A IMPROVEMENT OF IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING WRITING PAPER, SO AS TO PRE- VENT THE DISCHARGE OF THE INK THEREFROM WITHOUT DETECTION, AND TO PREVENT THE FALSIFICATION OF WRITING THEREOF
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FRANÇOIS EDWARD AULAS, of 38, Grand Rue Verte, in Paris, in the Kingdom
of France, Gentleman, late of Coxspur Street, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Seventh day of November, in the first year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Francois
Edward Aulas, Her special licence, that I, the said Charles Francois Edward
Aulas, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Francois Edward Aulas, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of
"A IMPROVEMENT OF IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING WRITING PAPER, SO AS TO PRE-
VENT THE DISCHARGE OF THE INK THEREFROM WITHOUT DETECTION, AND TO PREVENT
THE FALSIFICATION OF WRITING THEREOF;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Charles Francois Edward Aulas, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six months next and immediately after the date of

page_text: the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto hail, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Francois Edward Aulas, do hereby declare that the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
described and contained as follows, that is to say:—
The object of my Invention is so to print paper as to prevent the effacing
of writing from stamped or other paper without detection, and to prevent or
render very difficult all kind of forgeries of public, private, or commercial
instruments, written or printed; and the method I employ for these purposes
is to cover the paper with an engraved or printed design composed of minute
figures perfectly identical, and capable of being, on near inspection, compared
with one another, yet so minute and symmetrically arranged as to give at a
distance only one uniform tint to the whole surface; and with this design I
blend or unite, by engraving on the same plate or cylinder another design of
a bolder character, presenting so many points of intersection with the original
design as to render an accurate imitation almost, if not absolutely, impossible.
The whole is printed either in delible ink or in indelible ink, or partly in one
and partly in the other, as after described.
The first design, which I shall call the ground design, covers the whole
surface of one or both sides of every sheet of paper, and is obtained, by pre-
ference, by means of a mechanical engraving, composed of a multitude of
microscopic figures perfectly identical one with another, defined by distinct
lines of great fineness, and arranged exceedingly close to each other in symme
trical order. These figures, which present the greatest difficulty for imitation,
such as polygons, stars, spiral and elliptical forms and circles, each of the
minute figures being composed of two or more parallel or concentric lines,
should be used, as offering greater difficulty to be imitated; but each of the
figures may be bounded by a single line. When applied to paper intended
for ordinary writing, this design is to be printed with a delible colour which
would disappear under the action of any chemical agents which may be used
to take out the common writing ink; but it may be also printed with indelible
ink when the only object is to prevent the counterfeiting of certain printed
instruments. The latter method has already been applied in part in the
preparation of bank and other bills and notes.
The second design, which I shall call the vignette, is to occupy a portion of
the ground design, as hereafter mentioned. It may be engraved by machinery
or by hand. The figures of it are to be in clear and well-distinguished
characters, and different in their forms and dimensions from those of the ground

page_text: design. It can be composed of a simple combination of lines, as letters,
polygons, &c., &c., or may represent a human or other figure, or other object.
This vignette, which gives the paper a distinct character or aspect, should only
occupy a fixed space in the margin, head, or other part of each leaf, and is to
be of a dimension so large that all the details may be distinct and visible to
the eye. The vignette, with that part of the ground on which it is engraved,
may be printed, according to circumstances, either with delible ink or with an
indelible color. Note.-When the vignette is printed with indelible ink on a
delible ground, the ink should be aqueous, with a base of carbon lightly acidu-
lated and triturated with a mucilaginous substance, in order to have a proper
consistency and thickness, as is well understood by printers. In any case,
when used for paper already printed on, the usual typographic ink may be
used for the ground and for the vignette; the security is the same in both
cases, since the principal obstacle to counterfeits no longer consists in the great
difficulty of imitating each of the designs, but in the impossibility of uniting
or combining them in such a way as that the chance which directed the com-
binations of the very numerous intersections, arising from the meeting and
crossing of the lines, should reproduce identically the same combinations a
second time, even supposing the counterfeit cylinders or plates to be mathe-
matically similar in all points to the genuine, which is a case not to be
supposed. The plates or cylinders are capable of being reproduced ad infi-
nutum with the most perfect identity, each being in fact struck or produced
from one and the same original; and the intersections of the figures present-
ing so many points of distinction always identical in the genuine instrument,
will prevent attempts of the forger, or instantly betray a counterfeit. It will
be evident, that if the paper be printed all over its surfaces or surface with
only a single microscopic delible design, an obstacle might thus be presented to
a certain extent to partial or general alteration of writings, since this design,
not being imitable by the hand, it would be necessary, in order to comple
the counterfeit, to efface the design, and afterwards to reproduce it by reprint-
ing the paper; but it will be seen that this does not offer sufficient security;
in fact, any clever engraver able to manage a printing press may form an
imitation sufficiently close to confound its original appearance with that of the
true plate. Hence, it will be seen the utility of the union of two designs, for
it will be found that it is only by such means that complete security will be
obtained, and by the identity which, according to the Invention, is obtained in
printing the two designs at once, owing to their being engraved one on the
other on the same printing surface. Note.--In certain cases the impression
of these combined designs, instead of being made on the surface of the paper,

