Improvements in Machines for and the Method of Embossing or Producing Impressions in Relief on any Suitable Material, such as Leather, Paper, or Wood Fibre..
Year: 1887

page_text: This Specification was, upon the 12th day of November 1889, Amended unler
Sections 18 to 21 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (AMENDED).
Improvements in Machines for and the Method of Embossing or
Producing Impressions in Relief on any Suitable Material, such
as Leather, Paper, or Wood Fibre..
I, JACOB MURRAY BAKER, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Counsellor at Law, do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR AND METHOD OF
EMBOSSING OR PRODUCING IMPRESSIONS IN RELIEF ON ANY SUITABLE MATERIAL,
SUCH AS LEATHER, PAPER OR WOOD FIBRE, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My invention consists in an improved method of embossing paper, wood fibre, &c.,
by impressing the material to be embossed between the die upon which is the raised
or depressed pattern and a body of soft rubber or other suitable elastic material. It
also consists in a machine for practicing the above method. ;-it further consists in the
employment of a metal roller upon which is the ruiced or depressed-pattern-in
combination with another roller having a coating of plastic material, capable of
receiving an impression from the embossed metal roller, and which, after it has been
hardened, will be the exnet counterpart of the embossed roller.
The invention is particularly adapted to produce the embossed wall covering from
the material described in the English Patent No. 3038, dated March 7th, 1885, granted
to Henry Harris Lake as a communication from me, and my United States Patent
No. 331,409, granted to me December 1, 1885.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine showing the combination of the roll having
a depressed pattern with the roll having the soft rubber or other soft elastic coating.
fth A

page_text: Fig. 3 illustrates an end view, showing the roll having a depressed pattern in
combination with the soft rubber or other elastic belt.
Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a-machine, showing the combination of the roll
having a raised pattern with the plastic roller, upon which-the-impression of the
above named roll has been made; and
Figs. 4 and 5 are a surface and edge view of the paper, wood fibre or other
material, as embossed by the machine.
Referring to figures 1 and 2, A A are the vertical supports or frame of the machine.
B is the embossing roller, upon which is a raised or depressed pattern. Upon one
end of the shaft c of this roller, and outside of the frame A, is secured a gear C.
Below the roll B is suspended the roll D, and the shaft d of this roll is mounted in
bearings E, which are adjustable vertically in a slot F in the side frames A. This roll D
is covered with a thick coating of soft rubber f, or any other suitable soft elastic
substance, such as a mixture of rubber and cork.
G is a bracket extending out beyond one end of the frame of the machine and
supporting the shaft h, upon which are the cone pulley H and pinion I. The motion
is transmitted through the belt J to the pulley H and pinion I, and from thence to
the gear C, which engages with said pinion. The elastic surface f of the roller D
being in close contact with the surface of the roller B, the roller D will revolve
with the roller B from its frictional contact with said roller, and in fact be a friction
roller.
Instead of the roller D having a surface covering of soft rubber, soft rubber and
cork or other soft elastic material, a belt K of such elastic material may be used instead
of this covering (see figure 3). In such case, two pulleys L L, are hung horizontally
to each other on either side of the roller D, and with their axes parallel with the axis
of said roller. The belt Kwill then be stretched on said pulleys L L and will
pass between the rollers B and D and under the roller D. The shafts of the
pulleys L L are mounted in bearings m m, which are laterally adjustable in horizontal
slots n n in the frame A, for the purpose of regulating the tightness or slack of the
belt K; and said belt, to make it stronger or more durable, may have a body of
leather, raw-hide or other suitable material, upon the outer surface of which is the
elastic covering.
When the roller B is revolved by the means above described, it will, by frictional
contact with the belt K, cause the latter to revolve upon the pulleys L L, and the
roller D will also revolve by frictional contact with the belt, and form a bearing for
the same under the roller B, and for the material when it is being embossed.
The base of the roller D may be made of metal, wood or other suitable material,
and it may have annular flanges o (see figure 1), between which the elastic material is
retained, or these flanges may be dispensed- with entirely.
