CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU- FACTURING, PREPARING, AND ENGRAVING CYLINDERS, ROLLERS, OR OTHER SURFACES FOR PRINTING OR EMBOSSING CALICOES OR OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH-
LOCKETT, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engraver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the Fourth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Lockett, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Joseph Lockett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and assigns,
and such others as the said Joseph Lockett, my executors, administrators, 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, and Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
FACTURING, PREPARING, AND ENGRAVING CYLINDERS, ROLLERS, OR OTHER SURFACES
FOR PRINTING OR EMBOSSING CALICOES OR OTHER FABRICS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Lockett, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to ascertain and
describe the nature of the said Invention, and.. in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Joseph Lockett, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereto annexed and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):
My improvements in manufacturing, preparing, and engraving cylinders,
rollers, or other surfaces for printing or embossing calicoes or other fabrics
consist,―
Firstly, in the employment or application of the force or power usually
termed galvanic or voltaic electricity, and by means of the same force or power
re-coating, covering, or thickening those cylinders, rollers, or other surfaces
which have been manufactured by this or any other process, the engraving.or
etching upon which is required to be obliterated, or which may have been
reduced by former use, or to manufacture a new roller or cylinder by the same
process.
Method or process.-To form a roller or cylinder by this process I take a
mould or shaft of the required diameter, which may be composed of a metallic
or conducting substance, and either retained as a portion of the cylinder, when
formed, or it may be of a non-conducting substance, and the surface sub-
sequently rendered a 'conductor of electricity, and then removed from the
cylinder when it has attained the requisite thickness. A non-conducting
surface for this process may be rendered into a conductor of electricity by any
of the following methods, but no claim is hore made for their application to
any other purposes. It may be rendered a 'conductor by the application of a
metallic leaf or foil of copper, tin, or gold, or combination of these or other
metals, or by an application of a metallic powder of these or any other metals,
or by the application of 'plumbago, or it may be rendered a conductor by an
application of a solution of nitrate of silver, in the first instance, and sub-
sequently deoxidised by a salt or gas having a greater affinity for oxygen than
the salt of silver. The mould or foundation of the cylinder. having-a metallic
surface, or prepared by any of the preceding methods, must now be placed in
a vessel containing a solution of a salt of copper, or water containing about one
sixtieth of its weight of sulphuric acid (the oil of vitriol of commerce): It
must now 'have one end of a copper wire attached to it, the other end of which
must be in connection with 'the positive end of the galvanic battery, having any
number of exciting elements; this is to be regulated by the amount of surface
exposed on the 'mould. Another metallic surface must now be placed in the
vessel containing the mould, and opposed to the surface required to be deposited
In like manner this other metallic surface must have one end of a wire
011.

page_text: attatched to it, the other end of which must be in communication with the
negative end of the battery; the battery for these purposes may be excited by
any of the methods already well known and in use, no claim being made for any
peculiar modification of this instrument; but I usually prefer the sustaining one.
Should it be desirable to perform this process in one vessel, and without the aid
of the battery, it will then be necessary to attach the mould or surface to be de-
posited on to a metal having a greater affinity for oxygen than copper, as zinc or
iron, and it then becomes necessary to keep up a supply of a salt of copper in
that portion of the fluid containing the surface to be deposited on. In operating
with one vessel, I usually divide it into two compartments by a porous substance,
as unglazed earthenware or sheepskin, one compartment containing the zinc
and the other the copper. In the compartment containing the zinc there may
be placed water, slightly acidulated, in the other a solution of a salt of copper.
Should it at any time be found necessary to add to the thickness, or give a
coating of copper to a roller or cylinder already manufactured, either by the
above process or by the methods at present in use, the process above
described will effect that purpose, care, however, being taken that the surface to
he thickened or re-coated is perfectly clean, which may be effected by immersion
in a solution of nitric acid of commerce, diluted with about twenty times its
bulk of water.
Secondly, my improvements consist in a peculiar method of preparing
surfaces by galvanic or voltaic electricity, applicable to cylinders, plates, or
blocks for printing or embossing calicoes and other fabrics. When a cylinder,
plate, or block used for printing has been engraved on by any of the methods
at present in use, or when etched by an acid, it often becomes necessary to
obliterate or stop out a portion of the already engraved ground, in order that
portions may be rendered plain and according to a given pattern or design. To
effect this object I give those portions of the surface which it is intended shall
retain the originally engraved ground a coating of varnish or other protecting
substance, and leave exposed the pattern or portions of the surface it is intended
should be filled up with copper, to be deposited by the electrical action. The
exposed portions must now be cleaned by the method just described. The
block, cylinder, or other surface so prepared must now be placed in a vessel
containing a solution of a salt of copper, and connected by a wire or slip of
metal with a positive end or plate of a galvanic battery, or a single pair of
elementary plates. A surface of copper must then be placed in the vessel
containing the block or cylinder, which must be in connection with the negative
pole or plate of the battery. The prepared surface may itself be made to form.
the negative end of the arrangement by being joined by a wire to a surface of

