CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF USING PLATES AND PRESSES, AND FOR COMBINING VARIOUS SPECIES OF WORK IN THE SAME PLATE FOR THE KIND OF PRINTING USUALLY CALLED COPPERPLATE PRINTING, DESIGNED FOR THE OBJECTS OF DETECTING COUNTERFEITS, FOR MULTIPLYING IMPRESSION, AND SAVING LABOR
Year: 1810

page_text: DYER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
C. DYER, of Boston, State of Massachusetts, one of the United States, now
residing in London, Merchant, send greeting..
.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent- under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eirst day of October, in the fifty-first year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph. C. Dyer, my exors, admors,
and assigns, His special licence, full power; sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, my exors, admors, and assigns, during, the
term of-years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales; and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also in all His Majesty's Colonies' and Plantations abroad, an Invention
communicated to me by a certain foreigner: residing abroad, of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF USING PLATES AND PRESSES,
AND FOR COMBINING VARIOUS SPECIES OF WORK IN THE SAME PLATE FOR THE KIND OF
PRINTING USUALLY CALLED COPPERPLATE PRINTING, DESIGNED FOR THE OBJECTS OF
DETECTING COUNTERFEITS, FOR MULTIPLYING IMPRESSION, AND SAVING LABOR;" in
which said Letters Patent there. is contained a proviso, obliging me, the. said
Joseph G. Dyer; by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months after the date of the said recited

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph C. Dyer, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained as follows, that is to say:--
Firstly, whereas engraved plates of copper are from the nature of that
material speedily worn out, and cannot be accurately and precisely restored to
their original state, and do require greater skill and expenses to retouch them.
I do construct and use a plate or plates made of steel, either throughout or
(by preference) only as to the face thereof, and I do make the said plate or
plates much thicker than ordinary, to the intent that the same may not be
liable to spring, bend, or be injured by the act of hardening, hereafter described,
and in order also that they may not be subject to break or get injured whilst
receiving the necessary degree of pressure in using or printing with them;
and the said plates may also, if convenient or requisite, be made and fashioned,
and engraved of iron of the most uniform texture, or of steel decarbonated or
converted into iron. And after the workmanship of any of the said plates
shall have been completed, I do then convert the same or the surface thereof
into steel by the method called cementation or case-hardening; and I do then
render them hard by immersion when red hot into water. And I do further
declare that the purposes aforesaid may be effected by the various well-known
means of the carbonating steel and cementation or case-hardening; but that, in
preference to any other method, I do use the following, namely:-I make my
plates of cast steel, properly shaped, and I do then decarbonate or convert the
same either partially or wholly into iron, by putting the steel plate or plates into a
box or case capable of being closed and luted, and of sustaining heat; a cast-
iron box will answer very well. The steel is surrounded in the box with oxide
of iron or rusty iron filings, from half-an-inch to an inch thick on every side,
and in this state the closed box is kept red hot for not less than three nor
exceeding twelve days, according to the thickness of the plate, and the depth
to which the decarbonating process is intended to be carried. In general, nine
days answers very well for common sized plates, which are about five-eighths
of an inch thick. And again to convert the iron into steel after it shall have
been engraved, either indented or otherwise wrought with the various species of
work, as desired, I do put the same into the box as before, and surround
it on all sides with a powder made of equal parts of burnt bones and the cin-
ders of burnt animal matter, such as old shoes or leather, and in this state I
expose the box with its contents closely luted and secured from air to a blood
red heat for three hours, after which I take out and plunge it perpendicularly
edgewise into cold water (which shall have been previously boil'd, to throw off

page_text: the air that it may contain,) in which I gradually and slowly lower it to the
depth of three or four fect, and leave it at that depth until cold; by this means
the plate becomes hardened without danger of springing or cracking; and in
order to make the same more tough and tenacious, I brighten the under side
of the plate with an oil stone, and then heat the plate until this brightened
part acquires a pale straw colour; and, lastly, I cool the plate in water, and
polish the surface ready for use. The above process of tempering or letting
down must be carefully done according to the precautions well known to work-
men in steel, such applying the heat from a larger and thicker mass of cast iron
than the plate itself, or from melted lead; or, which is best of all, from a bath of
oil heated to the temperature of 460 degrees or thereabouts of Fahrenheit's
scale. Plates, thus constructed, are what I call Perkin's steriographic steel
plutes," one of which will serve to give as many impressions as would wear out
a great number of copper plates; and from the use of these thick plates,
whether they are constructed of sicel, as aforesaid, or of any other metal,)
another considerable advantage is derived, namely, for the printing of bank
notes, bills of exchange, lottery tickets, or any other prints or documents
wherein a part or parts of the impressions from the plate or plates may be
required to be changed from time to time. The same is effected by means of
any number of moveable blocks or pieces fitted in the said plates so as to form
a part thereof, and having engraved or otherwise wrought thereon the said
parts or portions of the impressions which are or may be required to be changed;
and in constructing my said plates for this purpose, I cause holes or mortises
to be made through them in such place or places, and of such sizes and figures,
as the parts or portions of the impressions required to be changed may
determine, and in. these mortises I place the said blocks or removable pieces
after they shall have been made, engraved, or wrought, as aforesaid, and which
may be of steel or other metal), and accurately fit and secure them therein, so
that their engraved or otherwise wrought surfaces or faces shall be evenly dis-
posed and form a plan with the face of the plate. These removable blocks
are particularly calculated to contain the names of places whence the notes,
documents, &c., are issued of banking and other companies, the denomination or
amount of the dates, numbers, &c., &c., in all of which cases they will serve
instead of new plates, which it would otherwise be necessary to have, and such
removable parts of the plates will likewise be found useful in all cases where it
may be desirable to make frequent alterations in the figure or general appear-
ance of the said notes, documents, &c., which have a tendency to discourage
counterfeiting of them.

