IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, SUITABLE FOR BANK 'NOTES, CHEQUES, BILLS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pehr Ambjörn Sparre, of Stockholm, but now of 50,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, SUITABLE
FOR BANK 'NOTES, CHEQUES, BILLS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES."
Sealed the 15th July 1859, and dated the 19th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pehr Ambjórn Sparre
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on:
the 19th January 1859.
I, PEHR AMBJÖRN SPARRE, of Stockholm, but now of 50, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, SUITABLE
FOR BANK NOTES, CHEQUES, BILLS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows:
My Invention has for its object the application to the paper in the course
of manufacture of a material capable of producing therein an opaque body
either white or in one or more colours, and of any required pattern or design,
which opaque body will not interfere with the clearness of the ordinary,
printing on the surface of the paper, but will become visible so as to appear
mixed up with the subject of such printing when the note, cheque, bill, or
other similar article is held up to the light. (This opaque body consists of a
powder not soluble in water, such, for instance, as that of Prussian blue, red

page_text: lead, white lead, &c. ;) and such opaque body is intended to be so applied to
the paper, either alone or in combination with the common water-mark, in
such a manner that the smoothness of the surface of the paper is preserved
so as not in any degree to impair either typographic or lithographic printing
thereon.
The application of the opaque body is effected by means of a metal plate or
sheet, perforated according to the required pattern or device after the manner
of a stencil plate, except that the plate or sheet is much thinner than is
ordinarily used for this purpose, and the opaque material or colour is brushed
over the plate so as to pass through the perforations, and become deposited on
the paper behind the plate or sheet in the ordinary mode of stencilling.
The opaque body is thus applied when the first layer is couched, as is well
known in the manufacture of paper. The stencil plate is then applied to the
layer thus couched, and united thereto if necessary by the aid of an exhaust
or other suitable means; the opaque material is then brushed over the plate,
which is afterwards removed from the layer, when another layer is couched
over the former one, and the further process of completing the paper is carried
on as usual.
When the application of the opaque body is combined with the ordinary
water-mark, I prefer to apply the same after the water-mark is produced, as
by this mode of proceeding the required register for the two patterns or devices
may be more readily kept.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pehr Ambjórn Sparre in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PEHR
AMBJÖRN SPARRE, of Stockholm, but now of 50, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Pehr Ambjörn Sparre, Her special license that I, the
said Pehr Ambjörn Sparre, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Pehr Ambjórn Sparre, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from

page_text: 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, SUITABLE
FOR BANK NOTES, CHEQUES, BILLS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Pehr Ambjörn Sparre, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Pehr Ambjörn Sparre, 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 (that is to say):-
My Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Paper, suitable for
Bank Notes, Cheques, Bills, and similar Articles," has for its object the
application to the paper in the course of manufacture of a material capable
of producing therein an opaque body, either white, or in one or more
colours and of any required pattern or design, which opaque body will not
interfere with the clearness of the printing on the surface of the paper, but
will become visible so as to appear mixed up with the subject of such printing
when the note, cheque, bill, or other similar article is held up to the light.
This opaque body consists of a body not soluble in water, such, for instance,
as that of Prussian blue, red lead, white lead, &c.; and such opaque body is
intended to be so applied to the paper, either alone or in combination with
the common water-mark, in such a manner that the smoothness of the surface
of the
paper
is preserved so as not in any degree to impair either typographic
or lithographic printing thereon.
The application of the opaque body is effected by means of a metal plate or
sheet perforated according to the required pattern or design, after the manner
of a stencil plate, except that the plate or sheet is much thinner than is.
ordinarily used for this purpose, and the opaque material or colour is brushed
over the plate so as to pass through the perforations, and become deposited on:
the paper behind the plate or sheet, after the ordinary mode of stencilling.
The opaque body is thus applied when the first layer is couched, as is well
known in the manufacture of paper. The stencil plate is then applied to the
layer thus couched, and united thereto if necessary by the aid of an exhaust
or other suitable-means; the-opaque material is then brushed over the plate,

