An Improved Process for Transferring to Stone or Metal any Desired Drawings, Paintings, or Photographs for Reproduction in One or More Colours.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, Sist Aug., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 31st May, 1899-Accepted, 29th July, 1899
Date of Application, Sist Aug., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 31st May, 1899-Accepted, 29th July, 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process for Transferring to Stone or Metal any Desired
Drawings, Paintings, or Photographs for Reproduction in One or
More Colours.
I, EMANUEL SPITZER, of 75/II. Theresienstrasse, Munich, in the Empire of
Germany, Artist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object to enable drawings, paintings or photographs
to be reproduced as exactly as possible and in a very fine artistic manner.
The autotype process already employed for transferring the original to the
printing plate yields no completely artistic result because the beer smothers
the fresh white raises the strong places and yields a monotonous grey and an
incorrect tone effect.
By the present improved process these drawbacks are all removed as the
graining necessary for a correct transfer suitable for printing is no longer
obtained by means of beer but in the manner hereinafter described.
The foundation of this improved process consists in the use of the actual grain
of textile fabrics. There is employed for each plate a suitable fabric more or
less corresponding to the object, which fabric is intended to receive the pictorial
representation.
Batist is preferably employed (for instance for fine work) which has a very
complete anil fine texture and a sharp and precise grain produced by the flat
threads.
The picture is drawn, stippled or painted on such a fabric which is suitably
prepared and stuck down on or provided with a support and stretched in a
wedge frame. It is therefore necessary in painting to select a colour or paint
which acts as a glazing colour and is capable of being easily rubbed in with the
brush, in order that the ground or texture of the fabric may remain intact and
not be covered. The use of a ground formed by the texture of the fabric forms
the essential feature of this improved process.
As a suitable paint or colour to be employed for this object, bone black among
others will be found preferable, which with light handling and suitable spread-
ing affords the greatest depth and the tenderest toning.
When the original is ready whilst however maintaining fully intact the
ground of the fabric, a photograph of the original is taken and transferred to
the printing plate in the usual way, the transfer thereby having the same
graining as the original. The painter may thus carry out the process in such
a way that the transfer after the etching shows a completely finished result
thus saving according to artistic requirements any last retouching to render it
transferable to the stone.
In cheap work polished stone is employed, but if a richer tone and more
artistic effect is to be produced the stone is first carefully and sharply grained.
A wealth of various or different grain effects which act together and impart a
finer tone and give the reproduction a hitherto unattained power and softness

page_text: may be obtained by treating the negative as a sensitive plate and by providing
the photolithographic paper also before the preparation, with grain forming
substances.
The sharp because raised and connected grain of the fabric imparts power
and sharpness whilst the grain of the stone yields the softness and artistic
details of the photo type crinkled grain or of the adapted grain of the transfer
paper and allows of the division up to the desired high degree.
If it be desired to employ the process for high relief, after the original has
been made on the fabric the photograph of same is transferred directly on to the
zinc for the purpose of being etched. In better artistic work the before men-
tioned transfer on grained stone is interposed and thereby the softness and
peculiar charm which grained stone gives, is to a certain extent obtained. If
it is a case of transferring a painting which shows no original canvas grain or of
a photograph from nature or other original, which in itself is not capable of
being printed in detail, the necessary disintegration may be produced by photo-
graphically copying the original first on a prepared canvas (batist or other
suitable fabric). When this has been done the picture thus produced on the
canvas is photographed and there is then obtained on the fresh negative a grain
in detail capable of being printed, for the purpose of further treatment as herein-
before described.
.
Another still simpler method consists in photographing the original in the
size desired for the reproduction and then paying the batist or other delicate
fabric on the negative taken, and laying on this fabric layer upon layer a new
fresh plate. After exposure a diapositive which now contains the original in
disintegrated condition capable of being printed, is obtained on the last plate but
in the reproduction it will yield a totally reversed picture. In order then to
obtain a negative suitable for transferring the picture to the printing plate, a
fresh plate is laid on the diapositive and this desired negative is produced by
contact which now contains the grain, which is indispensable for printing,
embodied in the texture of the textile fabric and which may be then transferred
to the printing plate and operated in the usual manner.
