IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTED AND FIGURED SURFACES AND SURFACES FOR PRINTING FROM, ALSO THE HARDENING OR PREPARING OF CERTAIN OBJECTS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Giuseppe Devincenzi, of Grosvenor Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRODUCING ORNAMENTED AND FIGURED SURFACES AND SURFACES FOR PRINTING
FROM, ALSO THE HARDENING OR PREPARING OF CERTAIN OBJECTS TO BE
EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS."
Sealed the 12th September 1854, and dated the 3rd April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Giuseppe Devincenzi
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd April 1854.
I, GIUSEPPE DEVINCENZI, of Grosvenor Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTED AND FIGURED SURFACES AND SURFACES FOR
PRINTING FROM, ALSO THE HARDENING OR PREPARING OF CERTAIN OBJECTS TO BE
EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the producing of ornamented and figured surfaces,
whether to be employed for printing from, for ornaments, or for whatever
purpose they may be intended, by causing metallic surfaces, and in some cases
other surfaces than metallic, such as wood, ivory, bone, and the like, to take

page_text: by pressure impressions either of natural objects, a process which has been
recently termed "nature printing," or of manufactured objects, or of drawings
or designs made in a particular manner upon the same surfaces or upon
other bodies.
And my Invention consists, first, in employing plates or surfaces of hard
metal, such as steel, copper, and others, or alloys of hard metals, on which the
objects, whether natural or manufactured, or the drawings, are to be impressed;
and in softening beforehand such plates or surfaces by annealing or otherwise,
so as to render them susceptible of receiving a sharp impression by pressure.
These softened plates or surfaces are afterwards hardened again, or become so
during the process, and they become fit for the different purposes to which they
may be intended.
My Invention consists, secondly, in drawing upon a plate or a metallic
surface already softened, as before stated, a design, with varnish or other
suitable adhesive materials,- with which- I- incorporate various suitable hard
bodies, granular or molecular substances, and I impress by pressure such
designs in the same plate or surface. Or I make the design upon another
plate of hard steel, or upon paper or other substance, and by pressing this
design against the surface of a softened metal I obtain the impression there-
upon. In some cases I take the impression of such drawings upon soft
metals, either to obtain an ornamentation thereon, or to obtain a mould for
reproducing by the galvano-plastic process, or even for printing from direct.
And third, my Invention consists in hardening soft objects, such as pieces
of flesh, which might not otherwise give impressions by pressure, by preparing
them with some hardening or preserving substance; as, for instance, I employ
amongst other substances a solution of chloride of mercury and chloride of
aminonium for animal bodies. These figured metallic surfaces, impressed
and hardened as aforesaid, may be used not only for general printing, for
the printing of calico and paper hanging, and for other like purposes, and
for ornaments, but may be employed also for embossing and stamping other
metals, leathers, stuffs, and other materials; and for producing impressed
fac-simile surfaces, by transferring the impressions by pressure upon other
surfaces, softening and hardening the metals, as before stated, and for many
other uses; among others I employ the surfaces with the design produced
upon them as aforesaid, from which to obtain a reverse plate in type or
other suitable metal, which may be employed in a somewhat similar manner to
a stereotype plate for printing from.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Giuseppe Devincenzi in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GIUSEPPE
DEVINCENZI, of Grosvenor Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Giuseppe Devincenzi, Her special licence that I, the said Giuseppe
Devincenzi, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Giuseppe Devincenzi, 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 PRODUCING ORNAMENTED AND FIGURED SURFACES AND SURFACES
POR PRINTING FROM, ALSO THE HARDENING OR PREPARING OF CERTAIN OBJECTS TO
BE EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Giuseppe Devincenzi, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Giuseppe Devincenzi, do hereby
doclare 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, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to the producing of ornamental and figured surfaces,
whether to be employed for printing from, for ornaments, or for whatever
purpose they may be intended, by causing metallic surfaces, and in some
cases other surfaces than metallic, such as wood, ivory, bone, and the like, to
take by pressure impressions either of natural objects (a process which has
been recently termed "nature printing") or of manufactured objects, or of
drawings or designs made in a particular manner upon the same surfaces or
upon other bodies.
The first part of my Invention consists in employing plates or surfaces of

