IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS APPLIED TO THE PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF PELLI- CULAR NEGATIVES, TRANSFER PIGMENT PRINTING, PIGMENTS AND PIGMENT PAPER, AND IN APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREFOR."
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon and
Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PHOTOGRAPHY AS APPLIED TO THE PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF PELLI-
CULAR NEGATIVES, TRANSFER PIGMENT PRINTING, PIGMENTS AND PIGMENT
PAPER, AND IN APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREFOR." A communication from
abroad by John Robert Johnson, of 39, Rue Borghese, Neuilly, Paris, Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th April 1877.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS APPLIED TO THE PREPARATION AND
TREATMENT OF PELLICULAR NEGATIVES, TRANSFER PIGMENT PRINTING, PIGMENTS
AND PIGMENT PAPER, AND IN APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREFOR." A communica-
tion from abroad by John Robert Johnson, of 39, Rue Borghese, Neuilly, Paris,
Engineer.
This Invention consists of sundry improvements in the photographic operations
by which pictures are obtained in carbon or other permanent pigments, a process
which has also been called the "autotype" or autotypy. As ordinarily practised
this is well understood, many editions of the Manual of the Autotype Process,
originally written by the Inventor to these improvements, having been published.
My improvements will be best described under two heads or chapters,―
A. Those which relate to the double transfer process.
B. Those which relate to the simple or single transfer process, some of which will
be found of important use for other processes of photography, that is, whenever a
negative has to be taken and preserved.
My first improvement consists in the substitution of alizarine or colouring principle
of madder, well known to be perfectly stable when combined with an earthy or
metallic base, instead of the fugitive preparations of cochincal hitherto used for
obtaining the brilliant purple tones for pigment prints. Small quantities of alizarinę

page_text: have already been used combined with other opaque red colouring matters, such as
Indian red, but when sufficient is employed in the usual way to give the red tint
alone, the paper employed to receive the finished proof becomes stained red or pink
instead of remaining white. As is well known, alizarine is soluble in the alkalies
and their carbonates, and is precipitated therefrom as a coloured lake by the earthy
and metallic salts, and particularly by alum and by sulphate of zinc, which yields a
brilliant red lake; but the salts of alum and zinc also precipitate gelatine, which is
the basis of the colour compound used for preparing the pigment paper, so that when
sufficient alum is employed to fix or render insoluble the alizarine lake, that lake,
when mixed with the gelatine and bichromate of potash to form the pigment paper,
renders the pigment compound insoluble and unfit for usc. I avoid this result by
employing sufficient aluminous salt to produce the full red colour, and afterwards add
a lime or magnesian salt to effect complete insolubility. I thus obtain the brilliance
and permanence due to the alizarine without rendering the gelatine insoluble.
A pigment paper made by a mixture of China or Indian ink, or other black pig-
ment, and alizarine lake, so as to have a rich marine or amaroush tint, may be
"toned" by a weak solution of perchloride or persulphate of iron, to which a few
drops of hydrochloric acid have been added, in the same way as the tints produced
by a salt of silver are "toned" or turned from red to violet by the salts of gold.
I claim the use of alizarine lake formed by alumina mixed with lime, magnesia, or
other earthy matter capable of fixing the alizarine without rendering insoluble the
gelatine when employed for pigment paper.
And I claim the mode described for "toning" prints produced by such lake or
lakes.
My second improvement consists in a new method of preparing pigment paper,
and of sensitising the same when already made, but made insensitive, that is,
without the bichromate.
It has been usual to spread the gelatine pigment compound upon paper in as cool
a place as possible, and immediately to hang it up to dry in such cool airy place.
In the same way, when the paper is made insensitive it is rendered sensitive by
immersion in a solution of the bichromate of potash or other bichromate, and is then
suspended in such a cool airy room.
