Improvements in the Production in Enamel of Inscriptions, Designs, Ornaments, or Pictorial Devices on Enamelled Metallic Plates or other Vitreous Surfaces, and in Machinery to be Employed therein.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Apr., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Feb., 1894-Accepted, 31st Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Production in Enamel of Inscriptions, Designs,
Ornaments, or Pictorial Devices on Enamelled Metallic Plates or
other Vitreous Surfaces, and in Machinery to be Employed
therein.
We HENRY HERBERT WRIGHT, Managing Director of The Patent Enamel
Co. Limited, Selly Oak, near Birmingham, Manufacturers, and NEWTON LAMBERT
of No. 27 Lower Severn Street Birmingham, Lithographic Artist do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists of the process or combination of processes hereinafter
described for the production in enamel of inscriptions, designs, ornaments or
pictorial devices on enamelled metallic plates or other vitreous surfaces, whereby
the said enamel inscriptions, designs, ornaments or pictorial devices are produced
on the said enamelled plates or surfaces without the use of stencil plates and
without the waste of enamel which occurs in the ordinary processes. Further,
enamel inscriptions, designs, ornaments or pictorial devices may be produced on
enamelled plates or other vitreous surfaces by our invention having fineness of
lines, sharpness of definition and complication of design difficult or impossible of
production by the use of stencil plates or by the processes ordinarily practised.
Our invention consists further of the machinery hereinafter described to be used
in conducting the process or combination of processes.
In carrying our invention into effect we use preferably a printing surface
produced on a lithographic stone, but other printing surfaces may be employed
(according to the nature of the inscription, design, ornament or pictorial device it
is desired to produce upon the enamelled or other vitreous surfaces) from which
impressions in a pigmented varnish or ink may be taken upon an elastic or
gelatinous surface. The pigment we employ in the varnish or ink is mainly
composed of finely divided or powdered enamel of the desired shade or colour.
The inscription, design, ornament or pictorial device to be produced on the
enamelled or other vitreous surface is inscribed, drawn or otherwise produced
upon the lithographic stone or other printing surface as it is to appear on the
said enamelled or other vitreous surface, that is, it is not reversed as in the
ordinary processes of printing.
The inscription design, ornament or pictorial device is transferred from
the lithographic stone or other printing surface to the enamelled metallic plate
or other vitreous surface by the use of a transferring roller or cylinder made
preferably of iron, the cylindrical surface of which is covered or coated in the
following manner. The iron roller or cylinder is first evenly covered with felt
over which is placed a second covering of vulcanised india-rubber. Tightly
strained over the india rubber covering is a sheet of American oil-cloth or
japanned cambric the smooth surface of which has previously received a coating of
a gelatinous compound consisting essentially of treacle and glue. Glycerine or
gelatine may however be added to the gelatinous compound the proportions varying
in accordance with the climate or seasons and the character of the work to be
produced. We do not confine ourselves to the making of the transferring roller or
cylinder in the manner herein before described as the gelatinous compound may be
applied to the india rubber surface omitting the oil cloth and for larger and coarser
descriptions of work the gelatinous composition itself may be dispensed with, the
transferring being effected by the uniformly smooth surface of the oil-cloth in
conjunction with the layers of india rubber and felt before described.

page_text: The inscription, design, ornament, or pictorial device on the lithographic stone
or other printing surface having been properly charged or inked with the enamel
pigmented varnish hereinbefore. described, the transferring roller or cylinder is
passed with the necessary amount of pressure over the charged or inked printing
surface, the transferring roller taking up from the inscription, design, ornament or
pictorial device on the stone or other printing surface a portion of the pigmented
varnish or ink thereon. An inverted impression of the inscription, design, ornament
or pictorial device in enamel ink is thereby produced upon the surface of the
transferring roller or cylinder.
We continue the onward rolling motion of the transferring roller or cylinder
onto an enamelled metallic plate or other vitreous surface previously adjusted upon
a perfect and even plane with the printing surface at a necessary distance from the
said printing surface, so that a second onward revolution of the transferring roller
or cylinder transfers the inverted inscription, design, ornament, or pictorial device
impressed upon its surface in the required position upon the metallic enamelled
plate or vitreous surface.
