IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING FACSIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, AND DELINEATIONS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugenio de Zuccato, of Padua, in the Kingdom of
Italy, and of Frith Street, Soho, in the County of Middlesex, in the
Kingdom of Great Britain, Licentiate of the University of Padua,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING FACSIMILE COPIES OF
WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, AND DELINEATIONS."
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Sealed the 19th February 1875, and dated the 15th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugenio de Zuccato at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th September 1874.
I, EUGENIO DE ZUCCATO, of Padua, in the Kingdom of Italy, and of
Frith Street, Soho, in the County of Middlesex, in the Kingdom of
Great Britain, Licentiate of the University of Padua, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING FAC-
SIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGS, DRAWINGS, AND DELINEATIONS," to be as
follows:-

page_text: made on an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on
the 28th March 1874, No. 1078, and on the process therein described.
In the first place it is requisite to obtain a thin sheet of paper, close
in texture, and which has been highly sized and well rolled, and is of
the substance or thickness generally known in commerce as bank post.
Other kinds of paper may prove a substitute, but I recommend as being
best adapted for the purpose of my Invention the use of such paper as
I have described.
In the next place the sheet of paper before described should upon one
side be entirely covered or coated with an impermeable or waterproof
substance, such as resin dissolved in spirits of wine or oil of turpentine,
and I recommend as being best adapted for the purposes of my Inven-
tion the composition known in commerce as gilders' lacquer, to which I
usually add to every three parts of the same one part of methylated
spirit for the purpose of making the lacquer to flow more freely and
evenly during the operation of coating. And in order to render the
composition softer I add Venice turpentine in the proportion of one-
sixteenth part of the whole. These proportions however may vary
according to the substance or quality of the lacquer and the quality of
paper used.
The ingredients when mixed must be allowed to be
thoroughly dissolved and united before being used. This varnish must
be laid on the paper evenly, which can be most conveniently done by
means of a broad and soft brush, and I recommend that this operation
should be repeated twice or three times, according to the consistency of
the varnish and the quality of the paper. The paper when so coated
must be thoroughly dry before being used. I recommend that sheets of
paper thus prepared should be kept ready for immediate use. I shall in
future refer to the paper so prepared when describing my process as
papyrographic paper."
"E
In the next place upon the uncoated side of a sheet of papyrographic
paper prepared in the foregoing manner, and being perfectly dry, the
writing, drawing, or delineation of which facsimile copies are intended
to be produced, should be executed with an ordinary steel pen, using for
ink the liquid preparation hereafter described, and which writing must
be allowed to dry.
The liquid preparation I employ for executing such writing, drawing,
or delineation consists of a caustic preparation, such as water which has

page_text: recommend as best adapted for the purposes of my Invention a solution
of an aniline color, hereafter called the papyrographic printing solution.
Having prepared the papyrographic printing pad, the papyrographic
paper bearing the writing, drawing, or delineation desired to be copied,
the mode of producing the facsimile copies of the writing, drawing, or
delineation which has been executed upon the papyrographic paper is as
follows: Place the printing pad saturated with the papyrographic
printing solution upon a perfectly flat surface, such as a piece of
pasteboard or wood, and flat upon the surface of the pad place the
papyrographic paper, so that the uncoated side thereof upon which the
writing, drawing, or delineation has been executed may be next to the
pad, and the coated or varnished side uppermost, and then if the papyro-
graphic paper be dry moisten it with clean water, in order to give an
absorbing power to the exposed lines of the writing, drawing, or
delineation. Flat upon the surface of the papyrographic paper put a
piece of blotting paper, and upon the top of the whole thus arranged
place another picce of pasteboard or perfectly flat piece of wood or
metal, and press the whole together in an ordinary letter-copying press,
or some modification thereof. After a few seconds the exposed lines of
the drawing, writing, or delineation will be found impregnated with the
papyrographic printing solution. For the blotting paper is then sub-
stituted a sheet of the paper to be printed upon, which upon being
pressed against the papyrographic paper in the manner herein-before
described will be found to bear in the color of the papyrographic printing
solution an exact facsimile or copy of the writing, drawing, or delineation
made upon the papyrographic paper.
Care must be taken that the
pressure is evenly distributed.
Without disturbing the arrangement of the pad and papyrographic
paper a fresh sheet of the paper to be printed upon can be placed upon
the papyrographic paper in the place of the sheet that has been printed,
and upon submitting it to pressure in the manner before described it
will be found that a second copy has been produced, and by continuing
the process a great number of copies can be successively obtained by
using other sheets of paper. The action that ensues is as follows, that
is to say, the solution of colouring matter called the papyrographic
printing solution, with which the printing pad is saturated, being
separated by the intervening sheet of papyrographic paper bearing the
writing, drawing, or delineation to be copied from the paper to be

