IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Bentley Woodbury, of 40, Southampton Buildings,
in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Bentley Woodbury
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th June 1881.
WALTER BENTLEY WOODBURY, of 40, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING SURFACES."
My Invention relates, firstly, to an improved method of preparing a printing.
surface from which copies may be reproduced upon paper or other material of
ordinary printed matter set up in the usual way with moveable types.
I take such moveable type set up and held together in the ordinary way, and.
from the surface of the type I make a cast or mould in plaster, paper, or other.
material, such as is ordinarily used in preparing stereotype plates.
Upon the cast or mould so prepared I place a thin sheet of tin foil, lead,
upon and
or other sufficiently soft, flexible, and ductile metal, and I press it
into the mould until the face of the latter is completely reproduced upon the lower
surface of the metal sheet.
I then pour a solution of gelatine or gelatinous material upon the back of the
tin foil or metal sheet so treated, and I allow the gelatine or gelatinous material to
set and harden. The compound sheet of tinfoil or other metal and gelatine thus
formed is then removed from the mould and may be used as a surface to be
printed from in the usual way, being either laid flut upon the bed of an ordinary
printing press or being first bent or curved round the surface of the cylinder of a
cylinder printing machine.
The method above described may be used to reproduce printing surfaces from
engraved blocks of wood, metal, or other materials, as well as from ordinary type;
and sometimes where the subject to be reproduced is of suitable character, and
moisture is not present in the printing ink, or during the operation of printing,
I use gelatine or a gelatinous material poured directly into the mould without the
intervention of sheet metal foil, and the gelatine surfaco so obtained may be
itself used when dry as a printing surface.

page_text: The gelatino or gelatinous material may be hardened by the addition of a small
quantity of chrome or other alum, or other substances capable of hardening gelatino
in the ordinary well known way.
The surface of the tin or other soft metal which forms the printing surface as
first described, or of the gelatine, may be electro-plated with a deposit of nickel,
steel, or other hard metal for the purpose of rendering it more durable.
Where it is desired that the printing surface to be produced shall be soft, so
that it may be used as a hand or other stamp instead of as a hard printing surface,
I prepare a mould from the type or engraved block or other surface which is to bu
reproduced, and I press a sheet of tin foil or other soft metal into the mould in
the way already described, and I use as a back to the tin or metal foil gelatine, or
gelatinous material, to which has been added a sufficient quantity of glycerine or
other substance, such as sugar, capable of rendering the mixture sufficiently soft
and elastic when dry. And in some cases I use such gelatine or gelatinous
material so treated by pouring the mixture into the mould prepared as above
described without the intervention of the tin or metal foil.
My Invention as herein before described may also be applied to the reproduction
of designs or pictures obtained by means of photography, instead of designs upon
types or cut or engraved blocks. For this purpose I prepare upon a glass plate a
gelatine printing surface of any desired design or picture by means of light in the
ordinary well known way.
I place upon the printing surface so prepared a sheet of tin foil or other
sufficiently soft and ductile metal, and having placed a sufficient number of
thicknesses of blotting paper or other soft paper or material upon the back of the
tinfoil, I pass them together through an ordinary rolling or other press, so that the
tin foil is pressed into intimate contact with every part of the gelatine printing"
surface. The surface so prepared and covered with the tin or metal foil may be
used for printing from in an ordinary printing press; or where the subject requires
it, as, for instance, where half-tones are to be reproduced, pictures may be obtained
by means of semi-transparent gelatinous ink applied to the surface of the gelatinous
printing surface and thence transferred to paper in the ordinary wellknown way.
In order that the design may not be reversed I cither use for the pictures a white
pigment upon black or coloured paper, or I use a positive instead of a negative
photographic picture in order to obtain the gelatine printing surface.
In the methods above described, in order to make the tin foil or other sheet
metal adhere to the gelatine when pressed into the design upon the latter, I first
cont the surface of the gelatine with a thin solution of india rubber in benzole or
other suitable solvent. When this is dry the tinfoil pressed upon it adheres
firmly.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Walter Bentley Woodbury in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th December 1881.
.
WALTER BENTLEY WOODBURY, of 40, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING SURFACES."
16
My Invention relates, firstly, to an improved method of preparing a printing
surface from which copies may be reproduced as desired upon paper or other
material of ordinary printed matter set up in the usual way with moveable types.
In order to put this part of my present Invention in operation I take such
moveable type set up and held together in the ordinary way, and from the surface
or face of the type I make a cast or mould in plaster, paper, or other material, such
as is ordinarily used in preparing stereotype plates.
