US111579A - Improvement in paper for use in the bottoms of bird-cages - Google Patents

Description

titiirt iatrz JASPER H. SINGER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 111,579, dated February 7, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER FOR USE'IN THE BOTTOMS OF BIRD-CAGES.

The Schedulereferred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

Nature and Object of the Invention.

This invention has for its-object the preparation of a papersuitable to be placed in the bottom of birdcages to receive 'the refuse and excremental matter which may fall thereon, and to furnish a proper surface for the birds to walk and scratch upon when upon the bottom of the cage.

It is common among those keeping birds in cages to place a piece of paper upon the bottom of thecae to receive the refuse matter, and in some cases a litlgie sand or gravel is sprinkled thereon to form a surface for the birds to walk upon and scratch, and it also, perhaps, serves to some extent to prevent the birds from throwing the seeds, which may be thrown down by them, out of the cage by scratching.

The object of the present invention is to provide apaper to be'placed in the bottom ofthe cage, which paper shall have a rough sand or gravel surface suitable for the-purposes above mentioned, which shall be already prepared for use, and which shall at the same time obviate the objection which applies to paper with loose sand 'or'gravel upon it, that the birds are liable to throw the sand or gravel out of the cage and thus litter the room.

This invention consists in a paper prepared for that purpose by attaching sand or gravel or both to it by means of a farinaceous paste, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

General Description.

In carrying my invention into practice I first cut sheets of paper of the proper size to fit the bottom of the cage, allowing it to-extcnd a little outside of the side bars of the cage, so as .to catch the whole litter of the cage as completely as possible. This paper should be strong, and-I prefer heavy manilla paper for that purpose.

The paper having been cut into sheets'ot' the proper size, I then cover one side of it with a well-made but not too thick paste made of wheat flouror other farinaceous material, and then, before the paste is permitted to dry, sprinkle or sift thereon a sufiicient quantity of coarsesand or fine gravel to cover the surface. I then allow the paste to dry, and when it is thoroughlydry I shake oli that portion of the sand or gravel which does not adhere to the-paste, then press the paper so-as to make it fl i when it is ready to be packed into bundles for sale and use.

This paper differs. from ordinary sand-paper not only in the fact that it is covered with gravel or coarse sand, instead of being covered with-crushed glass, which is unsuited for this purpose, on account of its peculiarly sharp cuttingedges, whichwould injure the feet of. the birds, but-also in-the fact that 'the sand or gravel is attachedtothe paper by meansof a farinaceons paste which is perfectly hariiiless to.the birds in case they should eat it,'wh ile inanaking sand or emery-paper the hard particles are-attached to the paper by means of glue. The paste will also give way more readily, allowing the birds to now and then throw off 'a particle of the sand or gravel, while the glue is more rigid.

Water is also frequently upset in the cage or sprinkled upon the bottom by the birds, and if the sand or gravel were attached-with glue this would dissolve it snfliciently to adhere to the feet and feathers of the birds, while the paste: is free,'or nearly so, from this objection.

I have mentioned wheat-flour as the proper material for making the paste'with which to attach the sand or gravel; but it is obvious that rice-flour, or in fact any farinaceous material, may be used for this purpose with nearly or quite the same good effect.

I do not claim a paper having sand or gravel attached to its surface irrespective of the means by which it is attached; but

I claim as my invention--- The paper for bird-cagesherein described, the sand or gravel being attached by a farinaceons paste, substantially as hcreinbefore set forth.

, J ASPER H. SINGER.

Witnesses 'inos. P. How, L. W. How.

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