page_text: which is afterwards removed from the layer, when another layer is couched
over the former one, and the further process of completing the paper is carried
on as usual.
When the application of the opaque body is combined with the ordinary
water-mark, I prefer to apply the same after the water-mark is produced,
as by this mode of proceeding the required register for the two patterns or
devices may be more readily kept.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed. The
apparatus may consist of a box or chest or series of boxes or chests, into the
lower part of which steam is admitted through a pipe from a boiler, a com-
munication being formed by pipes between the several boxes or chests and a
pipe leading from the last box in the series to carry off the waste steam.
Over the portion of the box or chest containing the steam is fitted a plate
corresponding with the ordinary board, on which are laid the several felts or
blankets usually employed to form the bed on which the layers of pulp are
couched, the sides of the box extending above this bed so as to form a trough
or receptacle for water, in which the said felts are placed, it being an object
with me to keep the felts well wetted. To the side or end of the box is fixed
a bracket, on which is mounted a kind of tympan frame with a hinge joint, by
means of which it may be brought down as required, so that the inner end
may be close to the bed of felts. To this tympan frame is jointed a light
frame, in which the stencil plate is inserted, the latter frame being opened
out when the former is brought down, so as to lay the plate over the layer of
pulp couched in the bed. The object in using the tympan frame is not as in
a printing press, so that carrying the surface to be printed it may bring the
same between the presser and the inked types, but merely in order that the
frame carrying the stencil plate (jointed to the tympan frame) may be brought
into its required position over the layer of pulp on the bed. Thus, by bringing
down the tympan frame and opening out the stencil frame, the latter will be
extended over the bed and kept in position with sufficient steadiness to admit
of a brush being used upon the upper surface of the plate. The plate is thus
brought into position, when a layer of pulp is couched on
brush containing the opaque body which is insoluble in water is worked over
the surface of the plate, thereby causing the said opaque body to be absorbed
through the perforations of the plate on to the upper surface of the layer of
pulp.
the bed, and the
After this operation, water is caused to flow under the plate, by which it
becomes loosened from the pulp, the stencil frame is then taken off and the

page_text: plate cleaned, for the next operation by pouring hot water over it while lying
on a -plate- or flat surface in the tympan frame, resting in an inclined position.
When the stencil plate is thus taken off, a second layer of pulp is couched
over the first layer to which the opaque body has been applied, and the top
felt with the paper on it is removed, and the same operations repeated on the
next felt. The felts, each with its sheet of paper (composed of two layers
with the opaque body between), are successively laid one upon another, and
when a
post is completed it is placed in a box-and brought under a piston
fitting the same, which is worked by a crank. This piston is first made to
press lightly on the top of the "post" to keep the several sheets in place, when
hot water is poured into the box, after this the piston is worked continuously
by the throw of the crank. The effect of this action is to cause the water to
be alternately absorbed and squeezed out by the up and down strokes respec-
tively of the piston. This operation is continued. at discretion according to
the depth of the "post" and the shortness of the fibre of the paper, also
according to the strength of the glutinous matter employed in the composition
of the opaque body, in order that it may be dissolved and removed by the
action of the water.
The
opaque body is prepared by mixing the powder (of Prussian blue, red
lead, white lead, &c.,) with water and forming it into a paste, and then adding
the glutinous matter in the quantity required to bring the whole composition
to about the consistency of an ordinary paint as used for painting houses, &c.
The material so prepared is applied by means of a brush of short hair,
similar to an ordinary stencilling brush, or it may be applied by means of a
brush which I have found to answer the purpose. This brush is an ordinary
flat one, such as is used for varnishing, but has applied to it a sliding shield, by
which the length of the hair when used for brushing the material on the
stencil plate may be shortened, and a small roller is also combined with the
brush in such a manner as to be capable of pressing down the said thin plate
in advance of the brush while the latter is being used on the surface of the
plate. The said shield is made to slide over the stock or part of the brush in
which the hairs are held, and is worked forward as required to shorten the
projecting hairs by means of a small bent lever, the fulcrum of which is fixed
to the stock, and one end connected by a slotted pin joint to the shield, the
reverse end terminating in a handle; a spring being also adapted to carry the
shield back again when the pressure of the hand is taken off from the lever ;-
the roller is likewise mounted on a carrier fixed to the lower part of the
shield.
When this brush is used, the long hairs are dipped in the saucer-or-vessel
--

page_text: containing the opaque body, and the brush filled in the usual way, but before
applying the material to the stencil plate, the shield is brought down so as to
shorten the hairs by pressing on the upper end of the lever, the roller being
also brought down with it near to the ends of the hairs. The brush is then
worked over the plate, with the roller in advance of the hairs, and in this
manner the thin plate is smoothed down just before the material is applied
to it.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do not claim as of my
Invention, the above described apparatus and mode of manufacturing paper,
except when combined with the insertion of the opaque body between the two
layers of pulp, as described; but what I do claim is, the application in the
course of manufacturing the paper of an opaque body, insoluble in water,
between the two layers of pulp by means of a perforated plate so thin as to
admit of the material being applied to the pulp, and the plate removed there-
from in the manner described.
. In witness whereof, I, the said Pehr Ambjörn Sparre, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
50, Chancery Lane,
Patent Agent.
P. A. SPARRE. (L.S.)