page_text: hard metals, such as steel, copper, and others, or alloys of hard metals, on
which the objects, whether natural or manufactured, or the drawings, are to
be impressed, and in softening beforehand such plates or surfaces by annealing
or otherwise, so as to render them susceptible of receiving a sharp impression
by pressure. These softened plates or surfaces are afterwards hardened, or
become so during the process, and they become fit for the different purposes for
which they may be intended.
The second part of my Invention consists in drawing upon a plate or a
metallic surface already softened, as before stated, a design, with varnish or
other suitable adhesive materials, with which I incorporate various suitable
hard bodies, or granular or molecular substances; and I impress by pressure
such designs in the same plate or surface. Or I make the design upon
another plate of hard steel, or upon paper or other substance, and by pressing
this design against the surface of a softened metal I obtain the impression
thereupon. In some cases I take the impressions of such drawings upon soft
metals, either to obtain an ornamentation thereon, or to obtain a mould for
reproducing by the galvano-plastic process, or even for printing from direct.
The third part of my Invention consists in hardening soft objects, such as
pieces of wood or of flesh, which might not otherwise give impressions, by
pressure, by preparing them with some hardening or preserving substance, as,
for instance, among other substances, a solution of bi-chloride of mercury and
chloride of ammonium for animal bodies. The figured metallic surfaces im-
pressed and hardened as aforesaid may be used, not only for general printing
in typography, for the printing of calico and paper hangings, and for other
like purposes, and for ornaments, but may be employed also for embossing and
stamping other metals, leathers, stuffs, and other materials; and for producing
impressed fac-simile surfaces, by transferring the impressions upon other sur-
faces, softening and hardening the metals, as before stated, and for many other
uses. Among others, I employ the surfaces with the impression produced
upon them as aforesaid, to obtain a reproduction, either by the galvano-plastic
process or by stereotyping.
The following description will more fully explain the nature and objects of
my Invention -For the production of impressions suitable for printing from and
for other like purposes, I employ principally sheets or surfaces of hard metals,
such as steel or copper, which I engrave by my method of pressure. I also
employ for some particular purposes softer metals, or a great number of
alloys, and even other substances, such, for example, as wood. When I employ
sheets of hard metal I commence by rendering them as soft as possible, either
by annealing or by any other means capable of rendering them fit to receive

page_text: impressions; I then place on the plates the objects from which the impression
is to be obtained, whether such objects are natural, such as feathers, leaves, &c.,
or manufactured, such as lace, embroidery, paper cut out in figures, or gene-
rally any object which either possesses or can be made to possess sufficient
hardness, either by desiccation or otherwise; I then subject the metal plates
and the objects on them to strong pressure, and obtain the plates stamped
with an impression of the objects placed on them. This pressure is obtained
generally by means of two rollers of very hard steel, which work in the same
manner as common flatting rollers. When I wish to obtain an impression
sunk on a cylinder or roller, I employ a single pressing roller, against which I
cause to work the roller which is to receive the impression, the object from
which the impression is to be taken being introduced between the rollers. I
do not confine myself to any particular means of obtaining the necessary
pressure, either in the case of flat or cylindrical surfaces. If I wish to
obtain the impression of both sides of the same object, as, for example, the
two sides of a leaf, I place the object between two sheets or surfaces of
metal, and by submitting them to pressure, I obtain impressions of both sides
of the object sunk on the two sheets or surfaces of metal. The plates of
metal are subsequently hardened in the usual way, or, as in the case of copper,
become sufficiently hardened by the compression they undergo in the process
of producing the impression.
In producing impressions according to the second part of my Invention,
I draw or mark upon the surface of a softened sheet of metal, figures or
designs, with varnish or any other suitable adhesive material, such as gum, &c.,
with which I incorporate or unite, by dusting or powdering over through a fine
sieve or otherwise, hard granular matters in a state of powder, more or less
fine, such as emery or other hard body; or I mix the granular matters with
the varnish or adhesive material, previous to applying the same to the surface
of the softened metal; or I form these matters into pencils or sticks, with which
I draw or mark the figures or designs upon the surface of the softened metal.
When the figures or designs are well dried I subject the sheet of metal to
pressure, and thus obtain a perfect impression of the figures or designs.
Sometimes I form the designs as aforesaid on surfaces of hardened steel, or on
paper, or other like substances. I then apply these surfaces against other
sheets or surfaces of softened metal, which by means of pressure are caused
to receive the sunk impressions. After having obtained the sunk impressions,
whether of natural or manufactured objects, on softened metal plates or sur-
faces, I again harden the plates or surfaces, if of steel or other like metal,
by the means ordinarily employed for that purpose. Some metals, such as

