IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR ORNAMENTING METALLIC SURFACES, AND FOR PRODUCING SURFACES IN INTAGLIO OR IN RELIEF, FOR PRINTING PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1856.-A communication from Charles Nègre, of Paris.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR ORNAMENTING METALLIC
SURFACES, AND FOR PRODUCING SURFACES IN INTAGLIO OR IN RELIEF, FOR PRINTING
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to reproduce copies of photographic images,
drawings, and prints, by obtaining from them, by the action of light and the
employment of chymical and galvanic operations, engraved plates, either
in intaglio or in relief, upon iron, steel, copper, and other metals; also to
produce damaskened designs, formed by metals of various colors; also designs
formed of different colors, by means of several engraved plates registering
one with the other; also designs of different colors, gold and platinum, upon
porcelain, earthenware, stoneware, &c.; also enamel or "nielle" work, and
inlaid work upon metals, marble, stone, &c.
In order to obtain these heliographic engravings, damaskenes, &c., I employ
negative reversed proofs and ordinary positive and negative proofs. I spread

page_text: upon a plate of polished "metal a layer of organic matter, such as bitumen,
gelatine, albumen, or gums, made sensitive to the action of light, and capable
at the same time of protecting those parts of the metal which are covered by
it, either from the action of an acid or a galvanic current.
This layer of sensitive organic matter may either be acted upon in a camera
or through a negative reversed proof if it be desired to produce a plate to be
printed from after the manner of copper-plate printing, or through an ordinary
positive proof if it be desired to have a block for letter-press or block printing,
or an ordinary negative is employed if it be desired to produce merely the
damaskening appearance. The parts of the layer of bitumen or other matter
which have been protected from the action of the light are then to be removed
by means of a suitable solvent; I then deposit by galvano-plastic means direct
upon all parts of the metal which have been laid bare by the solvent a layer of a
metal less oxidizable than the plate of metal under operation, and of a different
color if damaskene work be required to be produced. The photogenic layer
which has served to protect certain parts of the metallic plate from the
galvanic deposit is then removed, and the heliographic image formed by the
organic matter having been also removed, there remains upon the metallic
plate a simple heliographic incrustation reproducing the first image, and formed
partly by laying bare the metal serving as a ground, and partly by the layer of
a different metal deposited by galvanic agency.
A shaded incrustation may be obtained by forming an oxide or metallic
sulphuret, the change only taking place at those parts of the metal which are
not covered with the galvanic deposit of gold or silver; those parts of the
design not protected by the galvanic deposit are then "bit in" by means of an
acid diluted with water, or by a galvanic current.
The metal to be eaten into by electricity is immersed as an anode in a
neutral solution of a soluble salt of that metal, or of another metal of the same
nature. Steel may bo immersed as an anode in a solution of an alkaline salt,
or in a saturated solution of sulphate of iron, to which an alkaline salt is added.
Copper is immersed in a neutral bath of sulphate of copper. Brass may also
be immersed in a bath of sulphate of copper, but it is desirable to add a
quantity of sulphate of of zinc, proportioned to the alloy of the metal; gold is
platinized and immersed as an anode in a bath of cyanide and oxide of
gold, &c.
In operating upon zinc, steel, &c., an engraving in relief is obtained by
means of a reversed negative, by causing an acid to act upon the metal when
laid bare after one of the previous operations. After the first biting in, the
parts attacked are wetted with gum water, and by means of a roller with some

page_text: thick ink the heliographic varnish which is to protect the parts in relief
is covered or strengthened. A steel plate thus engraved in intaglio or in
relief may also serve as a matrix from which designs may be struck.
The metallic plate having been etched, an inlaid design may be obtained by
covering the parts in relief with a ground, and immersing the plate as a
cathode in a solution of one of the soluble salts of the metal to be obtained,
which metal will be deposited and will fill up the sunken parts.
"Nielle" work is obtained by filling up the hollow parts with a substance
which will melt into an enamel by means of fire. An engraving in relief may
also be obtained by printing through an ordinary negative the layer of bitumen
placed upon a plate of copper or silver, &c. After the action of the solvent,
the metal will be laid bare at the parts corresponding to the, shaded parts
of the design. The plate is then immersed in a bath of sulphate of copper and
an electric action set up, and the deposit allowed to form to a certain thick-
ness. All the separate parts of the design are then united by means of wires,
which will connect all these detached parts, and when the deposit has attained
sufficient consistency it may be detached from the plate.
One of these heliographic engravings being completed, a proof in printers'
ink is taken off upon thin paper and applied to any surface, such as metal,
marble, stone, &c. to act as a reserve, and a layer of another metal is deposited
upon it in the manner before described for the designs obtained by means of
the sensitive varnish.
On obtaining from these engraved plates a proof formed of a fusible and
volatile matter mixed with a metallic oxide, and applying this proof to por-
celain, earthenware, stoneware, &c., the design will become solidified by the
action of heat, and the color will be brought out.
The layer of gelatine, albumen, or gum, with the added chemical ingredients,
having been acted upon through a reversed negative, and all the parts pro-
tected from the action of light having been dissolved, the polished metal will be
laid bare at those parts which correspond to the light parts of the design.
The surface of polished metal when exposed to the air becomes covered with
a film, which protects it from the contact of water. This property of polished
metals may be taken advantage of for covering the printed plate with varnish
or printers' ink, which will only adhere to those parts of the metal which have
been laid bare.
The layer of gelatine, and also those parts of the metal which it covers, are
then attacked with acid, and an engraving in intaglio or in relief is obtained,
according to the nature of the plate which has been employed.
In order to reproduco in copper an engraved steel plate, all the surface of

page_text: the engraved plate is covered with gold or platinum, and afterwards, by
galvanic agency, copper is deposited thereon and an exact counterpart of the
engraving is produced. This deposit is then removed, and by means of a fresh
deposit upon this latter an exact copy of the original plate will be obtained.
Engraved plates in intaglio and in relief may also be obtained from
photographs, drawings, &c. by chymical and galvanic operations without the
employment of the organic matters above mentioned. For this purpose
the metal is reduced in the parts of the sensitive layer, acted upon by the light,
when this, layer consists of a salt of silver, or any other metallic salt sensitive to
light. The reduction of silver is effected by allowing the photograph to
remain in a bath of gallic acid and nitrate of silver.
The photograph or drawing immersed in a solution of a metallic salt, and
exposed to vapor of phosphorus, will also reduce the metal in the dark parts
of the picture. In this case, the two properties known to appertain to phos-
phorus are called into action, viz., 1st, that of only adhering in the form
of vapor to the dark parts of a picture; and, 2nd, that of assisting in the
reduction and revivification of a metal in solution. Sulphites and phosphates
also assist in in the revivification of the metal. A lengthened exposure to light
will also, suffice in certain cases. A deposit of copper is effected upon all the
parts of a design thus metallized..
If the picture operated upon is a reversed negative, it is necessary, as soon
as the first deposit has acquired a certain consistence, to spread upon the whole
surface of the picture obtained upon glass, or attached by means of varnish to
any plane surface, a close layer of copper filings, which, by allowing of a
deposit upon the whole surface of the picture, will by its grain give a dark tint
to the impression; the metal will only penetrate the polished surface (which is
to produce the light parts in those parts which are in contact with the metal-
lized parts of the picture. When the deposit is deemed to be of sufficient
thickness it is removed from the original picture.