IMPROVE- MENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hamilton Glassford, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Lithographer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hamilton Glassford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th September 1855.
I, JOHN HAMILTON GLASSFORD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Lithographer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the adaptation and use of the lithographic and
zincographic systems of printing, or modifications of such systems, for printing
or ornamenting textile fabrics and other surfaces in colors, instead of the ordi-
nary cylinder or block systems of printing, as at present pursued by calico and
silk printers.
In proceeding to print according to this Invention, the operator first of all
draws or otherwise produces upon an ordinary lithographic stone or zinc sur-
face a single repeat of his intended pattern or ornamental device. This original
production of the figure may be effected either by drawing with lithographic
ink direct upon the stone or zinc surface, or by first drawing on transfer paper
and then transferring to the stone or zinc, in the ordinary manner hitherto pur-

page_text: 66
sued by lithographic printers. This single repeat or minute portion of the
pattern forms the nucleus of the entire impression to be produced in the
printing machine, and being "brought up" in the usual manner, so as to furnish
a good clear impression, a series of transfers are printed from it. These indi-
vidual transfer impressions are then built up or laid together in accurate
register," so as to produce in their aggregate as much of the pattern as it is
necessary to have to print from. This composite transfer impression is then
retransferred to the 'stone' or zinc surface and well brought up with litho-
graphic ink, producing a complete lithographic printing impression. Up to
this stage the process is simply a lithographic one. As applied for printing
woven goods, paper hangings, and other surfaces, the primary production of a
single repeat of the pattern from which to transfer numerous copies to form
the entire printing surface is in substitution for the common system of "mill-
ing," adopted by the calico printer in cylinder work. It is from this point that
the operator diverges from the lithographic process to adapt it for the other
uses to which the Invention is applied When this is done, the whole stone
is dusted over with rosin, or resinous matter, or with other matter which will
resist the action of acids. The superfluous matter thus applied is then brushed
off, leaving the whites of the stone clear, and with a protective coating upon
the actual inked surface portions only. The stone is now surrounded with a
fence in the ordinary way, and dilute nitric acid is poured over it. The acid
attacks the undefended portions of the stone, biting away the material at those
parts, and leaving the inked portions in extremely light relief. When the acid
is washed off, the whole surface is rubbed over with soap or other greasy or
soapy matter. This gives a soapy or greasy surface to the entire area of the
stone, and in this state the entire surface is rubbed over with water of Ayr or
other polishing material. This rubbing affects only the relief portions, from
which the ink and grease is entirely removed, and the stone is now washed
with a gum solution. In this condition the stone is inked in with lithographic
ink, and an impression from it gives a 'negative pattern, a dark ground with a
white device thereon. The stone is now dusted with acid resisting matter
which adheres to the ground, leaving the figures clear; after clearing off, the
stone is again treated with acid for the purpose of biting or etching down the
clear white pattern portions to the full depth required in printing. The stone
or zinc, either in the flat or cylindrical form, is now printed from with the
calico printers fast or other colors, in the usual manner, a doctor being
employed for 'clearing away the superfluous color after the passage of the
inking roller. It is obvious that this process also gives the operator the power
of printing his pattern with white figures upon a dark or colored ground,
i

page_text: By
which result may also be attained by other modifications of the process.
a further modification, the original device or a repeat of it is drawn upon
the stone with china ink, and the stone so drawn upon is oiled or greased.
After washing the stone, the china ink figures are left clear; consequently,
when the stone is inked up, the china ink portions come up white upon a dark
ground; transfer impressions being taken from this impression and put together
as as herein-before described; the complete printing figure is produced. The
process thus pursued is carried out for printing from in the manner previously
described. Instead of drawing or producing the original figure with litho-
graphic ink, the general" process herein before described may be carried out
with a chalk or factitious crayon material, thus imitating on textile fabrics and
paper hangings the common chalk drawings as at present lithographed in the
common way. Similarly transfers from types, stereotypes," wood, and metal
engravings may be used in producing the primary figure or repeat; in fact, all
original devices transferable' to stone or zine' may be so used. In printing
from the surfaces prepared in the manner herein-before described in the
several colors required by the calico and paper-hanging printer, the several
colors are applied to their respective printing surfaces in the usual manner, the
lithographic ink or other originating medium or material being employed
simply as an agent for producing the 'printing surface; and instead of pro-
ducing the printing surface on the principle of repeats, the whole printing
figure may be produced at once, and printed from in the manner previously
described herein. The essential object of the Invention is, the application of
the lithographic or zincographic processes, or processes generally similar in
character, for the purpose of primarily obtaining printing surfaces suitable for
the calico and paper hanging printer, and other uses.
