US684448A - Glass mosaic and method of producing same. - Google Patents

Description

No. 684,448. Patented Oct. I5, I90]. F. G. MOORE.

GLASS MOSAIC AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME.

(Application med Jun 18, 1900.)

(No mud.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK GARDNER M OORE, OF HANOVER, NEVJ HAMPSHIRE.

GLASS MOSAIC AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,448, dated October 15, 1901.

Application filed June 18, 1900. Serial No. 20,672. (No specimens.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK GARDNER MOORE, of Hanover, in the county of Grafton and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new Improvement in Glass Mosaics and Methods of Producing the Same; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a broken fragment of glass mosaic produced in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, an enlarged detached View of one of the mosaic elements entering into the mosaic shown in the preceding figure; Fig. 3, a sectional view showing two tesserae secured to a glass body-plate, having a palpable space or cavity between them and imprisoned by a film of transparent or semitransparent flux or glazing or equivalent material; Fig. 4, a corresponding view showing the use of decorative material in the space between the tesserze.

My invention relates to the use of true mosaicin glass, whether tesselated or otherwise, in the manufacture of mosaic-glass, stained or clear, for windows, screens, transparencies, lamp-shades, gas or electric fixtures, and other decorative structures or articles to which the improvement may be applicable, the object being to produce glass mosaic of superior beauty and durability adapted to a wide range of decorative work. My invention, however, does not aim to dispense with the traditional leaden frames or cams now employed in decorative glass work, except in the case of very small openings. It does, however, provide for the designer a way of escape from the trammels of 1eading,.where leading interferes with the free execution of a design. Dispensing with leads is, however, an incidental advantage quite apart from my main purpose, which may be said to be to enable a mode of decoration long applied in opaque materials to floor and wall surfaces to be employed in the production of windows and other transparent and translucent objects.

With these ends in 'view' my invention consists in certain details of construction and methods of procedure, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Before proceeding ,to a description of my invention I should state that I shall employ the word mosaic in a sense approximating at least to its ancient sense ofdescribing the assemblage of small regularly-cut pieces or substantially regular fragments of choice material in the production of floor and wall surfaces rather than in the sense in which it is now employed by workers in glass to describe mosaic efiects produced without the employment of true mosaic construction,'but aiming at the semblance of it. I shall also use the words mosaic element to describe the assemblage of small pieces of glass initially assembled on a one-piece glass body as an independent organization and then introduced'into a design containing various elements, mosaic and otherwise, leaded together in the usual manner.

For the illustration of my invention I have chosen to represent a small section of a border of true mosaic-glass, this border being composed of mosaic elements leaded together, i

but it will be of course understood that the forms which mosaic structures produced inaccordance with my invention may assume are infinite and that the form shown is merelyillustrative.

As shown in the drawings, the border'c'on sists of a conventionalized chain of links, composed of mosaic elements A, located between parallel mosaic-strips B and separated from each other-by spacing elements 0, the said elements and strips being organized together by means of leads D, used in the traditional manner. The elements A and Bare What I have already described as mosaic elements. The element A comprises an irregular body E, of clear or stained glass, upon the inner surface of which are imposed two waved or scroll-shaped bands of clear or stained glass tesserze F. These are comparatively uniform in size and shape; but that is not essential. The said bands are not placed in direct contact with each other nor are the tesserte of the same band in direct contact with other tesserze of the same band. On the contrary,

