IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS, AND APPLYING THEM TO THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL MOULDINGS, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENEDICT
ALBANO, of Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS IIer present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifth day of October, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me.
the said Benedict Albano, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Benedict Albano, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Benedict Albano, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS,
AND APPLYING THEM TO THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL MOULDINGS, AND OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES," communicated from abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Benedict Albano, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benedict Albano, do hereby declare, that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention consists of preparing fibrous materials in combination with
certain adhesive matters, and subjecting the same to various processes, as
herein described, in order to render the manufacture thereby obtained appli-
cable to the purposes of ornamental mouldings and other embossed articles,
and also articles applicable to other purposes; and in order that the Invention
may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed
to explain the means pursued by me in performing the same. The fibrous
materials to be used, whether hemp, flax, cotton, or other suitable fibrous
substances, are to be opened out by any suitable machinery, as is well under-
stood, and then submitted to a carding engine, in order to obtain the fibres
used in a uniform sheet. The thicknesses of sheet obtained will depend on the
article to be made, and the judgment of the workman. It should, however, be
stated, that the means of getting sheets of fibrous material are well understood,
and is not claimed as any part of the Invention, and therefore will not require
further description in this my Specification. The sheets of fibres being obtained,
they are successively placed on an endless linen or other cloth, on two rollers,
which constantly moves towards a pair of pressing rollers of wood covered
with felt. The sheets of fibrous materials are placed on to such endless
cloth; and as they move towards the pressing rollers, boiling water is copiously
thrown on them in small streams from a vessel above, and the sheets of
fibrous material, well saturated with the boiling water, are caused to pass
between the pressing rollers of wood, by which means the water is expressed,
and the fibrous material compressed. The sheets thus prepared are rolled and
kept in store, ready for the further preparation which is necessary in order
to perform the Invention. The dry sheets of fibrous material are to be
saturated with the following composition:-Seventy parts by weight of mineral
or gas tar, thirty pounds of rosin melted together, to which is to be added
fifteen parts of oxide of manganese. These ingredients are to be well stirred
and mixed and boiled from five to six hours, when the same is allowed to
settle, and the liquid drawn off and put into a cask or other vessel, ready for
use. There is also to be a second composition, prepared as follows:-Seventy-
five parts by weight of linseed oil, twenty-five parts of rosin, and ten parts
of oxide of manganese, and mix them together, as in the first instance. Into
a suitable vessel or trough are to be placed these two mixtures, and combined
intimately together by stirring and by gentle heat. Into this vessel or trough

page_text: (heated by steam pipes or other means) the sheets of fibrous material are
to be placed, and thereby well saturated with the hot mixture. At one end
of the trough or vessel is placed a pair of pressing rollers, suitably formed for
being heated with steam or other suitable means; and the sheets, when well
saturated, are to be passed between such pressing rollers, and thus submitted
to pressure, by which the fibres will be closely pressed together, and the
excess of the mixture expressed from the sheets, which mixture may either flow
back into the trough or vessel, or into a separate vessel, when the pressing
rollers are not placed over the trough or vessel containing the mixture above
described. The sheets of fibrous materials thus saturated and pressed are
then conveyed to a hot air stove, each on an open iron frame, where they are
completely dried. The dry sheets of fibrous materials from the stove are next
subjected to linseed oil, having mixed therewith about thirty per cent. by
weight of yellow ocre, the sheet of fibrous material being dipped into such
mixture, placed in a similar trough or vessel as that used for the previous
mixture, and the sheets are again to be pressed by rollers in like manner to that
above described. The sheets thus prepared are now (when softened by heat,
as herein-after mentioned) in a proper condition to be embossed for ornamental
moulding or other embossed articles, and this is accomplished by suitable
dies, and by the aid of bydraulic or other pressers; and I prefer for this purpose
to prepare dies as follows:-Having with great care produced, by the ordinary
process of dic-sinking, a concave die, I make a counter die or punch of a
compound metal of eighty-six parts by weight of lead, four parts of tin, and
ten of regulus of antimony. These being melted and well mixed together, I
run the same into the concave moulds, and thus obtain a correct counter
die, and I cause the concave die to be kept heated by steam, or other con-
venient means, or the same may be cold; and having cut the sheets into the
sizes suitable for the dies about to be used, I place such sheets into a hot
air stove to such an extent as to soften the prepared sheets of fibrous material,
which is then placed over the concave die, and the counter or convex die or
punch is caused to present the sheet of prepared fibrous material into the
concave die, and the same will thereby be pressed into form. The impressions
thus obtained are to be placed in a hot air stove, on wooden or other trays,
till quite dry (about twenty-four hours.) The embossed articles are then
to be coated over, inside and out, with a composition of rosin dissolved in
about one quarter of its weight of boiled linseed oil (and a sufficient quantity
of essence of turpentine, so as to keep it liquid when cold, to which is to be
added a sufficient quantity of yellow ocre to obtain a thick yellow color.

page_text: The embossed articles, being coated over with this composition, are to be dried,
and then submitted to pressure in the dies whilst warm; and if, as in some
cases will be the case, the impression is not sufficiently sharp and complete,
another coating inside and out of the composition above mentioned is to be
resorted to, and, when dried, another pressure in the dies, which will per-
manently fix the impression. The articles are then to be laid by at least
forty-eight hours, they are then to be coated on the inside with strong animal's
size, mixed with Spanish white; and when well dried, the edges are to be
trimmed off, and the outside is to have two coats of gilding size; and, when
dry they are to have a coating of Spanish white, finely ground, sifted, and
mixed in oil and essence of turpentine, when the embossed articles will be
ready for use. When the sheets of fibrous material are not to be embossed,
but to be used in pannels, or for covering of walls, they are, after being
stoved, to be dipped in the composition of linseed oil and yellow ochre, and
passed between the pressing rollers, as herein described. They are then to
be dried in a hot air stove, after which one surface of each sheet is to be
polished, by means of brick or hearthstone, next with pumice stone, with
boiled linseed oil, taking care to have an even surface to the pumice stone;
and, having well polished the surface, they are to be dried. The polished
surface is to be coated over with a surface of Spanish white, ground in strong
size, and, when dry, the sheets will be ready for the decorator or painter.
When the sheets are intended for more common purposes, then the sheets,
having been saturated with the composition above described, is then coated
on either side with tar, combined as herein described. The articles thus
produced will be found highly useful for decoration and other purposes, and
it will be found that they are impervious to moisture, and bad supporters of
combustion; hence they may be used without being liable to injury by moisture,
and, unless from other sources, the same will not be acted on prejudicially by
fire.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, I would remark, that
I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described, and although
linseed oil is directed to be used in the mixtures above explained, other oil
may be substituted, but I believe not so advantageously; and other dryers
may be used in place of oxide of manganese. And I would state, that I am
aware that fibrous materials have before been combined by pitch and tar; I
do not therefore claim the use thereof separately in preparing fibrous materials
into sheets.
But what I claim is, the means of preparing fibrous material into sheets,

page_text: as above described, and applying them to the manufacture of ornamental
mouldings and embossed articles, and other uses; and I also claim the
making of counter dies or punches, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benedict Albano, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.