US317233A - Wooden tongue for joining flooring - Google Patents

Description

(N70 Model.)

I. H. SPELMAN.

WOODEN TONGUB POR JOINING PLO0RING, am.

Patented May 5, 1885.

/. WWW

I f arney;l

WIM/ESSE@ 4 fr all Unire @rares Partnr OFFICE.

IRWIN I-I. SPELMAN, OF OORTLAND, OHIO.

WOODEN TONGUE FOR JOlNlNG FLOORING, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,233, dated May 5, 1885.

Applicatitn filed March 17, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRWIN H. SPELMAN, of Cortland, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vooden Tongues for Joining Flooring, 85e.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in tongues for matching or joining boards or oth-- er pieces of wood, designed more especially for door, ceiling, cabinet work, &c., the object being to provide a tongue separated from the boards or pieces that are to be joined, and fitting into grooves in the edges of the adjoining pieces, and the grain of wood in the tongues running crosswise of the tongues, to the end that a thinner and at the same time stronger tongue is had, that the boards are not reduced in width to form a tongue, as has heretofore been the practice, and that, `by reason of the thin tongue and corresponding thin grooves in.

the boards, thinner boards can be successfully matched, and, as in case of iiooring, a greater thickness of wood is left above the groove,and the wearing capacity of the flooring is thereby proportionately increased.

A further obj ect is to provide extremely thin tongues consisting of two thin strips of wood of equal width, with the grain of each running crosswise, and applied to each other atwise, with a thread or twine between the layers, to prevent the tongue from breaking in handling, and the whole glued or cemented together.

With these objects in view my invention consists in certain features of construction and in combination of parts, hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

The increasing scarcity of good lumber in the market renders it desirable to'economize in its use. It is well known that in dressing iiooring and other boards, especially when the boards are narrow, a great waste is had in reducing the width of the boards to form the tongue; also, such tongues must be of considerable'thickness, or they are liable to split oi where they join the board 5 also, if the tongues the tongues.

are of sufficient thickness to give the required strength, it would preclude their use on very t-hin boards, as a corresponding groove on the edges of thin boards would leave the walls or lips of the groove so thin that they would not have sufficient strength. I have therefore invented a tongue in which the grain of the wood runs crosswise, by reason of which the tongue can be made' very thin and still have the requisite strength, and of course the grooves are correspondingly narrow and may be made on the edges of thin boards, leaving the lips of the groove sufficiently strong.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are end elevations of fioors, showing my improved tongues in position. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in perspective of a piece of tongue consisting of a single thickness of wood. Fig. 4t is an enlarged perspective view of a piece of tongue consisting of two layers of wood with a thread or twine between the layers. Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of aportion of a coil of tongue of the kind shown in Figs. l and 3. Fig. 6 is a view in perspective showing a coil of double tongue such as is shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

I have chosen to illustrate my improved tongue as applied to flooring; but it is equally well adapted to siding and all purposes where pieces of wood are joined together.

A represents the door-boards, and B and B rIhese tongues are cut circumferentially from a revolving block or log in substantially the same manner that basketsplints are cut, except that slitting-knives are arranged to divide the cutting into suitable widths, usually from three-eighths to one-half of an inch, more or less, in width, so that these strips, as they come from the log, are ready for use, in case but one thickness is used for the tongue. If the tongues are of considerable thicknesssay one-eighth of an inch or moreone thickness of wood is sufficient, and the grain of the wood running crosswise, a tongue one-eighth of an inch thick will be much stronger than a tongue of double that thickness made in the ordinary way. These strips are preferably rectangular in cross-section, and as they are eut are coiled up in rolls and. secured for shipment. Hard woods are pref- IGO erable, and Sycamore and Various other kinds of cheap wood make excellent tongues. The tongues, being so much thinner than the ordinary tongue, leave the grooved edges ofthe board correspondingly stronger.

In ceiling and various kinds of cabinetwork where costly woods are used it is desirable to have the boards as thin as possible, and this necessitates a thin tongue. For such purposes I cutthe wood very thin-say from a one thirtysecond to a one sixty-fourth of an inch, more or less, in thickness-and glue two such strips together, as shown at B', Figs. 2, 4, and 6,with a thread or twine, usually common cotton wrapping-twine b, of small size, in the center between the layers of wood. This is cheaply done in the following manner: A ball of twine is kept submerged in a pot of hot glue. Iwo coils of the wood are arranged flatwise to each other, so that they are drawn in between coinpressing-rollers with the twine in the -center of the strips.

The tongues, as they leave coiled into rolls for shipment.

The string is ofcourse flattened by the pressure of the rollers, and this leaves the tongue a triiie thicker in the center, which is an advantage, as it iills the groove at this part,and the edges,- being slightly thinner, are more easil inserted in the grooves. Double tongues the rollers, are

may be made in this manner that need not eX- eeed one thirty-second of an inch in thickness, and boards three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness may be successfully joined by such tongues. The grooves in the boards for such purposes are out with a thin saw.

What I claim is- 1. A wooden tongue for joining ooring, ceiling, or other pieces of wood,with the grain of wood of the tongue running erosswise, substantially as set forth.

2. A wooden tongue for joining pieces of wood, and consisting, essentially, of awooden strip approximately rectangular in cross-seetion, with the grain of the wood running crosswise of the tongue, substantially as set forth.

3. A tongue for joining boards or other pieces of wood, and consisting, essentially, of two strips of wood applied iiatwise to each other, -a thread, twine, or equivalent laid lengthwise between the wooden strips, and the whole glued'or cemented together, and so arranged that the grain of wood is erosswise of the tongue, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification, in the presence of two witnesses, this 6th day of March, 1885.

IRWIN H. SPELMAN.

Witnesses: n

GHAs. H. Donnie, ALBERT E. LYNCH.

Images