The elastic roll as it rotates in conjunction with the embossing metallic roll, forces
the material to be embossed against the said roll and the required impression will be
imparted to the material as it passes between the two rolls, and it is even more
effective than if the design were engraved on two-metal rolls.
P is a horizontal table, which is attached to the frame of the machine, and with its
upper surface opposite or nearly opposite the line of contact of the two rolls B and D,
and transversely upon this table are two strips p, which are at right angles to the
rolls, and adjustably movable toward or away from each other by means of slots in the
table P, and the adjusting bolts r. The table P forms a support for the material as it
is being fed to the rolls, and it and the two strips p p, form guides to conduct the
material between the rolls, the strips p p being adapted to be adjusted so as to allow
different widths of the material to pass between them. A short distance beyond the
line of contact of the rolls, and attached to the table by a vertical adjustment s, is a
lazy friction roller M. The material to be embossed is intended to be passed between
said roller M and the table, and from thence to the embossing rolls. This roller M
assists in guiding the material and smoothing out all its irregularities before it reaches
the embossing rolls, which, when they are operating on the material, will draw it
from under the roller M. A still better guide and smoothing mechanism than this

page_text: roller is provided by the two small rolls NO (see figure 2), one of which is vertically
adjustable to the other. The material T, in passing between these rolls, will have all
the irregularities pressed out of it, and it will ride over the surface of roll D con-
forming with the same, until it passes between it and the roll B to be embossed. The
adjusting screws 1, 1, for raising and lowering the bearings E of the shaft d, are
smooth and unthreaded at their lower portion 2, and revolve in a smooth hole in the
frame, and are retained in position there by collars 3 3. The upper portion 4 of the
screw is threaded, and passes through a threade hole in the adjustable bearings E.
Now when the screws 1, 1 are revolved, instead of their rising and falling, they
A very
simply revolve, while the adjustable bearings E E rise and fall on the screws.
convenient manner of operating these screws is as follows-
On the lower end of each screw is a bevel gear 5, and suspended below them is a
horizontal shaft 6, having a bevel gear 7 near each end, which engage with the gears 5.
Beyond one of the gears 7, on the same shaft 6, is a worm wheel 8, and this engages
with a worm 9, which has on the opposite end of its shaft 10 a hand wheel 11 or a
crank. By turning this wheel 11 or crank one way or the other, the screws 1, 1
(through the instrumentality of the worm 9, wheel 8, and gears 7 and 5), will revolve,
and raise or lower the adjustable hearings E. The roll-U-(figure 4)-may be raised
and lowered by similar means.
When-n-higher-relief is required upon the material to-be-embossed, instead of the
rubber covered rolls D, I use a roller U of the same circumference-as-the-roller-B,
composed of-a-metal-ense, conted with some suitable plastic material (Fig. 4), which
is to be applied in a warm and moist state, and before the plastic-material has become
hardened, the rollers are rotated, and the-design-upon- the roller-B-is-transferred to
the plastic material of the opposite roller-either in cameo or in intaglio, which when it
besomes-dry and-hardened, will form an exnet-counterpart of the design on the
engraved-metal roll, an effect which cannot be-produced-with-so-much-exactness by
the ordinary process of engraving
The roll thus formed being adjusted to rotate in juxtaposition with the metal roll
the required embossed design is produced on the fabric which when dampened is
passed between the two rolls thus constructed and arranged.
The plastic material which I prefer to use for coating the roll U, is composed of
about one and a half pounds of fine saw dust, one pound of pulverized bone charcoal,
one-fourth-pound of resin, one and one half-pounds of shellae, one and one half
pounds of pulverized brick clay, with sufficient asphaltum to enable the mass-to-be
easily worked and to adhere to the roll when applied.
-do-not-confine-myself to the use of the above-named-composition-in-the-exnet
proportions-named nor to any particular-plastic-material for covering the secondary
roll; but intend asing any suitable plastic substance which can be applied in a softened
state-and-before-hardening is capable of securing and retaining the required impression
from the metal-roll, and which when hardened will be sufficiently strong to use-in
conjunction with a metal roll for the purpose of embossing.