page_text: printed upon is forced by means of the pressure exerted by the press
through the exposed parts of the papyrographic paper along the lines of
the, writing, drawing, or delineation where the papyrographic paper has
been already acted upon or corroded by the action of the papyrographio
ink, as before described, and is deposited upon tho paper used for
printing..
Instead of writing, drawing, or delineating upon the papyrographic
paper the operator can write, draw, or delineate upon a plain sheet of
bank post paper before it is coated, and when the papyrographic ink is
dry the paper can be coated with varnish on one or both sides, proceeding
afterwards when dry to wash the paper so treated, and print the copies
as before described.
D
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Eugenio de Zuccato in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENIO
DE ZUCCATO, of Padua, in the Kingdom of Italy, and of Frith Street,
Soho, in the County of Middlesex, in the Kingdom of Great Britain,
Licentiate of the University of Padua, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Eugenio de Zuccato, Her
special license, that I, the said Eugenio de Zuccato, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Eugenio
de Zuccato, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no 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 Ohannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING FACSIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGs, Drawings,
AND DELINEATIONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Eugenio de Zuccato, 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 Eugenio de Zuccato, do hereby
declaro the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
My Invention relates to improvements in producing facsimile copies
of writings, drawings, and delineations, and consists of improvements
made on an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on
the 28th March 1874, No. 1078, and on the process therein described.
In the first place it is requisite to obtain a thin sheet of paper, close
in texture, and which has been highly sized and well rolled, and is of
the substance or thickness generally known in commerce as bank post.
Other kinds of paper may probably be used as substitutes, but I recom-
mend as being best adapted for the purpose of carrying out my Inven-
tion the use of such paper as I have described.
In the next place the sheet of paper before described should upon one
side be entirely covered or coated with an impermeable or waterproof
substance, such as resin dissolved in spirits of wine or oil of turpentine,
and I recommend as being best adapted for the purposes of my
Invention the composition known in commerce as gilders' lacquer,
to which I usually add to every three parts of the same one part of
methylated spirit for the purpose of causing the lacquer to flow more
freely and evenly during the operation of coating; and in order to
render the composition softer I add Venice turpentine in the proportion
of one-sixteenth part of the whole. These proportions however may
vary according to the substance or quality of the lacquer and the
quality of paper used. The ingredients when mixed must be allowed to
be thoroughly dissolved and united before being used. This varnish
must be laid on the paper evenly, which can be most conveniently done
by means of a broad and soft brush, and I recommend that this operation
should be repeated twice or thrco times, according to the consistency of

page_text: •
the varnish and the quanty on the paper. Te pape 004004
must be thoroughly dry before being used. The sheets of paper thus
prepared should be kept ready for immediate use. I shall in future refer
to the paper so prepared when describing my process as "papyrographic
paper."
In the next place upon the uncoated side of a sheet of pypyrographic
paper prepared in the foregoing manner, and being perfectly dry, the
writing, drawing, or delineation of which facsimile copies are intended
to be produced should be executed with an ordinary steel pen, using for
ink the liquid preparation herein-after described, and which writing
must be allowed to dry.
The liquid preparation I employ for executing such writing, drawing,
or delineation consists of a caustic preparation such as water which has
been saturated with hydrate of sodium or hydrate of potassium, which
preparation may be coloured with a suitable coloring matter, such as
Vandyke brown or other coloring matter capable of withstanding
the action of the alkali, and which matter will not neutralize the caustic
properties of the preparation. This preparation I shall in future when
describing my process allude to as the "papyrographic ink."
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In the next place, in order that the papyrographic paper which has
been written, drawn, or delineated upon with the papyrographic ink
may be used for producing facsimile copies, it is necessary to remove
those parts of the varnish that have been acted upon or corroded by the
action of the said ink. This removal may be made in several ways, but
I recommend the following method, namely:-Upon a piece of textile
fabric, such as calico or linen that has been saturated with clean water,
the coated side of the written papyrographic paper is to be placed, and
is to be firmly and evenly pressed down, first covering it with a sheet of
blotting paper. The water from the calico or linen will within a few
minutes commence to ooze through the lines of the writing, drawing, or
delineation, and the moisture appearing on the uncoated surface should
be immediately removed by means of the blotting paper before alluded to
in order to stay any lateral action of the papyrographic ink. This
process should be continued until all the lines of the writing are per-
fectly clear, which is a certain indication that the ink has operated
sufficiently. The papyrographic paper may now be removed, and any