page_text: Secondly, in order to render the counterfeiting of bank notes and other
printed documents more difficult or physically impossible to be done with pre-
cision, I do construct and use a compound plate called a check plate, the
impression from which being taken upon the back or other part of the surfaces
of such notes and documents, will afford various corresponding gage lines for
examining the same; and I do forin the s cheek plate by placing any number of
pieces of steel, decarbonated as aforesaid, alongside of each other, and so fitted
together by the adaptation of plane or other surfaces of contact, and of such
dimensions as to constitute one plate, which I do fix in a frame by keys or
otherwise; and upon the said plate I do engrave, etch, impress, or otherwise
mark or make a variety of lines, strokes, letters, flourishes, or irregular chance
work, such as may be extremely difficult to be imitated without great expense,
or altogether impracticable to any considerable degree of precision; and then
I do separate the said pieces and reconvert their surfaces into steel, and harden
and finish, as aforesaid; and in recomposing or putting together the said compound
plate, I do interpose between each engraved piece another corresponding piece
or slip of cast steel, which may be polished or have any uniform or other ground
upon the surface thereof; and I do not then securely fix all the said pieces so alter-
nating with each other in a case or frame, and the same do then compose and
constitute what I call "Perkin's check plate," and will afford an impression
consisting of certain stripes of engraving alternating with other stripes of plain
paper, or paper having thereon an uniform or other ground, as aforesaid. And I do
declare that, with regard to the use and application of the said check plates for
detecting counterfeits, I do not only examine and compare the suspected note,
document, or print with note, another document or print which is or shall be
known to be authentic and truly made or printed from the original check
plate supposed to have been counterfeited, but I do also fold back a part of one
of the said two notes, documents, or prints at one of the lines of contact of the said
plates or elsewhere, and do apply the folded edge upon and against a line of
the other note, document, or print, which should or ought to correspond with
the first mentioned line at which the said fold shall have been made, and in
the event of the most accurate, precise, and determinate correspondence and
agreement of the lines, stroke, letters, flourishes, or irregular chance work,
being found to take place in both the said notes, documents, or prints, I do pro-
nounce the same to be both authentic and true, but if otherwise I do infer and
declare the suspected note, document, or print to be counterfeit.
And, thirdly, for the same purpose of rendering the counterfeiting such notes
or documents as aforesaid, more difficult to be effected, I do avail myself of the

page_text: process of engraving, or otherwise marking or making various lines, strokes,
letters, flourishes, or irregular chance work, as aforesaid, upon clocks or pieces of
steel fixed together so as to form one plane surface, as herein-before described,
and of afterwards separating the same, in order to form the parts of a print or
impression so capable of checking with each other; and I do make and use
the said parts as punches or impressing instruments for making the like lines,
strokes, letters, flourishes, or irregular chance work in a reverse manner upon
various parts of the face of another plate intended to be used for printing; and
I do separate the said parts to be used as punches or impressing instruments
from each other when completed, and do securely fix the same at regular or
irregular distances from each other in a frame, or mortised or perforated piece
of metal, so that the engraved faces thereof shall stand evenly in one plane.
a little elevated above the face of the said piece of metal, and be capable of
being used all at the same time for making or impressing the said reverse
engraving upon the last mentioned plate by the application of a suitable blow
or regulated pressure.
Fourthly, as to the method or methods of making the engravings, marks, or
designs aforesaid upon the said plate or plates I do use all the well-known
methods of engraving properly so called, which consists in the mechanical usé
of various tools and of etching, which consists in a great measure in the che-
mical use of aquafortis, or some other.corrosive fluid or material, through the
interstices of a ground. And I do also produce imitations of block work and
multiply the same engravings upon metallic plates by means of hard steel
cylinders, which I call indenting cylinders, having marks, impressions, or engrav-
ings upon the circular face thereof, which I do transfer to the face of the plate
itself by causing the said cylinders to revolve on and move backwards and for-
wards over the surface of the plate under a powerful pressure, by which means
the figures, letters, and block work on the cylinders will be indented or impressed
on the plates; and altho' the preference is undoubtedly to be given to the
steel plates constructed and made as aforesaid for printing in all cases where
durability and the other desirable qualities herein-before mentioned or alluded
to are or may be required, I do, nevertheless, whensoever the same may be
requisite or desirable for carrying the. said Invention or any part thereof into
effect, make use of copper or any other fit metal. for making plates for
affording impressions from the designs or engravings as aforesaid.
Fifthly, with regard to the method of using plates and presses in the annexed
designs, Fig. I exhibits an improvement in the table, or board C, C, of the
common press (Fig. 4), in which P denotes a cell containing a cast-iron or

