Laminated sheet material and method of making same

Claim 1

AS A NEW ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE, A THIN FLEXIBLE DECORATIVE LAMINATED SHEET MATERIAL ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON A GENERALLY FLAT SUPPORTING SURFACE, COMPRISING IN SEQUENCE A HARD SMOOTH OUTER TRANSPARENT SURFACE LAYER OF VERY THIN PAPER IMPREGNATED WITH A HARD TRANSPARENT THERMOSETTING SYNTHETIC RESIN, A NEXT SOMEWHAT THICKER UNDERLYING LAYER OF DECORATIVE ALPHA PAPER IMPREGNATED WITH A COMPATIBLE TRANSPARENT THERMOSETTING SYNTHETIC RESIN, A THIRD STILL THICKER LAYER OF PAPER IMPREGNATED WITH A THERMOSETTING SYNTHETIC RESIN COMPATIBLE WITH THE RESIN OF SAID LAST LAYER AND ALSO WITH RUBBER COMPOSITIONS OF HIGH STYRENE RESIN CONTENT, AND A BASE LAYER OF RESILIENTLY DEFORMABLE RUBBER COMPOSITION OF HIGH STYRENE RESIN CONTENT, ALL SAID THERMOSETTING SYNTHETIC RESIN LAYERS TOGETHER TOTALLING FROM .025 TO .040 INCH IN THICKNESS AND BEING DIRECTLY BONDED TOGETHER AND TO SAID RUBBER COMPOSITION BASE LAYER, ALL SAID LAYERS HAVING SIMILAR COEFFICIENTS OF EXPANSION AND CURING TIMES.

Claim 2

THE METHOD OF FORMING A LAMINATED SHEET MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES SUPERIMPOSING A LAYER OF AN UNCURED ELASTOMER COMPOSITION AND A THIN LAYER OF A THERMOSETTING SYNTHETIC RESIN, MOLDING SUCH SUPERIMPOSED LAYERS UNDER HEAT AND PRESSURE WITH SUCH RESIN LAYER AGAINST A HIGHLY POLISHED SURFACE, AND STRIPPING THE RESULTANT UNITARY LAMINATED SHEET FROM SUCH SURFACE, SUCH UNCURED ELASTOMER COMPOSITION BEING SELECTED TO FLOW ONLY VERY SLIGHTLY UNDER SUCH MOLDING PRESSURE TO SUPPORT SUCH RESIN LAYER FIRMLY AND UNIFORMLY AGAINST SUCH POLISHED MOLDING SURFACE WITHOUT HOWEVER REQUIRING TO BE LATERALLY CONFINED.