SPECIFICATION in; pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said. John Hamilton Glassford in the Great Seal Patent Office
.... on, the 5th March 1856...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HAMILTON GLASSFORD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Lithographer, send greeting."
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, "Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: the said John Hamilton Glassford, Her special license that I, the said John
Hamilton Glassford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Hamilton Glassford, my executors, administrators, or
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
IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Hamilton Glassford, 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.
66
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hamilton Glassford, 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 :-
My said Invention consists of a mode or modes of producing, by means or
with the aid of the lithographic and zincographic systems of printing, or modi-
fications thereof, the undersunk or projecting surfaces or figures of cylinders,
blocks, plates, or other printing implements capable of having such surfaces
or figures produced thereon, which are to be used for writing or ornamenting
the surfaces of textile fabrics, paper hangings, and other surfaces in colors, in a
similar manner as in the ordinary cylinder and block systems of printing used
by calico and silk printers; the cylinders, blocks, or other implements pre-
pared according to my Invention being employed instead of those engraved or
otherwise prepared in any ordinary manner.
In proceeding to prepare a cylinder, slab, or plate to be used for printing
by means of undersunk spaces, surfaces, or figures made thereon, according to
this Invention, I first of all draw or produce upon an ordinary lithographic
stone or zinc surface a figure or repeat of the intended pattern or ornamental
device. This original production of the figure may be effected either by drawing
with lithographic ink directly upon the stone or zinc surface itself, or by first
drawing it on transfer paper, and then transferring the drawing from such
transfer to the stone or zinc, in the ordinary manner hitherto pursued by
lithographic printers.
Instead of using lithographic ink to produce the figures or devices, chalk or
factitious crayon may be employed, as in the ordinary way for lithographic

page_text: purposes, more especially when it is desired that the pattern to be produced
upon a textile fabric or other surface shall present an appearance resembling
in style a chalk drawing. Any description of prints or impressions, whether
made from types, blocks, engraved plates, or otherwise, which can be trans-
ferred to stone or zinc, may also be used in producing the ornamental patterns
or devices upon the surface of a printing cylinder, slab, or plate.
A single figure or repeat obtained in any of the ways above mentioned,
or, if intended, several repetitions or duplicates of it, may be used to form or
compose the pattern or device to be produced by a printing cylinder, block,
plate, or slab or other implement upon the surface of a textile fabric or
other material.
A figure or repeat thus produced upon or transferred to stone or zinc, as
above mentioned, is then to be "brought up" by the application of lithographic
printing ink in the usual manner, so as to make it furnish a good clear
impression in printing transfers, or impressions of the figure or repeat are
then to be printed from the stone or zinc, and when intended, several of these
transfers or impressions may be joined or laid together in the intended order,
so as to produce by the combination or repetition of the figures or repeats
a pattern of the intended description, or so many repetitions of the pattern
as it is deemed necessary to have produced upon the cylinder, block, slab,
or implement to print from. When a single transfer impression, or a com-
posite transfer impression, consisting of a combination of several transfer
impressions, is intended to be used or applied in producing undersunk
figures or parts upon the surface of a printing cylinder, plate, or other imple-
ment (whether of stone, zinc, or other fit material), such single or compound
impression is to be retransferred to the surface of such cylinder, plate, or other
implement, which must of course be made of the proper size to receive it, after
which the figure or figures thus deposited upon the surface of the cylinder,
plate, or other implement are to be well brought up by the application
of lithographic or other printing ink, so as to be capable of producing a
complete lithographic printing impression of the whole of the combination
of figures forming the intended pattern which the cylinder, block, plate, or
other implement is to be capable of producing. Up to this stage the process
is simply a lithographic or zincographic process (as the case may be) of the
ordinary description, which is not claimed as being separately any part of my
Invention.