page_text: portions of corroded varnish that still remain may be washed away with
a soft brush.
The effect produced by the operation before described is to remove
such portions of the varnish as have been acted upon or corroded by the
action of the papyrographic ink along the lines of the writing, drawing,
or delineation which have been made, thus forming a porous paper
"stencil." It is next necessary to form a pad by saturating with
coloring matter held in solution a piece of cloth, velvet, or of some
similar substance, which must be cut slightly larger than the space
occupied by the writing, drawing, or delineation that has been executed
on the papyrographic paper, while it must be smaller than the area of
the said papyrographic paper, which must extend beyond its edges. I
recommend as best adapted for the purposes of my Invention a strong
solution of an aniline color in glycerine, herein-after called the papyro-
graphic printing solution. I commonly use what is commercially
known as the best aniline violet, and the proportions I employ are
usually 2 to 3 ozs. of this aniline violet ground and well mixed together
with one pound of pure glycerine. The quality of the aniline violet is
found to vary considerably, and the exact proportions I use depend on
this quality. In practice however the above will be found near
enough.
Having prepared the papyrographic pad the papyrographic paper
bearing the writing, drawing, or delineation desired to be copied, the
mode of producing the fac-simile copies of the writing, drawing, or
delineation which has been executed upon the papyrographic paper is
as follows: Place the pad saturated with the papyrographic printing
solution upon a perfectly flat surface, such as a piece of pasteboard
rendered waterproof and flat upon the surface of the pad, placo the
papyrographic paper so that the uncoated side thereof upon which the
writing, drawing, or delineation has been executed, and which must be
evenly painted whilst the lines of the writing are still damp with the
payprographic printing solution may be next to the pad and the coated
or varnished side uppermost. Flat upon the surface of the papyro-
graphic paper put a piece of blotting paper, and upon the top of the
whole thus arranged place another piece of pasteboard, which might be a
bound with the other piece of pasteboard herein-before mentioned, and
press the whole together in an ordinary letter copying press, or sono
modification thereof. After a few seconds for the blotting paper sub-

page_text: stituto a sheet of the paper to be printed upon, which upon being
pressed against the papyrographic paper, in the manner herein-before
described, will be found to bear in the colour of the papyrographic
printing solution an exact facsimile or copy of the writing, drawing,
or delineation made upon the papyrographic paper. Care must be taken
that the pressure is evenly distributed.
Without disturbing the arrangement of the pad and papyrographic.
paper, a fresh sheet of the paper to be printed upon can be placed upon
the papyrographic paper in the place of the sheet that has been printed,
and upon submitting it to pressure in the manner before described
it will be found that a second copy has been produced, and by con-
tinuing the process a great number of copies can be successively
obtained by using other sheets of paper.
The action that ensues is as
follows, that is to say :-The solution of coloring matter called the
papyrographic printing solution with which the printing pad is
saturated being separated by the intervening sheet of papyrographic
paper bearing the writing, drawing, or delineation to be copied from the
paper to be printed upon is forced by means of the pressure exerted by
tho press through the exposed parts of the papyrographic paper along
the lines of the writing, drawing, or delincation, where the papyro-
graphic paper has been already acted upon or corroded by the action of
the papyrographic ink, as before described, and is deposited upon the

page_text: a solution of colouring matter, for the purposes herein-before set
forth and in the manner and by the mode herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugenio de Zuccato, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
CHARLES BARLOW,
Patent Agent,
23, Southampton Bldgs,
W.0.
EUG. DE ZUCCATO. (L.s.)