IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO TRANSFERRING PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PICTURES, DESIGNS, OR FIGURES ON METALLIC AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO TRANSFERRING PROCESSES FOR THE
PRODUCTION OF PICTURES, DESIGNS, OR FIGURES ON METALLIC AND OTHER
SURFACES. A communication from abroad by Harvey Klapp Flagler, of
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
33
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on tho 7th July 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO TRANS-
FERRING PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PICTURES, DESIGNS, OR FIGURES
ON METALLIC AND OTHER SURFACES." A communication front abroad by Harvey
Klapp Flagler, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention relates to improved processes for transferring from the original
designs or figures to metallic and other surfaces, and it embraces three features,
namely,
First, a process for reproducing from the original figure or design the said figure
or design upon metallic or other surfaces, such as copper, steel, stone, glass, or the
like, for plate printing and other purposes; secondly, a process for transferring
figures and designs from the original to curved or cylindrical surfaces, such as rolls
for calico printing, porcelain or other earthenware, or the like; and, thirdly, a.
process for transferring figures and designs from the original to a metallic plate, or
to paper, for use in the pentagraph process of engraving.
Printing surfaces have been produced by etching figures or designs transferred
from the original to a metallic surface in a well known manner, the ink resisting
the action of an acid employed in the etching process, which acid eats the sur-
rounding metal, leaving the design in high relief. Printing plates produced in this
manner answer for block-printing, but this process cannot he employed for plate
printing, which requires a sunken or intaglio design, to produce which by the
etching process necessitates the covering of the metallic surface with an etching
ground, and the subsequent formation of the design thereon by hand drawing with
an etching point or needle, which leaves the metal exposed to the action of the acid
wherever the etching ground has been scratched away by the point of the needle.

page_text: This hand etching process which is employed extensively in engraving copper
cylinders used for calico printing, and for preparing plates for printing designs
upon porcelain or other earthenware, and for other purposes, is exceedingly slow,
tedious, and expensive, and it has hitherto been found impossible to employ a
photographic or other transfer in the process of producing an etched intaglio
design, for the reason that the ink forming the design effectually prevented tho
acid from acting upon the very portion of the metal which would require to be
enten away to produce a sunken figure.
To produce upon a metallic or other surface an etched design transferred thereon
from a photograph, print, or impression, an etching ground formed of a composition
which will not adhere to the ink of the transferred impression, but only to the
uncovered surface, and which will resist the action of the fluid with which the ink
is subsequently washed off, is used. The removal of the ink causes the surface
hitherto covered thereby to form the design, the lines or edges of which are defined
by the surrounding or adjacent etching ground, so that when the surface is subjected
to the acid the design itself will be attacked by the acid and be thus produced in
intaglio as desired.
To carry this Invention into effect the design is first photographed upon paper,
and then transferred by any well known photo-mechanical process to the metallic
surface to be used for printing, or the design is transferred from a print or impression
by any other suitable process and reproduced upon the metallic or other surface in
transfer-ink of a suitable composition; I then apply to the metallic or other surface
upon which the design or figure has been transferred and smoothly distribute there-
over an etching ground composed of three (3) drams of shellac dissolved in five (5)
ounces of alcohol: The nature of this-composition is such that it will not remain
upon the surface of the ink, and will only adhere to the exposed surface not covered-
by the ink; consequently the ink which forms the design is left entirely uncovered
and in the same condition as when originally applied. The transfor ink forming
the outline of the design is then washed off with turpentine or benzine, which does
not affect or remove any portion of the etching ground. This washing off of the
ink causes the surface hitherto covered thereby to form the design itself. The
lines or edges are clearly defined by the surrounding or adjacent etching ground.
The surface thus prepared is now subjected to the action of acid, reduced with
water to the proper strength as in the ordinary etching process, when that portion
of the surface from which the ink has been removed, and which now forins the
design itself, is attacked by the acid, which is allowed to corrode or eat away the
metal or other surface to the desired depth as in the ordinary etching process.
When the plate is removed it is thoroughly washed with water and dried, after
which it is ready to use in the ordinary process of plate printing. A perfect
intaglio copy of a design or figure can thus be produced on a plate or metallic
surface from a photograph or other transfer in an exceedingly expeditious and
economical manner.
This portion of the said Invention may be applied with great advantage to the
engraving of copper cylinders, which can thus be produced at a greatly reduced
cost, and can also be advantageously employed for producing surfaces from which
to print designs or figures in white upon a dark ground, and for plates to print
transfers for decorating porcelain or the like. It is obvious however that the said
Invention is not confined to the production of metallic printing surfaces, as it may
be employed in reproducing designs, letters, or the like upon stone surfaces for
printing or other purposes, and upon glass and other substances for ornamentation,
and for a variety of other uses.
The second part of the said Invention relates to the process employed in trans-
ferring figures or designs from the original to curved or cylindrical surfaces.
Heretofore it has been customary in transferring a design or figure to a curved
metallic or other surface upon which it is desired that the design or figure be
reproduced, first to obtain an outline tracing of the design on transparent paper;
then to reproduce by hand the figure or design ou the opposite side of the tracing

