AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF TYPES, CHARACTERS, AND VIGNETTES USED IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRINTING
Year: 1880

page_text: '
LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF TYPES, CHARACTERS, AND VIGNETTES USED IN
TYPOGRAPHIC PRINTING." A communication from abroad by Alcide Chaumeil
and Joseph Chaumeil, both of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th May 1880.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF TYPES, CHARACTERS,
AND VIGNETTES USED IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRINTING." [A communication from
abroad by Alcide Chaumeil and Joseph Chaumeil, both of Paris, France.]
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of all descriptions of type,
characters, and vignettes used in typography, of porcelain or other ceramic paste
instead of wood or metal, as heretofore employed.
For this purpose the moulds for the type, &c., to be manufactured are by
preference made of plaster of Paris run in a liquid form, while the patterns of the
type, &c., are of wood or other suitable material. Each mould is in two parts, of
which one contains the recessed configuration of the type to be produced, while
the other serves as cover, and is fitted to the first named part in any suitable
manner.
The porcelain paste made of kaolin of the ordinary composition used in ceramic
manufacture is placed in the mould, and this being closed pressure is exerted so as
to force the paste perfectly into the recess in order to assume the exact configuration
thereof. The excess of material escapes into channels formed in the meeting faces
of the parts of the mould. After moulding the type or character is removed and
dressed, and it is then baked in the same manner and in the same description of
ovens as those ordinarily used for porcelain manufacture.
The surfaces of the character or type may either be left dull or enamelled, in
which case the enamel is applied before baking.
By the baking process the porcelain mass shrinks so that the various types will
after baking not all have the exact uniform size required. In order therefore to
ID 671

page_text: adjust them to a uniform typographic height the face of the type is first dressed
by grinding on a grind stone of emery paste, and when this has been done the lower
end is ground on a grind stone of cast iron and stone, such as is employed by glass
grinders, until the type has the exact height required. The four sides of the
type are then ground in the same manner, the face of the type, having been
accurately dressed, serving as guide for dressing the other sides, the perpendicular
of which is thus insured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
November 1880.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF TYPES, CHARACTERS,
AND VIGNETTES USED IN TYPOGRAPHIC PRINTING." A communication from
abroad by Alcide Chaumeil and Joseph Chaumeil, both of Paris, France.
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of all descriptions of type,
characters, and vignettes used in typography of porcelain or other ceramic paste
instead of wood or metal, as heretofore employed.
For this purpose the moulds for the type, &c., to be manufactured are by
preference made of plaster of Paris run in a liquid form upon existing type, or
upon patterns of the type, &c., made expressly of wood or other suitable material.
Each mould is in two parts; the one (A), contains the recessed configuration of
the type to be produced, while the other (B), serves as cover, and is fitted to the
first named part, as shown on the Drawing, or in any suitable manner.
The porcelain paste, made of kaolin of the ordinary composition used in ceramic
manufacture, is placed in the mould, and this being closed pressure is exerted so as
to force the paste perfectly into the recess in order to assume the exact configuration
thereof. The excess of material escapes into channels (C) formed in the meeting
faces of the parts of the mould. After moulding the type or character is removed
and dressed, and it is then baked in the same manner and in the same description
of ovens as those ordinarily used for porcelain manufacture.
The surfaces of the character or type may either be left dull or enamelled, in
which case the enamel is applied before baking.
By the baking process the porcelain mass shrinks, so that the various types will
after baking not all have the exact uniform size required. In order therefore to
adjust them to a uniform typographic height the face of the type is first dressed
by grinding on a grindstone of emery paste, and when this has been done the
lower end is ground on a grindstone of cast iron and stone, such as is employed by
glass grinders, until the type has the exact height required, which may be
ascertained by a guage or by placing the type being made against a very true
model of lead or other material laid upon a horizontal table. The four sides of the
type are then ground in the same manner, the face of the type, having been
accurately dressed, serving as guide for dressing the other sides, the perpendicular
of which is thus insured.

page_text: It will be evident that all the irregularities of the baking are remedied by the
finishing operation above described, and that types are thus obtained of perfectly
regular dimensions, fitting exactly against each other, and having precisely the
same typographical height.
I therefore claim this last operation as forming an integral part of this Invention,
together with the above described process of moulding and finishing for the
manufacture of every kind of character, type, and typographical vignettes of
earthenware, ironstone, and other ceramic substances analogous to porcelain.
And I claim the manufacture of all descriptions and dimensions of type, characters,
and vignettes used in typography of porcelain or other ceramic paste or analogous
substances, and for the purpose of this manufacture the application of the processes
in use for the production of articles of porcelain, such processes being adapted to
this novel production, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
In witness whereof, I, Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
CHA, D. ABEL. (L.S.)