the tesserze are shaped and arranged so as to secure between them palpable spaces or cavities F, which are indeed open oints or joints so emphasized as to be plainly visible as lines of demarcation between the tesserze. The tesserze F, having been laid in the required arrangement upon the glass body E, are welded thereto by exposing the same to heat or adhered in some other suitable manner. Finally an envelop, binder, or film G, of transparent or translucent flux or glazing, is applied over the exposed surface of the tesserae, which it incloses and imprisons, entering more or less into the spaces or cavities between them. Prior to the application of the envelop G of flux or glazing the spaces or cavities F between the tesserae being in general of a sufficient size for the purpose may be filled in whole or in part with such enriching material F, as bits of metal and metal-foil, the latter having great value in lighting up or illuminating the fabric or special portions thereof. This flux or glazing may be chosen to perform merely the mechanical function of imprisoning and sealing the tesserze and binding them to the body and to each other, or, in addition to its imprisoning and binding function it may have a supplemental decorative function in softening or otherwise modifying the effect of the design. By coloring it it may have the effect of a retouching-varnish,while by dexteronsly applying it it may produce effects of veining, mottling, clouding, &c. This film, whether a vitreous flux or a glazing of some sort, may be applied to the mosaic elements prior to their assemblance in the mosaic structure or afterward, as most convenient and most effective in carrying out the conception of the artist.

h It will be seen from an inspection of the drawings that, strictly speaking, the tesserae F, on account of their comparatively regular shape and size, produce what is technically known as .Roman mosaic, the art of which consisted'in binding small regularly cut or broken fragments of opaque material together; but my invention also contemplates the use of pieces of glass of less regular shape and size and cut with reference to the lines of the design so as to form what is technically known in the art as Florentine mosaic or opus sectile. For the sake of brevity I use the word tesserze as including not only the components of a Roman-mosaic, but also the irregular pieces composing a Florentine mosaic. In either case I do not aim to weld the tesserze directly to each other to secure their cohesion, for as it is my purpose to retain wherever practicable the an cient method of leading, so, also, it is my aim to leave the joints of the mosaic distinctly marked, as in the ancient or medieval mo s'aics. It is desired only to weld the tesserze to a large or small piece of stained or clear glass constituting the body of the mosaic element. This body may be a sheet of glass, or it may be a lamp-shade or some other object in, glass. Of course if the tesserze, whether regular or irregular in form, do adhere together at points of closest contact no harm" may be done, but, as aforesaid, that is a possible incident and not an aim of my'invention, which comprehends as one of its essential parts the possibility of inserting enrich-1 ing material, such as bits of metal or metalfoil, into the palpable spaces or cavities between the tesserae. As the mosaic in its first form comes from the furnace perhaps marred by slight distortion, my method secures to the artist the freedom to correct any faults by the insertion of substances suited to the' special purpose by removing defective tesserae and replacing them and to modify the effect by chipping the edges of the tesserae to V produce facets and the like.

a rule by leading in the ordinary manner.

In the second case certain elements of the design will be chosen for treatment according to my improved method, while the remaining V 7 portions will be treated in any of the prevail; Thus, for example, in a window j I ing modes. containing figures the figures may be produced in the usual way, while the background and other accessories of the window may be.

formed of tesselated mosaic elements which 7 may or may not contain in thespaces or cavities between the tesserseeenriching material, 7

such as bits of metal or metal-foil, at the discretion of the artist.

In view of the modificationssuggested and j of others which may obviously be'made I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction herein shown and described, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes as'fairly fall Wlthlll'thQ spirit and scope of my invention;

Having fully described my invention, what 7 I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetterst Patent, is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, glass mosaic or mosaic elements consisting of a glass body, glass tesserze firmly adhered by welding or otherwise to the said glass body upon which they are arranged with palpable spacesor cavities between them,-and an envelop consisting of a continuous or unbroken film or;

sheet of transparent or translucentflux or glaze applied over the exposedsurfaces of the tesser2e,which are thus imprisoned and bound to the glass body and to each other. 7

2. As a new article of manufacture, glass; mosaic or mosaic elemen ts,consis ting of a glass body,'gla'ss tesseraa firmly adhered by welding or otherwise to the said glass body upon which they are arranged with palpable spaces or cavities between them, enriching material located in the said palpable spaces or cavities the said spaces or cavities or some of them, and in imprisoning the tesserze by applying over them a transparent or translucent flux or glazing which envelops them and enters more or less into the said spaces or cavities between them.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib-' ing witnesses.

FRANK GARDNER MOORE.

Witnesses:

GEo. D. LORD, GAYLORD S. WHITE.

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