AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 213 



which are acknowledged by all to be far sui^erior to any French 

 china imported. 



The company are but in their infancy, and it is just becoming 

 known that American china can now be had at home, equal to 

 any in the world. 



This company claim superiority over French china, by its 

 extreme whiteness, purity, strength and durability, and of great 

 length of service and retention of its color to the end. 



[»/? diploma awarded. 



Improved Marquetry for Ornamental Flooring. 



Groebl & Volkmar, Baltimore, Md. 



The several pieces of wood of which this ornamental surface is 

 composed, are not simply placed in juxtaposition at their edges, 

 as in all marquetry hitherto, but interlock, and are reciprocally 

 supported, by means of tongues and grooves cut around the entire 

 perimeter of each piece. This is the method of fastening em- 

 ployed, and it possesses these signal and valuable advantages : 



1. It obviates the necessity of using nails, gums or glues, which 

 have been, heretofore, considered indispensable in order to secure 

 the various pieces firmly to the surface upon which they were 

 laid. 



2. It effectually counteracts the tendency to warp, which is 

 very great when different kinds of wood are used. Each piece is 

 firmly held, as may be readily ascertained upon inspection, by 

 from three to eight others, so as to be utterly immovable from its 

 position relatively to the rest, without a general detaching of the 

 pieces. Experiment cannot, certainly, be needed to test this point, 

 since the theoretical consideration suggested is, in itself, so strong 

 as to have nearly the finality of a mathematical demonstration. 



3. By this process of fastening, the pieces are not necessarily 

 secured permanently to the surface, which they overlie, but may 

 be laid down temporarily, and afterwards removed with almost 

 as much facility as a common carpet. Thus, this flooring need 

 not become a fixture of the house in which it is put down, which 

 would, of course, be the case if it were secured by nails, but may, 



