AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING RELIEF PRINTING PLATES, BLOCKS, AND CYLINDERS
Year: 1860

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING RELIEF
PRINTING PLATES, BLOCKS, AND CYLINDERS."-A communication from abroad
by De Witt Clinton Hitchcock, Edwin Blake Larchar, Edwin Metcalf
Larchar, James Smith Talbot, and William Scudder Tisdale, all of the
United States of America.
Sealed the 22nd February 1861, and dated the 21st September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st September 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING RELIEF
PRINTING PLATES, BLOCKS, AND CYLINDERS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce printing surfaces in relief by
delineating on a prepared surface of chalk, or other suitable material, lines,.
figures, or devices with fluid silex or other suitable liquefied material that will
harden the chalk or other material employed by its absorption into the same.
To this end the plate, block, or cylinder, which is to form the printing surface
or the mould for the production by casting, or the electrotype process, of the

page_text: printing surface is made of chalk, clay, siliceous, or, in fact, of any other
suitable soft material, the component parts of which will admit of being readily
pulverized or removed by brushing, blowing, wiping, or otherwise. This plate
or block is brought to the desired solidity, size, and form by pressure in a
mould or by any other means adapted to the purpose, so that its surface will be
sufficiently smooth to admit of the finest lines being drawn or marked thereon.
The lines, configurations, or devices to be produced in relief are made upon
this surface with a pen, brush, or other instrument, whose marking material,
or medium, or ink is liquid silex or any liquefied stone, mineral, metallic, or
other simple or compound substance susceptible of entering into the chalk or
other material employed, and hardening the same. The liquid in which the
design is drawn becoming absorbed by the immediately contiguous grains of
the same below, transforms that portion of the material through which it
permeates into a hard stony substance, which result may be facilitated, in some
cases, by the application of heat or other artificial means. When this effect
is produced the chalk, clay, or other material unacted on next the surface by
the liquid silex or other petrifying material is removed to the necessary depth
by repeated brushing or otherwise, so as to reduce the base or sunk portions
to the same relation to the hardened relief lines, as the corresponding parts
are in a woodcut. The whole or part of the body of chalk or clay is then
saturated with liquid silex or other hardening substance, which transforms
the body through which it permeates into the same hardened & stony homo-
geneous state with the relief lines or portions previously solidified, and gives
the entire plate or block the necessary strength to withstand the pressure
exerted upon it in locking it up in a form, and printing from it in a press.
The silex or other material for impregnating and hardening the chalk, clay, or
other substance may be used in the form of an ink pencil or crayon. The
drawing of the design may be made in liquid silex or equivalent material
upon the surface of any desired substance, and thence transferred to the
prepared block instead of being made directly on the prepared block.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County 3
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING RELIEF PRINTING
PLATES, BLOCKS, AND CYLINDERS," being a communication from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to produce printing surfaces in relief by
delineating on a prepared surface of chalk or other suitable material lines,
figures, or devices with fluid silex or other suitable liquefied material, that will
harden the chalk or other material employed by its absorption in the same.
The soft material between and outside the hardened lines is then brushed or
rubbed in order to remove such soft parts, leaving the hardened lines in relief;
the entire plate or block is then hardened and a design in relief lines will be
produced, which will resemble in its general features the lines of a woodcut
from which printed impressions can be taken.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig 1 is a plan or top view of a plate or
block of chalk having the figure of a star enclosing a flower delineated on its
surface with the liquid silex or other hardening material, these configurations
being represented in red lines in the Drawings; Fig. 2 is a cross section of
the same, at the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, shewing the extent and form of the ab-
sorption of the silex by the chalk; Fig. 3 is a similar section of the same with

page_text: the soft material between the lines of the delineation brushed away or otherwise
removed, so as to bring the hardened lines into relief after the style of a wood
cut; Fig. 4 is a similar section with the whole body solidified or hardened to
one homogeneous mass.
The plate, block, or cylinder which is to form the printing surface or the
mould for the production by casting or by the electrotype process, of the
printing surface is made of chalk, clay, silicious, or, in fact, of any other
suitable soft material, the component parts of which will admit of being readily
pulverized or removed by brushing, blowing, wiping, or otherwise. This plate
or block is brought to the desired solidity, size, and form by pressure in a
mould or by other means adapted to the purpose, so that its surface will be
sufficiently smooth to admit. of the finest lines being drawn or marked thereon.
The lines, configurations, or devices to be produced in relief are made upon
this surface by means of a pen, brush, or other instrument with a marking
material, or medium, or ink composed of liquid silex, water, glass, or any liquified
stone, mineral, metallic, or other simple or compound substance susceptible
of entering into the chalk or other material employed, and hardening the same.
This marking material may of course be employed either in its natural state
or combined with any artificial coloring matter. The silicious or other liquid
in which the design is drawn on the chalk or other block becomes absorbed
by the immediately contiguous grains of the same below to the depth repre-
sented by red lines in the Drawings, and by this means transforms or changes
the portion of the chalk or other material through which it permeates into a
hard, stony substance, which result may be facilitated, in some cases, by the
application of heat or other artificial means. When the desired effect is pro-
duced the chalk, clay, or other material next the surface, which remains
unacted on by the liquid silex or other petrifying material, is removed to the
necessary depth by repeated brushing or otherwise, so as to reduce the base
or sunk portions to the same relation to the hardened relief lines, as the
corresponding parts are in a woodcut. The whole or part of the body of
chalk or clay is then saturated with liquid silex or other hardening substance,
which transforms or changes the body through which it permeates into the
same hardened and stony homogeneous state, with the relief lines or portions
previously solidified or petrified, and gives the entire plate, block, or cylinder
the necessary strength to withstand the pressure exerted upon it in locking it
up in a form and printing from it in a press. The silex or other material for
impregnating and hardening the chalk, clay, or other substance may be used
in the form of an ink, and applied by means of a pen, pencil, or crayon.
The drawing of the design may be made in silicious liquid or equivalent

page_text: material upon the surface of any desired substance, and from thence transferred
to the prepared block instead of being drawn directly on the prepared block,
as above mentioned. Relief printing plates, blocks, or cylinders produced
by this method can be stereotyped, electrotyped, and produced in duplicate
with the same facility that other corresponding plates and blocks are.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improved Mode of Producing
Relief Printing Plates, Blocks, and Cylinders," as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, producing printing plates in relief by employing liquid silex or other
material that has a hardening effect upon chalk, clay, or other substance, or
that has an affinity for, or is capable of combining with the silex as a marking
material or medium, or ink to delineate lines, figures, or other configurations
upon the surface of such chalk, clay, or other substance susceptible of thus
becoming hardened or petrified, and then removing the intervening and
unacted upon soft material next the surface by brushing, rubbing, or other
means so as to leave the lines in relief, and finally solidifying, hardening, or
petrifying the whole body for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)