AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF ENGRAVING
Year: 1884

page_text: I, CHARLES THOMAS IAGO, of 55 Riversdale Road, Highbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Wood Engraver, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF ENGRAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved process of engraving, for surface printing,
paintings or drawings, whether executed with the brush, pencil or pen, whereby all
the refinement delicacy and other effects of a steel or copper plate engraving may
be obtained at about the cost of an ordinary wood engraving, with a less expen-
diture of time and the artistic skill necessary for this class of work. The process
is based on the engraving of the subject upon wood but in the reverso way to an
ordinary wood engraving that is to say in the manner of a steel or copper plate
engraving and then either (a) preparing the wood engraving for printing from, in
the manner of such plates, the impressions therefrom obtained being then trans-
ferred to zinc either directly or through the agency of photography, or (b) preparing
the wood engraving and photographing from it directly and transferring to zinc,
the zinc in either case being bitten up or engraved by chemical action in the
ordinary way.
If I employ the first method the surface of the wood engraving is coated with a
solution capable of resisting ink and the engraved lines &c. are then filled with ink,
the surface cleaned off and the block printed from as from a plate.
Or the lines. may be filled with carbon or any other suitable substance in a dry
and finely divided state and an impression taken on paper damped with a suitable.
adhesive solution, the impression being then photographed and engraved on zinc as
above mentioned.
For the purpose of photographing direct from the block, the lines of the engraving
and the surface of the block would be respectively prepared by partially filling or
by staining the former and rolling up the latter so as to produce the necessary
contrast for the purpose of photography.

page_text: I CHARLES THOMAS IAGO of 55 Riversdale Road, Highbury in the County of
Middlesex, Wood Engraver do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF ENGRAVING and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement—
"
My invention relates to an improved process having for its object the ultimate
production (by any known methods) of relief blocks for surface printing, from
photographs, or from paintings or drawings (whether executed with the brush,
pencil or pen) whereby the touch of the artist may be more faithfully reproduced;
and all the refinement, delicacy and other effects of a steel or copper plate may be
obtained at a cost less than that of ordinary wood engraving and with a less
expenditure of time and artistic skill.
The process consists essentially in engraving the subject upon wood in the
reverse way to an ordinary wood engraving, (that is to say in intaglio in the
manner of a steel or copper plate engraving), and then obtaining a photographic
negative either directly from the wood engraving (after preparing it in such a way
as to produce the necessary contrast of colour for photographic purposes), or
indirectly by taking an impression from the wood engraving (or from an electrotype
reproduction of the same) either by surface, printing, or by printing in the manner
of a copper plate, and then photographing such impression; the relief block being
in either case subsequently obtained from the photographic negative by any of the
usual methods of producing such blocks from photographic negatives. Or instead
of a photographic negative, I may produce a mechanical negative by taking a
transfer impression by surface printing, and transferring the same to a varnished
plate of glass. Or-I may obtain a transfer impression from the engraving by
printing from it (or from an electrotype reproduction of the same) in the manner
of a copper plate, the impression so obtained being then transferred directly to
zinc.
I will describe the various methods in the order mentioned, the first or direct
photographic process being the one preferred.
In any case the subject is either drawn on, transferred to, or photographed onto,
the wood block in the usual way, and the subject is then engraved in intaglio in
the manner of a steel or copper plate, all the lines being cut out and the whites
left standing; washes and other broad effects in the original subject being trans-
lated by line or other tints in a manner well understood by engravers. To enable
the engraver to judge of the effect of his work as it progresses, a little powdered
charcoal may be rubbed into the lines.
For the purpose of photographing direct from the block, the lines of the
engraving, and the surface of the block, would be respectively prepared by
partially filling or by staining, the former, and rolling up the latter, so as to
produce the necessary contrast for the purpose of photography. By preference
I first roll the surface up with white ink and then stain the lines with a black
such as ebony stain used for staining wood. Or I might rub dry white powder