page_text: paper in transfer ink; then to transfer the figure or design thus prepared in transfer
ink to drawing paper of sufficient body; then to go over the design very carefully
by hand with transfer ink; then to transfer the design from the paper to the
curved or cylindrical surface by pressure. This is an exceedingly'slow and tedious
process, and requires great care to obtain an ordinary degree of accuracy.
By my improvements an outline tracing of the design or figure is prepared, and
then by the camera it is shadowed upon sensitized paper, and then transferred from
the sensitized paper to the curved or cylindrical surface prepared to receive it, tho
photograph upon the sensitized paper being transferred to the curved or cylindrical
surface. In order that the design may be produced upon the cylindrical curved
surface the said surface is covered with a thin coat of varnish, and the paper must
bo sensitized by a composition which will allow of the paper being moistened or
made wet during the process hereinafter described. I prefer to use for this purpose
a composition of ninety six (96) ounces of water; thirteen (13) ounces of bichromato
of ammonia; three (3) ounces of alcohol; two (2) grains of nitrate of silver;
one and one quarter (1) pounds of gelatine; although I do not confine myself to
the use of this composition, as any other composition which will allow of the design
or figure being transferred to the roll may be employed. The sensitized paper
having received the photograph is moistened, and is then fitted to the curved or
cylindrical surface, and the design or figure is transferred to the said surface, and is
then used as a pattern or design for the engraver to follow.
and
The sensitized paper must have these properties, that is to say, it must be when
moistened or wet sufficiently firin not to spread, and the sensitizing composition
must be sufficiently solid or "set" to resist the softening action of the water, other-
wise it would be impossible to obtain an accurate transfer from the photograph to
the curved or cylindrical surface.
The third part of this Invention relates to the mode of preparing designs and
figures and transferring them from the original to a plate or paper used as a pattern
in the pentagraph process of transferring designs or figures to rolls for calico and
other printing.
The pentagraph process as at present employed consists, first, in enlarging the
size of the design or figure by the camera to five or nine times its original size;
then in making an outline tracing of the figure or design thus enlarged by the
camera on paper by hand; then in tracing the figure or design on transparent
paper, and then in shadowing the tracing thus made upon opaque drawing paper;
then carefully tracing the outline upon the drawing paper by hand; the figure or
design thus produced on the drawing paper is then slowly and carefully gone over
with transfer iuk, and then is transferred to a zinc plate coated with varnish by
spreading the paper thereon in such a manner that the figure or design upon its
surface in transfer ink is transferred to the varnish covered zinc plate. In some
instances the figure or design is transferred to paper in lieu of the zinc plate.
Every line of the figure or design is then sunk in the zinc plate by hand engraving,
or drawn carefully on the paper in water colors, following as exactly as possible the
impression received from the tracing paper, and the plate or paper thus prepared is
then put on the table and is used as a pattern, from which the figure or design is
reproduced upon the roll and reduced to the original size of the original design or
figure.
The use and application of the pentagraph machine for this purpose being so well
known it is needless to describe its construction and operation.
By this Invention instead of shadowing the outline tracing upon paper and then
tracing it thereon by hand, reproducing it by hand on the under surface thereof,
and transferring from that surface by hand to the plate or paper, the design or
figure is shadowed directly upon the metallic plate or paper, which is prepared to
receive it by being coated with a very thin sensitized solution. I have already
described one which I prefer to employ; I do not however intend to confine myself
to the use of this especial composition, but may employ any composition that can be
applied to the metallic plate or paper for the purpose of receiving the figure or

page_text: design shadowed thereon by the camera; and I desire to state that in using the
above named composition it is not essential that the exact proportions given be
used, as the quantities may be varied as the skill of the operator and the exigencies
of its use may require.
The metallic plate or paper upon which the figure or design is to be shadowed is
covered with a thin coating of sensitized solution, and the outline, figure, or design
having been prepared from the original design is magnified and shadowed thereon
by the camera, and the figure or design is then engraved in the metallic plate; or
if upon paper the paper may be employed on the pentagraph table without further
preparation.
The advantages of this Invention in comparison with the method heretofore
employed for transferring from the original, among which advantages are accuracy
and facility of operation, will be obvious to all those who have any knowledge of
the subject.
-
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I claim,―
First. The process for producing etched designs or figures upon metallic or other
surfaces for plate printing and other purposes, consisting in producing upon a
metallic or other surface the required figure or design by transferring the same from
a photograph, print, or impression in any suitable manner, then applying an etching
ground which will not adhere to the ink and will resist the action of the fluid with
which the ink is subsequently washed off, and after the ink has been removed
subjecting the exposed surface of the metal previously covered thereby to the action
-of-acid-so-as-to-produce_the_design_or_figure in intaglio, substantially as above set
forth.
Second. The method or process of producing upon metallic or other surfaces
designs or figures having their lines or edges defined by the surrounding or adjacent
etching ground, consisting in washing off the transfer ink after the application of
the etching ground, leaving the design upon the exposed metallic or other surface,
substantially as and for the purposes herein described.
Third. The process of transferring designs or figures from the original design to
curved surfaces, consisting in shadowing an outline of a drawing or figure upon
sensitized paper, then transferring the figure or design from the sensitized paper to
the curved surface, substantially as and for the purposes above described.
Fourth. The improvement in the mode of preparing metallic plates or paper for
the pentagraph process of engraving figures and designs, consisting in shadowing
an outline, design, or figure to be transferred directly upon the sensitized plate or
paper, and with respect to metallic plates engraving the lines of the figure or design
thereon, substantially as and for the purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.