I operate in a totally different manner. After spreading the gelatine compound
upon the paper, or after plunging the already prepared paper into the bichromato
bath, I lay it flat upon a level surface upon a plate heated to 90 or 100 degrees
Fahrenheit, and I maintain the wet pigment paper in this position for 15 to 30
minutes, by which time the denser particles of colour have settled to the lowest
stratum of the pigment compound, particularly such heavy or larger particles as
have escaped filtration or which have clogged together during the preparation, and
which would form a blot or spot upon the ultimate picture. Paper so treated
having a less denso pigment compound on the surface, and a denser compound
below, yield more delicate half tones and more vigorous shadows than paper made
in the ordinary way; and as water is lost during the heating, and the compound
becomes more concentrated, it does not run from the paper when suspended in warm
weather. In a hot atmosphere the duration of the heating operation while the paper 4
is in the horizontal position may be considerably greater than has been stated. It is
scarcely necessary to say that the paper so treated must either be allowed to cool
before being suspended vertically, or the operation must last till the gelatine com-
pound is too thick to run.
My third improvement consists in substituting for glass and porcelain, used as the t
temporary support for holding the print by suction during the development, card or
millboard made by some waterproof cement instead of by paste or glue, and with a
white highly polished face of paper prepared with shellac or other waterproof sub-
stance; or I use sheets of tinted iron or zine faced with such higly glazed impervious
paper, such paper being attached to the metal by india-rubber, or marine glue, or 5
dissolved shellac, either by direct application to the face of the metal, or by folding
over the edges of the paper and attaching the edges by cement behind.

page_text: Such prepared paper may be renewed when worn out ad infinitum, and after each
operation of developing a picture it has only to be rubbed over by a flannel and a
little wax and resin dissolved in benzine, as is well understood, to be ready for
another operation.
Such prepared panel is not only much more easily handled than the flexible sup-
ports hitherto used, whether made by a simple coating of shellac (seo first edition of
Autotype Manual), or the more completo coating used by Mr. Sawyer, but is far
more economical, as when attached to the panel or plato it may be used a great
number of times without renewal.
I claim the use of cardboard made impermeable to water, and sheets of metal
coated with prepared paper as the temporary support in obtaining a reversed proof
by pigment printing.
It is usual after the print has been developed upon the temporary support, and
has been fixed by immersion in alum, to allow it to dry, and afterwards to transfor
it to prepared paper, called the second transfer paper.
Instead of thus operating, my fourth improvement consists in treating such print
after leaving the alum bath and having been rinsed well in water, to allow the
washed print to drain well, but before drying I coat it with n gelatine solution ren-
dered opaque by zinc white or other white pignant. After this coating the plate
or sheet of cardboard is placed in a horizontal position, and where the film of white
gelatine has set or solidified, a thin bit of tissue paper is wetted in water and laid
upon the solidified gelatine. A little pressure with a brush or sponge causes the
paper to adhere, and when the whole is dry it may be removed, or it may have the
cardboard mount applied before being taken from the glass; or, instead of the inter-
vening paper, the card mount may be applied directly upon the gelatine, and
pressed thereon. After the pressure has been continued for some time the card will
have become permanently affixed. I would however observe that when the negatives
are old or imperfect, and the prints require much touching, and particularly when
the prints have been developed upon collodion or upon the substitute for collodion,
to be described, the direct application of the white while the print is in the wet
state cannot be made. In these cases the print must be allowed to dry before the
touching or spotting to correct the defective prints is made, and the gelatine and
white must be applied subsequently. I prefer however to give to the wet prints
before drying a thin coating of gelatine and gelatine and chrome alum to fill up the
hollows and support the relief, which defines the picture during the drying opera-
tion. Pictures so treated are greatly superior to those which have been allowed to
guide without such treatment. I do not however claim the use of transparent gola-
tine, but that only on which the gelatine has been made opaque to replace the more
or less double transfer paper, not only on the ground of economy, but that the
results are greatly superior, being in fact equal in every respect to a single transfer
print upon opal glass.
5. My fifth improvement consists in the use of a gelatine solution, say of four
per cent. strength, rendered insoluble when dry by a small quantity of chrome alum,
as is well understood, instead of the usual collodion coating for preparing the
temporary support when a polished surface is required. I pour this solution on the
plate prepared by wax or sterine, as is usual when collodion is used. I allow it to
dry, and before applying the print I pass the prepared plate into warm water to
soften the gelatine and remove the excess of chrome alum. After this treatment the
insolated print must be applied to the gelatine coating and the development pro-
ceeded with; second, when collodion is employed I claim the use of the well-known
gelatine solution for this purpose.
