By Mary Davis
“In many of the finest homes, you will find linoleum in every room. Not gaudy oil cloth, but rich, polished linoleum carpets.” From an early advertisement.
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| Armstrong Linoleum Rug |
What is Linoleum?
It’s an inexpensive, durable floor covering that is easy to clean and mass produced. This wonder product is made from flax (linum in Latin) and oil (oleum). Other ingredients were pine resin, cork dust, saw dust, and mineral fillers. This would often be backed with burlap or canvas.
Many inventors joined the search for an economical floor covering but struggled to come up with one. Scottish chemist Michael Narin was one such scientist. In 1847, he mixed oily paint with cork particles, producing a slick linoleum-like creation. However, his process was both expensive and time consuming.
Around the same time, “kamptulicon” was created by Elijah Galloway, a British chemist. He cooked cork powder and shredded rubber, forming a hard but sticky rubber flooring. In the 1860s, the British House of Parliament had it laid in some of the rooms.
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| Fredrick Walton |
Then another British inventor swooped in with a cheaper, more consistent product that Galloway couldn’t compete with. Fredrick Walton oxidized linseed oil (made from flax) with resin and cork dust backed with flax. It was the first successful synthetic flooring that was known as “resilient floor.” Walton obtained a British patent in 1860 for his linoleum making process. He is the one who came up with the name linoleum. He established the Linoleum Manufacturing Company Ltd in 1864 near London. His initial intended use for his product was as warship deck covering.
In the same year, twenty-four-year-old Thomas Armstrong, an American, decided to add to his shipping clerk wages by buying a machine that cut cork stoppers for bottles. The shavings from making various sizes piled up. Being a frugal man, Armstrong hated to waste this byproduct. He heard about a new floor covering in England that was gaining popularity quickly which used cork dust (of which he had plenty) and backed with cork. He revamped his business and, in 1908, started selling Armstrong linoleum. Instead of the few somber, solid colors others produced, Armstrong linoleum gave customers a variety of colors and patterns to rival woven carpet. The bright cheery patterns were a way to “beautify the home.”
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| Narin's Art Linoleum |
Though a Briton invented linoleum, it was an American who introduced it into every room of the house.
William Parnicott patented his method of making linoxyn. His process blew hot air into a tank of linseed oil for several hours then cooled it in trays. This took only a day or two compared to Walton’s that took weeks. However, it was a poorer quality. In spite of that, manufacturers opted for the cheaper, inferior material.
In 1872, Walton partnered with Joseph Wild to open the American Linoleum Manufacturing Company on Staten Island. This was the first linoleum manufacturer in the U.S. Soon after that, Michael Narin established the American Narin Linoleum Company in 1887.
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| Armstrong Linoleum |
Walton sued Narin over the use of his term linoleum for trademark infringement. However, even just 14 years after its invention, the court deemed linoleum as a generic term because it was so widely used. It was the first product name to be classified as such.
Since then, linoleum has been replaced with vinyl.
This takes me back to when my mom waxed our linoleum floor. It wasn’t easy to get the wax smooth. I remember her putting a fan on it and pointing the fan in different directions to get it to dry faster.
MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR (Heroines of WWII series)
3rd Place 2023 SELAH Award
Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon is a thirty-four-year-old widow, mother of two daughters, an excellent pilot, and very patriotic. She joins the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). As she performs various tasks like ferry aircraft, transporting cargo, and being an airplane mechanic, she meets and develops feelings for her supervisor Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg. When Peggy learns of U.S. soldiers being held captive in Cuba, she, Major Berg, and two fellow WASPs devise an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. With Cuba being an ally in the war, they must be careful not to ignite an international incident. Order HERE!
MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub
Sources
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati, p. 151
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