IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER HANGINGS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ERWOOD, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Paper Hanging Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of February, in
the twelfth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said John
Erwood, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her special license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Erwood, my exors, adññors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said John Erwood, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, aud in all Her Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
HANGINGS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring
that 1, the said John Erwood, shall particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled 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, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW. YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Erwood, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which it is performed to be herein-after duly ascertained and
described, in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to improvements in that class of paper hangings known
as colored marble and granite papers, and are used for covering walls in houses
and other buildings. In using the term " colored marble papers" I wish it to be
understood that I mean all colored marble papers, with the exception of those
manufactured in imitation of white marbles.
In the manufacture of marble and granite papers there are two modes of
operation pursued in the application of the color to paper to give it the desired
effect, one of which is by means of blocks having engraved surfaces, by which
the color is printed or transferred on to the paper; and the other mode of
manufacture is by applying the colors by hand, by means of brushes and
crayons, the veining and other effects required being executed according to
the taste and skill of the workman. Both of these modes of proceeding being
well known, it is therefore unnecessary to describe them further, my improvo-
ments having reference to the hand-made marble and granite papers, or those
in which the color is applied with brushes and crayons by hand.
To colored marble or granite paper hangings it has hitherto been usual to
apply a coating of varnish after they have been hung or pasted to walls, in
order to give the glossy or polished appearance of the polished materials of
which they are an imitation, the colors used in the manufacture of such papers
producing only a dull representation of the effect desired; whereas, according
to my new manufacture of marble and granite papers, the colors are so
prepared and applied to the paper as to be capable of receiving the desired
gloss or polish in the ordinary manner of glossing or polishing papers known
under the denomination of "satin papers," and by which the necessity of
varnishing the papers after it is hung is entirely obviated, the paper when so
finished presenting a glossed or polished appearance as if it had been varnished
by a subsequent operation.
In conducting my new manufacture of colored marble papers I proceed in
a somewhat similar manner to the ordinary node of manufacturing hand-made
papers. The paper to be operated upon according to my Invention is pre-
viously prepared with a coating of color as a ground work, the color used
being suitable for the colors of the ground of the paper. The piece of paper
so treated, having been properly dried, is then laid out on a board with the
colored surface uppermost, and I proceed to give it a coating of the matter
known in the trade as "satin white," or it may be "satin white" mixed with
a color. This is applied to the whole surface of the paper by means of brushes
in the ordinary manner. I then proceed to delineate the marble on the moist

page_text: "satin white,"
or wet surface of the paper produced by the application of the
and by preference putting in what is called the veining first, which is per-
formed with the ordinary crayons, the colors of which are suitable to produce
the veining required for the character of the marble. This veining is next
softened off by the ordinary softening brush, in order to blend the color of the
veining slightly with the groundwork or coating of "satin white," so as to
break the harshness of the outline. The colors are then applied while the
"satin white" is still in a moist or damp state, introducing them with brushes
in the ordinary way, in imitation of the kind of marble or porphyry to be repre-
sented. These colors are then smoothed down or subdued, and blended with
the ground or coating of "satin white." Thus it will be seen the whole of the
colors, with the exception of the preparatory coating mentioned, are introduced
while the "satin white" is still wet, after which it will be complete, as far as
regards the effect to be produced by the coloring matter, when it may be dried
in the ordinary manner.
I
The coloring matters used are the same as those employed in ordinary
in the production of marble papers, but instead of being prepared simply
as water colors used in the ordinary manufacture of hand-marble papers,
prepare the colors used in my new manufacture with a proportion of
satin white, so that the colors shall also present a surface capable of receiving
the polish or gloss to be imparted to it.
In manufacturing. granite papers according to my Invention, I also employ
paper previously prepared with a coating of color as a groundwork, which
while in a dry state receives a coating of "satin white," colored or otherwise,
it being laid out on a board as before described with reference to the marble
paper. While this coating is yet in a moist or damp state I proceed to apply
the coloring matter in imitation of granite, in the ordinary manner, by splashing
or otherwise causing the color to adhere in spots to the "satin white." This
operation being common in the manufacture of granite papers further descrip-
tion will be unnecessary.
The colors used in splashing in imitation of granite are also prepared
with a proportion of "satin white," in order to render the colors of the
constituent proportions_ necessary to produce the desired effect by rubbing or
polishing, as will be herein-after described. It is not necessary that the
color used as the preparatory coating should contain any "satin white," either
for the marble or granite papers.
Marble and granite papers prepared according to this Invention, after having,
been thoroughly dried, are then subjected to the process known in the trade
as rubbing, for the purpose of imparting the desired gloss or polish. The
machine known as a "rubbing machine" employed for this purpose being

page_text: in ordinary use for rubbing "satin papers," it will not require minute descrip-
tion. Suffice it to say, that it consists of a cylindrical brush of a sufficient
length to operate upon the whole width of the paper. This brush is caused to
rotate rapidly, and during such rotation to bear against a surface or table
between which and the brush the paper is passed, having the marble side of
the
paper next the brush. The marble surface of the paper is previously dusted
or rubbed with French chalk in a state of powder as a polishing material.
The end of the paper having been introduced between the brush and the
table, the rotary motion of the former draws in the paper from the roll, which
is supported so as to unroll freely, yet taking care that a sufficient amount
of friction is exerted (by pressure or otherwise) on the paper as it passes over
the table to prevent its too rapid passage under the brush. The paper as
delivered from this machine is then coated with size, as usual in satin papers,
when it is in a finished state, presenting the glossed or polished appearance
required on the marble or granite surface.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner it
may be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise mode of conducting the different parts of the manufacture, so
long as the peculiar character of my Invention is retained, & that what I
claim is the manufacture of hand-made marble and granite papers, in which a
coating of "satin white" is employed as a groundwork or surface on which to
delineate the marble or granite, as described, and also the application of colors
having a proportion of "satin white" mixed therewith in this manufacture, in
order to produce a surface to the marble or granite paper capable of being
glossed or polished, producing a new manufacture of colored hand marble 2
and granite papers, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Erwood, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.