In order however to augment, deepen or intensify the colour of the transferred
enamel inscription, design, ornament or pictorial device, the said transferred
impression is dusted or brushed over with finely powdered enamel. The plate is
then ready for stoving or firing in the ordinary way.
Before returning the transferring roller or cylinder to its first or starting position
to be re-inked with the enamel pigmented varnish the enamelled surface that has
received and been impressed with the inscription, design, ornament or pictorial
device is removed before dusting or brushing it over with the enamel powder and
another enamelled plate may be substituted therefor, a sufficient quantity of the
enamel pigmented varnish remaining upon the surface of the gelatinous coating of
the transferring roller from its contact with the printing surface to impress a
second enamelled surface.
The return of the transferring roller or cylinder to the position it occupied
before inking so that no blurring or doubling of the lines of the inscription, design,
ornament or pictorial device may occur is mechanically and automatically effected
by the machinery hereinafter described constituting part of our invention.
A fixed or stationary bed divided into two compartments or frames the one for
the reception of the lithographic stone or other printing surface which is held in
position by regulating screws which adjust the fit or register of the several colours
when more than one colour is used, and the other compartment for the reception of
the enamelled plates or other vitreous surfaces to be impressed with the inscription,
design, ornament or pictorial device.
The bed or frame has on opposite sides a toothed rack and rail into and upon
which toothed wheels or pinions and grooved wheels fixed upon the ends of the
transferring roller or cylinder gear and roll respectively.
The rack and pinion ensures that each successive impression from the printing
surface may fall upon the same portion of the gelatinised coating of the cylinder
occupied by the previous impression, the grooved wheels running upon the rails
preventing any lateral motion of the cylinder as they gear and roll to and fro upon
the racks and rails.
Dated this 27th day of April 1893.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.

page_text: COMIDELE DE
Improvements in the Production in Enamel of Inscriptions, Designs,
Ornaments, or Pictorial Devices on Enamelled Metallic Plates or
other Vitreous Surfaces, and in Machinery to be Employed
therein.
We, HENRY HERBERT WRIGHT, Managing Director of The Patent Enamel
Co. Limited, Selly Oak near Birmingham, Manufacturers, and NEWTON LAMBERT,
of No. 27 Lower Severn Street, Birmingham Lithographic Artist, do hereby
declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Our invention consists of the process or combination of processes hereinafter
described for the production in enamel of inscriptions, designs ornaments or
pictorial devices on enamelled metallic plates or other vitreous surfaces, whereby
the said enamel inscriptions, designs, ornaments or pictorial devices are produced
on the said enamelled plates or surfaces without the use of stencil plates and without
the waste of enamel which occurs in the ordinary processes. Further, enamel
inscriptions designs ornaments or pictorial devices may be produced on enamelled
plates or other vitreous surfaces by our invention having fineness of lines, sharpness
of definition and complication of design difficult or impossible of production by the
use of stencil plates or by the processes ordinarily practised. Our invention consists
further of the machinery hereinafter described to be used in conducting the process
or combination of processes.
In carrying our invention into effect we use preferably a printing surface produced
on a lithographic stone but other printing surfaces may be employed according to
the nature of the inscription, design ornament or pictorial device it is desired to
produce upon the enamelled or other vitreous surfaces from which printing surface
impressions in a pigmented varnish or ink may be taken upon an elastic or
gelatinous surface. The pigment we employ in the varnish or ink may consist in
part of finely divided or powdered enamel of the desired shade or colour, but the
powdered enamel may be omitted, the impression upon the enamelled metallic plate
being dusted with finely powdered enamel before fusing as hereinafter described.
The inscription, design, ornament or pictorial device to be produced on the
enamelled or other vitreous surface is inscribed, drawn or otherwise produced upon
the lithographic stone or other printing surface as it is to appear on the said
enamelled or other vitreous surface, that is, it is not reversed as in the ordinary
processes of printing.
:
The inscription design ornament or pictorial device is transferred from the
lithographic stone or other printing surface to the enamelled metallic plate or other
vitreous surface by the use of a transferring roller or cylinder made preferably of
iron, the cylindrical surface of which is covered or coated in the following manner.
