Improvements in the Manufacture of Wood Blocks, Staves, or Pieces for use in Parquetry and other Flooring, and for similar Purposes, and in Machinery for use in such Manufacture.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 12th Nov.,
1898
Germany, Manufacturer of Parquetry.]
Improvements in the Manufacture of Wood Blocks, Staves, or Pieces
for use in Parquetry and other Flooring, and for similar Purposes,
and in Machinery for use in such Manufacture.
I, ERNEST ZAPPERT, of 27, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of wood blocks,
staves or pieces for use in parquetry and other flooring, such, for example, as
described in the Specification of Letters Patent, granted to Otto Hetzer and dated
16th June 1892, No. 11299, and in the Specification of Letters Patent dated
4th December 1894, No. 23575.
According to the said invention, the blocks staves or pieces of wood or other
material, to form the parquetry or other floor, are made with one or more dove-
tailed or similar grooves extending across their lower or under surface, this groove
or grooves being adapted to receive a correspondingly shaped strip or strips of
wood whereby the said pieces or staves may be fitted together into squares or
tablets after manufacture by means of the dove-tailed or like grooves above
mentioned this being done by comparatively unskilled labour and thus a con-
siderable economy effected in the expenses incidental to the transport of the
pieces or slabs from the manufactory to the place where they are to be laid.
In this manner, the pieces or staves can be matched at the manufactory so as
to save time at the place where they are to be laid. If desired the said strips
may be replaced in the grooves after the floor is laid so as to assist in preventing
relative motion of the pieces or staves after laying.
The said invention moreover comprises improved machinery or apparatus
whereby I am enabled to very expeditiously manufacture the improved wood
blocks or pieces for parquetry and other flooring, or similar blocks or pieces in
which dove-tailed or similar grooves are required to be formed.
In the accompanying drawing I have shown how the said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is an end elevation of a section of flooring constructed according
to the said invention.
Figure 2 is a plan showing a square or tablet of flooring-staves or pieces
secured together ready for transport.
Figure 3 is an elevation of a machine for forming the dove-tailed groove in.
the planks or pieces of wood forming the parquet flooring, and
Figure 4 is a front elevation of a machine for shaping the said planks or
pieces in one operation.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.

page_text: A, A are the transverse planks or pieces of the flooring. These planks are
provided at their ends with tongues A¹ fitting into grooves B₁ in longitudinal
beams B. On the underside of the planks A are grooves A³ into which fit a
strip C of wood as shown in Figure 2. The said strip provides a very advan-
tagebus means of securing the planks A together during transport, without the
use of nails or the like, thus effecting a considerable economy in time and labour
and preventing any risk of damage to the said planks by the insertion and
removal of such nails. By these means the planks" A can also be very rigidly
secured together after they are laid, as shown in Figure 1, and any rocking or
like motion thereof is prevented even if the beams B should become somewhat
displaced from their normal positions.
For forming the said dove-tailed grooves A2, a machine such as is shown in
Figure 3 is preferably employed this machine comprising two cutter-shafts or
spindles DD arranged at an angle to one another and lying one behind another.
These shafts are provided with cutter wheels EE having one or more cutters
or knives thereon according to requirements, or, if desired, these cutter-wheels
may be replaced by circular saws. The cutting edges of the said cutters, knives
or saws are so arranged that the cutting path of both cutters, knives or saws
together form the cross-section of a dove-tailed or other shaped groove.
The said shafts DD are mounted on suitable supports or brackets F, F which
are arranged to slide on guides G¹ on a standard G so that they can be adjusted
in a direction preferably perpendicular to the base of the machine, bolts Ĥ and
set-screws J being provided for securing the said brackets F F¹ in any position
to which they may be adjusted.
In order to adjust the cutter shafts DD in a longitudinal direction, they are
provided at their rear ends with screw-threads D2 whereby they can be secured,
by means of lock-nuts D³, in hollow flanged journals K turning in bearings F
in the brackets FF, the front ends of the said shafts D D turning in bear-
ings F3 in the said brackets. By these means, the shafts DD can be adjusted
longitudinally as desired for the purpose of increasing or decreasing the width
of the dove-tailed groove to be formed. The driving of the cutter-shafts DD¹
is effected by means of band pulleys D or in any other suitable manner.
The apparatus can be mounted as desired either alone on a special suitably-
formed and arranged stand or it may be combined with any machine suited
thereto, such for example, as with the machine hereinafter described with
reference to Figure A.
By means of this machine the pieces, blocks, slabs or boards can be made at
one operation, that is to say, by passing a board or piece of wood of suitable
dimensions once through the machine. The said machine comprises a bed or
frame L on which is mounted a sliding table M to which are secured one or more
of the boards or pieces of wood from which the blocks, slabs, or the like A are
to be made, this table being adapted to be fed through the machine in any suit-
able manner, for example, by means of the bar M. On the bed L, on either
side of the sliding table M are provided horizontal cutter-shafts P Pi of which
one P is stationary and the other P movable along the bed L so as to permit
of the machine being used for planks or pieces of different lengths. The said
cutter-shafts are provided with circular saws or cutters P2 P3 for cutting the
planks to their proper length and forming the rebate respectively. Vertical
cutter-shafts QQ are also provided, one Q stationary and the other Q' movable,
these shafts carrying cutters Q2 Q3 for completing the formation of the tongues A¹.
The cutter-shafts PP QQ may be driven by belting through the pulleys R
or in any other suitable manner. Beneath or if desired above the sliding
table M is mounted an apparatus similar to that shown in Figure 3 for forming
the dove-tailed or other groove or grooves in the said slabs, staves or the like.
In this case the pulleys D are formed at the rear end of the hollow journals K
which each extend through a single bearing F. By these means, as the said
boards pass once through the machine on the sliding table M they are formed

page_text: into the required shape by the several cutters and saws above mentioned and I
am thus enabled to produce parquetry and other flooring at a very low cost,
the amount of manual labour being reduced to a minimum.
It is obvious that the size and details of construction of the improved apparatus
may be varied as desired to suit the requirements of each particular case.
•
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
First. Parquetry or like flooring of the kind hereinbefore referred to, in which
the transverse planks, staves or pieces are connected together by one or more
strips of wood or other material fitting in dove-tailed or like grooves in the said
planks, staves or pieces.
Second. The improved plank, stave or piece for use in parquetry or like floor-
ing provided with one or more dove-tailed or like grooves in one of its surfaces.
Third. The improved apparatus for use in forming dove-tailed or like grooves
comprising two cutter-shafts arranged at an angle to each other and mounted
one behind the other, the said cutter-shafts bearing bevelled or like cutters,
knives or saws, substantially as, and for the purposes, hereinbefore described.
Fourth. The improved apparatus for forming dove-tailed or like grooves and
provided with means for adjusting the position of the cutters, knives or saws
relatively to each other, substantially as described with reference to Figure 3
or to Figure 4 of the drawing, for the purposes specified.
Fifth. The improved wood-working machine constructed substantially as
described with reference to Figure 4 of the drawing, for the purposes specified.
Dated this 12th day of August 1898.
ERNEST ZAPPERT