Frederick Walton

Frederick Walton (1834-1928)

Frederick Edward Walton (baptized May 19, 1834 in Sowerby Bridge near Halifax , Yorkshire , † May 16, 1928 in Nice ) was an English entrepreneur and inventor of linoleum and linkrusta . On the basis of his invention, he built the first linoleum factory and thus established the success of linoleum as a floor covering well into the 20th century. In total, Walton registered 88 British patents , two thirds of which were directly related to linoleum.

life and work

Family and education

Frederick Edward Walton was baptized on May 19, 1834 at Sowerby Bridge near Halifax , Yorkshire , his date of birth is unknown. He was the second son of the engineer James Walton (1802 / 3-1883) and his wife Ann Kenworthy. Walton received his training in Bradford and Wakefield as well as during stays abroad in Belgium and France . After his training he became a partner of his father and his brother in their company in Haughton Dale near Manchester . Together they made wire cards from latex from the rubber tree (Ficus elastica) for carding cotton , for which his father had developed a patent.

On March 19, 1867 Walton married Alice Ann Scruby († 1886), the daughter of animal surgeon Thomas Scruby. With her he had a son and three daughters.

Invention of linoleum

Frederick Walton worked in his own laboratory on projects for the joint company, including the development of quick-drying colors for oil cloths . According to numerous sources, during this work he discovered a solid, rubbery layer of oxidized linseed oil ( linoxin ) on a paint can with paint based on linseed oil . In 1860 he was granted a patent for the production of linoxin, in which linseed oil is exposed to the air and hardened by oxidation. In the same year he sold his shares in his father's company and opened his own workshop in Chiswick to continue working on his invention.

Walton tried, probably inspired by the Kamptulikon floor covering , which he invented in 1844, to apply the linoxin he had developed to strips of fabric in order to get a replacement for rubber. In 1863 he made his first piece of linoleum; The name is made up of the Latin name for common flax (linum) , from which linseed oil is extracted, and oleum for oil. He patented the linoleum in 1864 and then moved to Staines , where he set up his linoleum manufacturing company . After a sluggish introduction of the product and intensive advertising as a “warm, soft and durable” floor covering, sales increased and linoleum was mainly used for public buildings such as hospitals and offices due to the ease of cleaning.

In 1872 Walton went to New York and opened the American Linoleum Company on Staten Island , which he himself ran for two years. In 1877 his patents for the linoleum expired and in 1878 the British High Court ruled that the brand name was not protected. Linoleum became the name of the material, rather than the branded product, of Walton's company. Several leading floor covering manufacturers used the opportunity to also produce linoleum and entered into competition with Walton; especially Michael Barker Nairn in Kirkcaldy and James Williamson in Lancaster became serious competitors in Great Britain and profited from the material's rapid market growth.

Lincrusta wallpaper in an Art Nouveau pharmacy in Stuttgart (floral decor, original from 1901)

Frederick Walton retired from active management of his company in 1878, but remained the main owner. In 1877 he developed and patented a process to make Linoxin usable as wall cladding and named the new product Lincrusta . In 1878 he opened a plant for Lincrusta production in Sunbury-on-Thames , later plants in Paris and Hanover followed . In 1888 and 1890, Walton patented methods of creating linoleum through inlays and mosaics, and in 1894 founded the Greenwich Inlaid Linoleum Company . This worked profitably until 1914, but was taken over by Nairn in 1922.

Walton moved to Nice around 1922 and wrote his book The Infancy and Development of Linoleum Floorcloth there , which was published in 1925. He died in a traffic accident in Nice on May 16, 1928 and was buried in the La Caucada cemetery in August.

Frederick Walton was always more of an inventor than a businessman, so he usually left the management of his companies to managing directors while he sat on the board of directors. Constantly working on new developments, he won 88 different patents in Great Britain, two thirds of which were directly related to oxidized linseed oil. In addition, he received patents on meat extracts, car wheels, aircraft parts and artificial rubber substitutes .

Works

• The Infancy and Development of Linoleum Floorcloth , 1925.

literature

• Anne Pimlott Baker: Frederick Edward Walton In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press 2004 ( Online, access required )
• Pamela H. Simpson: Comfortable, Durable, and Decorative: Linoleum's Rise and Fall from Grace. APT Bulletin 30 (2/3), 1999; Pages 17-24