My first and chief improvement under this head of my Invention consists of a
new method of obtaining reversed negatives without which, as is well known,
prints produced by the single transfer process of pigment printing are themselves
reversed, as when an object is viewed in a mirror or looking glass.
The only certain mode of removing the collodion film from the glass upon which
it has been taken, so as to apply it to print upon the sido in contact with the glass,

page_text: consists in pouring upon the negative a solution of gelatine, allowing the gelatine
film to dry, for which from 12 to 24 hours are required, according to the thickness
of that film. Upon the dry gelatine a coating of collodion is then poured, which is
again allowed to dry, and the compound pellicle with the adhering negative is
detached from the glass.
Instead of this tedious preparation which renders the negative incapable of being
employed for printing for so long a period, I prepare the double film of gelatine and
collodion before hand upon a clean plate prepared with a filin of wax or resin, and I
apply it when detached to the surface of the finished negative, but as is well known
such application cannot be mado directly as the gelatine, wetted, swells and extends,
and curls up and cannot be made to adhere. I avoid this difficulty by immersing
both negative and double pellicle in water, to which sufficient alcohol has been
added to prevent the absorption of the water by the gelatine and consequently its
consequent extension and retraction, and by using this fluid slightly warmed to a
greater or less degree, according to greater or less quantity of the alcohol. As soon
as the gelatine begins to dissolve without the preliminary swelling, and when this is
observed the surface of the gelatine and that of the negative are brought together
under the mixed fluid and are lifted simultaneously out of that fluid and placed
upon a horizontal support; a piece of oiled paper or oiled silk is then laid over them
and pressure given by the squeegee or other means. When quite cold the two
surfaces will be found united, and pellicular flexible negative may be lifted from the
plate, and if placed between the leaves of highly dried paper under a slight pressure,
it will dry rapidly, quite straight, and may be used immediately with either side of
the negative applied to the sensitive paper. Such pellicle negatives may be
worked up exactly as if on glass when prepared by varnish or otherwise for that
purpose.
As is well understood the glass must be prepared with an infinitely thin stratun
on wax before applying the collodion to form the negative to be removed from the
glass, or if this be not done, the finished negative must be immersed in water
acidified with chlorhydric acid, and maintained therein until the pellicle shews signs
of becoming detached. It must then be washed in water to remove the acid and is
ready for immersion in the water and alcohol.
When the negative is larger, instead of the gelatine and collodion pellicle I use
paper made transparent, coated with a solution of gelatine or gelatine and chrome
alum, and I apply it to the negative exactly as a carbon print is transferred from
the temporary to the permanent support, as is well understood. And when the
negative is very large I prefer to operate in a different manner. I coat the edges of
a large sheet of plate glass with a solution of caoutchouc as if for the preparation of
a dry collodion plate. Upon this plate I apply a sheet of thin transparent paper
which has been wetted with a 1 per cent. solution of bromide of potassium in water.
When this paper has been dried I apply a coating of bromide of silver emulsion,
either on collodion or a solution of gelatine, and I develop and fix the negative after
exposure in the ordinary manner. When the finished negative has become dry, I
apply another sheet of transparent paper previously coated with gelatine or gelatine
and chrome alum, as before described. The negative is thus imprisoned between
two sheets of transparent paper, either of which may be worked upon by a lead
pencil or stump to any extent.
It is obvious that even if the negatives are not required to be reversed, the process
described offers great advantages :-
1. On the ground of economy replacing plate glass by glue and collodion.
2. For transport or transmission by post.
3. For facility of storage, &c., &c.
I have described the transfer as taking place upon plain pellicles or paper, but
pellicles or paper with a printed border or an inscription may be employed; or a
second negative or carbon print in transparent medium may be used as the
transporting film, or if it has been taken with an appropriate or "cache." Again,
such transferred negatives may be trimmed with scissors and inserted in appropriate

page_text: negatives, in which a space has been left transparent, so that the doubled negative
may yield pictures with frames or borders, or figures with landscape backgrounds, or
other combinations.
I claim the mode of transferring negatives, described simple or compound.
