A METHOD OR METHODS OF PREPARING PAPER TO ENABLE IT TO RECEIVE AN IMPRESSION FROM AN ENGRAVED BLOCK OR PLATE, TYPE, OR OTHER PRINTING AGENT WHILE IN A DRY STATE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Brown, of Aldgate, in the City of London,
Chemist, for the Invention of "A METHOD OR METHODS OF PREPARING
PAPER TO ENABLE IT TO RECEIVE AN IMPRESSION FROM AN ENGRAVED BLOCK
OR PLATE, TYPE, OR OTHER PRINTING AGENT WHILE IN A DRY STATE."
Sealed the 14th August 1857, and dated the 23rd February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1857.
I, JAMES BROWN, of Aldgate, in the City of London, Chemist, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for. "A. METHOD OR METHODS OF
PREPARING PAPER TO ENABLE IT TO RECEIVE AN IMPRESSION FROM AN ENGRAVED
BLOCK OR PLATE, TYPE, OR OTHER PRINTING AGENT WHILE IN A DRY STATE," to be
as follows:-
Great inconvenience has been experienced in the printing of maps, charts,
engravings, &c. from the necessity of damping the paper, which causes it to
shrink and warp when dry; and the inconvenience has been increased where.
sheets have to be united and match with others, from the unequal contraction
of the sheets used, some shrinking in the direction of their length, while
others have shrunk in the contrary direction.
Now, my Invention consists in coating paper with glycerine or in improg-

page_text: nating it with glycerine during or after its manufacture. Such paper being
allowed to dry will receive an impression in a dry state as perfectly as if
ordinary paper had been wetted and printed upon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jamos Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BROWN, of Aldgate, in the City of London, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Brown, Her special licence that I, tho said James Brown, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Brown, 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 "A METHOD OR METHODS OF
PREPARING PAPER TO ENABLE IT TO RECEIVE AN IMPRESSION FROM AN ENGRAVED
BLOCK OR PLATE, TYPE, OR OTHER PRINTING AGENT WHILE IN A DRY STATE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Brown, 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 per-
formed, 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 James Brown, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
Great inconvenience has been experienced in the printing of maps, charts,
engravings, &c: from the necessity of damping the paper, which causes it to
shrink and warp when dry; and when sheets of paper have to be united
or joined together at their edges, so as to match or fit together, the incon-

page_text: venience is increased, by reason of the unequal contraction in drying of the
sheets used, some shrinking more than others, and some shrinking in the
direction of their length, while others shrink in the contrary direction, that
is to say, in width.
Now, my Invention consists in coating paper with glycerine or in impreg-
nating it with glycerine during or after its manufacture. Paper thus coated
or impregnated being allowed to dry, will when printed upon receive an
impression in a dry state, that is to say, without being wetted, with greater
facility than ordinary paper, and will also have its softness and flexibility
improved.
In carrying my Invention into effect, the method of applying or using the
glycerine and the quantity of it which is used may be varied, according to
the degrees of softness and pliability which the paper is intended to possess;
and in manufacturing paper according to my Invention, I find it desirable to
employ size of some description, in order to ensure proper dryness in the
finished paper.
The glycerine may be mixed with the pulp which is to be made into paper.
And in order to produce a paper for receiving impressions from ordinary
printing types, blocks, plates, or lithographic stones with ink, I add to a
quantity of pulp and size sufficient to produce 100 lbs. of paper when dry
about 5 lbs. of glycerine, of a specific gravity of 1·16, and cause the glycerino
to become well mixed with the pulp in the pulping engine by stirring or other-
wise, as in the process known as "engine sizing," or in any other convenient
manner. The above proportions I have found to answer well for making a
paper such as I have mentioned, but they may be varied.
In some cases I find it convenient to mix the glycerine with the size and
use the two together, in a manner similar to that in which size is applied in
the process known as tub or trough sizing. For this purpose, the glycerine
may be mixed with the size in the proportion of about one part by weight
of glycerine to seven parts by weight of size in solution.
In other cases I find it convenient to apply the glycerine to the surface
of the paper in what is called its finished state, by first dissolving glycerine
in water, in the proportions of about one part by weight of glycerine, of a
specific gravity of 1-16, to seven parts by weight of water, and then spreading
the solution over the surface of the paper or dipping the paper into the
solution..
In all cases the softness and absorbency of the paper may be increased or
diminished by increasing or diminishing the quantity of glycerine used. In
other respects the ordinary modes of manufacturing paper may be adopted,

page_text: the glycerine being applied to the paper or mixed with the material of which
it is made in any convenient manner, as above mentioned.
And having now described the nature of. the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the manufacture
of paper impregnated or coated with glycerine for the purposes above
described. .
In witness whereof, I, the said James Brown, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of. August, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
JAMES BROWN. (L.S.)