If the new process is to be employed for colour printing the precedure is as
follows. If the original to be reproduced is a picture painted in colours which
has no particular grain in itself, the necessary grain is obtained in the manner
herein before described or by copying by photography the picture on a sensitive
painted canvas (batist or the like), another photographic impression is then
taken of it, which accordingly has the desired grain and disintegrates the picture
in a manner suitable for printing. The picture is transferred from this negative
to the printing plate and treated in the usual way thus obtaining a so-called
"key" plate. After the necessary and usual proofs have been made on paper
and the position is reached that faultless impressions are obtained, thus picture
is imprinted on previously prepared batist or other suitable fabric as frequently
as colour plates are necessary for red, blue, yellow and so forth, that is to say
3, 4, 5 and so forth copies.
The preparation of the batist or canvas for the colour plates takes place in
the following manner.
The prepared fabric ready for receiving the grease colours is drawn several
times through the press with strong pressure until it may be assumed that no
further extension of same will take place. It is then carefully and smoothly
stuck onto a firm support such as zinc plates and then dried. The impression
of the "key" plate takes place on these finished plates in as many copies as
colour plates are required. These are then provided with the measuring
plate. The application of the colour on the separate colour plates may then be
commenced. For this three methods may be employed.
"
A. The lithographer takes lithographic chalk (or Indian ink for the very full
and intense places of the colour) and white chalk for covering the places not re-
quired. The result obtained is transferred to stone, etched and finished,

page_text: B. The plate may also be treated with oil colour, the painter works with black
and white oil paint. The picture of the inking plate obtained in this manner
is then again photographed, transferred to the stone and etched.
C. The making of the colour plates is somewhat more troublesome though
more artistic and exact when the trouble is taken to imprint the actual colour
plates (canvas) with a scale, that is, one red, another blue and so forth, the
painter can then also with oil colour touch up the plates with the same shades
of colour as they are to be finally printed in, and they are then photographed
and transferred in the ordinary way. In this method the artist has a better
supervision and a more correct feeling for the colouring. The two latter methods
are ones which are sympathetic to the artist, and even if the re-photographing
is more troublesome and expensive than in the first method, the execution by
the artist is more rapid and certain.
The advantages of the improved process are as follows:-
The actual grain of the textile fabric is a raised grain and therefore each
separate grain has of itself a corporal property of catching light and reflected
light, and forming shadows and semi-shadows or shades. Consequently each
impression reproduces the grain with fullest power and depth and admits in the
transfer the greatest certainty for good etching and for an excellent impression.
The texture of the textile fabric is also generally liked and must therefore be
considered beautiful for all artistic purposes, because it appears uniform whilst
the separate meshes of the fabric which yield the grain are of extraordinarily
great variety and yield much better effects than the templet like autotypes.
The firm close essence of the fabric always imparts a stronger and more granular
character to the reproduction than do the grained papers hitherto employed.
By the actual grain of the fabric used the reproduction is always actually true
much more so than with the graphic methods of reproduction at present
employed.
The process is simple and the cost of manufacture less, whilst the beauty and
impressionability of the reproductions are greater than in the methods of re-
production employed in such cases such as photogravure, photography and
autotypy.
In addition to the advantages enumerated there is an important gain for the
total reproduction process in that the artist himself is able to fully obtain a
reproduction of his work, more particularly in coloured work, such as was never
hitherto attained.
T
201 1
An Improved Process for Transferring to Stone or Metal any Desired
Drawings, Paintings, or Photographs for Reproduction in One or
More Colours.
I, EMANUEL SPITZER, of 75/II. Theresienstrasse, Munich, in the Empire of
Germany, Artist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:
-
This invention has for its object to enable drawings, paintings or photographs
to be reproduced as exactly as possible and in a very fine artistic manner.

