CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING SURFACES IN IMITATION OF WOODS, AND IN PRINTING THEREPROM
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hardman Worrall, of Bacup, in the County
of Lancaster, Surgeon, for tho Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF PRODUCING SURFACES IN IMITATION OF WOODS, AND IN
PRINTING THEREPROM."
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 25th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hardman Worrall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th March 1863.
I, JOSEPH HARDMAN WORRALL, of Bacup, in the County of Lancaster,
Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING SURFACES IN IMITATION Or Woods,
AND IN PRINTING THEREPROM," to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of obtaining facsimile impressions
or representations of woods by so treating the surfaces of tho wood as to
render the natural graining thereof available for transferring or imprinting the
pattern upon paper or other material, the pattern so produced being applicable
to imitation graining, paper hangings, oil cloths, figuring and embossing
leather and textile fabrics, and to other ornamental purposes.
The improvements consist in an improved method of obtaining such im-
pressions from the natural surfaces of woods or paper, copper, zinc, or stone,
and in transferring the patterns therefrom and printing them upon surfaces.
such as paint, wood, stone, metallic surfaces, or textile fabrics, so as to

page_text: represent the natural grain or appearance of the wood. The surface of the
ornamental or other wood is first prepared by planing or scraping the surface
of the wood perfectly smooth and level, and if the wood is close grained the
surface is covered with strong or dilute alkalies, such as potassa, soda, and
ammonia, or their carbonates, or with ethylic or methylic ethers and alcohols,
or spirits of turpentine, camphine, benzole, and chloroform, or with oils or
solutions of soaps, hot or cold, so as to soften and dissolve out the resinous
substances naturally present in the cells, intercellular spaces, or pores of the
wood. If the wood is very close grained, the surface is to be covered with
any corrosive acid, such as concentrated sulphuric, nitric, hydrochloric, or
chromic acids, so as to corrode, dissolve, or etch the softer parts of the wood,
and leave the harder parts elevated, and to enlarge the pores; this process is'
to be repeated until the desired effect is obtained. The wood having been
submitted to one or more of the above-described processes, an impression may
be taken from it in any of the well-known plastic, galvano-plastic, typographic,
or photo-lithographic, or zincographic processes. I, however, prefer for
purposes of graining and printing paper hangings or ornamental paper
obtaining the impressions on stone or zinc by means of the photo-lithographic
or zincographic process, with the following modification. In obtaining the
negative, which is done by printing an impression in printer's ink directly
from the wood on plain or transparent paper, or on photographic paper
prepared with gelatine and bichromate of potassa, as is well known, and
afterwards increasing the density of the impression, so as to make tho inked
parts impermeable to light by dusting the inked parts whilst wet with lamp
or ivory black, asphalte, or other opaque substance in fine powder, or with the
chromates of lead or iron, chrome yellow, oxide of uranium, or other yellow
substance in fine powder. After exposure to light, either in a pressure frame
(when the negative is obtained on a separate plain paper), or without pressure
frame (when the negative is obtained upon the prepared sensitive surface),
I proceed in the usual well-known photo-lithographic or zincographic methods
to obtain a printing surface on stone or zinc. Other printing, figuring, and
embossing surfaces may be obtained from the wood after it has been submitted
to the previous processes by well-known plastic and galvano-plastic or typo-
graphic processes. For paper hangings and ornamental papers I print directly
from the stone or zinc or other printing surface on the paper, but for
graining I prepare what I term "transfer oil veneers," by printing from stone
or zinc or other printing surface an impression on ordinary lithographic
transfer paper prepared with gelatine or gum and sugar, and transfer it either
immediately without further preparation to the surface (paint, wood, stone, or

page_text: metal,) to be ornamented or grained; or after the ink is dry, and before
transferring, I glaze by hand the impression in either oil or distemper, or
both, as is well known to painters, and after it is dry I varnish it with a thin
turpentine varnish, which in about half an hour will have become "tacky."
I then apply the transfer oil veneer to the surface to be ornamented by means
of a soft cloth, sponge, or roller. By afterwards damping the back of the
transfer paper with a wet sponge, it may be readily stripped off, leaving the
impression upon the intended surface. The transferred surface may then bo
cleaned of the gum or glue adherent to it by passing the wet sponge over it,
and as soon as the dampness has been removed the surface is ready to bo
varnished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Hardman Worrall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, Josern
HARDMAN WORRALL, of Bacup, in the County of Lancaster, Surgeon, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date tho Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,.
the said Joseph Hardman Worrall, Her special license that I, the said Joseph
Hardman Worrall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Hardman Worrall, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to timo 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING SURFACES IN IMITATION OF
WOODS, AND IN PRINTING THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Joseph Hardman Worrall, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Hardman Worrall, 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 :-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of obtaining facsimile impressions
or representations of woods by so treating the surface of the wood as to render
the natural graining thereof available for transferring or imprinting the
pattern upon paper or other material, the pattern so produced being applicable
to imitation graining, paper hangings, oil cloths, figuring and embossing
leather and textile fabrics, and to other ornamental purposes.
The improvements consist in an improved method of obtaining. such im-
pressions from the natural surfaces of woods on paper, copper, zinc, or stone,
and in transferring the patterns therefrom and printing them upon surfaces,
such as paint, wood, stone, metallic surfaces, or textile fabrics, so as to
represent the natural grain or appearance of the wood. Tho method of
operating is as follows:-The surface of the ornamental or other wood is
first prepared by planing or scraping the surface of the wood perfectly smooth
and level, and if the wood is close grained the surface is covered with strong
or dilute alkalies, such as potassa, soda, and ammonia, or other alkalies, and
their carbonates, or with ethylic or methylic ethers and alcohols, or spirits of
turpentine, camphine, benzole, and chloroform, or with oils or solutions of
soaps, hot or cold, so as to soften and dissolve out the resinous substances
naturally present in the cells, intercellular spaces, or pores of the wood. If
the wood is very close grained, the surface is to be covered with any corrosive
acid, such as concentrated sulphuric, nitric, bydrochloric, or chronic acids, so
as to corrode, dissolve, or etch the softer parts of the wood and leave the
harder parts elevated, and to enlarge the pores; this process is to be repeated
until the desired effect is obtained. The wood having been submitted to one
or more of the above-described processes, an impression may be taken from it
in any of the well-known plastic, galvano-plastic, typographic, photo-lithographic,
or zincographic processes. I, however, prefer for purposes of graining and
printing paper hangings or ornamental paper obtaining the impression on
stone or zinc by means of the photo-lithographic or zincographic process, with
the following modification. In obtaining the negative, which is done by
printing an impression in printer's ink directly from the wood on plain or
transparent paper, or on photographic paper prepared with gelatine and
bichromate of potassa, as is well known, and afterwards increasing the density
of the impression, so as to make the inked parts impermeable to light by
dusting the inked parts whilst wet with lamp or ivory black, asphalte, or other

page_text: opaque substance in fine powder, or with the chromates of lead or iron,
chrome yellow, oxide of uranium, or other yellow substance in fine powder.
After exposure to light, either in a pressure frame (when the negative is
obtained on a separate plain paper), or without pressure frame (when the
negative is obtained upon the prepared sensitive paper), I proceed in the
usual well-known photo-lithographic or zincographic method to obtain a
printing surface on stone or zinc. Other printing, figuring, and embossing
surfaces may be obtained from the wood after it has been submitted to the
previous processes by well-known plastic and galvo-plastic or typographic
processes. For paper bangings and ornamental papers, I print directly from
the stone or zinc or other printing surfaces on the paper, but for graining I
prepare what I term "transfer oil veneers," by printing from stone or zinc
or other printing surface an impression on ordinary lithographic transfer paper
prepared with gelatine or gum and sugar, and transfer it either immediately
without further preparation to the surface (paint, wood, stone, or metal,) to
be ornamented or grained; or after the ink is dry, and before transferring, I
color the impression in imitation of the wood, either by hand, stencil, or
blocks, in either oil or distemper, or both, as is well known to painters, and
before transferring I coat it with a thin turpentine varnish, and as soon as it
becomes "tackey" I then apply the transfer oil veneer to the surface to be
ornamented by means of a soft cloth, sponge, or roller pressed upon the back
of the transfer paper. By afterwards damping the back of the transfer paper
with a wet sponge it may be readily stripped off, leaving the impression upon
the intended surface. The transferred surface may then be cleaned of the
gum or glue adherent to it by passing the wet sponge over it, and as soon as
the dampness has been removed the surface is ready to be finally varnished.
In order to transfer the design when upon the prepared paper to the wood or
other surface, either in its simple, grained, or colored state, the surface to be
ornamented must be first coated with paint, as usual for groundwork, and
then dried and varnished, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hardman Worrall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of
JOSEPH HARDMAN WORRALL. (L.s.)