Prior to my invention, when embossing has been done by two cut or engraved rolls,
in order that the rolls will produce satisfactory results and true patterns therefor, the
die of one roll must fit exactly into the female die of the other roll and vice versa,
throughout their entire surfaces. This is almost, if not quite, impossible to accomplish;
and even to attain this result as near as possible, it will require a large experience and
very careful and accurate measurement, to get the dies to fit each other. By my
invention, all this difficulty is avoided, for when tho soft rubber roll or belt is used in
connection with the embossing roll, the former will conform itself to the die on the
embossing roll, and force itself and the material with it into said die. Besides which,
being elastic, it will spread out and cover a larger surface of the material than a
metallic roller, and thus make more of a pattern on the material at the same instant. In
the case of the plastic roller, the-exnet reverse pattern of the embossing roll is made
without any more trouble than simply revolving the two rolls together, when the
plastic roll is soft. It will then-answer-the-same-purpose-of-a-metal-roll-having-an
exact reverse pattern of the embossing roll.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is
1st. The improved method of embossing or transmitting a raised or depressed
pattern on paper, wood fibre or any fabric capable of being embossed, consisting in
impressing the material between the die having the pattern and a body of soft rubber
or other soft elastic material, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2nd. The method substantially as herein set forth of producing an embossing roll
which shall be the exact counterpart of a roll having a raised or depressed pattern;
the same consisting in covering a plain roll with a plastic material applied in a warm
or moist state, then rotating the said roll in contnet with a roll-having-a-raised or
de-ressed pattern, so that the design or configuration thereon-will-be-imparted to the
plastic material, after which it is left to harden.
3rd. 2nd. In an embossing machine, the combination of a roll having a raised or
depressed pattern, with a roll having a covering or surface of an a soft elastic
material, whereby as a fabric is passed between the said rolls, the impression on the
roll having the raised or depressed pattern, will be imparted to the fabric,
substantially as described.
4th. 3rd. In an embossing machine, the combination of a roll having a raised or
depressed pattern, with a revolving belt of elastic material, whereby as a fabric is
passed between the said roll and belt, the impression on the roll will be imparted to
the fabric substantially as described.
5th. In an embossing machine, the combination of a roll having a raised or
depressed-pattern with a roll having a covering of plastic-material-to-which the
design from the roll having the raised or depressed pattern has been imparted,
substantially as shown and described.
JACOB MURRAY BAKER.
By G. F. Redfern,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
His Agent.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvemnets in Machines for Embossing or Producing Impressions
in Relief on any Suitable Material, such as Leather, Paper, or
Wood Fibre.
I, JACOB MURRAY BAKER, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Counsellor at Law, do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR EMBOSSING OR PRO-
DUCING IMPRESSIONS IN RELIEF ON ANY SUITABLE MATERIAL, SUCH AS LEATHER,
PAPER OR WOOD FIBRE, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention consists in an improved method of embossing paper, wood fibre, &c.,
by impressing the material to be embossed between the die upon which is the raised
or depressed pattern and a body of soft rubber or other suitable elastic material. It
also consists in a machine for practicing the above method; it further consists in the
employment of a metal roller upon which is the raised or depressed pattern in
combination with another roller having a coating of plastic material, capable of
receiving an impression from the embossed metal roller, and which, after it has been
hardened, will be the exact counterpart of the embossed roller.
The invention is particularly adapted to produce the embossed wall covering from
the material described in the English Patent No. 3038, dated March 7th, 1885, granted
to Henry Harris Lake as a communication from me, and my United States Patent
No. 531,409, granted to me December 1, 1885.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine showing the combination of the roll having
a depressed pattern with the roll having the soft rubber or other elastic coating.
Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

page_text: Fig. 3 illustrates an end view, showing the roll having a depressed pattern in
combination with the soft rubber or other elastic belt.
Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a machine, showing the combination of the roll
having a raised pattern with the plastic roller, upon which the impression of the
above named roll has been made; and
Figs. 5 and 6 are a surface and edge view of the paper, wood fibre or other
material, as embossed by the machine.
Referring to figures 1 and 2, A A are the vertical supports or frame of the machine.
