Improvements in the Process of Embossing. Paper, Card-board, and like Impressible Materials.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1891-Accepted, 4th July,* 1891
COMPLETE. SPECIFICATION.
'
Improvements in the Process of Embossing. Paper, Card-board, and
like Impressible Materials.
1, HERBERT JOHN ALLISON, of 52 Chancery Lane, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this, invention (which
has been communicated to me from abroad by the "Kitchell Embossing Company,"
Incorporated," of Bayonne City, in the State of New Jersey, United States of
America,) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
"
I am aware that paper, leather and other materials of like impressionable
character, have heretofore been embossed by means of dies, with various raised or
depressed designs, such dies having been made from some metal with the designs.
engraved in it, or electrotyped upon it. I am also aware that moulds have been
made of soft, plastic materials, and compositions of materials for moulding metals,
but I am not aware that ever previous to my discovery and invention thereof, dies,
in contradistinction to moulds as known in the arts, have been made of soft and
[plastic materials, other than metals, so that while soft designs can and are
impressed, cut or engraved in it, and then hardened to such a point that the material
from which the dies are made will be both hard, to resist abrasion and tough
enough to resist cracking while in use whenever needed in embossing pliable
materials.
My invention consists in covering a suitable backing with a coat of plastic
material, then forming a design in the plastic coating and then transferring the
design to the paper or other article to be ornamented. I use a compound plastic
material so prepared as to be soft and pliable after a sufficient length of time to
allow the designs to be engraved or moulded by hand or impressed in it, and then
hardened in any suitable way.
The ingredients composing the plastic compound are as follows: Glue, molasses,
water and plaster of paris, in the following proportions, dissolved glue, one pound;
water, one gallon; molasses, one pint; plaster of paris, twenty pounds. But I do
not confine myself to these exact numbers. These ingredients are then placed in a
receptacle and thoroughly mixed together; it then becomes a thick, sticky mass
that can be easily modelled into the desired design, and is of great strength and
hardness when dry.
The modus operandi employed in making the various designs is as follows: The
composition after being mixed is poured on a large sheet of flexible metal or flexible.
card board and worked over the surface of the card board or metal sheet with the
hands or a brush until it is perfectly smooth and of an even thickness all over the
surface. The design is then drawn or engraved in the plastic composition while it is.
still in a wet state; the implements used in drawing or engraving the design are
the hands or small pieces of wood with the points sharpened to various thick-
nesses; after the design is finished the metal or card board sheet with its plastic
surface is allowed to thoroughly dry, it is then smoothed down or polished with
sand paper when this is finished, a sheet of paper or card board is laid on this
design and then another sheet of card board is laid on top of that, then they are
made to pass between two iron rollers having immense power and pressure which
presses the card board down into the lines of the design drawn or engraved on the
plastic compound, and when the card board is taken from this surface the design
will be found embossed on the card board in high relief. The engraving can be
done, if so desired, after the plastic surface of the die is thoroughly dried.
It is well known that the art of making dies of metal by the electrotype process,
or by engraving is a very tedious and expensive one, and adds largely to the .cost

page_text: of production of embossed materials. The process, as hereinbefore set forth,
obviates this difficulty and renders it possible to produce embossed materials
cheaply, quickly and with a wider scope than with the old methods; a. great
variety of designs on the dies can and are made with rapidity, and the cost largely
reduced.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is,
1st. The within described process of embossing card board and the like, which
consists in spreading upon a flat, flexible surface a plastic substance, then forming
the desired design therein, and then transferring the design to the article to be
ornamented.
2nd. The method, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, consisting of the
following operations, viz. First, covering a hard flat, flexible blank with a coat of
plastic material; second, engraving the said plastic coat while in a soft or hard.
condition.
:
3rd. The within described process of embossing card' board and the like, which
consists in covering a suitable backing with a coat of plastic material, then
engraving a design in the plastic coat, hardening and smoothing the plastic material,
and then transferring the design to the paper or other article to be ornamented.
Dated this 2nd day of June 1891.
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.