IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES."-A
communication from abroad by William Howell, of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Scaled the 10th November 1868, and dated the 3rd June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd June 1868.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES,"
a communication to me from abroad by William Howell, of Phila-.
delphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of decorating walls, partitions, and
other like surfaces, whereby the ordinary process of paper-hanging, and
the use of paste or other cement for securing the decorating material

page_text: to the surface to be decorated is dispensed with, the improved mode
of decorating being readily carried out by any ordinary carpenter.
According to this Invention it is proposed to decorate the walls of
rooms and other like surfaces with a material composed of wood veneers
(of the same or different kinds of wood arranged according to taste) or
ornamental papers mounted on muslin, stiff paper, or other fabric. The
said mounted materials are cut to the required form and dimensions,
and are secured to the wall in strips, panels, and other figures by simply
tacking or nailing the pieces by the edges only to the walls or surfaces
to be decorated. The joints between the pieces are covered or con-
cealed by having mouldings or beadings nailed or tacked thercon, such
mouldings or beadings forming part of the decoration and assisting in
securing the pieces to the wall.
If desired the back of the decorating material may be made water-
proof, in which case the outer surface will remain unaffected by damp
walls. The outer surface, moreover, of the decorating material may be
ornamented by printing in colors or gilding according to taste.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 3rd December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-cight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special
license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 Inven-

page_text: tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES," a
communication from abroad by William Howell, of Philadelphia,
Pensylvannia, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
The said Invention consists in decorating the walls of rooms with
a material composed of veneers or ornamental papers mounted on
muslin or stiff paper, the said material being secured to the wall in
strips, panels, and other figures by tacking the picces by the edges only
to the walls, and covering the joints between the pieces with mouldings,
which form part of the decoration, all as described hereafter.
The main object of the Invention has been to dispense with the
usual process of paper-hanging, and to establish a system of decoration
which can be carried out by an ordinary carpenter.
I will now proceed to describe the mode of carrying the Invention
into effect, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, which
forms a part of this Specification, and in which the Figure represents
part of the wall of a room decorated according to the present
› Invention.
The material of which the decorations are composed. consists of a
stiff paper, to the face of which are cemented veneers of ornamental
wood, or the veneers may be mounted on muslin; or in place of veneers
ornamental wall papers of the better class may be mounted on muslin
or pasted to comparatively stiff paper.
The material thus prepared may be varnished in front, and should
be coated at the back with any suitable waterproof paint when the

page_text: material is laid aside for use, not in rolls, as with ordinary wall paper,
but in flat sheets.
Supposing it to be desired to decorate the walls of a room in the manner
illustrated in the Drawing, and supposing it has been determined to
have panels A of maple, and horizontal strips B, B', and vertical
strips C of walnut, panels of the desired size are cut from the sheets
of decorating material having maple veneer, and are attached to the
walls in their proper relative position by lightly tacking them at their
edges only, all other parts of each panel being separate from the wall.
The upper and lower strips B, B', and vertical strips C of the material,
having walnut veneer, are then lightly tacked to the wall in a similar
manner, the edges of the strips meeting or nearly meeting the edges
of the pancls, the upper strip B extending to the lower edge of the
cornice of the ceiling, and the lower edge of the lower strip B¹ to the
wash board. Gilt or plain or ornamental mouldings a of wood are then
nailed to the wall in such a manner as to inclose the panels and cover
the tacks and the joints between the panels and the vertical and
horizontal strips, these mouldings thus aiding the tacks in securing the
decorating material to the wall, and effectually concealing imperfect
joints.
In like manner a gilt or other moulding 6 may be so secured to
the walls at the lower edge of the cornice as to overlap the horizontal
strip B, conceal the tacks, and aid in securing the said strip, and, if
desired, a similar moulding may be secured to the wall at the wash
board.
The wall is now entirely decorated without the aid of any paste or
cement other than what may be necessary to effect a junction at x
between the vertical and horizontal strips B, B, and C, and at these
points the horizontal strips may be made to slightly overlap the ends
of the vertical strips, and the overlapping portions be cemented
together without bringing the cementing material in contact with the
wall.
It will be evident that in practising this mode of decorating walls
the greatest variety of both simple and elaborate ornamentation may
be resorted to. Panels of many different forms may be adopted, and the
surface of the decorating material may be elaborately printed in colors
or gilt, or may be of veneers of any ornamental wood.

page_text: Independently of its applicability to the ornamentation of walls the
said Invention possesses the following advantages over ordinary wall
paper decorations.
First. The dimensions of the wall, the pattern of the material, and
style of panel being given to the manufacturer, panels and strips of the
desired dimensions can be prepared at the manufactory, transported to
the desired destination, and then applied by any ordinary carpenter, the
necessity of resorting to the more costly, tedious, and dirty process of
paperhanging being thus obviated.
Second. As no part of the decorating material is pasted to the
walls the back of the material may be made waterproof, in which case
the outer surface of the material will remain unaffected by damp
walls.
Third. Repairs and even alterations can be readily made, all that
is necessary being the removal of the mouldings, the detaching of a
panel or strip, and the replacing of the same with a new one of the
same character as or differing from the first.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
decorating of walls with a material composed of vencers or ornamental
papers mounted on muslin, stiff paper, or other fabric, when the said
material is tacked at the edges only to the walls, and when the joints
between the pieces are covered by mouldings or beadings forming part
of the decoration, all substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Second day of
December One thousand eight hundred and sixty-cight.
J. HENRY JOHNSON.
(L.S.)