B is the embossing roller, upon which is a raised or depressed pattern. Upon one
end of the shaft c of this roller, and outside of the frame A, is secured a gear C.
Below the roll B is suspended the roll D, and the shaft d of this roll is mounted in
bearings E, which are adjustable vertically in a slot F in the side frames A. This roll D
is covered with a thick coating of soft rubber f, or any other suitable elastic substance,
such as a mixture of rubber and cork.
G is a bracket extending out beyond one end of the frame of the machine and
supporting the shaft h, upon which are the cone pulley H and pinion I. The motion
is transmitted through the belt J to the pulley H and pinion I, and from thence to
the gear C, which engages with said pinion. The elastic surface of the roller D
being in close contact with the surface of the roller B, the roller D will revolve
with the roller B from its frictional contact with said roller, and in fact be a friction
roller.
Instead of the roller D having a surface covering of soft rubber, soft rubber and
cork or other elastic material, a belt K of such elastic material may be used instead
of this covering (see figure 3). In such case, two pulleys L L, are hung horizontally
to each other on either side of the roller D, and with their axes parallel with the axis
of said roller. The belt K will then be stretched on said pulleys L L and will
pass between the rollers B and D and under the roller D. The shafts of the
pulleys L L are mounted in bearings m m, which are laterally adjustable in horizontal
slots n n in the frame A, for the purpose of regulating the tightness or slack of the
belt K; and said belt, to make it stronger or more durable, may have a body of
leather, raw-hide or other suitable material, upon the outer surface of which is the
elastic covering.
When the roller B is revolved by the means above described, it will, by frictional
contact with the belt K, cause the latter to revolve upon the pulleys L L, and the
roller D will also revolve by frictional contact with the belt, and form a bearing for
the same under the roller B, and for the material when it is being embossed.
The base of the roller D may be made of metal, wood or other suitable material,
and it may have annular flanges o (see figure 1), between which the elastic material is
retained, or these flanges may be dispensed with entirely.
The elastic roll as it rotates in conjunction with the embossing metallic roll, forces
the material to be embossed against the said roll and the required impression will be
imparted to the material as it passes between the two rolls, and it is even more
effective than if the design were engraved on two metal rolls.
P is a horizontal table, which is attached to the frame of the machine, and with its
upper surface opposite or nearly opposite the line of contact of the two rolls B and D,
and transversely upon this table are two strips p, which are at right angles to the
rolls, and adjustably movable toward or away from each other by means of slots in the
table P, and the adjusting bolts 2. The table P forms a support for the material as it
is being fed to the rolls, and it and the two strips p p, form guides to conduct the
material between the rolls, the strips p p being adapted to be adjusted so as to allow
different widths of the material to pass between them. A short distance beyond the
line of contact of the rolls, and attached to the table by a vertical adjustments, is a
lazy friction roller M. The material to be embossed is intended to be passed between
said roller M and the table, and from thence to the embossing rolls. This roller M.
assists in guiding the material and smoothing out all its irregularities before it reaches
the embossing rolls, which, when they are operating on the material, will draw it
from under the roller M. A still better guide and smoothing mechanism than this

page_text: roller is provided by the two small rolls NO (see figure 2), one of which is vertically
adjustable to the other. The material T, in passing between these rolls, will have all
the irregularities pressed out of it, and it will ride over the surface of roll D con-
forming with the same, until it passes between it and the roll B to be embossed. The
adjusting screws 1, 1, for raising and lowering the bearings E of the shaft d, are
smooth and unthreaded at their lower portion 2, and revolve in a smooth hole in the
frame, and are retained in position there by collars 33. The upper portion 4 of the
screw is threaded, and passes through a threaded hole in the adjustable bearings E.
Now when the screws 1, 1 are revolved, instead of their rising and falling, they
simply revolve, while the adjustable bearings E E rise and fall on the screws.
A very
convenient manner of operating these screws is as follows-
On the lower end of each screw is a bevel gear 5, and suspended below them is a
horizontal shaft 6, having a bevel gear 7 near each end, which engage with the gears 5.