The iron roller or cylinder is first evenly covered with felt over which is placed a
second covering of vulcanized india rubber. Tightly strained over the india rubber
covering is a sheet of American oil-cloth or japanned cambric or other like fabric or
material the surface of which has previously received a coating of a gelatinous
compound consisting essentially of treacle and glue.
Glycerine or gelatine may also be added to the gelatinous compound the
proportions varying in accordance with the climate or seasons and the character of
the work to be produced. We do not confine ourselves to the making of the
transferring roller or cylinder in the manner hereinbefore described as the gelatinous
compound may be applied to the india rubber surface, omitting the oil cloth for

page_text: larger and coarser descriptions of work. Or in place of a gelatine coated india
rubber surface, india rubber coated canvas may be employed.
The inscription, design, ornament or pictorial device on the lithographic stone or
other printing surface having been properly charged or inked with the pigmented
varnish the transferring roller or cylinder is rotated with the necessary amount of
pressure over the charged or inked printing surface the transferring roller taking up
from the inscription design, ornament or pictorial device on the stone or other
printing surface a portion of the pigmented varnish or ink thereon. An inverted
impression of the inscription, design, ornament or pictorial device in enamel or other
ink is thereby produced upon the surface of the transferring roller or cylinder. By
another rotation of the transferring roller or cylinder the inverted inscription,
design, ornament or pictorial device impressed upon its surface is transferred in the
required position to the metallic enamelled plate or vitreous surface.
The said transferred impression upon the enamelled plate or surface is next
dusted or brushed over with finely powdered enamel and the plate is then ready for
fusing or firing in the ordinary way.
To obtain additional depth and richness of colour we repeat the printing and
dusting on of the enamel powder before fusing the enamelled plate allowing a
sufficient time to elapse after the first operation to allow the printing medium
(enamel pigmented or otherwise) to set or dry sufficiently to allow of a subsequent
printing thereupon without lifting or setting off the previous impression. After a
sufficient intensity is thus obtained the enamelled plate is fused in the usual
manner; or a richer result may be obtained by re-fusing after each re-printing and
re-powdering of the impressed inscription, device or ornament.
The machinery constituting part of our invention consists of the transferring
cylinder and a traversing bed divided into two compartments or frames the one
for the reception of the lithographic stone or other printing surface which is held
in position by regulating screws which adjust the fit or register of the several
colours when more than one colour is used, and the other compartment for the
reception of the enamelled plates or other vitreous surfaces to be impressed with
the inscription, design ornament or pictorial device.
The bed or frame has on opposite sides a toothed rack into which toothed
wheels or pinions fixed upon the ends of the transferring roller or cylinder gear.
The use of the rack and pinion ensures that each successive impression from
the printing surface may fall upon the same portion of the gelatinized coating of
the cylinder occupied by the previous impression.
The machinery which we prefer to use in conducting the process or processes
hereinbefore described is represented in perspective in Figure 1 and plan of the
traversing bed of the same in Figure 2; Figure 3 represents a detail of the machine
drawn to a larger scale as hereinafter described.
The said machine somewhat resembles an ordinary lithographic printing machine
with the inking and damping and distributing rollers of the same, but the gripping
apparatus and laying on and taking off tables are dispensed with. The transferring
roller or cylinder which we use is made of about one half the diameter of that of
an ordinary lithographic printing machine so that it makes two rotations during
the traverse of the bed instead of one rotation as in the ordinary lithographic
printing machine.
The traversing bed is made longer than the ordinary bed and besides carrying
at its ends the ink distributing table A and damping table D, is divided at its
middle part into two compartments or frames. One of these compartments or
frames contains the lithographic stone or other printing surface C having the design
or device drawn upon it in its proper position, the said stone or printing surface
being firmly clamped or secured upon an adjustable support and the other compart-
ment or frame contains a supporting plate B, capable of adjustment, upon which
the enamelled iron plate to be impressed is placed. The height of the supporting
plate B is so adjusted that the enamelled iron plate is brought to the same level
as the printing surface at C. The said enamelled iron plate is secured in position

page_text: on the supporting plate B and register at the same time obtained by means of
adjustable screw plates of the kind represented in Figure 3, having projecting
studs, the said adjustable or registering screw plates being fitted into depressions
at F, F Figure 2. The studs on the plates Figure 3 take into corresponding boles
made in the margin of the enamelled iron plate.