page_text: The autotype process already employed for transferring the original to the
printing plate yields no completely artistic result because the beer smothers
the fresh white, reduces the strong places and yields a monotonous grey and an
incorrect tone effect.
By the present improved process these drawbacks are all removed as the
graining necessary for a correct transfer suitable for printing is no longer
obtained by means of beer but in the manner hereinafter described.
The foundation of this improved process consists in the use of the actual grain
of textile fabrics. There is employed for each plate a suitable fabric more or
less corresponding to the object, which fabric is intended to receive the pictorial
representation.
Batiste is preferably employed (for instance for fine work) which has a very
complete and fine texture and a sharp and precise grain produced by the flat
threads.
The picture is drawn, stippled or painted on such a fabric which is suitably
prepared and stuck down on, or provided with, a support and stretched in a
wedge frame. It is therefore necessary in painting to select a colour or paint
which acts as a glazing or wash colour and is capable of being easily rubbed in
with the brush, in order that the ground or texture of the fabric may remain
intact and not be covered or filled in. The use of a ground formed by the texture
of the fabric forms the essential feature of this improved process.
As a suitable paint or colour to be employed for this object, bone black among
others will be found preferable, which with light handling and suitable spread-
ing affords the greatest depth and the tenderest toning.
When the original is ready whilst however maintaining fully intact the
ground of the fabric, a photograph of the original is taken and transferred to
the printing plate in the usual way, the transfer thereby having the same
graining as the original. The painter may thus carry out the process in such
a way that the transfer after the etching shows a completely finished result
thus saving according to artistic requirements any last retouching to render it
transferable to the stone.
In cheap work polished stone is employed, but if a richer tone and more
artistic effect is to be produced the stone is first carefully and sharply grained.
A wealth of various or different grain effects which act together and impart a
finer tone and give the reproduction a hitherto unattained power and softness
may be obtained by treating the negative as a sensitive plate and by providing
the photolithographic paper also before the preparation, with grain forming
substances.
The sharp because raised and connected grain of the fabric imparts power
and sharpness whilst the grain of the stone yields the softness and artistic
details of the photo type crinkled grain or of the adapted grain of the transfer
paner and allows of the division up to the desired high degree.
If it be desired to employ the process for high relief, after the original has
been made on the fabric the photograph of same is transferred directly on to the
zinc for the purpose of being etched. In better artistic work the before men-
tioned transfer on grained stone is interposed and thereby the softness and
peculiar charm which grained stone gives, is to a certain extent obtained. If
it is a case of transferring a painting which shows no original canvas grain or of
a photograph from nature or other original, which in itself is not capable of
being printed in detail, the necessary disintegration may be produced by photo-
graphically copying the original first on a prepared canvas (batiste or other
suitable fabric). When this has been done the picture thus produced on the
canvas is photographed and there is then obtained on the fresh negative a grain
in detail capable of being printed, for the purpose of further treatment as herein-
before described.
Another still simpler method consists in photographing the original in the
size desired for the reproduction and then laying the batiste or other delicate

page_text: fabric on the negative taken, and laying on this fabric layer upon layer a new
fresh plate. After exposure a diapositive which now contains the original in
disintegrated condition capable of being printed, is obtained on the last plate but
in the reproduction it will yield a totally reversed picture. In order then to
obtain a negative suitable for transferring the picture to the printing plate, a
fresh plate is laid on the diapositive and this desired negative is produced by
contact which now contains the grain, which is indispensable for printing,
embodied in the texture of the textile fabric and which may be then transferred
to the printing plate and operated in the usual manner.
If the new process is to be employed for colour printing the procedure is as
follows. If the original to be reproduced is a picture painted in colours which
has no particular grain in itself, the necessary grain is obtained in the manner
herein before described or by copying by photography the picture on a sensitive
painted canvas (batiste or the like), another photographic impression is then
taken of it, which accordingly has the desired grain and disintegrates the picture
in a manner suitable for printing. The picture is transferred from this negative
to the printing plate and treated in the usual way thus obtaining a so-called
"key" plate. After the necessary and usual proofs have been made on paper
and the position is reached in which faultless impressions are obtained, thus picture
is imprinted on previously prepared batiste or other suitable fabric as frequently
as colour plates are necessary for red, blue, yellow and so forth that is to say
3, 4, 5 and so forth copies.
The preparation of the batiste or canvas for the colour plate takes place in
the following manner.
The prepared fabric ready for receiving the grease colours is drawn several
times through the press with strong pressure, until it may be assumed that no
further extension of same will take place. It is then carefully and smoothly,
stuck onto a firm support such as zinc plates and then dried. The impression
of the "key" plate takes place on these finished plates in as many copies as
colour plates are required. These are then provided with the " measuring
plate. The application of the colour on the separate colour plates may then be
commenced. For this three methods may be employed.
رو
A. The lithographer takes lithographic chalk (or Indian ink for the very full
and intense places of the colour) and white chalk for covering the places not re-
quired. The result obtained is transferred to stone, etched and finished.
B. The plate may also be treated with oil colour, the painter works with black
and white oil paint. The picture of the inking plate obtained in this manner
is then again photographed, transferred to the stone and etched.
C. The making of the colour plates is somewhat more troublesome though
more artistic and exact when the trouble is taken to imprint the actual colour
plates (canvas) with a scale, that is, one red, another blue and so forth, the
painter can then also with oil colour touch up the plates with the same shades
of colour as they are to be finally printed in, and they are then photographed
and transferred in the ordinary way. In this method the artist has a better
supervision and a more correct feeling for the colouring. The two latter methods
are ones which are sympathetic to the artist, and even if the re-photographing
is more troublesome and expensive than in the first method, the execution by
the artist is more rapid and certain.
The advantages of the improved process are as follows:-
The actual grain of the textile fabric is a raised grain and therefore each
separate grain has of itself a corporeal property of catching light and reflected
light, and forming shadows and semi-shadows or shades. Consequently each
impression reproduces the grain with fullest power and depth and admits in the
transfer the greatest certainty for good etching and for an excellent impression.
The texture of the textile fabric is also generally liked and must therefore be
considered beautiful for all artistic purposes, because it appears uniform whilst
the separate meshes of the fabric which yield the grain are of extraordinarily

page_text: great variety and yield much better effects than the templet like autotypes.
The firm close nature of the fabric always imparts a stronger and more granular
character to the reproduction than do the grained papers hitherto employed.
By the actual grain of the fabric used the reproduction is always actually true
much more
so than with the graphic methods of reproduction at present
The process is simple and the cost of manufacture less, whilst the beauty and
impressionability of the reproductions are greater than in the methods of re-
production employed in other cases such as photogravure, photography, and
autotypy.
employed.
In addition to the advantages enumerated there is an important gain for the
total reproduction process in that the artist himself is able to fully obtain a
reproduction of his work, more particularly in coloured work, such as was never
hitherto attained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The process for transferring drawings, paintings or natural photographs
to stone or metal printing plates for the purpose of reproduction without beer,
consisting in the picture to be reproduced being artistically drawn or photo-
graphically reproduced on a suitable textile fabric (batiste or the like) with a
complete retention of the grain or texture, and thereby disintegrated in itself
into a reproduction which is capable of being printed, and being then trans-
ferred to the stone or printing plate, substantially as herein before described.
2. A method of carrying out the process hereinbefore described for repro-
duction in one or more colours characterised by a disintegrated "key-plate
capable of yielding impressions being first prepared from the original by the
use of a fabric, and as many impressions being then taken from this key-plate
as colour plates'
'are required, impressed on suitably prepared plates covered
with fabric, these impressions then being formed into colour plates by covering
the places which are not intended to appear, substantially as described.
1
"
3. A modification of the process hereinbefore described for the three-colour
printing process characterised by the colour negative obtained by this process
being divided or disintegrated by means of a fabric so as to be capable of yielding
an impression and afterwards treated to form printing plates, substantially as
described.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents, of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London.