IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERINGS FOR WALLS, CEILINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO SCREENS OR PARTITIONS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Smith, of Muswell Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERINGS FOR WALLS,
CEILINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO SCREENS OR PARTITIONS."
Sealed the 2nd January 1880, and dated the 30th October 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th October 1879.
CHARLES SMITH, of Muswell Hill, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN COVERINGS FOR WALLS, CEILINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO SCREENS OR PARTITIONS."
My Invention relates chiefly to coverings for walls, ceilings, and other surfaces
to be employed in substitution for wall papers, solid wood, or plaster panelling, and
other like decorative appliances, but the Invention is also applicable to screens or
partitions employed in the construction of buildings or otherwise.
In carrying out my Invention I employ as the groundwork or foundation match
boarding, or similar wood lining, which is attached to the wall or ceiling (for
example), and upon this I place a series of thin panels of wood (such, for instance,
as oak), leather, or other suitable material, which I attach to the match boarding
or foundation by means of glue or nails, or by both means in conjunction. I then
place over the adjacent edges of the contiguous panels mouldings or styles shaped
or mitred at their respective junctions, which are secured together by means of
clamps having suitable projections or recesses to engage with the mouldings or
styles, the said clamps being attached to the match boarding or foundation by
screws or otherwise. The panels, mouldings or styles, and clamps may be made of
any required material, or ornamental pattern or design, either original or in
imitation of the different styles of work or architecture, according to the taste of
the decorator or the character of the flooring or other accompaniments with which
it is to be used in conjunction.
When the Invention is used as a covering for walls it may be either applied to
the whole surface of the wall, or simply to make a dado, with the addition thereto
of the ordinary skirting and top moulding.
The Invention can also be applied to the corresponding decoration of doors or
other plane surfaces of a room, or the fixtures and fittings thereof.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th April
1880.
CHARLES SMITH, of Muswell Hill, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN COVERINGS FOR WALLS, CEILINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO SCREENS OR PARTITIONS."
My said Invention relates chiefly to coverings for walls, ceilings, and other
surfaces to be employed in substitution for wall papers, solid wood, or plaster
panneling, and other like decorative appliances, but the Invention is also applicable
to fixed or moveable screens or partitions employed in the construction of buildings
or otherwise.
In carrying out my said Invention as applied to coverings for walls and ceilings
(for example), I employ as the ground or foundation match boarding, or similar
wood lining, which is attached to the wall or ceiling, and upon this I place a series
of thin panels of wood (such, for example, as oak), of leather, or of other suitable
material, which I attach to the match boarding or foundation by means of glue or
nails, or by both means in conjunction. I then place over the adjacent edges of
the contiguous panels mouldings or styles which are mitred or suitably shaped at
their respective junctions, and are secured together by means of clamps having
suitable projections or recesses to engage with the mouldings or.styles, the said
clamps being attached to the match boarding or foundation by screws or otherwise.
The panels, the mouldings or styles, and the clamps may be made of any required
material or ornamental pattern or design, either original or in imitation of the
different styles of work or architecture, according to the taste of the decorator or
the character of the flooring or other accompaniments with which it is to be used
in conjunction.
When the Invention is used as a covering for walls it may be either applied to
the whole surface of the wall, or simply to make a dado, with the addition thereto
of the ordinary skirting and top moulding.
The Invention may also be applied to the corresponding decoration of doors or
other plane surfaces of a room, or the fixtures and fittings thereof.
In order that the said Invention may be perfectly understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to the
several figures on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which illustrate, a mode of
carrying out the Invention when applied as a covering for walls. From this
example of the application of the Invention competent persons will be enabled to
adapt it (by making such modifications as will readily suggest themselves) to the
various cases which may occur in practice, whether in the construction of coverings
for other surfaces than walls, or in the construction of fixed or movable screens or
partitions for any required purpose.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings are general views of a portion
of the wall of an apartment, for example, with my said Invention applied thereto,
Figure 1 being a front elevation, and Figure 2 being a transverse vertical section
taken along the line 1, 2, Figure 1; Figure 3 represents details of the panels, the
mouldings or styles, the clamps, and the attaching screws hereinbefore referred to
and more particularly hereinafter described. The same letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A is the wall, to which I attach a groundwork or foundation B of match
boarding or similar wood lining; upon this I place a series of panels C, which may
consist of wood, leather, or any other suitable material, and I attach the same to
the groundwork or foundation B by means of glue or nails, or by both means in
conjunction. The panels C are arranged side by side and in rows, the one above
the other, in any required number, with the adjacent edges of the contiguous panels

page_text: in proximity so as to cover wholly or partially the superficial area to which the
Invention is to be applied, and I conceal from view the spaces between or the
lines of junction of the panels, whilst at the same time enhancing the ornamental
effect by the employment of mouldings or styles D, D³, D2, mitred or suitably
shaped to engage the one with the other, and which are placed over the said spaces
or lines of junction, and are secured together by means of clamps E, E', E², attached
to the ground work or foundation B by screws F. It will be observed upon an
inspection of the Drawing that the mouldings or styles in the example illustrated
consist of three varieties, videlicet, the continuous border mouldings or styles D,
the horizontal divisional mouldings or styles D', and the vertical divisional
mouldings or styles D2, (the two latter varieties only differing from each other in
length), and that the whole are so shaped that the several parts are capable of
engaging the one with the other. Also that three varieties of clamps are employed,
which, however, differ from each other only in the shape of the back projection a,
as shewn on the back elevation of the clamps E, E', E2, in the detail Figure 3, the
front or ornamental surface being the same in all; the back projections a are
adapted to the grooves b of the mouldings or styles, for example, the clamps E,
which are corner border clamps, have 7 shaped projections a engaging with the
recesses b of the side and top border mouldings or styles D; the clamps E', which
are intermediate border clamps, have T shaped projections a engaging with the
recesses b both of the border mouldings or styles D, and of either the horizontal
divisional mouldings or styles D¹, or the vertical divisional mouldings or styles D²,
as the case may be, whilst the clamps E2, which are intended to be used at the
points of junction of four segments of the mouldings or styles (videlicet, two hori-
zontal segments D¹ and two vertical segments D²), are made with their projections a
of a cruciform section adapted to the recesses b of the four segments. It is obvious,
however, that these and other details may be varied without departing from the
principal of my said Invention, as for example, the backs of the clamps may be
formed with grooves to engage with corresponding projections upon the mouldings
or styles in lieu of the converse arrangement herein before described, and the various
parts, videlicet, the panels, mouldings or styles, the clamps, and the attaching screws
may be ornamented in any required manner, according to the taste of the decorator,
or to adapt the covering to the accompaniments of the apartment or other place in
which it is used. Although, therefore, I have described, by the aid of the accom-
panying Drawings, a mode of carrying out my said Invention which I believe will
be found convenient in practice, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein before described and illustrated on the Drawings
hereunto annexed, but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters
Patent is,
:
The combination of panels, mouldings or styles, and clamps, substantially as and
for the purposes herein before described.
In witness whereof, I,. the said Charles Smith, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
CHARLES SMITH. (L.S.)