AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING INKS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas De la Rue, of Bunhill Row, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING
INKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas De la Rue at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th August 1855.
I, THOMAS DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING
INKS" to be as follows:-
།'
"The object of this Invention is to obtain inks which will have better printing.
and drying properties, and the improvement consists of employing borate of
manganese in the manufacture of printing inks.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas De la Rue in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight. hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas De la Rue, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
De la Rue, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas De la Rue, 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 IMPROVE-
MENT IN PRINTING INKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas De la Rue, 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 Thomas De la Rue, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:
The object of this Invention is to obtain inks which will have better printing
and drying properties, and the improvement consists of employing borate of
manganese in the manufacture of printing inks.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same,
The manufacture of printing inks being well understood, it will not be
necessary to describe the same here, the improvement consisting of combining
therewith borate of manganese, in order to improve the drying properties of
printing inks.

page_text: I combine or apply the borate of manganese in the following manner :-I
add during the grinding process about one part by weight of dry borate of
manganese, in the state of fine powder, to one hundred parts by weight of
printing ink materials; the proportion, however, may be varied; and I cause
the whole to be thoroughly and intimately combined by grinding. Before
employing the ink, it is desirable to allow it to stand for about a month, in
order that the manganesic salt may operate upon the oily vehicle of the ink.
In place of combining or mixing the borate of manganese with the printing
inks, I sometimes mix it by stirring it in with the varnish or vehicle when
heated to a temperature of about 600° of Fahrenheit, in the proportion of
about one part by weight to fifty or sixty parts by weight of the oily varnish
or vehicle, stirring well during three to four hours. The borate of manganese
I employ is obtained by precipitation from a cold solution of a soluble salt of
manganese with a cold solution of borax, as is well understood, the precipitate
being well washed, dried, and powdered before being used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas De la Rue, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
o Witness,
B. GOBEY,
4, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.
THOMAS DE LA RUE. (L.S.)