page_text: such as flake white into the lines and roll up the surface black, but in this case it
will be necessary to obtain a reversed negative from the negative photographed
from the block, and therefore I prefer to blacken the lines and whiten the surface.
From the negative obtained by photographing directly the engraved and prepared
block, (or from the reversed negative as the case may be) a relief block for surface
printing is obtained by any of the usual methods of obtaining relief printing blocks
from photographic negatives, which it is unnecessary to describe.
In carrying out this method by photographing directly from the engraved block
labor may for certain subjects be reduced by combining the ordinary method of
wood engraving with the method of engraving in intaglio herein réferred to; that
is to say in a subject having great contrasts of light and shade it may be preferable
to cut out the whites of the dark portion of the subject and the blacks of the light
portion, after the block has been thus engraved the whites of the dark part of tho
subject would be first whitened by rubbing in a dry white powder such as fake
white, the surface corresponding to the whites of the light part of the subject being
then rolled up or otherwise coated with white ink as previously described, the lines
cut in the light portion being then stained dark, and the parts left standing of the
dark portion being finally dabbed with black ink. The block is then photographed
direct and a relief block obtained from the negative by any of the usual methods..
For photographing indirectly from the wood engraving, I may either print from
the wood block (or from an electrotype reproduction of the same) in the manner
of a copper plate, the impression being then photographed and a relief block
obtained from the negative by the usual method; or I may roll up the surface of
the wood block and take a surface print in white lines on black ground, photograph
the print, and from the negative produce a reverse negative which would then be
similar to and used in the same way as the negatives above referred to for
producing the relief block.
To make a mechanical negative I roll up the surface of the wood block with
transfer ink, and take an impression on transfer paper which I transfer to a plate
of glass varnished with ordinary transparent varnish used by photographers, this
mechanical negative being used in the same way as a photographic negative for the
production of relief blocks by any known method.
In carrying out the direct transfer method the lines of the wood engraving
(or preferably the lines of an electrotype reproduction of the wood engraving) are
filled with transfer ink, the surface cleaned off and the wood block or the electro-
type (as the case may be) printed from as from a plate, the impression being taken
on transfer paper and transferred to zinc, which is then bitten up or engraved by
chemical action in the ordinary way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1st In the process of producing relief blocks for surface printing, by chemical or
photo-chemical methods, the engraving of the subject on wood in intaglio or in the
manner of a copper plate as a preliminary to the subsequent operations of
photographing, or printing and photographing, or transferring, as specified.
2nd The process of producing relief blocks for surface printing, which consists in
engraving the subject on wood in intaglio (ie: in the manner of a copper plate),
then producing the necessary contrast of color between the lines and the surface of
the block as described, then photographing the block.so prepared, and producing
the relief block from the photographic negative by any known photo-chemical or
other method substantially as specified.
3rd The process of producing relief blocks for surface printing, which consists in
engraving the subject on wood partly in the ordinary way of wood engraving and
partly in the reverse way (ie: in intaglio like copper plate engraving) then
producing the necessary contrast of color between the lines and the surface of the
block in the manner described, then photographing the block so prepared, and

page_text: producing, the relief. block from the photographic negative by any known photo
chemical or other method as specified.
4th The process of producing relief blocks for surface printing, which consists, in
engraving the subject on wood in intaglio. (ie: in the manner of; a copper plate);
then taking an impression in the manner of a copper plate from the lines of the
wood, engraving (or from an electrotype reproduction of the same); then photo-
graphing the impression, and producing the relief block from the negative by any
known photo-chemical or other method substantially as specified.
5th The process of producing relief blocks for surface printing, which consists in
engraving the subject on wood in intaglio (i: e in the manner of a copper plate)
taking a surface print from the wood block, photographing such print, obtaining a
reversed negative and producing the relief block from such negative by any known
photo-chemical method, substantially as specified.
6th The process of producing relief blocks for surface printing, which consists in
engraving the subject on wood in intaglio (i: e; in the manner of a copper plate).
and taking a transfer print by surface printing from the wood block, transferring
the same to varnished glass and using the mechanical negative thus produced in the
same way as a photographic negative, for producing a relief block by any known
photo-chemical method substantially as specified.
7th The process of producing relief blocks for surface printing which consists in
engraving the subject on wood in intaglio (i: è: in the manner of a copper plate)
taking an impression in transfer. ink from the wood engraving (or from an electro-
type reproduction of the wood engraving) by the copper plate printing process,
transferring the impression to zinc and engraving the zinc by chemical action in
the ordinary way.