A MULTITUBULAR BLOCK PRINTING APPARATUS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO CYLINDER PRINTING
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Just Larue at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
January 1873.
I, JUST LARUE, Civil Engineer, of 13, Tottenham Street, Tottenham
Court Road, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "A MULTITUBULAR BLOCK PRINTING APPARATUS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO
CYLINDER PRINTING," to be as follows:-
This Invention is applicable to purposes in which it is wished to
obtain a number of similar impressions in different colours, or also in
some cases in one colour only, such as on calico, muslin, oilcloth, or felt,
wall papers, leather, tapestry and designs for the same, and on other
stuffs and materials for wearing and upholsterers' purposes; as. also
bill posters coloured or not, and playing cards, and other similar objects.
It consists in building up the block to be used in making the impressions
of an aggregation of small tubes placed parallel to each other, and
preferably soldered or otherwise fixed together in such wise that the face
or printing surface of the block consists of the open ends of the said
tubes. The multitubular block thus formed has some or all of its
component tubes as may be required filled with one or more colouring

page_text: matters, according to the design it is wished to print. One mode of
applying a multitubular block thus prepared is as follows:-The block is
placed between the upper and lower plates of a press constructed
according to well-known means, in such wise that the block can be
brought rapidly up and down on the textile fabric, cardboard, paper, or
other material being operated upon, according to the number of
impressions it is required to take.
In order to produce the adhesion between the colours and the material
to be printed, compressed air is injected into a space left between the
top plate of the press and the multitubular block. The colours
contained in the tubes are thus forced out on the material to be printed
during the time that the face of the block is in contact with it, as the
said face comes out of contact an exhaustion of the air or partial vacuum
is made to succeed the compression or plenum, in such wise that the
colours are kept back in the tubes by the pressure of the atmosphere, or
even slightly ascend them on the withdrawal of the block.
The designs are obtained by appropriately charging the tubes, and
they can be cleaned of colour by means of steam which is passed
through them in such wise that they can receive any fresh design that
may be required, and so on, ad infinitum. Such multitubular blocks
may also be employed with the printing surface on the upper side, or
horizontally with the face vertical or even at an angle as found most
convenient. Such multitubular blocks may also be fitted on one or
more cylinders bearing on other cylinders made with elastic peripheries.
The material to be printed passes between these, and the effects of the
compression and exhaustion of air on the blocks are carried out in the
inside of the cylinders. Either oil or water colours can be used.
In order to prevent any running of the colours, the material is in
some cases dried by suitable known means.
Whenever it is wished to print porous fabrics of extra thickness, such
as felt, air is not merely compressed into the upper ends of the tubes,
but the air is exhausted from the bottom plate in order to increase the
tendency of the colours to penetrate the felt. When the operation is
completed then these processes are reversed, and the air is exhausted
from the top ends of the tubes, and forced into the bottom plate below
the felt. In order to quickly charge the numerous tubes composing
these multitubular blocks with the colours a modified form of syringe is

page_text: employed. It consists of a graduated tube fitted with a piston pressed
down with a spring, which spring is brought into action each time that
the reader of the design presses his finger on a trigger. Each graduation
corresponds to a volume equal to the capacity of a given tube, and cach
pull of the trigger corresponds to a graduation on the tube. As many
syringes are employed as there are colours and shades, and each tube is
instantly charged by introducing into its top opening the sharp point of
the syringe.