page_text: metallic box for the purpose of placing therein a heater represented by the
dark shaded part opposite the same letter in Fig. 4. The denoted space
Fig. 1 denotes a perforated plate laid in a groove in the rim of the said box
above the heater, and upon this last the engraved plate is placed and may be
kept at a proper temperature for a considerable time without changing the
heater or removing the plate, which obviates the inconveniency that would
otherwise attach to the use of the thick and heavy steel plates aforesaid. Fig. 2
represents a cylindrical inker, which I use instead of a common dauber or
rubber, as they are called, consisting of a sufficient number of circular pieces
of cloth or felt, accurately of the same size, which are put upon an axis and
confined together with a cylindrical piece at each end closed against them by
being screwed upon the axis or by any other fit method. Fig. 3 represents
this inker not completely made up. The end of the axis are continued
beyond the pieces which confine the cloth, so as to afford handles by which the
same may be rolled upon the ink block and upon the plate, whereby the
friction occasioned by the striking and rubbing of the old inker is prevented,
and a great saving in the wear of plates produced; and in order that these
operations may more easily be performed, the said handles are included
within cases of tin or other fit material which allow the said handles to turn
freely therein; in the use of this inker of which (the faces when complete from
an entire cylinder,) the same is to be rolled first upon the block or table con-
taining ink, and when duly filled then upon the engraved or otherwise wrought
printing plate which last is to be wiped and cleared of the redundant ink, as
usual. Fig. 4, a copperplate press of the usual form, having the pressing
cylinder D reduced at one side in the well-known form called the D roller
(chiefly used by calico printers) for the purpose of allowing the table and
cushion to return by means of counterweights after the impression shall have
been taken; and when small plates are used the reduced portions of the surface
may be more in number than one. In the use of this press, to which I claim no
exclusive privilege, excepting as to the improvements of the press table herein-
before described, the pressing roller is constantly turned the same way, and
as the plate does not require to be taken out for heating, the saving of time
and labor is very considerable. Fig. 5 affords a front view of the same press
with the blankets or cushions up, and the press table brought forward by the
counterweights. Fig. 6 represents the form in which I usually make my
aforesaid indenting cylinders as being the most convenient to be used, but this
form may be varied according to circumstances; the long end of its axis with
the winch thereon should always extend beyond the edge of the plate to be

page_text: indented, so as to allow the winch to turn freely and cause the said cylinder to
revolve and move over the surface of the said plate. In using these indenting
cylinders I adopt a long foot lever with two branches, which are made to press
on the axis of the said cylinders on each side of the indenting surface thereof,
and (extending in a parallel direction over the plate); the said branches are
made smooth so as to allow the said cylinder to revolve and move laterally
under them with such degree of pressure as the nature of the work to be
impressed and the density of the plates may require; and although I find this
the most convenient method of performing this indenting process, yet any other
method by which the cylinder may be made to revolve on the plates under a
suitable pressure will answer and may be left to the judgment of the workman.
The indenting cylinders I generally make about one inch long and two inches
in diameter at their indenting surface, but the size and proportion thereof may
be considerably varied without prejudice to their performance. The indenting
and inking cylinders are drawn on a larger scale than the other Figures. The
Invention here described, with the numerous valuable improvements arising
from and connected with it, are the result of many years labor, perseverance,
and study which have been devoted thereto by Jacob Perkins, the Inventor
thereof, a gentleman well known in New England as a learned and very
superior artist and author of many new and important Inventions for the
advancement of the arts and manufactures of that country. The above impro-
vements will, I have no doubt, be found of great importance in this country,
as adding to the stock of knowledge in that branch of the arts to which they
relate and especially as affording the most effectual means hitherto discovered
for preventing and detecting counterfeits. This supposition is warranted from
the experiments already made in America, as the said method for preventing
and detecting counterfeits has not only gained Mr. Perkins much esteem and
celebrity in that country, but by the adoption thereof in the printing of bank
notes, the circulation of counterfeits, which had become a great evil there, is
entirely prevented, and the legislature of Massachusetts, his native state,
sensible of the eminent advantages to the Republic derived therefrom, have
passed a law to sanction the adoption of this Invention by the banks there and
to patronize its ingenious author.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eleven.
JOSEPH C. DYER. (L.S.)

page_text: : AND BE IT REMEMBERED; that on the First day of April, in the year
of our Lord 1811, the aforesaid Joseph C. Dyer, came before our said Lord the
King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all
and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand