A MODE OF PRINTING TABLES OF FARES, ADVERTISEMENTS, NOTICES, TABLETS, ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS, FIGURES, AND OTHER LIKE ANNOUNCE MENTS ON PAINTED OR OTHER SURFACES, TO SUPERSEDE WRITING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Frederick Miller, of Hammersmith, for the
Invention of "A MODE OF PRINTING TABLES OF FARES, ADVERTISEMENTS,
NOTICES, TABLETS, ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS, FIGURES, AND OTHER LIKE ANNOUNCE
MENTS ON PAINTED OR OTHER SURFACES, TO SUPERSEDE WRITING."
Sealed the 5th June 1857, and dated the 8th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Frederick Miller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th December 1856.
J, ROBERT FREDERICK MILLER, of Hammersmith, do hereby declaro the
nature of the said Invention for "A MODE OF PRINTING TABLES OF FARES,
ADVERTISEMENTS, NOTICES, TABLETS, ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS, FIGURES, AND OTHER
LIKE ANNOUNCEMENTS ON PAINTED OR OTHER SURFACES, TO SUPERSEDE WRITING," to
be as follows:-
The process of writing as it is termed, or, in other words, of painting words
and figures on painted or other surfaces, is slow and costly.
Now, my Invention consists of a mode of printing words, figures, and other
signs and designs on painted and other surfaces, instead of "writing" them
by hand with a pencil. To do this, I coat the surface to be printed on with a
composition of turpentine, varnish, and gold size, or. flattened colours of any
kind. The types which I uso (which may be of the ordinary kind or mado

page_text: to any pattern) are to be set as for ordinary printing, and charged by rollers
with a composition of oil and colour.
The prepared surface being impressed on, these types will receive the
to any pattern) are to be set as for ordinary printing, and charged by rollers
with a composition of oil and colour.
The prepared surface being impressed on, these types will receive the
required prints, and the surface may then be painted and varnished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by tho said Robert Frederick Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
FREDERICK MILLER, of Hammersmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Frederick Miller, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Frederick
Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the-said
Robert Frederick Miller, 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 "A MODE OF
PRINTING TABLES OF FARES, ADVERTIZEMENTS, NOTICES, TABLETS, ORNAMENTAL
DESIGNS, FIGURES, AND OTHER LIKE ANNOUNCEMENTS ON PAINTED OR OTHER
SURFACES, TO SUPERSEDE WRITING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Robert Frederick, Miller, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Robert Frederick Miller, do hereby
declare 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:-
The process of writing" as it is termed, or, in other words, of painting
letters, words, and figures on painted or other surfaces, is slow and costly;
for the workman or artist has to form each figure, letter, or other character

page_text: with his pencil and brush, and this involves so much time that this species of
writing, or, more properly, painting, is very expensive, and its use is much
limited.
Now, my Invention consists in superseding this writing, by printing, or, in
other words,, in printing with paint instead of ink, and thereby obtaining a
surface with printed characters, designs, figures, letters, or words thereon
which will resist the weather much better than paper or other similar surfaces
now used for tablets, advertizements, tables of fares, placards, bills, and such like
purposes.:
Hitherto it has not been found practicable to print with paint, for
the impressions have been thick, confused, and what is technically known as
"running." The materials on which I prefer to print in paint are leather, leather
cloth, canvass, millboard, or wood, but I do not restrict myself to any parti-
cular material. The surface of either of these materials, or of any other
which is to be printed on in paint, may be first of all painted in the ordinary
manner, or may be left unpainted. The surface is then to be coated or painted
with a composition, made of any pigment or pigments, dissolved in turpentine
or varnish, or spirits of wine, and mixed with gold or other size. I do not
restrict myself to any particular mixture or composition so long as the same
shall produce what is well known as a "flattened" colour or surface. Instead
of using these flattened' mixtures or colors, however, the whole surface may be
covered with gold leaf, made to adhere in the ordinary manner by the use of
size, and this surface will permit of the use of printing types and will receive
a clear impression. The "flattened" surface, before described, being allowed
to dry, is then ready for printing. As I do not claim anything as of my
Invention in the process of printing, it will be sufficient to observe that the
type used may be of the ordinary kind, made of metal or of wood, and that it
is to be set up or composed in the usual manner, and that the ordinary inking
rollers may be used, they being charged with paint instead of ink. The
flattened or gilt surfaces above described are to be used in the like manner that
paper would be in the ordinary mode of printing, and if the surfaces be
properly flattened or gilt, and the paint used be of a proper consistency, the
impressions given off will be clear and distinct. The paint with which the
rollers are to be charged may be the ordinary oil color paint, made suf-
ficiently thin to run freely on the rollers and be transferred by them to the types.
The ingredients must of course vary with the colours required. After the
printing process is over, the surfaces when dry may be varnished or polished.
For purposes of advertizing, surfaces prepared and printed in this manner will
be very useful, because the bill, placard, tablet, or other notice used may readily
be made impervious to water, and not so otherwise destructible as paper or the

page_text: other materials now used for the tablets used for cab fares, for railway placards,
announcements for omnibus fares, and a variety of useful purposes; this kind'
of printed surface will be cheap, durable, and ornamental. Various designs
may be used, and any pattern, figure, or design produced on the prepared
surface corresponding with that cut, cast, or otherwise formed in the types,
designs, or matrices used for printing from.
.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and how the same
is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I make no claim to any
part of the processes or arts described taken separately; but what I claim is,
preparing surfaces by flattened colours or by gold leaf, so as to render such
surfaces capable of receiving impressions in paint from types or other
matrices.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Frederick Miller, havo hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
ROBT FRED MILLER. (L.8.)