page_text: a metal having a greater affinity for oxygen than copper, and the operation by
these means conducted in one vessel, which may be separated into compart-
ments by the interposition of a porous substance. But the form of apparatus
I usually employ for effecting this and the preceding processes. is exhibited and
particularly described by reference to Fig. 1 of the Drawings attached to these
presents, which represents an elevation of the apparatus; A, A, A, being the
galvanic battery; B, B, a vessel containing the cylinder or other surface to be
deposited upon; C, the metallic cylinder under operation, and attached by a
copper wire to the positive plate of the battery, and D is the opposing plate or
surface of copper attached by a wire to the negative plate of the battery.
Thirdly, my improvements consist in a simple mechanical contrivance, to be
applied either to the ordinary slide lathe or the engraving machine commonly
used for cylindrical engraving, for the purpose of cleaning, filing, or turning off
the superfluous portions of the copper thus deposited upon rollers or cylinders
and reducing the prominences of the deposited or raised portions on the surface
to an evenness or level with the other portions of the cylinder. This I accom-
plish by means of a revolving cutting or filing tool, easily adjusted to its work
at any part of the rollers, and which may readily be applied to machines now
in use.
In the Drawing attached, Fig. 2, is a side elevation of an ordinary
turning tool, with my improved apparatus attached; Fig. 3 is an end elevation;
and Fig. 4 a plan or horizontal view of one end of the same, shewing more
particularly the cutting tool and its mounting. The roller or cylinder to be
dressed or finished by this apparatus is represented at a, a, supported by and
revolving on the mandril 6, by means of the conical boxes c, c, which fit into
each end of the roller or cylinder. The mandril b, b, is mounted in pedestals
d, d, attached to the bed e, e, of an ordinary slide lathe or engraving machine,
and is made to revolve by any suitable gearing. There is a horizontal bar or
rest f, f, also attached to the bed by means of the pedestals or supports g, g.
It will be seen by reference to the end view, Fig. 3, of the machine, that these
supports 9, 9, are made in two parts, one being moveable and capable of
adjustment by means of the screws h, h, which at this part of the pedestal
carries the bar f, and allows the bar to be regulated or set to the greatest
precision. At the upper end of the pedestals g, g, there are pieces i, i, cut in
an angular form, for the purpose of clipping the ends of the rollers, and also
serving as bearings for the bar f. These pieces may be made of hard wood or
metal, or may have small friction rollers bearing upon the cylinder, if pre-
ferred. The rotary cutting or filing tool or apparatus k is mounted in a
carriage or frame 1, 1, and supported in the sliding frame m by means of the
pedestal n. The cutter is caused to revolve by means of the spur wheel o

page_text: being keyed upon its axis and in gear with the change carrier wheels p, q,
which may be varied to suit the speed required, and the driving power may be
communicated thereto by means of a strap attached to the spur wheel r, or
otherwise. It will be observed that the carriage is provided wfth a screw a
the lower end of which always bears upon the bar or rest f, and thus regulates
the cut of the revolving tool k. The carriage m with the cutting apparatus
slides along the bed e, e, from end to end of the roller by means of the screw t,
or it may be slidden to any part of the bed by hand or otherwise.
Having now particularly described my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I claim
as my Invention the application, employment, or use of the principle, force, or
power of galvanic or voltaic electricity to the purposes herein described or set
forth only; and also the rotary cutting or turning apparatus subsequently
employed upon rollers or cylinders so manufactured or prepared.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Lockett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.