AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING TABLETS, PAPER, AND OTHER SURFACES FOR RECEIVING WRITING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel George Archibald, of Edinburgh, in
the Kingdom of Scotland, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF PREPARING TABLETS, PAPER, AND OTHER SURFACES FOR RECEIVING
WRITING."
Sealed the 7th July 1868, and dated the 9th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel George
Archibald at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th January 1868.
I, SAMUEL GEORGE ARCHIBALD, of Edinburgh, in the Kingdom of
Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Ax
IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING TABLETS, PAPER, AND OTHER SURFACES FOR
RECEIVING WRITING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a means of enabling persons by the sense
of touch to write and make legible memoranda in the dark or by an
indifferent or feeble light. The Invention is also applicable to the
use of the blind, and persons whose vision is impaired.
In preparing materials for receiving writing, such for example as
tablets made of ivory, calves' skin, Bostonite porcelain, or other sub-
stance, I form raised parallel lines on the writing surfaces, by which
means the writer will be guided straight across the page, and also from

page_text: the top to the bottom of the page in regular order, without the risk of
confusing his writing by running the lines one into the other. The
mode of preparing the writing surfaces will depend upon the nature of
the material used; but all those substances which like paper or pasteboard
are capable by the application of pressure of receiving embossing I submit
to a rolling or other pressure, and thus raise parallel lines upon the
surface thereof. Other substances which are prepared by moulding, such
for example as porcelain, I mould with raised parallel lines on the surfaces
intended to receive writing; but when preparing natural substances, such
as slate, which is not susceptible of being moulded, I remove the surface
by attrition, leaving transverse ribs or lines at proper distances apart for
guiding the hand of the writer by the touch over the face of the slate.
Or I may by the printing process raise upon the writing tablet, paper, or
slate, lines which will be sufficiently appreciable to the touch to meet the
requirements which my Invention is designed to provide for.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel George Archibald in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
GEORGE ARCHIBALD, of Edinburgh, in the Kingdom of Scotland, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Samuel George Archibald, Her special licence
that I, the said Samuel George Archibald, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel George Archibald, 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
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF PREPARING TABLETS, PAPER, AND OTHER SURFACES FOR RECEIVING WRITING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel George

page_text: Archibald, 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 Samuel George Archibald, 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 :-
The object of this Invention is to provide efficient appliances to enable
persons to write and make legible memoranda by the sense of touch
alone, as when the writer is blind or has no light or a feeble light only.
The nature of the said Invention for carrying such object into effect
consists in the mode of preparing such appliances, whether tablets, paper,
and other surfaces, for receiving writing as follows:-I prepare these
appliances for receiving writing, such for example as tablets made of
ivory, calves' skin, Bostonite porcelain, or other surfaces by producing
raised parallel lines on the writing surfaces, by which means the writer
will be guided straight across the page by feeling the raised lines, and
from top to bottom of the of the page in regular order, without the risk
of confusing his writing by running the lines one into the other. The
process or modus operandi of preparing these surfaces will be varied in
accordance with the variation in the nature and character of the material
used; but the substances most suitable for the purpose, such as paper,
Bostonite pasteboard, and others of similar pliability, I emboss by
submitting them to a rolling process as hereafter described. Other sub-
stances which are not adapted for the rolling process, but are capable of
being moulded, such as porcelain and such like materials, I mould with
raised parallel lines on the surfaces thereof. But when slate and other
material substances which are not susceptible of moulding I remove the
surface by attrition or cutting away portions thereof, leaving transverse
lines at regulated distances apart. The printing process may in some
cases be resorted to, as lines sufficiently appreciable to the touch may
thereby be produced, but these lines will be inferior in prominence to
those produced by the process above mentioned.
Having thus particularly described the object and nature of my said
Invention, and indicated the means whereby the same may be carried

page_text: into effect, I now in further compliance with the condition in the
aforesaid Letters Patent contained proceed to particularly. describe
and ascertain in what manner the same is to be performed or carried
into practical effect as follows, namely
For the rolling process.-The rollers used in forming the raised parallel
lines on the surfaces. aforesaid are thus constructed:-The upper roll is
made of iron, say, four inches in diameter and fourteen inches long, fluted
with thin ribs or parallel lines to be produced at any desired distances
apart. This roll works into an india-rubber roll of the same size as the
iron one; with tightening screws to produce the necessary pressure. I
obtain a better result by fitting a plate of copper or other metal close
round the iron roll, in which case the material to be pressed is inserted
between the iron roll and the said plate of copper or other metal, which
is made to traverse in the same grooves between the two rolls. The
other processes herein-before referred to need no further description than
that herein-before set forth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
I hereby declare that I claim, the mode of preparing tablets, paper,
and other surfaces for receiving writing by producing thereon raised
parallel lines, as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel George Archibald, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE HAY, Witness, 1, Elm Row,
S. G. ARCHIBALD. (L.S.)
ARCH. STEVENSON, Witness, 32, Cumberland Street,
}Edi
Edin'.