IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING THE EDGES AND MARGINS OF BOOKS AND PAPER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Leighton, sen., of No. 40, Brewer Street,
Saint James, in the City of Westminster, Publisher and Bookbinder,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING THE EDGES AND
MARGINS OF BOOKS AND PAPER."
Sealed the 25th November 1870, and dated the 31st May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Leighton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st May 1870.
I, JOHN LEIGHTON, sen., of No. 40, Brewer Street, Saint James, in
the City of Westminster, Publisher and Bookbinder, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING THE
EDGES AND MARGINS OF Books AND PAPER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ornamenting the
edges and margins of books and paper. The edges of books have here-
tofore in some cases been printed on with hard metal type. In this

page_text: process however the edges necessarily become indented and so in some
degree disfigured.
According to my
Invention I print in any desired color or combination
of colors on to the edges of books or on to the cut edges of a block of
paper by means of a soft, flexible, printing surface. I make the printing
block or surface of india-rubber composition, and vulcanize it in a mould
so formed as to produce a raised printing surface of the pattern required.
The surface is provided with a soft backing, and is inked or colored
and pressed against the edges of the book or paper which it is desired
to print, and in this way the ink or color is applied without risk of
deranging and injuring the edges.
In some cases in place of using a raised printing surface to apply
the ink or color directly to the edges, I print, by means it may be of
ordinary type, on to a sheet of india-rubber, and with the sheet so inked
or colored I print the edges of the book or writing paper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Leighton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LEIGHTON, sen., of No. 40, Brewer Street, Saint James, in the City of
Westminster, Publisher and Bookbinder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Leighton, Her special licence
that I, the said John Leighton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Leighton, 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
ORNAMENTING THE EDGES AND MARGINS OF BOOKS AND PAPER," upon the con-

page_text: dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Leighton, 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 John Leighton, 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 thereof (that is to say) :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in ornamenting the
edges and margins of books and paper. The edges of books have here-
tofore in some cases been printed on with hard metal type. In this
process however the edges necessarily become indented, and so in some
degree disfigured.
According to my Invention I print in any desired color or combination
of colors on to the edges of books or on to the cut edges of a block of
paper by means of a soft, flexible, printing surface. I make the printing
block or surface of india-rubber composition, and vulcanize it in a mould
so formed as to produce a raised printing surface of the pattern required.
The surface is provided with a soft backing, and is inked or colored
and pressed against the edges of the book or paper which it is desired
to print, and in this way the ink or color is applied without risk of
deranging and injuring the edges.
In some cases in place of using a raised printing surface to apply
the ink or color directly to the edges, I print, by means it may be of
ordinary type, on to a sheet of india-rubber, and with the sheet so inked
or colored I print the edges of the book or paper.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the methods by
which I prefer to operate. When it is desired to print the edges of a
book, the book having been sewn and cut, it is held tightly in a clamp,
and whilst so held the printing surface is applied to the edges. I prefer
to employ a printing roller made by attaching to a cylindrical core a
sheet of vulcanized india-rubber with the pattern upon it in relief. The
core is of wood and mounted on axes in a convenient handle like an

page_text: ordinary hand ink roller. Around this core is formed a covering of
vulcanized india-rubber, say about ths of an inch in thickness, or of
other elastic material, to form a soft bed for the vulcanized india-rubber
printing surface. The india-rubber printing surface is about 1/8th of an
inch thick; it is formed and vulcanized in a mould suitable to produce
the pattern upon it. This pattern surface is then to be sewn around the
roller.
It is inked by rolling it upon a flat surface on which the ink of
any desired color is distributed in the usual way. The roller is then
applied with a steady pressure to the edges of the book, and is rolled
over them so that they may take the ink from the raised design. The
design thus printed will appear on the edges of the leaves when the
book is closed, as is shown at Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing. If it
be desired to print the margins of the book so that the design may
appear when the book is open, as is shewn at Figure 2, the book is laid
upon a convex surface, which causes the leaves to "grade," the lowest
leaf projecting slightly beyond that next above it, and so on from
beginning to end of the book, or vice versa. The printing on the margin
is then performed in the manner already described. The amount of
grading may be more or less according to the taste of the workman.
The leaves of books thus printed on the margin may subsequently be
gilt on the edge.
In a similar way unsewn paper, say, for example, note paper or cards,
may be printed on the edge or on the margin. In place of a roller
printing surface a flat surface may be employed. In this case the
printing surface may advantageously be thicker than that which I
employ for the roller, say 3/ths to 1, of an inch, and it may be mounted
on a soft backing of vulcanized india-rubber; it should be applied to the
work with a considerable steady pressure. An inking roller may be
used to apply the ink to such a block; or again the ink may be printed
by type or otherwise on to a flat sheet of vulcanized india-rubber, and
the sheet so printed be applied to the edges or to the margins with a
considerable and uniform pressure. The india-rubber sheet may con-
veniently be about 2nd of an inch thick, and should be backed with
ordinary printer's blanket and vulcanized india-rubber or other soft
material.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention I would
have it understood that I claim ornamenting the edges and moveine of

page_text: substantially as described.
WAL BOLD Hive printing surfaces,
In witness whereof, I, the said John Leighton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JOHN LEIGHTON. (L.S.)