The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-21 00:00:00

A New Discovery—Graphotype.

A new discovery, which has been secured by letters
patent, has just been made, which will doubtless create a
thorough revolution in the art of wood-engraving. The
new wonder had been called " Graphotype," and the pro-
cess is described as follows :—An artificial chalk block or
plate is first produced by grinding the best chalk to fine
powder, mixing this powder with water to a thin cream
and separating the portion which precipitates first, repeat-
ing this operation several times, in order to secure the
complete separation:of any hard or coarse particles, drying
the very finely-divided chalk thus obtained and sifting it,
through wire-cloth having 10,000 holes to the square inch,
on to the surface of a perfectly smooth plate of zinc, plac-
ing a plate of highly-polished steel on the top of the oven
layer of chalk-flour thus obtained, and then submitting it
to ;powerful hydraulic pressure. On removing the pres-
sure and lifting off the steel plate, the chalk is found to be
firmly attached to the zinc plate, and to present a perfectly
smooth upper surface, which only requires to be "sized,"
in order that the ink to be used in drawing on it may not
" spread," to be ready for the artist. The latter proceeds
as in the ordinary method of drawing on wood, first
making a red chalk tracing on the block or plate, and
then, with sable hair pencils of various sizes, drawing his
design line for line, exactly as ho wishes it to appear when
printed. The ink used is a mixture of glue and lamp-
black, and dries instantly, so that one series of lines, of
whatever thickness, may be immediately crossed by others.
The drawing being completed, the portions of the drawing
are rubbed away to the depth of an eighth of an inch or so,
by means of brushes, some of them of fitch hair, and
others of silk velvet. This rubbing, which does not take
more than a second to do, is all that represents the tedious
labcur of the woodcutter. After it is finished the block is
hardened by being soaked in a solution of an alkaline sili-
cate. It would be perfectly possible to print directly from
the chalk, but it is found in practice more convenient to
take a stereotype casting for the press. The process is
whichin nature iprinting has been ap-
plied,
ink,
or of skeleton leaves, feathers,
so delicate that an impression of the thumb, moistened
paw rnriddte iy t p
hdn7attchrhaeer l
roybabpePj type-press, made
to give beautiful impressions in the
ordinary s, o e
while the finest hair-line that the
artist can make will stand equally well with the bolder
A company has been formed for working the process
out to its fullest extent, and as they can produce the
work.
actual drawing of the artist in a state to give off impres-
sions in the usual way, in preference to that which is left of
it after it leaves the wood-engraver's hands, it will doubt-
less be used by all who require illustrations either in the
literary or manufacturing world.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE BRIGHTON RE-
VIEW.-011 Monday afternoon the Mayor of Brigh-
ton received an official communication intimating that his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had'decided on at-
tending the forthcoming Easter Monday review. The
Mayor has received his Royal Highness's commands to at-
when. the Prince's
and of course consi-
wteinsdhe as twMillahrlebporrooubaghhl-yhomuasdee too-odwayn,,
Highness will lunch
pdreirveadteilny
the Mayor. atH tisheßro,y,vaill
ion,
withailitsdetails
Brighton, before
going to the review ground. The townspeople are much
gratified at the prospect of a visit from the Prince, and
earnestly hope the Princess may graciously condescend to
accompany him. Meanwhile the review arrangements are
being pushed forward. On Saturday Col. Erskine, inspec-
tor-general of volunteers, visited Brighton, and settled
several prelirainarieti. lie also approved the review ground.