2. My second improvement in single transfer pigment printing consists in substi-
tuting for the usual single transfer paper a card or board formed of two or more
layers of paper cemented together by bleached shellac dissolved in liquid ammonia
or in a solution of borax or other cement insoluble in water. By this means
mounting of the ultimate print is required. I apply this process to the prints of
enlargements which are thus obtained upon the board to be used without any inter-
mediate mounting, and to the printing of cartes de visites, the pellicular negatives
being trimmed to the proper size and mounted with or without borders upon a
sheet of plate glass. Such collection of negatives may be rendered capable of being
printed simultaneously by proper selection, if many are used, so that only negatives
of equal printing density are employed on the same plate. If this be not possiblo
the negatives less dense than the others are brought to the same degree of
translucency by the addition of gelatine pellicle to the back, or by transparent
paper, as is well understood. On cutting the negative to the proper size, allowance
should be made for the "safe edge," the line of opaque or nearly opaque varnish
round the picture, although this is scarcely necessary in single transfer printings
unless the pigment paper be too soluble or the prints require to be greatly reduced
from excess of density from over printing. Any number of negatives may be thus
printed together, but it will he convenient probably to arrange them in dozens in
such a manner that they have only to be cut horizontally and vertically by tho
shears or cutting machine to yield one dozen cartes.
In the preparation of the paper card or panel described, I prefer with such
paper, &c., have a film of opaque white over the surface to receive the print, in
order to hide the grain of the paper.
Enamelled paper has not hitherto been used for single transfer paper, as when the
pigment for producing the enamelled surface is used in sufficient quantity for this
purpose, it becomes stained by the bichromate of the pigment compound, I find how-
ever, that if kaolin or china clay be employed as the pigment to give the enamel
facing, no such stain occurs.
After the paper has received the slight coat of kaolin and has become dry, it may
be treated in the usual way with gelatine and chrome alum to prepare it to receive
the print, as is well understood.
My third improvement consists in the use of an extremely thin paper for pre-
paring the single transfer paper chiefly for the production of prints for illustrating
books, so that the mounted pigment photograph shall not be materially thicker than
a print from an engraving upon India paper. I obtain such paper by immersing
very thin paper, vegetable or tracing paper, into a solution of white shellac or
liquor ammonia, to which a portion of albumien has been added, say, shellac 2 parts,
strong liquor ammonia 1 part, albumen of egg 1 part, water 20 parts; dissolve by
gentle heat, and filter.
Notwithstanding the extreme tenacity of such paper, it withstands perfectly the
operation of washing and fixing, having become waterproof by the treatment with
shellac.
I treat all the prints produced by single transfer after becoming dry and having
been touched or "spotted," if necessary, with a weak solution of shellac like the
above, but in which the albumen has been replaced by one third its weight of
glycerine. Such prints after being rolled or burnished bave a sufficient polish, but
if more be desired, it can be obtained by polishing the prints with a little alcohol
and linseed oil applied as in finishing French polished furniture, or the prints may be
enamelled with collodion, and gelatine applied on the surface of a plate of glass, as is
well understood.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th October 1877.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS APPLIED TO THE PREPARATION AND
TREATMENT OF PELLICULAR NEGATIVES, TRANSFER PIGMENT PRINTING, PIGMENTS
AND PIOMENT PAPER, AND IN APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREFOR." A communi-
cation from abroad by John Robert Johnson, of 39, Rue Borghese, Neuilly, Paris,
Engineer.
This Invention consists of sundry improvements in the photographic operations
by which pictures are obtained in carbon or other permant pigments, a process
which has also been called "The Autotype Process," or autotypy.
As ordinarily practised this is well understood; many editions of the Manual of
the Autotype Process, originally written by the Inventor of these improvements,
having been published.
My improvements will be best described under two heads or chapters.
A. Those which relate to the double transfer process.
B. Those which relate to the simple or single transfer process, some of which will
be found of important use for other processes of photography, viz., whenever a
negative has to been taken and preserved.
