MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 87 







is kept at a temperature of from 150 to 180. The sheets are kept 

 in the oil for a greater or less time, according to the thickness thereof 

 and the degree of saturation desired ; for sheets of one inch thick, 

 half an hour has been found sufficient. After saturation with oil, the 

 sheets are again dried on racks, either by the atmosphere in sheds or 

 in heated rooms ; and when they appear to be dry, they are kept for 

 some time in a stove, heated to 180. The patentee states, that the 

 above is the practice pursued by him when the sheets are to be used 

 for forming partitions in steam and other vessels, and for panelling 

 and other work of the cabins of such vessels, or the parts of railway 

 and other carriages, and for making furniture and other structures 

 where it is desirable to use a material that shall be little affected by 

 extremes of temperature. 



The sheets, produced as above described, may be cut into the de- 

 sired forms, and framed together in panels or otherwise ; and the 

 surfaces may be planed, smoothed, and polished, as when operating on 

 other papier-mache ; and they may be varnished without painting, in 

 which case various effects may be obtained by mixing colors Avith the 

 fibrous materials employed ; or the papier-mache may be painted and 

 ornamented in like manner to carriage-painting. Various composi- 

 tions of fibrous with other matters may be used in carrying out this 

 invention ; but the patentee prefers the following, although he does 

 not confine himself thereto : He makes a paste by boiling together 80 

 Ibs. of water, 32 Ibs. of flour, 9 Ibs. of alum, and 1 Ib. of copperas ; with 

 this paste he mixes 15 Ibs. of rosin, dissolved by 10 Ibs. of boiled oil, 

 adding 1 Ib. of litharge ; and then he adds to the mixture from 55 to 

 60 Ibs. of dry rag-dust or other suitable fibre, and grinds the whole 

 together. He has found that paper makers' " half stuff" or pulp may 

 be used, when deprived of fluidity to such an extent that it is of a like 

 consistency to stiff dough or putty. When size is used in preparing 

 the fibrous and other matters, it is best to employ a hollow pressing 

 roller, heated by steam. In the manufacture of sheets of papier-mache 

 by the above process, if one or both of the fabrics, which are used 

 when pressing, be left adhering to the surface or surfaces of the sheet, 

 instead of removing the same previous to drying, the fabric or fabrics 

 will continue to adhere when the sheet is finished and form part 

 thereof. 



VALUE OF PAPER IX ARCHITECTURE. 



THERE is, says Dickens' " Household Words," a paper church 

 actually existing near Bergen, Avhich can contain nearly one thousand 

 persons. It is circular within, octagonal without. The relievos out- 

 side, and the statues within, the roof, the ceiling, the Corinthian 

 capitals, are all of papier-mache, rendered water-proof by saturation 

 in vitriol, lime water, whey, and white of egg. We have not yet 

 reached this pitch of audacity in our use of paper ; but it should 

 hardly surprise us, inasmuch as we employ the same material in pri- 

 vate houses, in steamboats, and in some public buildings, instead of 



