AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th November 1855.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE
PRINTING SURFACES, to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to facilitate the backing of electrotype
shells or casts for forming copper-faced fancy types. The mould or article to
be duplicated by the electrotype process is placed in a common printers' chase
and surrounded by rules, in order that the counterpart of their upper edges
may form a flat margin on the electrotype shell. When the article to be
duplicated by electrotyping is thus locked up in the chase, a coating of copper
is thrown down upon it in the usual way by a galvanic battery, and the shell
thus formed is removed from the copper solution and washed and tinned on the.
back. It is then placed face downwards upon a bed plate, and a mould frame

page_text: is set over it, so as to bear upon the margin of the shell; a cap plate is then
fitted on, and by means of clamps the whole are tightly secured together.
The mould is then heated, and molten type metal is next poured thercin.
On cooling, an adhesion between the copper shell and the type metal will
be found to have taken place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of November, 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, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 MANUFACTURE OF ELECTROTYPE PRINTING SURFACES,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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.
NOW KNOW YE,. that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,. 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates

page_text: to a novel mode of forming or preparing electrotype shèlls to be used for
printing, and also the mould or frame for holding the same flatwise and
securely upon the bed of the mould while the fused type metal is being poured
into the mould to "back up "the shell, the object being to prevent the
warping of such shells, and at the same time greatly to facilitate the backing.
operation.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the mould
block, shewing the clamps attached thereto for holding the parts together;
Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the mould block; Figs. 3 shew the frame or
body of the mould in plan, longitudinal section, and end view; and Fig. 4 is
a representation of an electrotype shell, shewing the mode of forming it with
a flattened margin to adapt it for use in the mould.
A is the bed or bottom plate of the mould; it is formed of a flat piece of
metal of any suitable dimensions for the size of the electrotype shells to be
operated upon. K is a handle attached to the plate A, to facilitate the handling
of it when preparing the mould, as it is always heated for the purpose of
fusing the solder on the back of the electrotype shell to cause it to unite freely
with the fused type metal used in backing up; B is the frame of the mould,
composed of metal, and of dimensions corresponding with the bed plate. The
lower edges of this frame are bevilled, as seen at b, b; the object of which is
to fit more evenly against the flattened margin 63, 6, of the electrotype shell.
The depth of the frame corresponds with the height of ordinary type matter
in printers' forms. C is the top or cap plate of the mould, provided with a
handle G at its back, for the purpose of holding the mould when clamped
together, and ready for the introduction of the type metal. Attached to the
under side of this cap plate by screws 9, 9, is a core D, the object of which
is to flute or hollow out the foot of the casting. This may be removed entirely,
or other forms of core may be substituted when required. J are pin holes, in
which pins from the top or cap plate of the mould enter for holding it steady
upon the frame B; and F are clamps for holding the several parts of the
mould together by means of the binding screws H, H.
In carrying out this Invention, the original cast or article to be duplicated
by the electrotype process is placed in a common printers chase, and sur-
rounded with rules of the same height, and of a thickness corresponding to the
thickness of the bevilled edges b, b, of the mould frame B. The object of this
is to obtain a flat margin (as seen at 63, 62, Fig. 4,) on the electrotype shell, so
that when the bevilled edges b, b, of the mould frame rest upon it, the shell
will be held flat and evenly upon all sides upon the bed plate of the mould.
This mode, therefore, of forming a margin on the electrotype shell is an essential.

page_text: adjunct to the Invention, as it greatly facilitates the process of backing
electrotype shells. After having locked the article to be duplicated by electro-
typing in the chase, it is submitted to a galvanic battery and a solution of
sulphate of copper, and a shell or coating of copper is deposited on the cast
or article in the usual way. When a sufficiently thick deposit is obtained, the
shell is removed from the solution and washed, and afterwards tinned on the
back; it is then placed face down upon the bed plate A of the above-described
mould; the bevilled edges b, b, of the mould frame B are then placed upon
the margin 1, 2, of the shell, and the cap plate C is next fitted on, and by
means of the clamps, which are now tightly screwed up, all the parts are
securely held together; the mould block is then placed on end, having the
handle G thrown backwards and downwards. The object of this backward
inclination is to prevent the metal from coming too soon in contact with the
tinned surface of the shell while being poured into the mould through the
opening E at the upper end of the mould.
upper end of the mould. In using the mould it is essential
that all the parts should be well heated, so as to fuse the tinned surface of the
shell, and prevent the type metal from being chilled too suddenly on being
poured into the mould.
Having now described the Invention communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First, making electrotype shells with a flattened margin, for the purpose
substantially as herein-before set forth.
And, secondly backing up electrotype shells, made, as herein-before described,
by the aid of the mould frame, or its equivalent, in combination with the bed
and cap plate, or their equivalents, substantially as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of May, in the year of our
Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)