I remove the cast or mould so prepared from tho type, and I place upon it a
thin sheet of tin foil, lead, or other sufficiently soft, flexible, and ductile metal, and
I press it upon or into the mould or cast until the face of the latter is completely
reproduced upon the lower surface of the metal sheet. I then pour a solution of
gelatine or gelatinous material upon the back of the tin foil or metal sheet so
prepared, and I allow the gelatine or gelatinous material to set and harden. The
compound sheet of tin foil or other metal and gelatine thus formed is then removed
from the mould or cast, and its metallic face may be used as a surface to be printed
from in the usual way, the sheet being either laid fat upon the bed of an ordinary
printing press and inked and printed from in the usual way, or being bent or
curved round the surface of the cylinder of a suitable cylinder printing machine.
The method above described may be used to reproduce printing surfaces from
blocks or plates of wood, metal, or other material having engraved or other designs
upon them, as well as from ordinary type; and sometimes where the subject of the
design to be reproduced is of suitable character, and moisture is not present in the
printing ink or during the operation of printing, I use gelatine or gelatinous
material poured directly into the cast or mould, without the intervention of tin or
other metal foil, and the gelatine surface so obtained may itself be used when dry
as a printing surface without the intervention of the metallic face, as first
described.
The gelatine or gelatinous material may be hardened and rendered more
impervious to water by the addition of a small quantity of chrome or other alum,
or other substance capable of hardening gelatine and rendering it insoluble in the
ordinary well known way.
The surface of the tin or other soft metal foil which forms the printing surface
of the gelatine in the process first described, or of the gelatine, is preferably
electroplated with a deposit of nickel, steel, or other hard metal for the purpose of
rendering it more durable, and such deposit may be effected upon the surface of the
sheet either before it is applied to and pressed into the cast or mould, as described,
or after the compound printing surface has been completed.
In cases where it is desired that the printing surface to be produced shall be
more or less soft or flexible, so that it may be used as a hand or other printing
5 stamp, I prepare a mould from the type or other engraved block or plate, or other
surface which is to be reproduced, and I press a sheet of tin or other soft metal foil
into the mould in the way already described, and I use as a back to the tin or
metal foil so pressed gelatine or gelatinons material, to which has been added a
sufficient quantity of glycerine or other substance, such as sugar, capable of
rendering the mixture sufficiently soft, flexible, and elastic when dry.
The gelatine or gelatinous material so prepared may also be used by pouring the
mixture into the mould prepared as described, without the intervention of tin or
other metal foil.

page_text: B
Another part of my Invention consists in methods by which the process as
herein before described may be applied to the reproduction of designs or pictures
obtained by means of photography, instead of designs upon type or upon cut or
engraved blocks or plates. For this purpose I prepare upon a plate of glass &
gelatinous printing surface of any desired design or picture by means of light in
the ordinary well known way. I place upon the printing surface so prepared a
sheet of tin foil or other sufficiently soft and ductile inetal, preferably electro
plated, either before or after, with a hardor inetal, as in the process already herein-
before described, and having placed a sufficient number of thicknesses of blotting
paper or other soft paper or material upon the back of the metal foil, I pass them
together through an ordinary rolling or other press, until the metal foil is pressed
into intimate contact with every part of the gelatine printing surface, every detail
of the design upon which is thus reproduced upon the back of the metal.
The surface so prepared and covered with the tin or other metal foil may bo
used for printing from in an ordinary printing press; or where the subject requires
it, as, for instance, whero half tones are to be produced, pictures or impressions
may be obtained by means of gelatinous ink, more or less transparent, applied to
the printing surface, and thence transferred to paper placed upon it, either by
means of a flat plate of glass or other material pressed down by any suitablo press
or by weights, or by other ordinary well known methods.
When it is necessary that the design of the pictures produced should not be
reversed I either use a white pigment, which I transfer to black or coloured paper,
or I use a positive instead of a negative photographic picture in order to obtain the
gelatino printing surfaco.
In the methods above described in order to make the tin foil or other shect
metal adhere to the gelatine when it is pressed against and into the design upon
the latter, I prefer to first cont the surface of the gelatine with a thin solution of
indin rubber, in benzolo or other suitable solvent. The tin or other foil pressed
upon it adheres perfectly when dry.
Having now described my Invention and the manner in which it is to be
performed I claim,—
First. The method of preparing a printing surface from type or other cut or
engraved design by making a mould from such type, pressing a thin sheet of tin
or other metal foil into such mould, and applying gelatine or gelatinous material to
the back of the metal sheet, substantially as described.
Second. In combination with a printing surface prepared, as described, by
making a mould into which a thin sheet of metal is pressed, gelatine or gelatinous
material being applied to the back of the metal sheet so pressed, the method of
rendering the surface soft and flexible by the addition to the gelatino of glycerine,
sugar, or other substance having the like effect, substantially as described.
Third. The method of obtaining similar printing surfaces from pictures or designs
obtained in relief by means of photography, instead of from type or from cut or
engraved blocks or plates, substantially as described.
Fourth. In combination with the different methods described of obtaining
printing surfaces, the method of electro-plating the face of such printing surfaces
with nickel, steel, or other hard metal, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Bentley Woodbury, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 9th day of December, in the year of our Lord
WALTER BENTLEY WOODBURY. (L.S.)