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AssigneeMasonite Corporation
InventorWilliam J. Schultz
Estimating the term…
Panels of composite wood material are formed in a wet process which includes depositing a layer of wet composite wood material in a mat on a press wire screen mesh and moving the screen mesh to carry the mat into a pressing position between a pair of spaced apart pressure plates having generally matching, contoured facing surfaces for shaping the outer face and a smoothly contoured back face of the panel. The back face of the panel is not flat and generally follows or matches the shape or contour of the outer face so that regions of high fiber stress and dense, brittle areas of high fiber compression are generally eliminated. The resulting finished panels having excellent machining qualities, more uniform surface coating absorption characteristics, more uniform thickness and less rapid moisture absorption properties, along with a lower tendency to check, crack or split.
A multi-lap non-planar, contoured siding/roofing panel formed of wet process hardboard in a single operation by heat and compression of a relatively thick mat of wet, composite wood material, said mat being formed by depositing wood fibers from water onto a water-pervious support member, and thereafter compressing said mat into a thinner sheet of hardboard by disposing the wet mat of fibers between a pair of contoured, spaced upper and lower pressure plates having water escape passages operatively associated with the lower pressure plate for escape of water during pressing, and relatively moving the contoured pressure plates toward one another to force and deform a back face of the wet mat into the contour of the lower pressure plate while permitting escape of water through the water escape passages;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.