US2033325A - Flooring material - Google Patents

Description

March 10, 1936. .A. L. cLAPP FLOORING' MATERIAL Filed March 26, 1932 4 Patented Mar. 1o, i936 FLOORING MATERIAL Albert L; Clapp, Danvers, Mass., assigner, by'

mesne assignments, to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 26, 1932, Serial No. 601,341

5 Claims. (Cl. 154-49) This application is a contnuation-in-part of my co-pending application Serial No. 662,226, filed September 12, 1923, for Flooring and basic material therefor.

The invention relates to flooring and the like, of that type which comprises a fibrous, felted base saturated with asphalt, bitumen, or similar material and then surfaced with a suitable coating. Rag' felt is often employed as the fibrous base, but this is comparatively weak and tears and breaks easily, thus impairing the durability of the material.

One object of this invention is to produce a material of this nature of greater strength and durability than that having a brous base of rag felt and which is not liable to tear or breakfrom handling. This is accomplished by forming the fibrous base largely of long hair. By a suitable treatment, which will later be described, 4hair of original length may be felted to form a porous readily saturated material, which, when saturated, is very tough and strong. The surface of this material is rough and not well adapted to receive printing or other desirable nsh, and hence for this reason it is desirable to face or coat the surface with a comparatively smooth, fibrous facing layer which is well adapted to receive the finish desired without impairing the capability -of the material toreceive the saturant. The felt may be formed with a large quantity of long hair therein and may be surfaced with cellulosic material properly bonded and interfelted therewith on a multiple cylinder paper machine, one or both the outer or facing layers being supplied from cylinder molds at one or both ends of the machine and the hair felt from one or more intermediate cylinder molds.

A composite sheet or board embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing more or less conventionally, portions of the various laminations or layers being shown as broken away.

Referring to this gule, l indicates a ply of comparatively smooth surfaced material such as rag felt. 2 indicates one or more plies of hair felt, and 3 indicates another surfacing ply of smooth surfaced material such as felted rag or wood pulp. 'Ihis composite material, of which the layers are more or less interfelted and bonded together, is then saturated with asphalt or other suitable resinous or bituminous material as by immersing it in the melted saturant. Blown asphalt is a desirable saturant where the felt is sufficiently porous to permit proper saturation, since it is of a rubbery consistency and, does not become either very brittle or unduly soft within the range of atmospheric temperatures. After cooling, any desired design may be printed on the outer surface of either or both of the plies l or 3 by the use-of oxidizable oil such as linseed oil and a pigment or 5 other suitable material as at 6. While both sides of the hair felt have been shown as surfaced with the comparatively smooth cellulosic material, it is evident that one of the surface layers may be omitted, if desired, and the uncoated face of the 10 hair felt may be dusted with talc or powdered mica or otherwise treated to prevent it from sticking to the floor.

'I'he following is an example of the furnishes which may be used. The furnish for the top or 15 top and bottom layers may be of rags only, or sulphate or sulphite pulp,rnews, or any other combination of cellulosic materials which may be desired, a furnish of rags only forming a very satisfactory surfacing ply. The furnish for the 20 surfacing ply or plies is preferably well beaten so that. the resulting ply, especially when calendered, presents a fine smooth surface admirably adapted for the reception of printed designs.

The furnish for the intermediate ply or plies 25 is preferably characterized by a substantial proportion of long hair to give great mechanical strength to these plies, a suitable amount of an individualizing agent to prevent knotting and tangling of the hairs, and la substantial propor- 30 tion of pulp ber. (rag, sulphate, sulphite, etc., or mixtures thereof) to interfelt with surface bers in the facing ply or plies. The presence of a substantial proportion of pulp liber ensures good interfacial union between the hair plies and 35 the pulp-surfacing plies. To this end, the pulpv which is mixed with the hair to form a furnish for intermediate plies, is preferably treated so that when the furnish is ready to be supplied to a paper-making machine to be formed into 40 a web, the pulp fiber in the furnish is hydrated to approximately the same degree as the pulp stock supplied for the surfacing plies. For individualizing the long hairs in the furnish, a suitable size is provided to coat the individual hairs 45 so that they slip easily upon one another. Ordinary sizes such as rosin may be employed, though with such size it is necessary to rely in addition ,on beatingv the hair to prevent the hair from becoming tangled and matted. The degree of 50 beating required is suflicient to cut the hair considerably so that little of the hair in the furnish retains its original length. Examples of such a furnish may be as follows: parts of hair, 20 parts of ragpulp, 30 parts of sawdust, 10 parts 55 of rosin size, 5 parts of alum. The hair, rag pulp and sawdust are beaten up together suilciently to distribute the hair evenly through the mass without cutting it more than is unavoidable in order to do this, so that the hair may be as long as possible. The rosin size is then added and mixed thoroughly with the stock and then lthe alum is added to precipitate the size on the fibers. In place of the rags and sawdust, 30 parts of sulphate pulp and 10 parts of wood flour`may be substituted. Another furnish which may be used comprises 50 parts of hair, 50 parts of wood our, 10 parts of rosin size and 5 parts of alum, the size and the alum being added as above described. v

Where the pulp for the hair felt portion, is made from these furnishes, it is impossible to maintain any considerable quantity of the hair of original length, since it is necessary to bring the beater knives hard down to prevent the hair from being matted, as otherwise thick and thin spots in the felt are produced, and this hard beating cuts the hair into relatively short lengths.