My first improvement consists in the substitution of alizarine, the colouring
principle of madder, well known to be properly stable when combined with an
earthy or metallic base, instead of the fugitive preparations of cochincal hitherto
used for obtaining the brilliant purple tones for pigment prints. Sinall quantities
of alizarine have already been used combined with other colouring matters, such as
Indian red, but when sufficient is employed in the usual way to give the red tint
alone, the paper employed to receive the finished proof becomes stained red or pink
instead of remaining white, or the pigment paper becomes insoluble even when not
exposed to light. As is well known, alizarine is soluble in alkalies and their
carbonates, and is precipitated theroform as a coloured lake by the earthy and
metallic salts, and particularly by alum, which yields a brilliant red lake, and by
sulphate of zinc, which yields a purple lake. But the salts of alum and zinc also
precipitate gelatine, which is the basis of the compound used for preparing the
pigment paper, so that when sufficient alum is employed to fix or render insoluble the
alizarine lake, that lake when mixed with the gelatine and bichromate of potash,
to form the pigment paper, renders the pigment compound insoluble and unfit for
use, or it becomes so by keeping. I avoid this result by employing sufficient
aluminous salt to produce the full red colour, and afterwards add a lime or
magnesian salt to effect complete insolubility. I thus obtain the brilliance and
permanence due to the alizarine without rendering the gelatine insoluble. The
alizarine of commerce is so variable in quality and strength, that it is impossible
to give very definite quantities for the preparation of the lake. I find however
that for every part of dry real alizarine, about five parts of liquid ammonia
(liquor ammonofortis of the Pharmacopicea of London), five parts of pure ammonia
alum, and five parts of chlorido of calcium, or eight of sulphate of magnesia are
required. The alizarine is dissolved in the ammonia with 100 parts of water, and
the alum in solution is added. When well mixed the chloride of calcium is added,
and the precipitated lako cast upon a filter, and dried on chalk stone, as is well
understood. The salt of lime is in excess, but such excess is not precipitated, but
remains insoluble.
A pigment paper made by a mixture of China or Indian ink, or other black
pigment, and alizarine lake, so as to have a rich maroon or amaranth tint may be
"toned" by a weak solution of perchloride or persulphate of iron, to which a few drops

page_text: of hydrochloric acid have been added in the same way as the tints produced by a
salt of silver are "toned" or turned from red to violet by the salt of gold.
I claim the use of alizarino lake formed by alumina mixed with lime magnesia,
or other earthy matter capable of fixing the alizarine without rendering insoluble
the gelatine when employed for piginent paper.
And I claim the mode described for "toning" prints produced by such lake or
lakes.
My second improvement consists in a new method of preparing the pigment
paper, and of sensitising the same when already made, but niade insensitive, that is,
without the bichromate.
It has been usual to spread the gelatine pigment compound upon the paper in as
cool a place as possible, and immediately to hang it up to dry in such cool airy
place. In the same way, when the paper is made insensitve it is rendered sensitive
by immersion in a solution of the bichromate of potash, or other bichromate, and is
then suspended in such cool airy room.
I operate in a totally different manner. After spreading the gelatine compound
upon the paper, or after plunging the already prepared paper into the bichromate
bath, I lay it flat upon a level surface upon a plate heated to 90 or 100 degrees of
Fahrenheit, and I maintain the wet pigment paper in this position for from 15 to
30 minutes, by which time the denser particles of colour have settled to the lowest
stratum of the pigment compound, particularly such heavier or larger particles as
have escaped filtration, or which have clogged together during the preparation, and
which would form a blot or spot upon the ultimate picture. Paper so treated,
having a less dense pigment compound on the surface, and a denser compound
below, yield more delicate half tones, and more vigorous shadows, than paper made
in the ordinary way, and as water is lost during the heating, the compound becomes
moro concentrated, and does not run from the paper when suspended in warmi
weather. In a hot atmosphere, the duration of the heating operation while the
paper is in a horizontal position, may be considerably greater than has been stated.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the paper so treated must either be allowed to
cool before being suspended vertically, or the operation must last till the gelatine
compound is too thick to run. It is important perfectly pure bichromate salt be used,
that a small part of the bichroinate be converted into neutral salt to ensure the
compound from the presence of free acid.
My third improvement consists in substituting for glass or porcelain, used as the
temporary support for holding the print by suction during the development, card
or millboard made by some waterproof cement instead of by paste or glue, and with
a white highly polished face of paper prepared with shell lac or other waterproof
substance. Or I use sheets of tinned iron or zinc faced with such highly glazed
impervious paper, such paper being attached to the metal by india-rubber or marine
glue, or dissolved shell lac, either by direct application to the face of the metal, or
by folding over the edges of the paper, and attaching the edges by cement behind
the plate.