It is from this point that an operator performing the Invention diverges
from the lithographic or zincographic process to adapt it to the uses to which
it is applied in producing printing surfaces. upon cylinders, blocks, and other

page_text: implements according to my-Invention. When a single or composite transfer
impression has been retransferred to the intended stone or zinc surface and
brought up, as above mentioned, the whole, surface is to be dusted over with
powdered resin, or with resinous or other matter, which will adhere to or unite
with the ink figures and resist the action of acids. The superfluous matter
thus applied is then brushed off, leaving the white or unprinted parts of the
surface,clear, and with a protective coating upon the printed and inked portions
only. The stone or plate is thus surrounded with a fence in the ordinary way,
as practised by persons etching, and dilute nitric acid is poured over it. I have
found a dilute acid, consisting of one part of acid mixed with fifty parts of
water, to be of a very convenient strength; other acids may be used, but I
prefer nitric acid.
The dilute acid attacks the undefended portions of the stone or plate, biting
or dissolving and carrying away the material at those parts of the surface,
and it is to be continued upon the stone or plate only so long as may be
necessary to dissolve so much of the uncovered portions of the surface, as will
leave the inked or pattern portions in extremely slight relief..
or
The acid is then washed off, and the whole surface is rubbed over with soap,
or other greasy on soapy matter. This gives a soapy or greasy surface to the
to the entire area of the stone, and in this state the raised parts of the surface
are to be rubbed over with a flat piece of the stone called "water of, Ayr," or
other polishing material; so that the rubbing shall affect only the relief portions
from which the ink and grease are to be entirely removed; after which the
surface of the stone or plate is washed with a solution of gelatine, gum arabic,
any similar substance in water, and inked in with lithographic ink in the usual
manner, so as to cause the ink to cover the whole of the ground previously
acted upon by the acid, and, so that an ink impression from the stone or plate
would give a negative pattern, that is, an impression having a dark ground
with a white device thereon. The object of the etching process which I have
just described is to enable me to get the ground on the surface of the printing
cylinder, slab, or plate covered with the printing ink in the manner I have
mentioned. The sanie object may, however, be attained by transferring to the
surface of a cylinder, slab, or plate any lithographic, zincographic, or similar
print in which the figures appear negative, that is to, say, the figures.or
device appear white or uncolored, and the ground black, as above mentioned,
after which the ground is to be brought up by the application of ordinary.or
other printing ink, and the surface is then to be further treated, as herein-after
described.
And in order to produce several printing surfaces with precisely the same

page_text: pattern and arrangement of pattern thereon, several impressions may be taken
from the surface of a roller, slab, or plate which has a pattern thereon in a
negative state, as above described, so that such impressions may be applied or
transferred to other rollers, slabs, or plates,; and after being brought up by the
application of ink may be treated as herein-after, described.
The surface of a roller, slab, or, plate having a negative pattern thereon
produced by any of the means above mentioned, and which has been "brought
up" by the application of lithographic, or printers ink in the manner above
mentioned, is then to be dusted with powdered resin or other acid-resisting
matter which will adhere to the ground or printing surface, leaving the figures
clear. After clearing off the superfluous dust, the surface is again treated with
acid in like manner as before, for the purpose, of biting or etching down the
clear, uncovered, or pattern portions of the surface, and this must be continued
until those portions have been etched. down to the full depth required for pro-
ducing the pattern in printing, the depth necessary for this purpose being the
same, as in a cylinder or plate, engraved or milled in the ordinary manner for
printing surfaces... The stone, zinc, or other, material, whether in the flat or
cylindrical form, is now, to be, cleansed, from ink, and the borders, if necessary,
rubbed down, so as to be on the same level with the ground, after which the
cylinder,, slab, or other implement is to be printed from with the calico
printers fast or, other colors,, or any other colors which may be suitable, in the
usual, manner, the implement, commonly called a doctor being employed for
clearing away, the superfluous, color, after the passage, of the inking roller in
the usual way.
