IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR AND OTHER MATS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO BRUSHES AND BROOMS, AND TO PRODUCING CARD OR TOOTH SURFACES EMPLOYED IN OPERATING ON VARIOUS FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1865

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Thomas Jefferson Mayall, of Roxbury, Massachusetts,
in the United States of America, but now residing at Red Lion Court,
Fleet Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DOOR AND OTHER MATS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE
TO BRUSHES AND BROOMS, AND TO PRODUCING CARD OR TOOTH SURFACES EMPLOYED
IN OPERATING ON VARIOUS FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Jefferson Mayall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1865.
J, THOMAS JEFFERSON MAYALL, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, in the United
States of America, but now residing at Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR AND OTHER MATS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO BRUSHES AND BROOMS, AND TO PRODUCING CARD OR TOOTH SURFACES
EMPLOYED IN OPERATING ON VARIOUS FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The improvements relate to forming door and other mats of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or compounds thereof with points or projections of such material
standing up from the surface thereof to facilitate the more ready removal or
[Price Sd.]

page_text: cleansing of the dirt or other matters from boots or shoes or other surfaces
operated upon by them, and the improvements consist in forming the backs
or under sides of such points or projections hollow, by moulding the same in
dies having projections to pass into the points or projections in the material
forming the mat, by which the points or projections will be found more elastic
in action, whilst a saving of the material will be effected.
Fabric may be applied by cementing to the backs of these mats, and when
such fabric is air-tight, and the points or projections are filled with air, they
will be less liable to collapse and be more elastic. I also form these points or
projections of cocoa-nut or other fibre, or the refuse or chippings of india-
rubber or gutta percha, or other suitable matters, with an outer coating
thereto of the india-rubber or gutta percha or compounds thereof.
I also form door and other mats of india-rubber, gutta percha, or compounds
thereof with projections thereon obtained by the introduction of tufts or lengths
of hair, or other fibre, or wire. For this purpose the india-rubber, gutta percha,
or a compound thereof combined with sulphur to form the back is taken in
sheet, and in the state known as unconverted, and in that state I apply to one
surface of it a sheet of canvas or other suitable cloth or material to give
tension to the back. This combined backing I then punch or piece with a
number of holes adapted to receive the lufts or portions of hair or other fibre
or material, and having applied to the parts of the tufts intended to project a
packing of string in coils or other matter adapted to prevent the india-rubber,
gutta percha, or other material during subsequent pressure and conversion
from being forced in amongst the projecting tufts. I then pass such tufts in
their looped state through the holes provided for them with the looped ends to
the cloth side of the india-rubber, gutia percha, or compound thereof, and
through such loops of the tufts I pass string, wire, or other holding material
to aid in retaining the tufts in position. The material with its cloth backing
and tufts I then place between suitable moulds, and by the aid of heat and
pressure I effect the security of the tufts and the conversion of the india-
rubber, gutta percha, or the compound thereof. I prefer to form the moulds
for this purpose of what is commonly called soapstone, or of fine well-seasoned
white pine. This method of applying tufts of hair or other fibre or material
to india-rubber, gutta percha, or a compound thereof, is also applicable in
the manufacture of the same for brushes and brooms, and to preparing card
or tooth surfaces employed in operating on various fibrous substances.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Jefferson Mayall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JEFFERSON MAYALL, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, in the United States of
America, but now residing at Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Jefferson Mayall, Her special licence that 1, the said Thomas Jefferson
Mayall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Jefferson Mayall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR AND OTHER MATS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO BRUSHES AND BROOMS, AND TO PRODUCING CARD OR TOOTH SURFACES
EMPLOYED IN OPERATING ON VARIOUS FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Jefferson Mayall, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
inonths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Thomas Jefferson Mayall, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
The improvements relate to forming door and other mais of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or compounds thereof, with points or projections of such material
standing up from the surface thereof to facilitate the more ready removal or
cleansing of the dirt or other matters from boots or shoes or other surfaces
operated upon by them, and the improvements consist,-
First, in forming the backs or under sides of such points or projections
hollow, by moulding the same in dies, having projections to pass into the

page_text: backs or under sides of the points or projections in the material forming the
mat, by which the points or projections produced will be found more elastic in
action, whilst a saving of the material will be effected.
Secondly, my Invention relates to forming such points or projections of
cocoa-nut or other fibre, or the refuse or chippings of india-rubber or gutta
percha, or other suitable matters, with an outer coating thereto of the india-
rubber or gutta percha, or compounds thereof.
Thirdly, my Invention relates to forming door and other mats of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or compounds thereof, with projections thereon obtained by the
introduction of tufts or lengths of hair or other fibre or wire.
But that the Invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe
means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an upper side view, and Figure 2 a section of a
constructed according to this part of my Invention.
mat
a, a, represents the bed or body of the mat; b, b, points or projections,
which it will be seen are hollow on their under sides.
Figure 3 represents a section of the upper die or mould, and Figure 4, a
section of the lower die or mould used in producing that form or variety of
points or projections, and Figure 5 represents the two dies or moulds in
operation, acting upon a sheet of the india-rubber, gutta percha, or a compound
of such matters.
It will readily, however, be understood that the form of the parts of the
moulds will vary with the particular shape of the points or other projections
desired to be produced, and the number or order of them on the surface a.
And when the required form has been imparted to the india-rubber, gutta
percha, or compound thereof, it is to be converted," "vulcanized," "
or cured,"
as is well understood.
Fabric, as indicated by the red line, Figure 6, may be applied by cementing
to the backs of these mats, and then, when such fabric is air-tight, and the
points or projections are filled with air they will be less liable to collapse in
use, and they will be more elastic.
In carrying out the second part of the Invention, the layer of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or a compound thereof, may be formed as described under the
first head of the improvements, with hollow projections or with recesses, and
such hollow projections, or the recesses are then filled with cocoa-nut or other
fibre, or the refuse or chippings of india-rubber, or gutta percha, or other
suitable matters, and which matters are then retained in position in the hollow

