A CHEAP AND CONVENIENT METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A COPY OF WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, OR TRACINGS IN INK
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bashley Britten, of Anerley, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "A CHEAP AND CONVENIENT
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A COPY OF WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, OR
TRACINGS IN INK."
Sealed the 22nd June 1855, and dated the 2nd January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bashley Britten at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd January 1855.
I, BASHLEY BRITTEN, of Anerley, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A CHEAP AND CONVENIENT
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A COPY OF WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, OR
TRACINGS IN INK," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists chiefly in the making use in a certain manner of a
person's physical weight for the purpose of obtaining a fac simile copy of
writings, drawings, or tracings, by pressing the absorbing paper, commonly
called press copying paper, in a damped state into close contact with writing,
&c. made with the prepared ink, commonly called copying ink, both of which
are now ordinarily used with the iron press copying machine. By employing
a person's bodily weight in the method I propose, the necessary apparatus for
taking a copy or copies of writing, &c. may be rendered conveniently portable,
and much less expensive than the machines hitherto employed.

page_text: My plan is to make use of a pair of flat plates or pieces of steel, somewhat
larger than the paper on which is the writing, &c. to be copied. One of these
plates should be about th or ths of an inch thick, so as to possess consider-
able stiffness. On this is placed the writing to be copied, with a sheet of the
moistened absorbent paper spread over & in contact with it; over this I find
it best to lay a sheet of the comnion oiled paper, then a sheet or piece of felt
or woollen cloth; on the top of these I place the other steel plate, which
should be thinner than the under one, so as to yield slightly to the partial
pressure it is to receive, & the whole is then placed on the floor, or in some
other convenient situation, & the weight of the person's body is brought
upon it, either by sitting, standing, or treading upon the surface, taking care
that every part receives a proper amount of the pressure. By this means a
portion of the ink of the writing becomes transferred to the damped absorbent
paper, & as perfect a copy may be thus obtained as by the usual more
weighty & expensive presses.
It must be understood that I do not intend to limit myself to any of the
details I have above given, & I hereby claim the right to modify any or all
of them, but I have specified what I have as yet discovered to be the best
method of applying the physical weight of the person for the purpose of
copying writing, &c. But particularly I desire to reserve to myself the right
of using plates or slabs of any other material than steel, such as any other
kind of metal or mineral, wood, paper, or paper board, gutta percha, india-
rubber, &c.; or a single plate of any of these substances instead of two, &
covering it or them with any material I may find serviceable; or of making
use of a layer or piece of some material to which the term "plate" would not
be correctly applied; or of covering the moistened paper with a piece or
pieces of any kind of felt, woollen, cotton, linen, or any other sort of cloth,
oiled cloth, silk, or paper, or india-rubber, or any other substance I may find
well adapted for the purpose. And, finally, the whole may be so arranged or
put together for use or sale in any form of case, cover, or book, which may be
thought to be a convenience or of advantage by me.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bashley Britten in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BASHLEY 35
BRITTEN, of Anerley, in the County of Surrey; Gentleman, send greeting....

page_text: "
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of January,, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her, heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Bashley Britten, Her special licence that I, the said Bashley
Britten, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Bashley Britten, or my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree.with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A CHEAP AND
CONVENIENT METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A COPY OF WRITINGS, DRAW-
INGS, OR TRACINGS IN INK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Bashley Britten, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that. I, the said Bashley Britten, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of this Invention is to produce a machine or an apparatus, such
as may be conveniently used for taking copies of letters, accounts, or other
writings made with the ink commonly known and sold as copying ink, which
apparatus should have the advantage of being light & occupying little space
so as to be portable, & which from its great simplicity of construction might
be sold to the public at a low price. The apparatus consists of two pieces of
stiff millboard, joined together by a leather hinge, like an ordinary portfolio
or writing case. On the outer side of one of the covers is rivetted a thin flat
steel plate, coated with zinc or "galvanised," to prevent its rusting. The
surfaces of the case must be made very flat and even, & the inside should
be lined with cloth or other suitable material. Supplied with the case is a
thin book of absorbent paper, called drying paper, & also a few sheets of
the oiled paper commonly used with copying machines. The object of the
steel plate is to diffuse and equalise the pressure of weight to be applied; it
should be thin enough (about No. 21 on the wire guage) to yield slightly
under the partial pressure brought upon it, & to accommodate itself to any
unevenness of the surface it may be placed on. The object of the cloth

page_text: inside is to assist the diffusion of, pressure, so as to ensure the whole of the
writing being brought into close contact with the moistened copying paper
laid on it.
"The method of using the apparatus isias follows: First thoroughly wet the
thin copying paper, by brushing or sponging it over with water; remove the
excess of moisture, by lightly pressing it between the white drying paper;
lay the writing to be copied, with a sheet of the oiled paper under it, on the
cloth surface inside the case; place the moistened paper over the writing with
another sheet-of-oiled-paper above; close the case carefully, & place the
whole on the floor; stand for a few seconds on the steel plate, treading over
the entire surface, & the thin' paper will acquire a perfect copy of the writing
without the least disfigurement of the original. If the copying paper be used
too wet, it will cause the ink to spread.
I wish it understood, that I do not intend to confine myself to the foregoing
details, either as regards the materials I have mentioned; or the form of putting
the same together or using them. I reserve to myself the right to alter or
niodify them as I may find desirable for the purpose intended.
What I claim as of my Invention is, the means afforded in the above
combination of parts of conveniently applying the weight of, the body; so
as to produce the even and powerful pressure required in the process of
taking copies of writing by means of moistened copying paper, particularly
the employment of a plate or sheet of steel or other metal or material, in the
manner herein described, which plate may or may not be attached to the outer
case or cover.
In witness whereof, the said Bashley Britten hath "hereunto set his hand
and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.