IMPROVEMENTS IN COPPER PLATES FOR PRINTING IN INKS OR COLOURS, AND FOR Ornamental PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Brown, of Chelsea, in the County of
Middlesex, Artist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COPPER
PLATES FOR PRINTING IN INKS OR COLOURS, AND FOR Ornamental PURPOSES.”
دو
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th February 1875.
I, JOSEPH BROWN, of Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, Artist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN
COPPER PLATES FOR PRINTING IN INKS OR COLOURS, AND FOR ORNAMENTAL
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obviate the use either of the graver
or of acid in the preparation of the plates, as is at present the case, the
feature of novelty being the method employed for the production of
incised or relief designs or impressions on surfaces from which the copper
plates are afterwards obtained.
The modus operandi is as follows:-I take a sheet of thin lead or
other soft material; this I place on a sufficiently resisting backing; on
;

page_text: this lead surface the required design is drawn, which is consequently
engaved or sunk on one side, and in relief on the other, both the incised
or raised parts being proportionate to the amount of pressure exercised
by the draughtsman. When the design is thus completed on the lead
sheet I either subject it directly to the electric battery, or I previously
take an impression from it in a soft moulding substance, which I then
submit to the ordinary action of the battery, as before, and by this
means I obtain my copper plate or printing surfaces either incised or in
relief without, as above stated, the aid either of the graver or of acid,
such plates being consequently exact transfers of the artist's own hand-
work. These plates are suitable for the ornamentation of vitreous,
glazed, ceramic, metallic, wood, leather, paper, and textile surfaces.
I also sometimes employ a film of bicromatized gelatine, and exposing
it to the light either through an ordinary photographic negative or
tracing, and then submitting it to the action of ammonia, the design is
produced either in relief or incised; from this the hard copper plates
are obtained by the battery, as before; or impressions may be taken of
various subjects by placing them on a flat bed on which is placed the lead
sheeting backed with soft backing, and to which pressure is applied till
the desired impression is obtained; this, as before, is submitted to the
battery for producing the plates either in relief or incised, as desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BROWN, of Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, Artist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Brown, Her special
licence that I, the said Joseph Brown, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Brown, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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
COPPER PLATES FOR PRINTING IN INK OR COLOURS, AND FOR ORNAMENTAL
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Brown, 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 Joseph Brown, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
. This Invention relates to a peculiar process whereby copper plate
engravings and metal printing blocks or moulds are produced without
the aid either of the graver or of acid, the feature of novelty in the
Invention consisting in the method employed for the production of
incised or relief designs or impressions on surfaces from which the copper
plates are afterwards obtained.
The modus operandi is as follows:-I take a sheet of thin lead or tin;
this I place on a sufficiently resisting backing, yet sensative to the touch
of the designer's tool for effecting the requisite light and shade by
drawing on the metal surface with either a light or bold hand, as the
case may require. These gentle and firm strokes produce corresponding
effects on the metallic surface by causing the incisions or indentations
to be more or less deep or sunk or indefinitely fine according to the
amount of pressure exercised by the draughtsman. The design thus
completed, and the metal sheet carefully removed from the backing, it
will present two surfaces, one with the design in relief, and the other
sunk. I either present one or other of these surfaces directly to the
action of the electric battery, or I previously take an impression from
either side by pouring some soft moulding substances thereon, which
latter when hard is prepared in the ordinary manner, and then sub-
mitted, as before, to the action of the battery, and by this means I

page_text: obtain copper plate or printing surfaces or moulds, either incised or in
relief, as desired, such plates being exact transfers or reproductions of
the artist's own handwork; and by cutting away the ground of a plate
thus formed, and leaving only the design, I have a metal printing
block.
Impressions may also be taken of various subjects by placing them on
a flat bed, on which is placed the lead sheeting backed with the soft
backing, and by pressure on the subject the desired impression is
produced on the metal, which is then treated as previously mentioned,
and then submitted to the battery as before for producing the plates
either in relief or incised, as desired.
I sometimes also employ a film of bichromatized gelatine, and exposing
it to the light, either through an ordinary photographic negative or
tracing, and then submitting it to the action of ammonia, the design is
produced either in relief or incised; from this the hard copper plates
are obtained by the battery, as before. These plates are suitable for the
ornamentation of vitreous, glazed, ceramic, metallic, wood, leather,
paper, textile, and plastic surfaces.
Having thus described my Invention, and the mode of carrying it into
effect, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the process
herein mentioned of obtaining copper plate or printing surfaces or
moulds having the designs either raised or sunken thereon in the
manner, by the means, and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
A. C. HENDERSON,
6, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn,
W.C.
JOSEPH BROWN. (L.s.)