page_text: projections or other recesses by a layer of india-rubber, gutta percha, or a
compound thereof, or a sheet of other suitable material cemented or otherwise
held to the back thereof.
Figure 7 shows the upper surface of a mat constructed according to the
third part of the Invention; Figures 8 and 9 are two sections of the same.
In constructing mats according to this part of the Invention, I take sheet
india rubber, gutta percha, or a compound of such matters combined with
sulphur, and when thus combined they are in the state known by persons working
india-rubber or gutta percha as "unconverted" or "unvulcanized," and in
this state by preference apply to one surface of such sheet of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or a compound of such matters, a sheet of canvas or other
suitable cloth or material, to give tension to such india-rubber, gutta percha,
or compound thereof, as a backing to the mat. This sheet of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or compound thereof, I then punch or pierce with a number of
holes adapted to receive the required number of tufts or portions of hair or
other fibre or material.
Figures 10 and 11 show a plan and edge view of a sheet thus pierced, d
representing the sheet, and the holes therein. Tufts of hair or other
suitable material formed as required, and by preference looped, are then placed
in holes e in a die e, separate views of a part of one of which are given at
Figures 12 and 13. The holes e in this die correspond with those in the
sheet of backing d. Figure 14 shows a portion of this die e with the tufts
placed in the holes thereof, representing the tufts, and when, as shown, the
tufts are of a looped form. the looped ends thereof will project above the
surface of the die e, and I then apply around these projecting looped ends of
the tufts coils of string or other matter . which in the subsequent action
upon the india-rubber, gutta percha, or compound thereof, applied on these
tufts becomes forced in or around the edge of the holes in the die e, and
thereby has a tendency to prevent the india-1ubber, gutta percha, or the
compound thereof from being forced down the fibres of the tufts. A backing d
with its holes corresponding with the number and disposition of the tufts in
the die e is now applied over these projecting tufts, and is pressed down
thereon so that the tufts may project through the holes thereof, as indicated by
Figure 15, and when a sheet of canvas or other cloth has previously been
applied to such sheet of india-rubber, gutta percha, or a compound thereof, as
is indicated by the blue line k in Figure 11, the canvas or other cloth should
lie on the upper side. or that through which the tufts are projecting, as shown
by Figure 15, and I then pass through the looped ends of each of the tufts
projecting through the backing d, string, wire, or other holding material, as is

page_text: indicated by the red lines h in Figures 15 and 16. 1 then apply a solution of
cement to the upper or outer surface of the sheet or backing d, and upon
that I apply another sheet of india-rubber, gutia percha, or a compound
thereof, the surface of which sheet thus placed in contact may also be prepared
by the application thereto of suitable cement. The cement employed being a
solution of india-rubber or gutta percha prepared with sulphur in it; and I
then place these parts in an inverted position, together in part of another die i,
as shown by Figure 17. In this case represents the sheet of india-rubber,
gutta percha, or a compound thereof last applied. I now ram into the holes of
the die e powdered soapstone or other suitable material, so that such matter
may well fill up any remaining space between or around the parts of the
tufts, and I then apply another part of the mould i, and by the aid of heat
and pressure applied to these parts of the die i, 1 effect the security of the tufts
and the conversion or vulcanization of the india-rubber, gutta percha, or com-
pound thereof.
Figure 18 shows the die i and parts therein, after being subjected to pressure.
Figures 19 and 20 show sections of the parts of the mould i separately. I
prefer to form the moulde for this purpose of what is commonly called soap-
stone, or of fine well-seasoned white pine, and other of the moulds of iron or
other metal. This method of applying tufts of hair or other fibre or material
to india-rubber, gutta percha, or a compound thereof is also applicable in the
manufacture of the same for brushes and brooms, and to preparing card or
tooth surfaces employed in operating on various fibrous substances. The tufts
or lengths of hair or other fibre being of lengths adapted to the purpose, to
which the brush or broom is to be applied, and such tufts may be secured to a
wood or other backing or frame, by nailing or other fastening, through the
india-rubber, gutta percha, or compound thereof, in which such tufts have
been set as described.
Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in carrying
the same into effect, I would have it understood, that I do not confine myself
to the precise details given, as these may be varied without departing from the
peculiar character of the improvements; but what I claim is,-
First, the manufacture of mats with hollow projections, substantially as
described.
Secondly, I claim the manufacture of mats with points or projections of
cocoa-nut or other fibre, or the refuse or chippings of india-rubber, or gutta
percha, or other suitable matter, having an outer coating of india-rubber, gutta
percha, or a compound of such matters.
And, thirdly, I claim the manufacture of mats, brushes, and brooms, and

page_text: card, or toothed surfaces, with backs of india-rubber, gutta percha, or a com-
pound of such matters, and tufts or projections thereto, formed of hair or other
fibre or wire, substantially as described under the third head of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Jefferson Mayall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
THOS. J. MAYALL. (L.S.)