AN IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARING FOR USE VENEERS, PAPER, AND OTHER FABRICS OR SHEETS MADE OF FIBRES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Charles Healey, of Sidmouth Lodge, Old
Brompton, and Edward Ellis Allen, of 376, Strand, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARING FOR USE VENEERS, PAPER, AND OTHER
FABRICS OR SHEETS MADE OF FIBRES."
Sealed the 2nd January 1857, and dated the 7th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Charles Healey
and Edward Ellis Allen at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 7th July 1856.
We, EDWARD CHARLES HEALEY, of Sidmouth Lodge, Old Brompton, and
EDWARD ELLIS ALLEN, of 376, Strand, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARING FOR USE VENEERS, PAPER, AND
OTHER FABRICS OR SHEETS MADE OF FIBRES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in preparing for use
veneers, paper, and fabrics or sheets made of fibres, and consists of corrugating
veneers, paper, and other fabrics or sheets made of fibres. For these purposes,
when veneers are being corrugated, woven fabrics are first glued or cemented
on one or both sides, and the combined matters are corrugated. Thick paper,
button board, or other fabrics or sheets made up of fibres, are corrugated with
or without woven fabrics being first affixed thereto. By preparing these
matters for use by corrugating them, great strength and stiffness are obtained
with otherwise weak materials, and they are thus rendered more applicable to
a great variety of purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Charles Healey and Edward Ellis Allen in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
CHARLES HEALEY, of Sidmouth Lodge, Old Brompton, and EDWARD ELLIS 5
ALLEN, of 376, Strand, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Edward Charles Healey and Edward Ellis Allen, Her special licence that we,
the said Edward Charles Healey and Edward Ellis Allen, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Charles
Healey and Edward Ellis Allen, our 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARING FOR USE VENEERS, PAPER, AND OTHER FABRICS OR
SHEETS MADE OF FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Edward Charles Healey and Edward Ellis Allen, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Ellis Allen, on behalf of mysel
and Edward Charles Healey, do hereby declare the nature of the said In
.vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, tha
is to say:
This Invention has for its object an improvement in preparing for us
veneers, card paper, or any sheets made of fibres, and consists in corrugatin
such veneers or sheets. The mode of operating upon veneers or sheets made c
.fibres varies with the nature of the wood from which the veneers are cut, an
with the. materials of which the sheets are made. In corrugating veneer
different modes of operating may be practised, either separately or combine
according to the nature of the wood used.

page_text: In the first mode, the veneers are covered either on one side or both sides
with some woven fabric, such as canvass or cotton, which is glued or otherwise
cemented to the veneers, and which has the property of preventing such veneers
from splitting during the operation of corrugating them. The veneers when
5 covered are subjected to the process of corrugating, which is done by passing
them between corrugated rollers, such rollers having the corrugations cut in
them in the direction of their lengths; or instead of employing rollers, as above
described, cast-iron or other dies may be used, having the corrugations formed
in their faces. These dies are gradually brought together, and the veneer
is subjected to severe pressure for some considerable time until the corrugations
become permanently set. During these operations, either with the rollers or
dies, the veneers are sometimes subjected to the action of high-pressure steam,
or they may be immersed in water kept at a high temperature; or, instead of
being immersed, may be subjected to the action of a stream of hot water;
or, lastly, may be simply kept at a high temperature without being in contact
with either water or steam. It should be observed, that in some cases, when
veneers are subjected to the action of high-pressure steam, hot water, or are
otherwise heated, that it is not necessary to cover such veneers with any woven
fabric; on the other hand, we have corrugated veneers when simply covered
with the fabric, and without being submitted to the action of heat. Veneers
when corrugated are stripped of the canvass or other covering on at least
one side when such covering has been placed on both sides, and the surface
of the veneer is then rendered smooth, and afterwards French polished, or
otherwise finished, as desired. In corrugating sheets made of fibres, such
as card paper, papier maché, or other like materials, the modes adopted vary
with the material employed, as also with its thickness when finished.
Thin sheets for ornamental purposes may be corrugated by simply passing
them between corrugated rollers and subjecting the sheets to pressure whilst
between such rollers, or they may be corrugated with dies instead of rollers.
The sheets may be treated with steam or hot water, or the rolls or dies may
be heated in order to facilitate the process; but this will not always be
necessary where the sheets are thin, say, 3 of an inch thick. In the for-
mation of thicker sheets they may be made in moulds, similar to the ordinary
method of forming plain papier maché sheets, only having the moulds with
corrugated surfaces.
The moulds may be of wood, iron, or other material, with a covering of
ine wire gauze fixed thereto, the iron or wooden moulds having numerous
penings formed in them for the purpose of giving free access to the water
ressed from the pulp. When strong fibres are employed it may not be