page_text: is placed in the interior. For this purpose the paper is composed of two very
thin leaves, which are united so as to form only one after the impression has
been made upon the interior surface of one of the leaves. The design is thus
preserved from rubbing by foreign substances, and always preserves its perfec-
tion, notwithstanding the injury to the surface of the paper. This application
may take place with advantage when the object is to prevent the counter-
feiting of printed instruments, such as bank notes, &c. The simultaneous
impression of these combined designs is, by preference, effected by means of
engraved cylinders similar to those used in printing cotton cloth and other
fabrics, when it is desired to do the work consecutively and very rapidly, or
it may be done with flat metal plates. The cylinders or plates are to be
engraved by rollers from one model or type susceptible of being reproduced
ad infinitum without sensible alteration, so as to ensure perfect and constant
identity of the engravings. The microscopic ground design, or design which
covers the whole surface of the paper, ought to be of a particular clearness,
finished in a perfectly regular manner, and not presenting any design or
printing when seen at an ordinary distance; but, on the contrary, having the
appearance of an uniform tint or coloured surface, the smallest alteration of
which would destroy the harmony and attract notice. When the paper is
more closely examined, the design printed thereon (and which, as before
explained, is a constant repetition of the same figure) should be capable of
being traced, and the figures of which it is composed discovering the slightest
alterations (if any) in their forms on comparing the parts of the paper one
with the other. It is evident that a paper thus printed with two designs is
inimitable; for, if the microscopic design, or ground design, united with the
vignette, be printed entirely with a delible color, when once this design is
removed, no mechanical or manual method can counterfeit it. If the two
designs be printed with an indelible color, as I propose, in order to secure
papers or bank bills or notes printed in priting ink from forgery, they will
be inimitable for the same reason. Again, if the ground be formed with
delible ink, and the vignette, with that part of the ground on which it is
printed is formed with an indelible color, there will be the same impossibility
of counterfeiting or imitating them, since the regularity and fineness of the
design composing the ground will render it impossible to fabricate, one pre-
senting a perfect coincidence with the indelible part which remains. When
the impression of the ground design and vignette is executed with two
aqueous inks, one being delible and the other indelible, the trough into which
the inking cylinder is partly immersed is divided into two or more compart-
ments intend to contain the different kinds of ink, and which, to prevent them

page_text: mixing, are separated from each other by very thin partitions ranging through
the whole depth of the cylinder. These partitions are continued to the rim
of the cylinder, which gives the impression occupying as much of the circum-
ference as may be requisite; but in order to avoid injury by the friction, the
part which comes into contact with the cylinder and its rim is furnished with
indian rubber or any other elastic substance, in order to correspond with
exactness to the line of contact between the cylinder on which the impression
is made and the partitions in question, so that they may not slip from their
due position. The impression of these two engravings offers, therefore, the
best of all securities against the obliterations of stamped paper, and against
counterfeits in general, or partial alterations of the text. The ink of the
ground design being of the same nature as the common writing ink, the
chemical agent which will destroy a portion of the text, will at the same time
efface the design on which it was written, and leave in its place a very evident
white spot, which must of necessity be made to disappear in order to effect the
counterfeit; but as this can only be done by reproducing thousands of microscopic
figures with perfect clearness, fineness, and regularity, they are an invariable
obstacle to the most piercing sight and the most practised hand. In printing
with delible ink I prefer mixture of pyrolignite of iron and gum dragacanth;
but then the paper ought previously to receive a chemical preparation by
introducing into the texture of it an infusion of nut galls, which may be done
either by dipping the paper in the solution, if common paper is used, or, better
still, by pouring the solution of nut galls into the trough where the paper
pulp is during the process of its manufacture. By this means the nut gall dye
penetrates much more completely into all the particles of the paper, and exerts
a more uniform action in the pyrolignite of iron, which forms the base of the
colour of the impression.
Note. Receipt for the Preparation of the Paper :-First, an infusion of
nut galls; 2d, to pint of water, ' pint pyrolignite of iron, half a pound
gum dragacanth. The proportions are varied according to circumstances,
depending on the strength of color desired.
The paper thus prepared is dried and submitted to the impression, and then
exposed for a few moments to the action of steam or damp, in order to enable
the pyrolignite to sink into the substance of the paper, and cause the acid of
the galls to act, which, uniting with its base, and forming a mixture of the
galls and iron, immediately becomes colored to a shade more or less deep
according to the proportions of galls and iron used in the preparation of the
paper and ink for the impression. It is of importance, in order always to
produce a favorable result, that the paper be carefully manufactured, the rags