Such prepared paper may be renewed when worn out, ad infinitum, and after
each operation of developing a picture it has only to be rubbed over by a flannel,
and a little wax and resin dissolved in benzine, as is well understood, to be ready
for another operation.
Such prepared panel is not only much more easily handled than the flexible
supports hitherto used, whether made of a simple coating of shell lac (see first
edition of Autotype Manual), or the more complex coating used by Mr. Sawyer, but
is far more economical, as when attached to the panel or plate it may be used a
great number of times without renewal.
I claim the use of cardboard made impermeable to water, and sheets of metal
coated with prepared paper, as the temporary support in obtaining a non-reversed
proof by pigment printing.
It is usual after the print has been developed upon the temporary support, and

page_text: has been fixed by immersion in alum to allow it to dry, and afterwards to transfer
it to prepared paper called the second transfer paper.
Instead of thus operating, my fourth improvement consists in treating such print
after leaving the alum bath, and having been rinsed well in water, to allow the
washed print to drain well; but before drying I coat it with a gelatine solution
rendered opaque by zinc white or other white pigment. After thus coating the
plate, or sheet of cardboard, it is placed in a horizontal position, and when the
film of white gelatine has set or solidfied, a thin bit of tissue or other thin paper is
wetted in water, and laid upon the solidified gelatine. A little pressure with a
brush or sponge causes the paper to adhere, and when the whole is dry it may be
removed to be mounted subsequently on cardboard, or it may have the cardboard
mount applied before being taken from the glass. Or instead of the intervening
paper, the card mount may be applied directly upon the gelatine and pressed
thereon. After the pressure has been continued for some time, the card will have
become permanently fixed. I would however observe that when the negatives are
old or imperfect, and the prints require much touching, and particularly when the
prints have been developed upon collodion, to be described, the direct application of
the white while the print is in the wet state cannot be made. In these cases the
print must be allowed to dry before the touching or spotting to correct the defective
prints is made, and the gelatine and white must be applied subsequently. I prefer
however to give to the wet prints before drying a thin coating of gelatine or of gelatine
and chrome alum to fill up the hollows and support the relief which defines the picture
during the drying operation. Pictures so treated are greatly superior to those
which have been allowed to dry without such treatment. I do not however claim
the use of transparent gelatine, but that only in which the gelatine has been made
opaque to replace the more or less costly double transfer paper, not only on the
ground of its economy, but that the results are greatly superior, being in fact equal
in every respect to a single transfer print upon opal glass.
per
My fifth improvement consists in the use of a solution of gelatine, say, of
cent. strength, rendered insoluble when dry by a small quantity of chrome alum, as
is well understood, instead of the usual collodion coating for preparing the temporary
support when a polished surface is required. I pour this solution on the plate
prepared by wax or stearine, as is usual when collodion is used; I allow it to dry,
and before applying the print I pass the prepared plate into warm water, to soften
the gelatine and remove the excess of chrome alun. After this treatment the
insolated print must be applied to the gelatine coating and the development proceeded
with as usual when collodion is employed. I claim the use of the well-known
gelatine solution for this purpose.
Chapter II. My first and chief improvement under this head of my Invention
consists of a new method of obtaining reversed negatives, without which, as is well
known, prints produced by the single transfer process of pigment printing are them-
selves reversed, as when an object is viewed in a mirror or looking glass.
The only certain mode of removing the collodion film from the glass upon which
it has been taken, so as to apply it to print upon the side in contact with the glass,
consists in pouring upon the negative a solution of gelatine, allowing the gelatine
film to dry, for which from 12 to 24 hours are required, according to the thickness
of that film upon the dry gelatine; a coating of collodion is then poured, which is
again allowed to dry, and the compound pellicle with the adhering negative is
detached from the glass.
