IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGRAVING AND PRINTING FOR THE PURPOSE OF ORNAMENTING CHINA AND EARTHENWARE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lander, of the City of Bristol, Engraver,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGRAVING AND PRINTING FOR THE
PURPOSE OF ORNAMENTING CHINA AND EARTHENWARE."
Sealed the 25th March 1859, and dated the 27th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lander at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th September 1858.
I, WILLIAM LANDER, of the City of Bristol, Engraver, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGRAVING AND
PRINTING FOR THE PURPOSE OF ORNAMENTING CHINA AND EARTHENWARE," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in engraving and printing in various colours, adapted
to the ornamentation of china and earthenware from portions of plates taken
by galvanic agency from a general plate containing the whole subject, and in
a mode of ensuring a correct register or adjustment of those plates in the
process of printing. By way of exemplification, I proceed to describe one
means of carrying my Invention into effect, without, however, limiting myself
thereto.
In the first instance I engrave my subject in the usual manner on the
surface of a copperplate. From this original plate I produce as many metal
copies by galvanic agency as there are colours to be printed.
Secondly, I erase a part of the work previously engraved on the several

page_text: plates, so that the portion of the engraving present on each plate shall be
absent from the surface of all the rest.
Thirdly, when the plates are required to be printed, each will be restricted
to one particular colour, and when the successive impressions are made by the
several plates on one paper, the subject will be then completed for transferring
to the ware.
Fourthly, to ensure true register in the combination of the parts of the
subject on the several plates I construct a metal frame for securing the plates
and paper from the possibility of shifting from their proper positions during
the operation of printing by the rolling press.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Lander in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LANDER, of the City of Bristol, Engraver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Lander, Her special licence that I, the said
William Lander, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Lander, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGRAVING AND PRINTING FOR THE PURPOSE OF ORNAMENTING
CHINA AND EARTHENWARE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Lander, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 William Lander, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
J
My Invention consists in engraving and printing in various colours, adapted
to the ornamentation of china and earthenware from portions of plates taken
by galvanic agency from a general plate containing the whole subject, and in
a mode of ensuring a correct register or adjustment of those plates in the
process of printing. By way of exemplification, I proceed to describe one
means of carrying my Invention into effect, without, however, limiting myself
thereto. In the first instance I engrave my subject in the usual manner on
the surface of a copperplate. From this original plate I produce as many
metal copies by galvanic agency, or, in other words by the electrotype process
as there are colours to be printed.
:
Secondly, I erase a part of the work previously engraved on the several
plates, so that the portion of the engraving present on each plate shall be
absent from the surface of all the rest. This done, the several portions
remaining are then finished with the graver or otherwise, completing the work
on each plate sufficiently for printing.
Thirdly, when the plates are required to be printed, each will be restricted
to one particular colour, and when the successive impressions are made by the
several plates on one sheet of paper or other suitable material, the subject will
then be completed for transferring to the ware.
Fourthly, to ensure true register in the combination of the parts of the
subject on the several plates, I construct a metal frame for securing the
plates and paper from the possibility of shifting from their proper positions
during the operation of printing by the rolling press. This metal frame is
illustrated in the Drawing hereunto annexed; when in operation, it is placed
on the plank of a copperplate rolling press. The brass plates A, A, when
closed together by a turnscrew, hold the paper for printing between them
perfectly secure from shifting during its passage under the rolling press in a
similar manner to that by which a watch glass is confined by the besell. These
two plates are attached to a thick brass plate B by hinges or centres, and
when the paper is fixed between them they are thrown back upon that plate.
This done, they are brought forward on the copperplate charged with colour
to produce the impression by the aid of the rolling press. The copperplate
square, with a projecting circular disc C, which drops into a rabbet.
is
On its
face is engraved a part of the subject to be printed, formed on a brass mould
by galvanic agency, which ensures exact duplicates in form, size, and weight.
The number of plates for each subject depend on the number of colours required

page_text: to produce the whole picture. D is a brass frame for confining the printing
plate within its rabbet, above this is another rabbet to receive the plates for
confining the paper while the impression is being made by the rolling press.
After the impression is taken, the plates containing the paper are lifted up
and thrown back on the brass plate marked B, then the next plate is sub-
stituted in its place, charged with another colour, and so of all the remaining
plates, the paper remaining stationary until the whole number of plates are
printed. The whole of the apparatus described is mounted upon the surface
of a massive wrought-iron plate E, both surfaces being made perfect and
perfectly parallel to each other by the planing machine, and consequently of
equal thickness throughout.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the method of engraving and printing in various colours, adapted to
the ornamentation of china and earthenware from portions of plates taken by
galvanic agency from .a general plate containing the whole subject, as herein-
before described.
Secondly, the method, herein-before described, of ensuring a correct register
for adjustment of the printing plates, together with the apparatus for the same,
illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lander, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
William Lander, in the presence of
WILLIAM LANDER. (L.S.)
J. BARKER, Sol.,
Bristol.