The transferring roller or cylinder having a gelatinous coating and made as
herein before described is marked H, the ends of the transferring roller or cylinder
being provided with toothed wheels or pinions which gear with the toothed racks
on opposite sides of the rails of the traversing bed. By means of the said racks
and pinions each successive impression from the printing surface at C is impressed
upon the same portion of the gelatinized coating of the transferring roller or
cylinder H occupied by the previous impression: G are the inking rollers and
G2 the damping rollers. For the purpose of lifting the inking and damping rollers G.
and G' from the surface of the enamelled iron plate at B during the traverse of
the bed, so that they do not operate upon the said enamelled iron plate, the side
rails, opposite the division or compartment at B, are provided with lifters or
elevated parts at E E which lift the said rollers as those parts of the bed travel
under them.
The impression in enamel (or in an ordinary ink or varnish) is impressed upon
the surface of the enamelled iron plate at B on the traversing bed of the machine
in the following manner. The parts being in the respective positions represented.
in Figure 1, an advance motion is given to the traversing bed and parts carried by
it (the transferring cylinder H being at rest) so as to charge the printing surface
at C with the pigmented ink or varnish. On the traversing bed making its réturn
stroke, an inverted impression of the design or device on the printing surface
at C is obtained upon the surface of the transferring roller or cylinder H, the said
cylinder having made a complete rotation. On the further return motion of the
traversing bed a second complete rotation in the same direction is given to the
transferring roller or cylinder H and the inverted impression upon it is transferred
in the proper position to the surface of the enamelled iron plate at B.
traversing bed having reached the position represented in Figure 1, the machine is
stopped and the enamelled iron plate removed and dusted with fine enamelled
powder as herein before described. A fresh enamelled plate or one already partly
printed or printed and fused being fixed on the bed at B the machine is again set
in motion and the operations hereinbefore described are repeated.
The
The traversing bed is driven in the same manner as the traversing bed of an
ordinary lithographic printing machine.
In cases where the device or ornament does not consist of fine lines, stipple or crayon
drawing, we etch the stone or produce the printing surface in high relief, discarding
the damping rollers and proceed as is usual in printing from type or wood blocks.
Instead of conducting our improved process by the use of the machinery herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, an ordinary
lithographic printing machine modified to work our improved process may be
employed; that is to say, we remove the feed table and laying on board and
gripping apparatus and reduce the diameter of the impressing cylinder to permit
of the extra thickness of the elastic backing and to bring the gelatine film to the
pitch line or nearly so of the cylinder. The device, design or inscription upon the
lithographic stone or printing surface is inked in the usual way and is protected
from injury by a thin sheet of elastic material upon which the enamelled iron plate
is placed to receive the impression from the transferring cylinder. After the
design on the stone or printing surface has been transferred in an inverted position
onto the transferring cylinder the enamelled iron plate is placed upon the said stone
or printing surface with the protecting material between them and the second
rotation of the impressing cylinder transfers the impression from its surface in the
proper position onto the said enamelled iron plate which is dusted over with finely
enamelled powder and fused as before described.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed we declare that we
claim as our invention;
First. The process or combination of processes herein before described for the
production in enamel of inscriptions, designs, ornaments or pictorial devices upon
enamelled metallic plates or other vitreous surfaces; that is to say, producing on
a lithographic stone or other printing surface the inscription, design, ornament or.
device as it is to appear on the enamelled plate or vitreous surface; transferring an
impression from the said printing surface, in an inverted position, onto preferably
the surface of a transferring roller or cylinder of the kind described, and retrans-
ferring the impression in the proper position, from the said roller or cylinder onto
the enamelled metallic plate or vitreous surface, the impression on the transferring
roller being produced either in enamel pigmented varnish or ink or in ordinary
pigmented varnish or ink, the impression transferred to the enamelled metallic
plate or vitreous surface being dusted with finely powdered enamel before the fusing
or firing operation substantially as hereinbefore described.
Secondly. The arrangement or combination of the parts of the machinery
hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing to be used in
conducting the process or combination of processes referred to in Claim 1.
Thirdly. The modification hereinbefore described of the ordinary lithographic
printing machine to fit it to be used in conducting the process or combination of
processes referred to in Claim 1.
Dated the Twenty-second day of February 1894.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.