"
By my Invention or process I am also enabled to print a pattern with white
figures upon a dark or colored ground. For this purpose, after the surface of
a cylinder,, stone, or plate intended to, be used for printing purposes has had
the printed pattern, or patterns, impressed or transferred thereon,,, and has
had the printed parts thereof well brought up and covered with powder resin
or other acid-resisting, matter,, as herein-before mentioned, the ground or
uncovered portions of the, surface are to be, acted upon by the acid or dilute
acid, in like manner, as herein-before described;, but instead of the action
of the acid being continued only until the inked or pattern portions are in
slight relief, as above mentioned, it is continued until such portions of the
surface are etched or bitten down to the full depth requisite for producing the
pattern in printing, as above mentioned; after which the cylinder, stone, plate,
or other implement, being cleansed from the ink, is used for printing in the
ordinary manner, as above described.
By a further modification of the process above described, a pattern or device

page_text: may be drawn upon the plate or stone with china or indian ink, or other
aqueous color, or ink and guni, after which the stone or plate so drawn upon
is to be oiled or greased, or treated with copal or other varnish; the surface of
the stone or plate is then to be washed with water, when the portions of it
covered by the figures in china ink or other aqueous colors will be left clear,
and consequently when the stone or plate is inked up, those portions remain
uncovered, shewing the pattern parts white or uncovered upon a dark or inked
ground. Transfer impressions being taken from such a lithographic or zinco-
graphic impression are to be transferred to or put upon a cylinder, stone, or
plate intended to be used in printing, and the printed parts protected, as herein-
before described; after which the pattern or uncovered portions of the cylinder,
stone, or plate are to be subjected to the action of acid or dilute acid, until
those parts have been etched or lowered to the full extent required for pro-
ducing a printed pattern upon a white or unprinted ground, in like manner as
herein-before described."
I have described the mode or modes of preparing cylinders, plates, slabs,
and other printing implements which have undersunk figures, spaces, or
surfaces made thereon for printing colors upon textile fabrics and other
surfaces, as above mentioned.
In preparing blocks and other printing implements which have projecting
figures or surfaces made or produced thereon for the purpose of receiving the
color or colors to be printed upon a textile fabric or other surface, the process
or processes to be adopted will be substantially the same as I have already
described, with this difference only, that those portions of the surface of the
block or other implement to be used to form projecting printing surfaces are
to be protected by means of ink and resin or other acid-resisting material
applied thereto in manner herein-before described, and the other parts of the
block, stone, or other implement are to be etched or bitten down by means of
acid, as above mentioned, but to a greater depth, so as to cause the raised
parts to be sufficiently higher than the other parts, to prevent the colors when
applied adhering to any other parts of the block or implement.
And whilst the etching or action of the acid is going on, I from time to
time apply fresh quantities of ink and resin or other acid-resisting material, so
as to ensure the continuance of the protection against acid of the parts which
are intended to be raised, or higher than the other parts, and form the printing
surfaces. In printing from surfaces prepared in the manner herein-before
described in the several colors by the calico or other textile fabric and paper-
hanging printer, the several colors are applied to their respective printing
surfaces upon separate rollers or implements in the usual manner.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not intend to claim any of
the modes of lithographing, transferring, etching, printing, or other elements
of the processes herein-before described as constituting my Invention, as being,
separately or apart from the application or combination thereof, in manner
and for the purposes aforesaid, any part of my Invention; but what I claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
is, the mode or modes of producing undersunk or projecting printing surfaces
upon cylinders, blocks, plates, or other implements by means or with the aid
of lithographic or zincographic impressions and etching or acid, for the pur-
pose of printing upon textile fabrics and other materials, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hamilton Glassford, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN HAMILTON GLASSFORD. (L.S.)