page_text: copper, become sufficiently hardened by the compression which they undergo
during the process; I thus obtain sunk impressions on metals suitable for
printing and all kinds of impressing. I sometimes obtain by pressure an
impression of figures or designs produced by the method described on soft
metals, such as lead, or on other soft materials, such as gutta percha, and
I employ these impressions as a mould for reproducing the designs or
figures by the galvano-plastic process in reverse, or for taking a fac-simile of
them. Sometimes also I produce impressions of natural or manufactured
objects or of designs or figures on metal or other materials, such as plaster
of Paris, from which I reproduce the impressions in stereotype by the ordi-
nary process of stereotyping. When I wish to produce an impression in
relief of a sunk design or pattern I use the latter as a mould. In order
to give to the impressions, wnether obtained by the galvano-plastic process
or by stereotyping, the necessary relief for printing from them, I apply some
material so as to cover those parts of the plate which serves as the mould,
which are not occupied by the impression to be reproduced; and some-
times I employ the graver or the action of acids, either on the impression which
serves as the mould, or on the impression reproduced.
The third part of my Invention consists in the employment of some harden-
ing material, for the purpose of hardening objects which would not otherwise
bear the pressure to which they are submitted. I employ a solution of
bi-chloride of mercury and of chloride of ammonium, as above mentioned, in
which I immerse the fleshy or other substance to be hardened, allowing it to
remain there until the required effect is produced. Sometimes I harden the
substances by submitting them to dry heat until they are sufficiently solidified.
The plates or surfaces, whether metallic or non-metallic, on which impressions
have been produced by my improved modes of operating, may be employed for
a large number of uses.
The following may be indicated as among the purposes to which they can
be applied :-
1. For replacing engravings on wood or stereotype plates for printing
from, or for imprinting designs with sunk impressions.
2. For printing cotton, linen, woollen, silk, and other kinds of fabrics,
felt, paper hangings, oil cloth, and other articles, with figured surfaces, either
sunk or in relief.
3. For embossing and producing raised designs on metals, stuffs, felt, leather,
paper, papier maché, gutta percha, wood, ivory, and other articles.
4. For reproducing fac-similes of the impressions, by transferring the im-
pressions on to other metallic surfaces by pressure.

page_text: 5. As moulds for reproducing impressions either by the galvano-plastic
process or by stereotyping.
6. And lastly, for the purposes of ornament.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,-
First, the employment of plates or surfaces of hard metals and alloys for
receiving by pressure sunk impressions of natural or manufactured objects,
such impressions being produced on the said plates or surfaces while in a
softened state, and the plates or surfaces being subsequently hardened, so as to
render them fit for printing from, either by an independent process, or by the
compression to which they are subjected in receiving the said impressions.
Second, the employment of hard granular substances combined or incor-
porated with varnish or other adhesive material, for making designs to be
reproduced as sunk impressions on metallic and other surfaces, as herein-before
described.
Third, the reproduction of impressions of natural or manufactured objects,
or of designs, obtained either on metals or on other materials by stereo-
typing.
And fourth, the hardening of objects to be employed in producing sunk
impressions on metallic and other surfaces, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Giuseppe Devincenzi, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
GIUSEPPE DEVINZI. (L.S.)