86 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



ness of sheet lias also been obtained by piling a suitable number of 

 sheets of paper in a wet state (as they come from the paper-mould or 

 seive) one upon another, and then expressing the water by a press, 

 and drying the sheet, so produced, whilst in a state of compression, 

 between metal plates. Sheets of less thickness have been made by 

 running the pulp on to a mould or seive, having a frame thereon cor- 

 responding in depth to the thickness of sheet required, and then 

 pressing such sheets between felts and drying them. Moulded orna- 

 ments, and other articles of papier-mache have been usually manufac- 

 tured by reducing fibrous and other matters by grinding, in a suitable 

 machine, to the consistency of stiff dough or putty, and then moulding 

 and drying the same. The above remarks are made in order to point 

 out more clearly, the nature of this invention, which consists in rolling 

 or pressing fibrous and other matters, ground to the state of stiff dough 

 or putty, into sheets, and treating such sheets with oil and heat, in like 

 manner to that in which sheets and moulded articles of papier-mache, 

 made by the above methods, have been heretofore treated. 



Either flat or roller presses may be used in carrying out this inven- 

 tion. The press which the patentee prefers to employ consists of a 

 rectangular moving table, with a pressing-roller above it. The table 

 has a rack on each side, and is supported in such a manner that it 

 may be moved to and fro at the same surface speed as the pressing- 

 roller ; for which purpose two cog wheels are fixed on the axis of the 

 roller, and gear into the racks affixed to the table ; and the roller is 

 kept pressed down upon the table by weighted levers. The table 

 supports a wooden platform, somewhat larger than the intended sheet 

 of papier-mache ; over this platform is spread a sheet of moistened 

 canvass or other suitable fabric ; and upon the fabric is laid a rectan- 

 gular or other frame of wood, corresponding in height to the thickness 

 of the sheet of papier-mache, or substance in the nature thereof, to 

 such an extent, that considerable pressure will be necessary to reduce 

 the same to the level of the frame. Over the composition another 

 sheet of moistened canvass or other fabric is laid ; and then the press- 

 ing-roller being caused to rotate, the table carries the platform, with 

 the plastic papier-mache thereon, beneath the roller. The composition 

 is passed several times beneath the roller, until it is considered to be 

 sufficiently pressed ; after which the upper sheet of moistened fabric 

 is removed, and a flat frame or rack ofHvood (composed of numerous 

 bars) is laid upon the sheet of papier-mache ; then the wooden rack 

 and platform, with the sheet of papier-mache between them, are turned 

 over ; and the platform and the first-named sheet of canvass are now 

 removed, leaving the papier-mache upon the rack to dry. During 

 the process of drying, the sheets are turned over from time to time ; 

 and the patentee prefers, when time and season will permit, to dry by 

 the ordinary atmosphere in sheds, or otherwise in rooms, heated to a 

 slight degree above summer heat ; the longer the time allowed for 

 drying the better will lie the result. The sheets, by day, arc placed 

 in a stove, heated from 150 to 180 Fahr., and left therein until 

 heated throughout: and thev are then immersed in boiled oil, which 



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