US45937A - Improved floor-covering - Google Patents

Description

A I W rit UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANS ON H. PLATT, OF YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO.

IMPROVED FLOOR-COVERING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 415,937, dated January 17,1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANSON H. PLATI, of the village of Yellow Springs, Greene county, Ohio, have invented a new and improved method of covering floors with figured or ornamented paper printed with water-colors as a substitute for oil-cloths and carpets; and I hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same.

In my invention I apply figured paper to floors as a substitute for oilcloths and carpets in two different ways: first, by attaching firmly to the floor with flour-paste, and, secondly, by

tacking itdown in widths, as in the case of ordinary carpets, the former being called stationary floor-covering and the latter movable,

the following being the manner in which each sort is prepared and applied.

In the application of the stationary floorcovering I first paste a layer of some sort of cheap refuse paper all over the floor to be finished, and let it dry well before applying the figured paper. I then take wall or any other figured paper printed in water-colors and cut off lengths to fit the size of the room, matching the figures and trimming one edge of each length to the colors. I next make a straight pencil-mark across the floor from one side of the room to the other, about an inch farther from the wall at which I am to commence than the width of the paper to be used, as a guide in the application of the paste to the floor, and with a large, long, soft paintbrush I cover the strip marked ofi' upon the fioor thoroughly with a coat of good flour-paste. Then, placing a length of the paper upon the dry fioor parallel with the pencil-mark, figured side down, I applya coat of the paste also to the back of it, and, turning it over very carefully, I place one end upon the pasted floor, while'the other end is raised, and, graduallylowering it, Irub it down very faithfully as it comes to the floor with the flat hand, placing a sheet of strong heavy brown paper between the hand and the wet paper to prevent soiling the colors, and then proceed with the other lengthsin the same manner until the whole floor is covered. When the paper is well dried and hard I dissolve half a pound of white glue, if the colors of the paper are light, and the same quantity of common glue if they are dark, in one gallon of warm water, and when well dissolved and cool I apply a coat of it to the paper with the same brush used in pasting, well cleansed, passing the brush very lightly over it, and generally but once in a place, lest the colors should run or mix, and when this coat is dry I apply a second coat of the same sort and in the same way, only much more freely. After these coats are well dried I mix together three parts of good copal-varnish and one part of boiled linseed-oil, and with a soft varnish-brush apply from two to six coats as fast as theywill dry, the number depending upon the wear to which the room is to be subjected, and this completes the process for preparing and putting down the stationary floor-covering.

In the absence of white glue I use gum-arabic as a substitute; but it is more expensive and does not make so good a finish.

The movable paper fioor-coveringis prepared in the following manner: I take a piece of paper of any desirable lengthsay twenty or thirty yards--from half a yard to several yards wide, as may be needed, and varyingin thickness from heavy brown hardware-paper to that of light pasteboard, and made of good stock, so as to be strong, and printupon one side of it with water-colors figures or ornamental designs to fancy, and then treat or finish the figured side with glue, copal -varnish, and boiled linseed-oil, precisely as I do the stationory floor-covering already described, and apply to the under or unfigured side of it one coat of glue and one coat of boiled. linseed-oil, and it is ready for use.

The movable carpeting or floor-covering is attached to the floor by means of tacks in the usual way, and may be taken up at pleasure, and, like the stationary covering, will wear indefinitely, and always appear new and bright by giving it a coat of. the varnish and linseedoil twice a year--sprin g and fall.

The movable floor-covering is also a very valuable article for many other purposes besides covering fioors, such as covering coun ters, trunks, tables, writing-desks, the manufacture of bandlooxes, 82:0. 5 and the glue, copal varnish, and boiled linseed-oil, which impart to it its water-proof qualities, may also be applied to paper printed in water-colors when used for any other purpose, especially to the inner papered walls of rooms, giving to them a very brilliant and beautiful appearance, and rendering them capable of being washed ofi at pleasure, and of lasting a lifetime and. still appearing bright and new.

The object in first covering the floor to be finished with a layer of refuse papers is to render it smoother, and furnish a better surface upon which to apply the figured paper. The double pasting is to prevent any dry spots between the floor and the paper, which might cause the latter to cleave from the former. The coats of glue are to form a hard and impervious coat over the paper to prevent the oil and turpentine of the varnish from penetrating it and spoiling the colors, as they instantly would do without such coats; The coats of varnish and linseed-oil form a hard, glassy, water-proof surface upon the paper, and render it durable and capable of being washed off at pleasure without injury to the subjacent colors,and the coat of glue and linseed-oil applied to the under surface of the movable floor-covering is to prevent the action of the moisture or dampness upon the paper from the floor beneath.

Floors covered with a well-selected paper, and the room next the wall surrounded with a neat border, and finished with the glassy Water-proof compound, formed by the glue, varnish, and

linseed-oil, present a beauty and brilliancyunknown to carpets.

The entire process of finishing floors in this way is so simple that by the aid of a card of printed directions the whole labor of putting down the stationary covering may be done by the members of the household, the only outlay being for materials, whichv will not exceed ten or fifteen cents per square yard.

A whole house of ordinary size, containing half a dozen rooms, with halls, stairs, closets, and all, can be very neatly and tastefully finished in this way, so as to last many years, at an outlay which would be necessary to cover one floor of medium size witha carpet of average quality, and it is a safe estimate to say that the interest of the money necessary to carpet any number of rooms for any given number of years will keep the same rooms or floors beautifully covered by this process.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The application and use of figured or ornamented paper printed with water-colors to floors as a substitute foroil-cloth and carpets, as herein described, whether stationaryor movable.

ANSON H. PLATT.

Witnesses:

J. W. HAMILTON, G. L. PLATT.