AN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING DUPLICATES OF WRITINGS
Year: 1806

page_text: WEDGWOOD'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
WEDGWOOD, of Charles Street, Hampstead Road, in the Parish of Saint
Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting. .
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of
October, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, tho
said Ralph Wedgwood, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence,
full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said Ralph Wedgwood,
my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, and exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom called England, and the. Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR
PRODUCING DUPLICATES OF WRITINGS;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said Ralph Westwood, should not par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything therein-before

page_text: contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as by the said
Letters Patent will appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of and compliance with the said proviso,
I, the said Ralph Wedgwood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is performed, is as follows:-
In writing by this mode, I make use of a prepared paper, which I call
duplicate paper. This is made by thinly smearing over any kind of thin
paper with any kind of oil, preferring those kinds of oil which are least liable
to oxygenizement, or to be evaporated by heat. The ink made use of in this
mode of writing consists of carbon, or any other colouring substance, and
finely levigated in any kind of oil. This ink is to be evenly spread on leaves
of thin paper, or any other thin substance, after which it should remain for
five or six weeks, or any shorter period, betwixt sheets of absorbent or blotting
paper, after which it is fit for use. This I call carbonated paper. Or colouring
matter of any kind and in any other medium or verticle may be used,
provided that medium be such as will admit of the colouring matter being
transferred to the duplicate and writing paper; some colouring substances may
likewise be used without any medium or vehicle. The pens or styles used are
made of agate, ground and polished to a smooth round point. These are
set in metal sockets, or sockets of any other substance; any hard substance
may be substituted for the agate. To write singly in this mode, I lay a leaf
of the carbonated paper upon a smooth tablet of metal, or any other smooth
substance, and over that I lay a leaf of duplicate paper; upon these I write
with the style, the pressure used causing a transfer of the carbon to be made
upon the under side of the duplicate paper, which being transparent instantly
appears through as if written upon the paper. To write double, I lay, first, a leaf
of writing paper upon the tablet; second, a leaf of carbonated paper upon that;
third, upon both a leaf of duplicate paper; and upon the papers so disposed I
write with the style. The effect produced is a double transfer of the carbon from
the carbonated paper, that on the lower surface thereof to the letter paper
beneath it, and that from the upper surface thereof, to the under surface of the
duplicate paper above it; if desired the tablet may be left out, yet the impression
is always much stronger with it. Duplicates may also be formed by substituting
any thin paper for the duplicate paper, and writing thereon with any hard sub-
stance, which will leave a trace behind it, or by using such papers as admit of a
ready absorption of the colouring matter beneath. To make a farther increase
of writings from an original one, I use a set of types and a type tablet; and for
shortening the handwriting the types can be reduced to one figure, namely,
a point, but more figures may be used if seen convenient. These convey the

page_text: square
idea of any letter by the position in which they may be placed in a square, or.
other formed figure, printed or otherwise marked on the writing paper, which.
I call the basis of the letters, and the
character paper.
paper
The
precise shape and size thereof is not of importance, but may be varied at.
pleasure. The types consist of small tubes of metal, or any other material,
round or any other shape, and on that end which is to give the form of the
letters) may be either a round point, or any other simple mark or marks,
as may be thought most convenient. The types are of the same thickness
from end to end, or otherwise as is found most convenient. The type tablet
consists of a piece of flat metal or any other material, and of any dimen-
sions, perforated with holes or sockets to fit the types. On the top of the
type tablet is engraved or otherwise marked squares corresponding with those
upon the character paper, on which it is intended to write or print. To prevent
the accidental shifting of the types in their sockets, they are rubbed with a
little beeswax, softened with oil or any concrete fatty substance. To prevent
the types passing through the sockets of the type tablet in the act of writing,
there is a plate of metal or any other hard substance, of equal size of the type
tablet, fixed at the bottom of it, so that it will admit of the types being pressed
to any given distance through the sockets of the type tablet found most con-
venient, at which place they are thereby stopped. In order to fix the types
previous to taking off impressions, melted lead or any other substance may be
run into the tops of those sockets which are vacated by the depression of the
types which have been used for the composition of any work, the lead uniting
the whole. This I call a stereotyped tablet. This stereotyped tablet may
be used the same as any other type in the common mode of printing, and with
a common press, observing always in printing to place the character paper so
as that the squares thereof and those of the type tablet shall perfectly cor-
respond and meet line for line when pressed upon each other; or leaves of thin
character paper and carbonated paper may be laid alternately upon each
other, and upon this the stereotyped tablet is pressed in any manner found
most convenient. By this means, with a single pressure, a multiplicity of
impressions are formed at once. To write with the new characters I take
one, two, or even six layers of duplicate paper, on which is stamped or printed
the basis of the letters; betwixt every two leaves I lay a leaf of carbonated
paper, and over all I lay the type tablet, each square of which must be exactly
over the squares or figures in the character paper so arranged, and when thus
laid with the point of a metal or other hard pointed style, I press down each
type which I may require to form or word, from which act six copies are pro-
duced on the papers underneath; and when the types are fixed, as before directed

page_text: with lead, a stereotyped tablet is formed, from which other impressions may
be printed in any quantity. After melting out the lead the types may all be
replaced in their respective sockets by gently pressing on their points a metal
or wooden tablet, which will cover the whole of them at once; the type tablet
is then ready for the composition of a second page of any work to be printed
therewith.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Wedgwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of November, in the forty-seventh
George Third, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and six.
RALPH WEDGWOOD. (L.B.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1806, the aforesaid Ralph Wedgwood came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Third day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and six.