page_text: necessary to cover the moulds with wire gauze, that is, if they contain
numerous small holes for the escape of the water in the pulp. Instead of
wire gauze fine perforated zinc may be used. Both the upper and lower
dies should be perforated when the sheets are thick, so as to give the greatest
facility for the escape of the water, but in medium sheets the lower die may
alone be perforated.
.'
After the sheets have been thus roughly formed they are about one-sixth
of the thickness of the layer of pulp out of which they are made, and they
are then, either separately, or several of them together, submitted to further
pressure, by which they are still further reduced in thickness, say, to th
or, or from th to 7th of the thickness of the pulp, and more water is
pressed from them. The sheets are then in a compact mass, and may be
readily lifted about, but are yet capable of being impregnated with any matters
desirable to render them water or fire-proof, or necessary in order to give
them a perfect finish. To these ends, the sheets are treated similar to some
of the papier maché sheets now made, viz, by soaking them in well-boiled oil
until the oil bas penetrated into the sheets, and which requires different times,
according to the thickness of them and the density to which they have been
pressed.
'
It is also proposed, at this or some preceding or subsequent stage of manu-
facture, to submit the sheets to the action of alum water, or a solution of
chloride of zinc, or other solutions which have the property of rendering the
materials which contain them nearly or quite fire-proof. The sheets may be
either coated with one, or two, or three coats of these materials at any stage of
their manufacture which has been found to answer the purpose, or the alum
water or solutions may be mixed, or may constitute the fluid used in the
formation of the pulp.
After the sheets are taken from the oil tanks they are subjected to a high
temperature in a close oven, which is maintained at between 200° and 300°
where they are left from 20 to 50 hours, which has the effect of baking o
drying the oil contained in them. It should be observed that the sheets
either previously or subsequently to being treated with the oil, are passed
between polished corrugated rollers, heated or not, for the purpose of finally
furnishing them, and giving them a smooth and even face. The baking proces
above described may be omitted in the case of thin sheets, that is, whe
the finishing rollers are highly heated, as the oil or other matters will b
sufficiently dried in the course of this process.
It should be here observed that it is not considered essential to form th
rough sheet in corrugated dies, as the same end may be accomplished b

page_text: forming the rough sheets flat, in the manner in which papier maché sheets are
now made, and afterwards corrugating them by means of rollers or dies, or
first using dies and finishing with rollers. It should also be stated that the
application of heat may be made in any part of the process, so as to facilitate
the formation of the corrugations.
Another part of this Invention has reference to the manufacture of papier
maché sheets of two or more kinds or qualities of material; that is to say,
one or both faces of the sheets are made of fine material, for the sake of
giving them a proper face, for which fine material is essential, and the central
portion, or all except one face, is made of a coarser material, in order to
diminish the cost of the sheets. For this purpose two tanks or vessels of pulp
are prepared, and the moulds (whether flat or corrugated) are first partially
filled with coarse pulp, they are then filled up with the finer pulp, and the
operation proceeds as before; or of course the fine pulp may be put in the
moulds first and the coarse afterwards; or if both faces are required to
be finished, first fine pulp, then coarse, and then fine pulp again must be
used. Further, it has been found to be possible to give the papier mache
sheets a grain on the face by introducing on the surface of the pulp various
colored fibres, or dusting powdered material over it, either cloth dust or
flock, such as that used in the preparation of paper used as hanging, or powder
of colouring matter. The surfaces may also be grained by brushing over the
faces of the sheets after they are finished or before finishing, by using
coloring matter, or using rosewood or other wood stains, by which we have
succeeded in producing beautiful effects. The process of ornamenting or
graining the surfaces of papier maché sheets avoids the necessity of painting.
them, which is now usual, this painting sometimes extending to as many as
twenty coats, and occupying seven weeks before completion.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ellis Allen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
EDWD E. ALLEN. (L.S.)