Instead of this tedious preparation, which renders the negative incapable of being
employed for printing for so long a period, I prepare the double film of gelatine and
collodion beforehand upon a clean plate prepared with a film of wax or stearine, and
I apply it when detached to the surface of the finished negative; but, as is well
known, such application cannot be made directly, as the gelatine wetted swells,
extends, and curls up, and cannot be made to adhere. I avoid this difficulty by
immersing both negative and double pellicle in water to which sufficient alcohol has

page_text: been added to prevent the absorption of the water by the gelatine, and its con-
sequent extension and retraction, and by using this fluid slightly warmed to a
greater or less degree, according to greater or less quantity of the alcohol. In
practice I find equal parts of rectified spirit and water and a temperature of from 80)
to 90° to give the best results, but there is a wide margin, as regards the liquid,
and the adhesion takes place even without artificial heat in summer weather. As
soon as the gelatine begins to dissolve without the preliminary swelling, and when
this is observed the surface of the gelatine and that of the negative are brought
together under the mixed fluid, and are lifted simultaneously out of that fluid and
placed upon a horizontal support; a piece of oiled paper or oiled silk is then laid
over them and pressure given by the squeegee or other means. When quite cold
the two surfaces will be found united, and the pellicular flexible negative may be
lifted from the plates, and if placed between the leaves of highly-dried paper under
pressure it will dry rapidly, quite straight, and may be used immediately with either
side of the negative applied to the sensitive paper. Such pellicle negatives may be
worked up exactly as if on glass when prepared by varnish or otherwise for that
purpose.
I have alluded above to a double pellicle, as this is is the best I have found for the
purpose, but it is evident that a simple sheet of gelatine of commerce may be
substituted, the only disadvantage being that it is acted upon by moist air unless
protected by a coating of collodion or varnish. It is equally obvious that a sheet of
paper made more or less transparent, coated with gelatine or some other adhesive
hollow body, may be used. I also find that such bodies, viz., a sheet of stout
collodion, a sheet of talc, or porous paper may be attached to negatives in the way
described by introducing into the warm weak spirit a portion of gelatine in solution.
The manipulations are the same, sufficient gelatine to effect the adherence of the
surfaces being left after the action of the squeegee.
As is well understood the glass must be prepared with an infinitely thin stratum
of wax before applying the collodion to form the negative to be removed from the
glass, or if this be not done the finished negative must be immersed in water
acidified with chlorhydric or citric acid maintained therein until the pellicle show
signs of becoming detached; and if the negative has been varnished such varnish
must be removed by a solution of a caustic alkali or spirits of wine before being
placed in the acid bath, as is well understood. It must then be washed in water to
remove the acid, and is ready for immersion in the water and alcohol.
1
When the negative is large, or where great definition is not required, instead of
the gelatine and collodion pellicle I use paper made transparent, coated with a
solution of gelatine or gelatine and chrome alum, and I apply it to the negative
exactly as a carbon print is transferred from the temporary to the permanent
support, as is well understood; and when the negative is very large I prefer to
operate in a different manner. I coat the edges of a large sheet of plate glass with
a solution of caoutchouc, or as if for the preparation of a dry collodion plate; upon
this plate I apply a sheet of thin transparent paper, which has been wetted with a
1 per cent. solution of bromide of potassium in water; when this paper has dried
I apply a coating of bromide of silver emulsion, diffused either in collodion or a
solution of gelatine, and I develop and fix the negnative after exposure in the
ordinary manner; when the finished negative has become dry I apply another sheet
of transparent paper previously coated with gelatine or gelatine and chrome alum,
as before described. The negative is thus imprisoned between two slicets of trans-
parent paper, either of which may be worked upon by a lead pencil or stump to
any extent.
It is obvious that even if the negatives are not required to be reversed the
process described offers great advantages :—
1st. On the ground of economy, plate glass being replaced by gelatine and
collodion.

page_text: I have described the transfer as taking place upon plain pellicle or paper, but
pellicles or paper with a printed border or an inscription may be employed. Or a
second negative or carbon print on a transparent medium may be used as the trans-
porting film if the negative and pellicle negative have been taken, each with an
appropriate mask or "cache," as is well understood. Again, such transferred nega-
tives may be trimmed with scissors and inserted in appropriate negatives, in which a
space has been left transparent, so that the doubled negative inay yield pictures
with frames or borders, or figures with landscape backgrounds or other combination.
I claim the mode of transferring negatives described, simple or compound.