A considerable quantity of hair of original length may be successfully incorporated in the felt provided a material is added capable of individualizing the hair so that it may be separated and uniformly mixed in the pulp without the necessity of the hard beating required for the furnishes above mentioned and this without cutting the hair. Such individualizing may be accomplished by the use of a slimy material such as short hair beaten up hard with a caustic soda solution until the hair is more or less dissolved and reduced to a slimy mass, which however contains some relatively short hair. To this mixture may be added kthe long hair which may thus be individualized thereby and distributed by a much less pressure of the beater knives on the bed plate than with the furnishes previously described. The beater .knives may be so adjusted as to comb out the long hair without cutting it so that practically all of it may finally appear in and be distributed evenly throughout the felted product in its original length. The method and furnishes for accomplishing this are more fully describedand claimed in my Patent No. 1,673,967. For example, sulphate pulp, sulphite pulp, rag pulp, or combinations thereof, 20 parts by weight, and 30 parts of goat or cattle hair and 6 to 10 parts of caustic soda are beaten out hard for 20 minutes in the beater, the hair being beaten out short and the mixture producing a slimy mass consisting of gelatinized cellulosic material and alkali-glutinized nitrogenous material with short hairs and fibers therein, the glutinized portion of the hair being in chemical composition with the alkali. The beater roll is then raised slightly and 50 parts of long hair eand subsequently 10 parts of alum are added in the order stated and the beating continued sufficiently hard to comb out the hair without cutting it until it is thoroughly individualized. The addition of the alum precipitates the alkali-glutinized nitrogenous material from the solution, the reaction producing.

a bulky or flocculent precipitate which aids in fixing both-the gelatinized cellulosic material, the

cellulosic brill and the. shortened hair fragments on the added long hair. Such a procedure is thus advantageous in that aside from the fact raw material in the white water when the mixture is formed into a sheet or web on a screen.

.- The use of hair as a basis for glutinized material is further advantageous in that hair is an inexpensive material and is easily glutinized inthe same operation employed to break it and gelatinize the cellulosic material. 'Ihe proportion of pulp to long hair may be considerably greater than the figure given in the foregoing example, in which case less of the glutinized hair need be employed.

In place of the mixture of Yshort hair and caustic, leather dissolved in a causticsolution may be employed. -The leather may be dissolved in the caustic and the solution added to the beater, or the leather may be placed in the beater in the form of chips of skivings and the caustic allowed to act thereon during the beating operation. This.

saponofled oils or fatty acids with the long hair.

'Ihis latter method produces a felt capable of having a greater proportion of hair of original length than the two previous methods. For example, 15 to 90 parts cellulose pulp such as sulphate, rags, cotton, linters or other suitable cellulosic material or combinations thereon are beaten out for about 15 minutes. The beater roll is then raised and hair, 50 to 90 parts, added, together with 20 parts of soap solution. This is circulated in the beater for about an hour with the beater roll suiiiciently hard down to comb out the hair Without cutting it until each ber is coat-` ed with the individualizing'agent. The pulp is then ready for the paper machine and should be run quite wet and under heavy suction. This method and furnish are more fully described and claimed in my Patent No. 1,674,948.

Where hair and caustic or a solution of leather are employed they may be precipitated in the final product by the alum or other precipitating agent, thereby producing a harder and more dense product which is incapable of receiving as great a proportion of saturant as that produced by the use of the soap solution winch is washed out in the felting operation. The soap might, also, however, be precipitated, if desired, by the use of alum, but this would not produce so hard a sheet as when short hair and caustic, or the leather solution is employed. Any other material which becomes slimy in the beater engine, such as talc or asbestos fibers may be used as the individualizing agent.

It is important that the furnish for the coating plies and intermediate plies contain a substantial proportion of pulp ber and that the ber in the various plies be of substantially the same freeness so that the plies will all unite when being run in the paper machine. For this reason, if sulphate pulp is used for the intermediate plies or layers containing the hair, it may be hydrated, or the furnish for these layers may be sized as by treatingl with silicate of soda or rosin size and alum, the particular treatment of course depending on the nature of the fiber used for the surfacing layer or layers. The composite sheet material as it comes from the paper machine is preferably ironed in order to produce a smooth printing surface. It may then be saturated with asphalt or other bituminous or resinous substances as may be desired for the particular purpose intended, the surface formed by the outer smooth stock being printed or otherwise treated. as with aosaaas a drying oil such as linseed oil to produce the particular surface finish desired. In forming the composite sheet or board, the Wet webs of or containing pulp are brought into close facial contact, and are more or less interfelted and bonded together, so that they Will not separate in the process of saturating with bitumen, or in the nished product. By forming the sheet including the hair felt portion on a paper machine, the well known and desirable characteristics of such formation such as an intimate interfelting and resistance to tearing are obtained.

I claim:-

1. Flooring and the like comprising a ply composed of uniformly felted hairs of original length, said hairs having thereon a. dried precipitation of glutinized hair mixed with hair fragments and gelatinized cellulosic material, and a facing ply of felted cellulosic fibrous material bonded and wetfelted to the rst said ply.

2. Flooring and the like comprising a ply composed of uniformly felted hairs of original length, said hairs having thereon a dried precipitation of glutinized 'nair mixed with hair fragments and gelatinized cellulosic material, a facing ply of felted cellulosic brous material bonded and wetfelted to the first said ply, and a bituminous compound permeating both said plies.

l ply of hair of original length mixed and uniformly felted with an approximtely equal quantity of cellulosic pulp and sized, said ply having the characteristics of paper machine fabrication, and surfacing plies of cellulosic pulp bonded to and interfelted with said central ply, all said plies being saturated with bituminous material.

5. Flooring and the like comprising a central ply of hair of original length mixed and uniformly felted with an approximately equal quantity of cellulosic pulp and sized, said ply having the characteristics of paper machine fabrication, relatively smooth surfacing plies of cellulosic pulp bonded to and interfelted with said central ply, all said plies being saturated with bituminous material, and a finishing coat of a drying oil on one of said surfacing plies.

ALBERT L. CLAPP.

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