AN IMPROVED METHOD OF IMPRESSING, GILDING, AND PRINTING ON THE EDGES AND COVERS OF Books
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Leighton, of No. 16, New Street Square,
in the City of London, Boookbinder, for the Invention of " AN
Sealed the 29th November 1870, and dated the 2nd September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Leighton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd September 1870.
I, ROBERT LEIGHTON, of No. 16, New Street Square, in the City of
London, Bookbinder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF IMPRESSING, GILDING, AND PRINTING ON THE EDGES
AND COVERS OF Books," to be as follows:-
The edges and covers of books have hitherto been ornamented or as
it is technically called "tooled" by means of an instrument called a fillet
or roll, which consists of a brass roller mounted on an iron carriage and

page_text: having a wooden handle. On the surface of the roller is engraved the
pattern to be impressed on the book. The roller having been heated
with gas or by fire, the pattern is impressed on the book by hand. The
disadvantages of this process are, first, the expense of manual labor,
second, the roller cannot be made more than three-quarters of an inch
wide in consequence of the inability of the workmen to exert sufficient
pressure to impress a broader pattern.
Another mode of ornamenting the covers of books is by the means of
engraved flat dies impressed upon their surface by machinery, but the
advantages of hand labor over this mode and particularly for leather
covers is that the leather varying in substance in different parts the
yielding pressure applied by manual labor adapts itself more readily to
the inequalities of the surface, whereas machinery pressing on all parts.
equally the impressed pattern is frequently irregular, varying with the
substance of the cover. The edges of books cannot be ornamented by
means of dies, for the surface of the edge though apparently level is, in
fact, a series of ridges and inequalities which render the application of a
die to impress a pattern upon it impracticable.
The object of my Invention is to attain by means of the machinery
herein after described, the effect which has hitherto been obtained by
ornamenting by manual labor, and thus at a diminished cost I can
employ rollers of any width, obviating both of the disadvantages of
manual labor.
My Invention consists in a machine having a framework to hold the
book in a proper position which travels under the surface of the roller
by means of a rack and pinion or other suitable arrangement. The
book being placed in the frame rests on an clastic bed, by which means
the inequalities on the surface to be ornamented are reduced to a
minimum. The roller on which the pattern to be impressed is engraved
is a cylinder mounted upon a hollow iron spindle, which is perforated
to permit the entry of sufficient air to admit of the ignition of a jet of
gas by which the roller is heated. This spindle is fitted to two iron
lever rods the longer ends of which project over the end of the machine,
and are weighted according to the pressure required to impress the
pattern, the shorter ends of the lever rods are fixed to the machine so as
to allow cach rod to play upwards and downward independently. The
framework in which the book is fixed travelling beneath the roller as

page_text: before described, the book receives the impression, and by means of the
herein-before described apparatus the position of the roller adapts itself
to the inequalities on the surface of the book. This plan can be adopted
either for plain printing or printing, in colors or gold leaf in the usual
manner.
I prefer to use weights at the longer ends of the lever rods but the
necessary pressure may be applied by means of springs or a treadle,
which is worked by the person in charge of the machine.
For the purpose of ornamenting the covers of a book I employ the
same mechanism, but instead of the framework holding the book I employ
a table having motions similar to the slide rest of a lathe, so that I may.
pass the book under the roller in any direction I please..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Robert Leighton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
LEIGHTON, of No. 16, New Street Square, in the City of London,
Bookbinder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of September; in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Leighton, Her special licence.
that I, the said Robert Leighton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Leighton, 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF IMPRESSING, GILDING, AND PRINTING ON THE EDGES AND. COVERS Of
Books," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Leighton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
.

page_text: 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 Robert Leighton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be 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 :-
The edges and covers of books have hitherto been ornamented or as
it is technically called "tooled" by means of an instrument called a
fillet or roll which consists of a brass roller mounted on an iron carriage
and having a wooden handle. On the surface of the roller is engraved
the pattern to be impressed on the book. The roller having been heated
with gas or by fire the pattern is impressed on the book by hand.
The disadvantages of this process are first the expense of manual labor,
second, the roller cannot be made more than three-quarters of an inch
wide in consequence of the inability of the workmen to exert sufficient
pressure to impress a broader pattern.
Another mode of ornamenting the covers of books is by means of
engraved flat dies impressed upon their surface by machinery, but the
advantages of hand labor over this mode, and particularly for leather
covers is that the leather varying in substance in different parts the
yielding pressure applied by manual labor adapts itself more readily to
the inequalities of the surface, whereas machinery pressing on all parts
equally the impressed pattern is frequently irregular, varying with the
substance of the cover. The edges of books cannot be ornamented by
means of dies, for the surface of the edge though apparently level is, in
fact, a series of ridges and inequalities which render the application of a
die to impress a pattern upon it impracticable.
The object of my Invention is to attain by means of the machinery
herein-after. described, the effect which has hitherto been obtained by
ornamenting by manual labor, and thus at a diminished cost I can
employ rollers of any width, obviating both the disadvantages of manual
labor.
My Invention consists in a machine having a framework to hold the
book in a proper position which travels under the surface of the roller

