Improved Method of Manufacturing Household Furniture, Chimney- pieces, Baths, and other Articles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application; 16th Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 12th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 14th Sept., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of Manufacturing Household Furniture, Chimney-
pieces, Baths, and other Articles.
DUNCAN SINCLAIR Leslie Villas High Barnet Herts Ironfounder's Representative
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is an improved method of manufacturing household furniture,
chimney pieces, baths and other articles from wood pulp, clay or other material in
a liquid or semi-liquid or plastic state. This material is placed in a cylinder or
other vessel, and, is therein acted upon by hydraulic or other pressure which forces
the material through pipes and thence into moulds in all parts of a factory where
the manufacture is being carried on. The moulds internally represent the external
of the article to be made, and, are perforated with small holes through which the
superfluous moisture expressed in the process, escapes. Where necessary, an iron
framework roughly representing the article to be manufactured is placed in the mould
before it is filled with the fluid or semi-fluid or plastic material, that it (the iron
framework) may be embedded in the article to give it strength and weight and to
prevent it twisting or warping. After the mould has been filled in the manuer
described, and, before being opened, the contents are dried to a greater or less extent
by natural or artificial evaporation. The wood pulp or other material may or may
not be saturated with colour before being pressed into the mould.
Dated this Fifteenth day of November 1894.
Improved Method of Manufacturing Household Furniture, Chimney-
pieces, Baths, and other Articles.
I, DUNCAN SINCLAIR, Leslie Villas, High Barnet, Herts, Ironfounder's
Representative, 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 invention which forms the subject of my application for Letters Patent
consists essentially of a new or improved method of manufacturing moulded articles
of various kinds, such for instance as household furniture, chimney pieces, baths,
ornaments, architectural designs and so forth from plastic material such as wood
pulp, clay, or other material in a liquid or semi-liquid or plastic state, and of its
natural colour, or coloured or tinted in various uniform or in different shades as
hereinafter more explicitly set forth.
Referring to the accompanying drawings in which apparatus is represented
especially suitable for carrying into practice my invention as applied to the
manufacture of chimney pieces.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the mould.
Fig. 2 is an elevation of the inside surface, of the cover.
Fig. 3 is an elevation of the outer surface of the same.
The mould is preferably formed of cast iron or steel in two or more pieces secured
together by tie bolts. or other suitable devices..
N
!

page_text: The mould proper A is closed by the covering piece B clamped on to it by tie
bolts C and nuts D. The inner surface of the cover B is provided with a series of
shallow channels as shewn in Fig. 2 in order to allow the moisture expressed during
the operation to drain away.
The corrugations or channels are shewn in the accompanying drawing for the
sake of clearness at some distance apart, but I prefer to make them as close
together as reasonably practicable, each channel being about one quarter inch wide
and three sixteenths deep.
The apparatus is preferably filled from below through the inlet pipes E and vent
holes F are provided at the top closed by a screw plug or equivalent device.
The surfaces of the mould and of the covering plate are machined smooth, and
a filter cloth is laid between them and the whole tightly screwed up by means of
the tie bolts C and nuts D.
The method of operating is preferably as follows.:-
The plastic material is placed in a cylinder or other vessel, and is therein
subjected to hydraulic or other pressure, which forces it through pipes, and thence
into the moulds above described in which the articles to be produced are moulded.
As the pressure in the moulds increases the moisture is expressed from the
plastic material and enters the filter cloth and escapes through the channels and
outlets provided for the same. It is obvious that in place of subjecting the,
material to hydraulic pressure in a cylinder, I may also force the same into the
moulds by means of a suitable force pump of any kind or in any other manner
which gives the requisite pressure. If it be desired to colour or tint the material
under operation I arrange my pump so as to draw from a vessel connected therewith,
a requisite amount of colouring solution which is forced into the mould along with
and through the plastic material to which it imparts the requisite colour. It is
obvious that by arranging the series of tanks or vessels and connecting the pump
or forcing device therewith, mottled, variegated, or mixed colours may be produced
either in a portion of the object or throughout the whole of the same by suitably
arranging the suction pipes and their connections to the pump and supplying the
requisite colouring liquid thereby.
When the objects to be produced are of sufficient size and weight to render the
same desirable, I prefer to place a framework of iron or other metal, or in certain
cases of wood or other sufficiently strong material within the mould before the
same is filled with the plastic material in such a manner as to form a framework
or internal support for the plastic material in which it is embedded, whereby the
finished article will gain in strength, and be prevented from twisting or warping.
It is obvious that in place of pumping solution into the mould along with the
plastic material in the manner described, the material itself may be previously
coloured, and one or more vessels of coloured material may be pumped simul-
taneously or consecutively into the mould so as to produce the required variety
in the colour of the finished product. After the mould has been filled in the
manner described, and effectively compressed by means of the pump or other
forcing device, the liquid contents having been thereby driven out of the material
the pump is disconnected and the mould may be opened, and the finished article
in a more or less dry condition taken out and subjected to heat for the purpose of
further drying the same, or otherwise further manufactured for the purpose for
which it is designed. The precise details of the mould and the method of filling
the same are obviously capable of modification according to the precise object
which it is desired to produce, and I do not limit myself to the apparatus
hereindescribed and illustrated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The improved process for manufacturing moulded articles of any kind from
plastic material in a liquid or semi-liquid state by forcing the same into.moulds with

page_text: or without the addition of colouring solution and subjecting the same therein to
hydraulic or other pressure until sufficiently consolidated for the purpose required.
2. The use of a mould of cast iron or other suitable material formed in two or
more pieces one side of which is flat and provided with shallow grooves or channels
with suitable outlets for the escape of liquid, and separated from the material
under pressure by means of a filter cloth, substantially as, and for the purpose
described.
3. The herein before described process for producing coloured articles moulded
from plastic or semi-liquid material by forcing a solution or solutions of colouring
material into the mould with or through the liquid or semi-liquid material
substantially as described.
Dated this 12th day of August 1895.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
31, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.