page_text: being carefully triturated and cleansed as much as possible from the particles of
iron which they always contain, so that they may not impart a color to it on
adding the solution of nut galls to the pulp. It would also be advisable
to introduce into its texture a water mark with fine strokes, and of a particular
pattern, so as to give it a peculiar and permanent character, as is done more
or less in most writing paper. This, besides, gives a security, and is the more
requisite in stamped papers.
Although the methods employed in forming engraving rollers or cylinders
are familiar to artists who engrave cylinders for printing calicoes and other
fabrics, yet as the mode of application of them is novel in the case under
consideration, I shall proceed to give some of the details, in order to shew the
difficulty, or rather impracticability, of forming a perfect imitation. All the
figures of the ground design are, as before stated, the multiplied products of a
single figure, engraved with extreine care on a punch or die; this die being
brought to the greatest perfection attainable in tempered and stamped upon a
part of the circumference of a small untempered steel cylinder, forming
an impression. This cylinder, being consequently tempered in its turn, is
placed in contact with another steel cylinder, and by a powerful pressure
produces on the second cylinder a relievo or convex impression, the counter-
part of the concave one on the cylinder produced from the original die. This
counterpart being applied to another cylinder of a different diameter, repro-
duces concave impressions of similar figures on the whole periphery of it, their
numbers and distances being determined by the proportion which exists
between the circumference of the two cylinders. Thus one row of figures is
obtained round the cylinder, then another row is added by the side of it, the
same method being still employed, one of the cylinders being moved laterally
so as to obtain the relative distance of the figures as proposed, and the
symetrical position is moreover determined by means of a divider, which deter-
mines the points of contact on the cylinders. From these two rows of concave
figures a relief or convex impression is produced on another cylinder, and from
this latter the whole surface of another cylinder is engraved by successively
changing the position of these cylinders in the direction of their axis, in such
a manner that the relief or convex impression produces successive rows of
impressions, the first row of the figures in relief being always made to corre-
spond with the last row of the concave counterpart. Thus, these two rows of
figures suffico to engrave with similar forms the whole surface of a cylinder,
their relative position being preserved with mathematical exactness. The last-
mentioned cylinder, thus engraved, forms a relief called the mother type,
which in its turn produces a series of matrice types, perfectly similar. To

page_text: produce the vignette, the same methods are used if a mechanical design
is required; but if one is wanted requiring the skill of an artist, it is first
engraved in concave on a steel plate, or on a cylinder suitable to its size, then
a relief or convex impression is obtained upon a cylinder in the way which I
have just described.
I now proceed to explain the process by which this vignette is combined
with the ground design. In order that the combined impressions may be
produced on the same printing surface, one of the matrice types is brought into
contact with the roller or cylinder on which the vignette is engraved in relief,
and then, by a mutual rotary motion, with a pressure sufficient to cause the
relief on the vignette roller, which is tempered, to penetrate to a similar depth
into the matric type. This new design is produced upon that which already
covers the surface of the matrice. Now as chance alone determines the first
points of incidence and intersection of the lines on the one cylinder with those
on the other, it is evident that it will be impossible to obtain a second time
the identical relations, even with similar apparatus. However, the question of
counterfeiting is so important, and interests the whole of society to such
an extent, that although the method described of combining the two designs
would generally be considered to afford all the security which can be desired,
yet a further difficulty to the forger may be offered in the following manner :-
When the two rollers of the ground design and vignette are placed in contact,
so that the one produces an impression upon the other, instead of continuing
the operation uninterruptedly, the moving of one surface is to be accelerated or
retarded. Hence, the mutual relations of the different points of the circum-
ference of the rollers are no longer proportional and regular, and thus the
workman alters as he pleases any part of the figures which covers the cylinders
by changing the points of intersection of the lines, composing them with an
irregularity suitable to his intention. In fact it is easy to comprehend that
when the progress of the one cylinder is checked or retarded in relation to the
other, the figure becomes either contracted or dilated, and as this is varied in
the course of the revolution, it varies the points of incidence of the figures
composing it. Now, as the question here is to transfer one pattern so as to
cover another composed of small microscopic figures, it is apparent that the
smallest alteration in the forms of the pattern reproduced will be sufficient
to give rise to intersections and crossing of the lines altogether different to
what would have been the case if the operation had been completed in the
ordinary way. The simple statement of this method will prove to the most
inexperienced the extent of the fresh difficulties thus opposed to counterfeits,
which become almost mathematically impossible.

page_text: In conclusion, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
parts of the matters herein described in their separate condition, they being
well known and in common use. But what I do claim as the Invention
secured by the present Letters Patent is, the printing paper with such designs
as above described, for preventing the obliteration or alteration of the printing 5
or writing thereon without detection.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Francois Edward Aulas, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
C. F. E. (L.s.) AULAS. I
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1888, the aforesaid Charles Francois Edward Aulas came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped 1
according to the tenor of the Statute mado for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand