AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGRAVING MACHINE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Emile William Hansen, of Saxe Gotha, Engineer,
for the Invention of "AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGRAVING MACHINE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Emile William Hansen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th April 1854.
I, EMILE WILLIAM HANSEN, of Saxe Gotha, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention of "AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGRAVING MACHINE"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in certain machinery or apparatus by means of
which drawings, engravings, or designs, can, without the application of skilled
manual labor, be copied or engraved upon, metal, wood, or other substances,
either upon the same scale as the original or upon a smaller or a larger scale;
or drawings or designs engraved upon one kind of substance, transferred,
copied, or engraved upon another kind of substance, such transfer or copy
being either raised or sunk, as may be required.
This apparatus can be made to act either in combination with a machine.
similar to a planing machine, or in combination with a machine similar to a
lathe. In the former case, the metal plate upon which the original design has
been drawn by means of lithographic ink mixed with silicate of potash or
some resinous fluid, is fixed upon the table of the planing machine, and opposite
to it the substance upon which the copy engraving is to be effected. Two

page_text: styles, each fixed at the extremity of a lever are, placed, the one immediately
over the plate containing the original, drawing or design, and the other over
the substance to be engraved, upon (the latter being an engraving tool), and
these levers, along with a pair of electro-magnets, are carried by a slide supported
by a pillar between the ends of the table, to which slide a motion transverse
to that of the table can be given. The metal plate, containing the drawing or
design to be copied, as well as the styles, before mentioned, are in connection
with a galvanic battery or an electro-magnetic machine. When the apparatus
is to be put in operation, the table of the planing machine is caused to move
alternately backwards & forwards the requisite distance, either by hand or by
power, and a reversing apparatus which alternately breaks and re-establishes
the electric or galvanic current causes a pair of electro-magnets either to raise
or to depress and place into working position the engraving tool, according as
the style on the opposite side comes in contact with one of the lines of the
original drawing or design, or with the bare metal plate upon which it is
drawn, or vice versa. At thic termination of every stroke of the table, the
engraving tool, the corresponding style, and the clectro-magnets are caused to
travel transversely a very short distance by the slide above-mentioned; and
this transverse motion goes on until the style has passed over the whole width
of the metal plate, or as far as the drawing or design reaclies. In order to
avoid the necessity of giving the machine too rapid a motion, or of spending too
much time over the work, the styles and engraving tools may be multiplied
to any convenient extent, each being provided with its electro-magnet and
reversing apparatus.
The operation of the 'apparatus is the same when' used in combination with
a lathe, except that in that case the plate containing the drawing or design to
be copied or engraved, and the substance upon which it is to be copied, are
fixed to two face plates placed opposite to each other on-the same spindle, the
style and engraving tool having a vertical: motion given to them' whilst the
face plates revolve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Emile William Hansen in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th October 1854. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRÉSENTS SHALL COME, I, EMILE
WILLIAM HANSEN, of Saxe Gotha, Engineer, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One, thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did; for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Emile William Hansen, Her special licence that I; the said Emile
William Hansen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Emile William Hansen, 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
"AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGRAVING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Emile William Hansen, by an instrument in writing
under my hand, and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the naturé
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 Emile William Hansen, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the: same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
upon
My Invention consists in certain machinery or 'apparatus by means of
which drawings, engravings, or designs, can, without skilled manual labor, be
copied or engravèd upon metal, wood, or other substances, either- the
same scale as the original, or upon a smaller or a larger scale of drawings or
designs engraved upon one kind of substance,. 'transferred, copied, or.engraved
upon another kind of substance; such copy or transfer presenting the design in
relief, or the reverse, as níay be required. ::
In order that my Invention may be better understood and readily carried
into effect, I shall proceed to describe the same, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and the letters and figures marked thereon:
Fig: 1 is a longitudinal elevation; Fig. 2, 'an end elevation; and Fig. 3, a
ground plan, of one of my electro-magnetic engraving apparatus, which in some
of its features resembles the. tools or macliines generally known as planing.
machines. A is the table of the machine, resting and sliding upon the bed-
plate B, and to which a reciprocating motion is communicated by a screw C,
and by the groove pulleys D & E, which are driven by cords in opposite
directions, the velocity of the backward and forward motion of the table A
being the same. Two tappets F & G, adjustable in a groove in the side of the
table A, regulate the distance the table has to travel each way, in such a

page_text: manner, that when the tappet F, for instance, comes in contact with the
projection H from the sliding bar I, it disconnects the pulley D from the
screw C, at the same time connecting the pulley E with it, the pulleys taking
hold of the screw by means of grooves and feathers. The cross slide K, which
carries the engraving apparatus, rests upon the slide bed L, and is connected
with the screw M, to which motion is given by means of the ratchet wheel N
click O, rod P, levers Q and R, and weight S, every time the motion of the
table A is reversed. The metallic plate T, upon which the engraving is to be
effected, and the plate U, containing the original which is to be copied, are
placed opposite to each other on the table A. The engraving tools V & Vi
(see also Figs. 2 & 3) consist of a prismatic piece of steel, whose section may
be either a parallelogram of equal sides or a square, one end of which is
tapered off to a point, such point being in a line with one of the edges. These
engraving tools are let into grooves, cut in the spindles W & W1, and there
held fast by the hoops X & Y, X1 & Yi, which are tightened by the screws
Z & Z1, so that after having been ground and replaced, the engraving tools
may always preserve the same distance from each other. The spindles
W&W1, which are to be made as hard as glass, are at liberty to slide upwards
and downwards in equally hard steel rings, fitted into the brackets a &ai, but
prevented from turning round, and the springs b, b, & b1, bi, (see Figs. 1 & 2)
have a tendency constantly to press them upwards. The distance of the point
of the engraving tool from the table A, when the spindles W & W1 are pressed
downwards, by the process which I shall describe hereafter, is determined by
the nuts.c & ci (see Figs. 1 & 2).
The electro-magnetic apparatus, by means of which the engraving tools are
brought into operation, consists principally of the electro-magnets d & di and
of pickers, which complete or interrupt the circuit, under whose influence the
electro-magnets acting upon the engraving tools are. The electro-magnets
are fixed to the uprights e & e1 (see Figs. 1 & 2), and their keepers f& fi are
attached to the levers 9 & 91, which have their fulcrums at h & hi, so that.
when the magnets are under the influence of the current, the ends of the
levers G. & gi depress the spindles W & Wi containing the engraving tools,.
whilst, when the circuit is broken, the springs b, b, 61, 61, immediately raise
them. In order, however, that the raising and depressing of the engraving
tools may take place at the proper time, the feelers i & in, which are made of
steel, and furnished with points of iridium, are used. They are placed in
holes drilled into the angle pieces k & ki, in such a manner, that although at
liberty to rise and fall, they are prevented from moving sideways, and they are-

page_text: isolated by pieces of ivory from the brackets 7 & 11, which are fixed to the
cross slide K. These feelers i & in rest upon the metal plate containing the
original, and operate in the manner hereafter to be explained.
For the purpose of working the machine, two galvanic batteries are required
for every engraving tool, and they must be connected with the machine in
such a manner that there shall be two distinct and separate electric circuits,
the weaker of which to pass from its battery through the coils of the electro-
magnet of the picker, through the machine, the feeler (whenever it touches
the metal), and from thence back to the battery; the other and stronger
circuit, however, to pass from its battery through the coils of the electro-
magnet, through the corresponding part of the picker (whenever the keeper of
the latter is not in contact with its magnet), and from thence back to the
battery. The plate T, which is to be engraved upon, may be composed of an
amalgam of two parts of antimony and three parts of lead, whilst the original
is drawn by means of a non-conducting ink upon the gilt or silver-covered
copper plate U, which is fixed upon the table A by screws. The play of the
engraving tools is determined by the screws m & mi and the nuts c & c1, the
former determining the motion of the tool upwards and the latter limiting
the same downwards.
The machine being in motion, the metal plate U will pass under the feelers
i & in, and every time they touch one of the lines of the drawing the circuit
of the picker is interrupted; consequently, in accordance with the arrange-
ment previously described, the circuit, under whose influence the electro-
magnets of the engraving tools arc, is completed, and therefore the engraving
tools are pressed into the plate T. So soon, however, as the feelers leave the
lines of the drawing, the keepers of the pickers come in contact with their
respective magnets, and the engraving tools are raised by the springs b, b,
b1, b1, because at that moment the electro-magnets d & di become powerless
and loose their respective keepers.
At the termination of each stroke of the table A, as already explained,
the feelers and engraving tools are moved sideways a very small space (the
minimum being 0.0021 inch), when another portion of the lines of the
drawing will be engraved, and so on, until the whole engraving is completed.
It is evident that by these means an engraving is obtained, in which all the
Jines are sunk to the same depth; but by making a cast of such an engraving
of a highly fusible metal, the design can be made to appear in relief. Or if the
sharpness of the lines is not of any very great consequence (and especially if
to produce the requisite effect of light and shade, some of the lines have to be
made still deeper), a layer of wax may be applied by means of a brush, and