My second improvement in single transfer pigment printing consists in substituting
for the usual single transfer paper a card or board formed of two or more layers of
paper cemented together by bleached shell lac dissolved in liquid ammonia or in a
solution of borax, or by marine glue or other cement insoluble in water. By this
means no mounting of the ultimate print is required. I apply this process to the
prints of enlargements which are thus obtained upon the board to be used without
any intermediate mounting and to the printing.of cartes de visites, the pellicular
negatives being trimmed to the proper size and mounted with or without borders
upon a sheet of plate glass. Such collection of negatives may be rendered capable
of being printed simultaneously by proper selection if many are used, so that only
negatives of equal printing density are employed on the same plate. If this be not
possible the negatives less dense than the others are brought to the same degree of
translucency by the addition of gelatine pellicle to the back, or by transparent paper,
as is well understood. On cutting the negative to the proper size allowance should
be made for the "safe edge," the line of opaque or nearly opaque varnish round the
picture, although this is scarcely necessary in single transfer printing unless the
pigment paper be too soluble or the prints require to be greatly reduced from excess
of density from over printing. Any number of negatives may be thus printed
together, but it will be convenient probably to arrange them in dozons in such a
manner that they have only to be cut horizontally and vertically by the shears or
cutting machine to yield 1 dozen cartes.
In the preparation of the paper card or panel described I prefer that such paper,
otc., have a film of opaque white over the surface to receive the print in order to
hide the grain of the paper.
Enamel paper has not hitherto been successfully used for singlo transfer paper, as
when the pigment for producing the enamel surface is used in sufficient quantity for
this purpose it becomes stained by the bichromate of the pigment compound. I
find, however, that if kaolin or china clay, or starch, or other substance not com-
bining with the chromic acid, be employed as the pigment to give the enamel
facing, no such stain occurs.
I substitute one or more of these substances for the zinc or lead, or barytes white
hitherto employed for facing or enamelling paper, and proceed in the ordinary way
to prepare paper, preferring that this be as thin as can be succesfully used. When
this coating is dry it is cylindered in the usual way, and upon the prepared surfaco
I apply solution of the well-known gelatine and chrome alum compound which is
well known.
My third improvement consists in the use of an extremely thin paper for pre-
paring the single transfer paper, chiefly for the production of prints for illustrating
books, so that the mounted pigment photograph shall not be materially thicker than
a print from an engraving upon India paper. I obtain such paper by immersing
very thin "papier vegetale" or tracing paper into a solution of white shell lac in
liquor aminonia to which a portion of albumen has been added. Say shell lac two
parts, strong liquor ammonia one part, albumen of egg one part, water twenty parts;
dissolve by gentle heat and filter.
Notwithstanding the extreme tenuity of such paper it withstands perfectly the
operation of washing and fixing, having become waterproof by the treatment with
shell lac.
I treat all the prints produced by single transfer, after becoming dry and having

page_text: been "touched" or "spotted," if necessary, with a weak solution of shell lac, like
the above, but in which the albumen has been replaced by one-third its weight of
glycerine. Such prints, after being rolled or burnished, have a sufficient polish, but
if more be desired it can be obtained by polishing the prints with a little alcohol
and linseed oil, applied as in finishing French-polished furniture. Or the prints
may be enamelled with collodion and glycerine, applied on the surface of a plate of
glass, as is well understood.
Having thus described and particularly set forth the nature of the said Invention
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that,―
I claim under the first improvement the use of alizarine lake formed by alumina
mixed with lime magnesia or other earthy matter capable of fixing the alizarine
without rendering insoluble the gelatine when employed for pigment paper, and I
claim the mode described for "toning" prints produced by such lake or lakes.
I claim under the second improvement the method of preparing the pigment
paper by subjecting it to the temperature on a level surface as therein described.
I claim under the third improvement the use of cardboard made impermeable to
water, and sheets of motal coated with prepared paper as the temporary support in
obtaining a non-revorsod proof by pigment printing.
I do not claim under the fourth improvement the use of transparent gelatine, but
that only in which the gelatine has been made opaque to replace the more or less
costly double transfer paper as therein described.
I claim under the fifth improvement the use of the well-known gelatine solution
for the purpose therein described.
In the second division, or Chapter II., I claim under the first improvement the
mode of transferring negatives described, simple or compound.
I claim under the second improvement in single transfer pigment printing the use
of a card or board formed of two or more layers of paper cemented together as
therein described, and the use of enamelled paper prepared with kaolin or starch, or
with some equivalent substance which does not combine with the ingredients
employed to form a stain on the whites of the picture.
I claim under the third improvement the use of thin paper prepared by immersion
in the solution therein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)