to
the wall or other surface in any ordinary and convenient manner.
prefer to feed the wood laminæ upon the pulp in a paper-making machine
before the pulp reaches the first press rolls, thence the said laminæ is
passed under the press rolls in such a manner that the pulp is evenly
laid upon and attached to the same by the pressure, which intimately
blends the pulp with the grain of the laminæ as the two substances are
passed between the said rolls, the desired intimate union being further
secured by the adhesive properties of the size contained in the pulp.
The compound sheets are then passed over driers, as in the manufacture
of paper, and when dried they are passed between calender rolls for the
purpose of imparting solidity to the compound sheets and smoothness to
their surfaces. To give a highly polished surface to the wood laminæ I
sometimes employ size, and for the same reason I prefer to arrange my
calender rolls in such a manner as to cause friction by what is known as
slipping." The polish is increased by heating the calender rolls.
66
When sheets of paper or textile materials are employed I unite the
same to the lamina by the intervention of some glutinous or adhesive
substance, and subsequently dry, calender, and polish the sheets if
desirable.
By the use of this backing or lining of paper pulp, paper, or textile
fabric I obtain a support to the wood sheets or laminæ, which allows
them to be handled and applied to walls or to furniture in the usual
manner without liability of separation, fracture, or other injury. The
paper or fabric also presents to the paste or other adhesive material
employed in such application a porous surface which is susceptible of a
more perfect and secure union with the wall or other surface upon which
the covering is placed than can possibly be attained without the
intervention of such lining.
.
My compound fabric may be manufactured in large quantities and
kept intact, as it is not subject to the injury which would result from the
shipment or handling of unprotected wood veneers.
The prepared compound sheets or laminae are most conveniently kept
in rolls, and before unrolling them preparatory to applying them to the
walls or other surfaces they should be moistened, as when dry the wood
is liable to crack in the act of unrolling. I therefore roll up the sheets
with the wood surface outward in order that they may be the more

page_text: readily saturated as well as more easily inspected. The said sheets or
laminæ should be rolled lengthwise of the grain of the wood, that is to
say, the grain of the wood should run around the roll and not in the
opposite direction, as otherwise the frailty of the lamina and the
tendency of the wood to contract upon itself renders it difficult to unroll
without separating the fibres or cracking the wood at frequent intervals.
When so rolled however that the grain runs around the roll the elasticity
of the wood and its tendency to straighten when released from its
confining string or wrapper affords considerable assistance in the process
of unrolling.
By turning the lamina from a log of great length I am enabled to
produce hangings running lengthwise of the grain of the log of such
length as to give to a room the appearance of solid walls of ornamental
or costly wood.