US733668A - Tile or other decorative device. - Google Patents

Description

No. 733,668. PATENTED JULY 14,1903. H. C. MERGER. TILE OR OTHER DECORATIVE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21. 1902.

NO MODEL.

IHUIILMI No. teases.

NlTED STATES Patented July 14, 1903.

HENRY O. MERCER, OF DOYLESTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

TILE OR OTHER DECORATIVEDEVICEQ SPECIFICATION formingpart Of Letters Patent No. 7 33,668, dated July 14, 1903 Application filed November 21, 1902. Serial No. 132,240. (No model.)

To to whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY O. MERCER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Doylestown, in the county of Bucks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tiles or other Decorative Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to tiles; and it consists in a novel process of making mosaic tiles or decorative devices, and an article, the prodnot of the process.

The invention will be fully u nderstood from the following description and claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a design such as may be usedin the practice of my process and the production of my novel decorative device or tile; Fig. 2, a perspective view of a slab, of clay or other suitable material, designed to be used in the practice of the process and production of the article; Fig. 3, a plan view of the improved mosaic decorative device or tile; Fig. 4, an enlarged detail section taken in the plane indicated by the broken line 4 a of'Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 a perspective view of one of the elements of the design or picture embraced in the decorative device or tile.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the several views of the drawings.

In carrying out the preferred embodiment of my invention I take a slab A, of common clay in a wet plastic state, or a series of smaller slabs set close together, so as to present a smooth surface, and transfer a design such as B, Fig. 1-upon the clay surface by any of the modes common in pottery. When it is not desired to transfer a design, such as B, to the clay surface, I may, with a pointed or sharp instrument, score the design, free hand, on the surface. After the surface is provided with the design in either of the ways mentioned or in any other preferred manner I out through the slab at all points traced by the design to produce sections 0, each of which represents an element of the design or, if the design be a picture, an object in the picture. Where desired, to facilitate burning or drying, &c., the sections can be cut into still smaller pieces, regard- I less of the outlines of the design. I then permit the sections or pieces to dry, and I color them by any of the processes known to pottery. Forinstance, I color the houses embraced in the design or picture illustrated brown, the grass and trees green, the hills and sky blue, and the roads red, &c. The sections or pieces may be colored throughout their thickness or only upon their surfaces, as desired, and in either case they may, when preferable, be glazed. Subsequent to the coloring of the sections or pieces I burn them in a kiln, after which I replace them in proper relative positions to form the picture shown in Fig. 3 and unite them through the medium of cement D, interposed between their edges; or, by preference, the pieces may be united by laying them in a bed of cement, pitch, composition, or other binding substance E in the usual manner of all mosaics. The pieces may also be set in an easily-fluxible medium and burned together in a kiln without involving a departure from the scope of my invention. As a general rule, when the pieces are placed in a wall or pavement the backing of cement or other binding substance will always be used; but when the pieces are used on a box, vase, or the like to be ornamented a binder of cement, pitch, lead, or other substance in the joints alone may be depended on to hold the pieces together. It will be observed that the configurations of the clay sections or pieces follow and develop the design or picture, and from this it follows that a series of the joints formed by the cement D, which may be in one or more colors, define the outlines of the picture, which outlines may be broad or narrow, as desired. Inasmuch as the said outlines may be broad or narrow, no care need be taken to insure uni form shrinkage of the sections or pieces C incident to the burning thereof.

It will be readily appreciated from the foregoing that my improved mosaic decorative device or tile is advantageous, since the sections or pieces each constituting an element of a design or an object in a picture may be quickly and easily cut and as quickly and easily assembled to form the design or picture, this latter because each section or piece has its proper place and can be arranged in no other place. It will also be appreciated that inasmuch as the sections or pieces may be produced in a free-hand manner great latitude is afiorded an artist in making designs and pictures and that the sections or pieces may be readily set in their proper relative positions in plaster, mortar, pitch, cement, lead, or other binding material in a pavement, wall, or other place.