page_text: I
after having been slightly coated with graphite, a galvano-plastic copper, deposit
can, be effected, which when finished may be gently ground on a fine stone,
and thus a plate will be obtained.for producing the design in relief. Should
it be required to engrave coarsen drawings,,originals. in relief can be at once
¡cut, in wood, and the pickers can be so-contrived, that the engraving-tools, are
raised when the feelers touch one of the lines, and depressed when they are in
contact with any others part of the original, instead of operating as before
described. If an engraved copper plate or an etched metal plate is to be con-
verted into a plate, for reproducing the design in relief; the lines of the plate in
question.are to be filled with sealing wax, and the plate is thus to be placed
on the machine, and the operation to be conducted as already described....It
will be readily understood, that it is, of great importance that the engraving
tools and feelers should be equidistant from each other. To prove whether
this be the case; two straight. lines, the one. intersecting the other at an angle
of 45% are to be drawn on a copper plate, which afterwards is to be fixed, on
the table,A in such a manner that, one of the lines shall be parallel to the
cross, slide bed L (Figs. 1,-2, & 3,) these lines to be very slightly.engraved
on metal; then, if, the engraving tools are not equidistant from their
respective feelers, the line which is parallel to the cross slide bed I will not
appear connected in the engraving, but it will represent. a number of parallel
lines. To remedy this defects it will, be necessary to move the engraving
tools by so much as the vertical distances of these lines: from each other
amount to in the engraving. If, on the other hand, the engraving tools are not
placed at the same distances from each other as the feelers, the other line, will
n the engraving appear as so many parallel lines, in which case the engraving
tools or feelers are to be moved to the extent of the distances of. these lines
parallel to the cross slide bed K in the same. direction: Although the above-
described apparatus is provided with two engraving, tools only, nothing-prevents
the application of as many of these tools as there may be room for, the nature
of the machine. admitting of its being made of any size that may be found
useful or convenient.
in.
Instead of constructing the engraving apparatus upon the principle of a
planing machine, it might be constructed upon the principle of a turning lathe;
in which case, the plate containing, the drawing. or design to be copied or
engraved, and the substance upon which it is to be copied or engraved, would
have to be fixed to two face plates, placed on a spindle opposite to each other,
the feelers and engraving tools having a vertical motion given to them whilst the
face plates revolve on their axis... The engraving can be produced on a larger
or on a smaller scale than the original, when the apparatus is constructed upon

page_text: the principle of a lathe, by connecting the feelers and engraving tools with
each other by a combination of levers resembling a pentagraph.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim, the producing an engraving, being the copy of a drawing or design
either upon the same or upon a larger or a smaller scale, by causing the
engraving tools to operate upon the substance to be engraved, through the
agency of feelers in connection with electro-magnets only at the precise time
required, in combination with a machine or. apparatus by means of which
the original and the substance to be engraved obtain cither a reciprocating
or a circular motion whilst the feelers and engraving tools pass over them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emile William Hansen, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Third day of October, in the year One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
E. W. HANSEN.. (L.S.)