page_text: by means of a rack and pinion or other suitable arrangement. The book
being placed in the frame rests on an elastic bed by which means the
inequalities on the surface to be ornamented are reduced to a minimum.
The roller on which the pattern. to be impressed is engraved on a
cylinder mounted upon a hollow iron spindle which is perforated to
permit the entry of sufficient air to admit of the ignition of a jet of gas
by which the roller is heated. This spindle is fitted to two iron lever
rods, the longer ends of which project over the end of the machine and
are weighted according to the pressure required to impress the pattern,
the shorter ends of the lever rods are fixed to the machine so as to allow
each rod to play upwards and downward independently. The frame-
work in which the book is fixed travelling beneath the roller as before
described the book receives the impression, and by means of the herein-
before described apparatus the position of the roller adapts itself to the
inequalities on the surface of the book. This plan can be adopted either
for plain printing, or printing in colors, or gold leaf, in the usual manner.
I prefer to use weights at the longer ends of the lever rods, but the
necessary pressure may be applied by means of springs or a treadle_
which is worked by the person in charge of the machine.
For the purpose of ornamenting the covers of a book I employ the
same mechanism, but instead of the framework holding the book I employ
a table having motions similar to the slide rest of a lathe, so that I
pass the book under the roller in any direction I please.
may
Figure 1 is a side elevation of one side; Figure 2 is a side elevation
of the other side; and Figure 3 is a vertical section of a machine con-
structed according to my Invention. a is the embossing roller mounted
on a hollow shaft 6 into which gas is admitted from a tube b', the hollow
shaft is perforated as shewn to admit sufficient air to maintain com-
bustion therein; c, c, are moveable bearings carrying the shaft and
free to slide independently of one another in the standards e, e, so that
as the bearings rise or fall, the shaft 6 (and with it the embossing
roller a) rises or falls simultaneously; e¹, e¹, are rods connected at their
lower ends to the bearings c, c, and linked at their upper ends to
balance levers f, f, whereby the pressure exerted by the embossing
roller is regulated; 9 is the bed or rest upon which the book to be
embossed is laid, the bed proper g' is composed of a piece of india-rubber

page_text: of sufficient elasticity to yield and expand to the inequalities on the:
book to be embossed, and of sufficient elasticity at the same time to
adapt itself to the rise and fall of the embossing roller.. The bed g is.
connected to nuts h, h, travelling on screws h', h³, which through the
crank and bevel gear h², h², h², at top can be raised or lowered to adapt
the bed to the depth of book.operated upon; i, i, are the clamps or jaws
between which the bed before described is placed, and on which the book.
rests for clamping or holding the sides of the book. The jaw i is a
fixture and the jaw is movable, the latter travelling on guide rods k, ;
1, 1, are screws secured to the movable jaw over which threaded nuts.
work carrying worm wheels ", ", at their ends gearing into worms on
a horizontal shaft m, to which motion is given by a handle, and in this.
way the jaw is tightened up or loosed as required, according to the
thickness of book to be embossed. The bed plater to which the jaw i
is bolted, is free to slide sideways_at_certain times_in_V_grooves-in-order-
that the jaws between which the book is held may be placed centrally
below the embossing roller; q is a screw turned by a key for communi-
cating this sideway" motion to the bed plate when required. The
bed plate and jaws i, i, rest on a travelling bed or frame which is
caused to move in V guides to and fro on the frame of the machine by a
rack n, into which a pinion n¹ gears on a shaft carrying at its outer end
an internal toothed wheel o, which itself gears into another pinion o¹ on.
a shaft o² driven by the fly wheel p. The book to be embossed is fixed
between the jaws i, , resting on the elastic bed g, and the travelling.
frame with the book is caused to travel under the embossing roller which
yields to the inequalities on the book by reason of the movable
bearings c, c, rising and falling in the manner herein-before described,
as the uneven surfaces of the book present themselves to the action of
the embossing roller which reproduces any pattern on the book that may
be engraved on the roller.
"
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim with
my improved method of impressing, gilding, and printing on the edges
and covers of books,―
First. The employment of embossing rollers fitted on hollow shafts,
and mounted in moveable bearings substantially in manner herein-before
described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Second. The arrangement and construction of machinery for holding,
adjusting, and carrying books while being impressed with gilding or
printing substantially, as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Leighton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
ROB. LEIGHTON. (L.S.)
Signed & scaled by the above
named Robert Leighton in
the presence of
H. H. BAKER,
of 23, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
Clerk to Messrs. Collette & Co.