The material difference between my improved mosaic decoration and the ordinary mosaic decoration will be apparent when it is remembered thatin the latter minute pieces are employed, so as not to injure the outlines, and the forms-1'. e., buildings,trees,&c.are difierentiated by colors, while in my mosaic decoration the forms or objects in a picture are differentiated by the shape of the pieces or units.

The material difference between my improved mosaic decoration and that in which four (more or less) different forms of piecesor units are formed is that in the latter the pieces or units are duplicated by the thousand and are interchangeable, while in my improved decoration each piece or unit is different in shape from any other, fits in one place only, and cannot be used in any other place.

While I prefer to employ the cement D between the edges of the sections or pieces 0 for the reasons stated, I do not desire to be understood as confining myself to the same, as the said sections or pieces maybe held togetheri. 6., in their proper relative positions-by any suitable means withoutinvolving a departure from the scope of my invention.

In a modified embodiment of my invention I draw the design on or transfer it or portions of it on a plurality of green or wet clay slabs diiferentlycoloredforinstance,some brown, some green, and some blue. I then cut the sections or pieces 0 from the slabs and interchange the sections or pieces-that is, remove the brown tree and sky from a brown slab and replace the same with a green tree and blue sky from green and blue slabs, respectively, remove the blue houses and tree from a blue slab and replace same "with a brown house and a green tree from brown and green slabs, respectively, and remove the green houses and sky from a green slab and replace them with brown houses and a blue sky from brown and blue slabs, respectively.

In another modified embodiment of the invention I contemplate making aclay picture in one or more sections or pieces and setting in the same one or more pieces of marble, stone, clay, or other material out to fit the clay section or sections.

I have entered into a detailed description of my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of the same. I desire it understood, however, that in practicesuch changes or modifications may be made as fairly fall within the scope of my invention, as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process of making a mosaic decorative device or tile, which consists in forming a design on the surface of a slab, cutting v through the slab, on the lines of the design, and thereby producing a section of material which, by its shape, represents a part of a design or picture, arranging said section in proper relation to a complementary section, and connecting said sections.

2. The process of making a mosaic decora-- tive device or tile, which consists in forming a design on the surface of a slab, cutting through the slab, on the lines of the design, and thereby producing a section of material which, by its shape, represents a part of a design or picture, arranging said section in proper relation to a complementary section, and interposing a connecting medium between the edges of the sections, and thereby defining the outline of the section which, by its shape, represents a part of a design or picture.

3. The process of making a mosaic decorative device or tile which consists in forming a design on the surface of a slab or a plurality of slabs, cutting through the slab or slabs at all points traced by the design and thereby producing sections of material each of which, by its shape, represents a difierent part of a design or a difierent part of a picture and is non-interchangeable with any other section, and connecting said sections in proper relation to each other.

4:. The process of making a mosaic decorative device or tile which consists in forming a design on the surface of a slab or a plurality of slabs, cutting through the slab or slabs at all points traced by the design and thereby producing sections of material, each of which, by its shape, represents a different part of a design or a different part of a picture and is non-interchangeable with any other section, and interposing cement between the edges of the sections, and thereby defining the outlines of the picture ordesign.

5. The process of making a mosaic decorative device or tile, which consists in forming a design on the surface of a slab or aplurality of slabs of wet plastic material, cutting through the slab or slabs at all points traced by the design and thereby producing sections of material each of which, by its shape, represents a different part of a design or a different part of a picture and is non-interchangeable with any other section, coloring the slab or slabs of plastic material before or after the said cutting, burning the sections or pieces, and assembling the sections in proper relation and connecting the same.

6. The process of making a mosaic decorative device or tile, which consists in forming a design on the surface of a slab or aplurality of slabs of wet plastic material, cutting through the slab or slabs at all points traced ICC) by the design and thereby producing sections of material each of which, by its shape, represents a difierent part of a design or a different part of a picture, and is non-interchangeable with any other section, coloring the slab or slabs of plastic material before or after the said cutting, burning the sections or pieces, and assembling the sections in proper relation, and interposiug cement between the edges of the sections, and thereby defining the 10 outlines of the picture or design.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY C. MERCER.

Witnesses:

WM. STUCKERT, J OHN P. STILWELL.

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