Beyond one of the gears 7, on the same shaft 6, is a worm wheel 8, and this engages
with a worm 9, which has on the opposite end of its shaft 10 a hand wheel 11 or a
crank. By turning this wheel 11 or crank one way or the other, the screws 1, 1
(through the instrumentality of the worm 9, wheel 8, and gears 7 and 5), will revolve,
and raise or lower the adjustable bearings E. The roll U (figure 4) may be raised
and lowered by similar means.
When a higher relief is required upon the material to be embossed, instead of the
rubber covered rolls D, I use a roller U of the same circumference as the roller B,
composed of a metal case, coated with some suitable plastic material (Fig. 4), which
is to be applied in a warm and moist state, and before the plastic material has become
hardened, the rollers are rotated, and the design upon the roller B is transferred to
the plastic material of the opposite roller either in cameo or intaglio, which when it
becomes dry and hardened, will form an exact counterpart of the design on the
engraved metal roll, an effect which cannot be produced with so much exactness by
the ordinary process of engraving.
The roll thus formed being adjusted to rotate in juxtaposition with the metal roll
the required embossed design is produced on the fabric which when dampened is
passed between the two rolls thus constructed and arranged.
The plastic material which I prefer to use for coating the roll U, is composed of
about one and a half pounds of fine saw-dust, one pound of pulverized bone charcoal,
one-fourth pound of resin, one and one half pounds of shellac, one and one-half
pounds of pulverized brick clay, with sufficient asphaltum to enable the mass to be
easily worked and to adhere to the roll when applied.
I do not confine myself to the use of the above named composition in the exact
proportions named nor to any particular plastic material for covering the secondary
roll, but intend using any suitable plastic substance which can be applied in a softened
state and before hardening is capable of securing and retaining the required impression
from the metal roll, and which when hardened will be sufficiently strong to use in
conjunction with a metal roll for the purpose of embossing.
Prior to my invention, when embossing has been done by two cut or engraved rolls,
in order that the rolls will produce satisfactory results and true patterns therefor, the
die of one roll must fit exactly into the female die of the other roll and vice versa,
throughout their entire surfaces. This almost, if not quite, impossible to accomplish;
and even to attain this result as near as possible, it will require a large experience and
very careful and accurate measurement, to get the dies to fit each other. By my
invention, all this difficulty is avoided, for when the soft rubber roll or belt is used in
connection with the embossing roll, the former will conform itself to the die on the
embossing roll, and force itself and the material with it into said die. Besides which,
being elastic, it will spread out and cover a larger surface of the material than a
metallic roller, and thus make more of a pattern on the material at the same instant. In
the case of the plastic roller, the exact reverse pattern of the embossing roll is made
without any more trouble than simply revolving the two rolls together, when the
plastic roll is soft. It will then answer the same purpose of a metal roll having an
exact reverse pattern of the embossing roll.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is
1st. The improved method of embossing or transmitting a raised or depressed
pattern on paper, wood fibre or any fabric capable of being embossed, consisting in
impressing the material between the die having the pattern and a body of soft rubber
or other elastic material.
2nd. The method substantially as herein set forth of producing an embossing roll
which shall be the exact counterpart of a roll having a raised or depressed pattern,
the same consisting in covering a plain roll with a plastic material applied in a warm
or moist state, then rotating the said roll in contact with a roll having a raised or
depressed pattern, so that the design or configuration thereon will be imparted to the
plastic material, after which it is left to harden.
3rd. In an embossing machine, the combination of a roll having a raised or depressed
pattern, with a roll having a covering or surface of an elastic material, whereby as
a fabric is passed between the said rolls, the impression on the roll having the raised
or depressed pattern, will be imparted to the fabric.
4th. In an embossing machine, the combination of a roll having a raised or
depressed pattern, with a revolving belt of elastic material, whereby as a fabric is
passed between the said roll and belt, the impression on the roll will be imparted to
the fabric.
5th. In an embossing machine, the combination of a roll having a raised or
depressed pattern with a roll having a covering of plastic material to which the
design from the roll having the raised or depressed pattern has been imparted,
substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1887.