IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLOCKS FOR COLOUR PRINTING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLOCKS FOR
COLOUR PRINTING."-A communication from abroad by Moritz
Laemmel, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st June 1871.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
BLOCKS FOR COLOUR PRINTING," a communication, to be as follows :—
My said Invention relates to a block for printing many colours at
one operation, which block is composed of sections of suitable colouring

page_text: material of the required shape set in a frame of metal or other suitable
material.
In practising my Invention I take suitably prepared colouring matter
and make a number of pieces of the required colours, one piece for
instance being blue, another red, another green, and so on, according
to the work to be produced. I then form these various pieces into
blocks of the desired form or shape, and these blocks I combine to form
one block, which is set in a metal frame of the required form. The
block thus produced shows on its face the colours of all the sections
used to form the same, and when this face has been ground off the
block is ready for printing. When the paper is pressed on the surface
of the block the colouring matter adheres to the paper, and a print is
produced showing all the colours in the block. The metal frame which
embraces the printing block must be so constructed that it slides back
as the block wears off.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLOCKS FOR COLOUR PRINTING," a communication to
me from abroad by Moritz Laemmel, of the City and State of New

page_text: York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
―
My said Invention relates to a block for printing many colours at one
operation. The said block is composed of sections of suitable colouring
material of the required shape placed together in the necessary relative
positions, and set in a frame of metal or other suitable material.
In practising my Invention I take suitably prepared colouring matter
and make a number of sections of the required colours, one for instance
being blue, another red, another green, and so on, according to the work
to be produced. In making these sections I prefer to mix with these
colouring matters resin heated and thinned with spirit of turpentine.
After each of the colouring matters has been uniformly mixed with the
solution of resin I evaporate the spirit of turpentine to such an extent
that the coloured resin assumes a condition in which it resembles hard
beeswax, then I slightly heat the same and mould or otherwise work it
into blocks of the desired form or shape, and I combine the different
coloured blocks or sections to form one compound block, which is set
in a properly formed frame of metal or other suitable material. The
compound block thus produced shows on its face the colours of all the
sections used to form the same, and when this face has been ground off
to make it smooth and level the block is ready for printing. The
aforesaid frame must be so constructed that it slides back as the block
wears away.
The paper on which I print from my compound or combination block
is slightly dampened with spirit of turpentine. When the face of the
block is pressed on the dampened paper or the paper applied to the face
of the block the colouring matter adheres to the paper and a print is
produced showing all the colours in the block.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same is to be
performed, I claim, a block for printing many colours at one operation
composed of sections of suitable colouring material of the required
shape, set in a frame of metal or other suitable material as above
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
EDWARD C. JACKSON.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)