IMPROVE- MENTS IN PREPARING PRINTING SURFACES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING PRINTING SURFACES."-A communication from John
McElheran, of Brooklyn, in the County of King, and State of New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 14th August 1858, and dated the 16th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1858.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING PRINTING SURFACES," a communication from John
McElheran, of Brooklyn, in the County of King, and State of New York,
United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to certain improved systems or modes of
preparing and producing picture types or other raised surfaces to be printed
from, for the reproduction of landscapes or other drawings or designs;

page_text: secondly, to an improved system or mode and apparatus connected there-
with for producing typographic printing surfaces, whereby the setting and
distributing types hitherto used are dispensed with.
The first part of this Invention consists in the application and use of the
electrotype process in combination with the method herein-after described, of
producing moulds, matrices, or reversed copies of drawings, or other devices.
The drawing or design to be reproduced is made in outline upon paper or
other suitable material, which is afterwards fastened to a plate of glass, well
cleaned and coated with wax on the opposite side to that on which the design
is fastened. The design is now traced through on to the wax by the aid of
suitable gravers, and additional coats of wax are applied over the lights where
thick coats are required, as for intense lights I prefer using a mixture of
Canada balsam and wax, the balsam rendering the wax more tender and easier
to work. The wax is scraped to a thin layer over those parts which are finely
lined or deeply shaded. The most isolated lines at the broad lights may be
removed by a graver having a broad shoulder, and then more wax is brushed
over. This will produce a deep transparent furrow ready for the finishing
cuts. A ridge of wax is now built round the subject, and the whole is passed
lightly over the flame of a spirit lamp, so as partially to reduce and blend the
uneven surface. The surface is now ready for electrotyping direct without any
necessity for taking a plaster or other cast therefrom. Should white lines or
dots be required, however, on a dark ground, then a plaster cast may be taken
from the wax, and the lines or dots put in, or this may be effected with less
trouble on the electrotype itself. For producing a delicate drawing in white
lines on a black ground, the surface of the wax should be perfectly level, and
a cast is then taken, which will contain the lines raised on a flat surface, when
an electrotype or metal casting of the last mentioned cast completes the work,
leaving the lines sunk or white on a level or black ground. Where very fine.
lines or small drawings or designs are to be copied, the glass should be as thin
as possible consistent with its use without fracture. It should be placed on a
perfectly level surface, and have the coating of wax poured over it. In all
cases it will be found advantageous to warm gently the glass plates for the
purpose of opening their pores before the wax is applied thereto. When
copies of ambrotypes (namely, pictures etched in glass,) are to be made, the
same plate in which the picture is etched is used for the wax coatings. This
process may be applied to the making of copies from nature by the aid of a
camera obscura, which will throw the image on to the prepared wax surface,
so that it may be traced at once therein.
Another portion of the first head of this Invention consists in producing:

page_text: lined or granulated picture types by depositing the metal by electrical action
in a matrice prepared in the manner herein-after described, whereby artistic
effects may be produced with ease and rapidity. A level plate of smooth and
transparent material, such as glass, for example, is covered with a thin layer
of adhesive and transparent substance, such as bees'-wax.
The original
drawing is then placed under the glass, its lines being traced through into the
wax. Those places where broad lights are seen are then filled in with wax,
a plaster cast is then taken, which, when dry, is to be varnished over those
parts intended to have a fine grain. Fine silex powder, or ground glass, sand,
or other similar material is thickly laid upon the varnished places. When dry
and perfectly hard, the loose grains are brushed off. Varnish is then applied
to such places as require a still coarser texture, and coarser sand applied.
Fac-similies may now be taken of the prepared surface, either by the electro-
type or stereotype process, and printed from in the ordinary manner in a
typographic printing press. A number of such types may represent various
portions of one picture, and may be printed from in different colors, so as to
produce the effects of chromo-lithography. This process of graining may also
be applied to any other method of preparing the matrix, and an opaque plate
may be used when the drawing is not required to be traced through the glass,
and in lieu of wax other substances may be employed of a similar nature.
According to the second part of this Invention, it is proposed to preparo
typographic printing surfaces by using letter dies, for the purpose of impressing
the letter into some material which shall be softer than the metal of the dies.
This material may either be a metal plate or any other suitable surface,
covered or not with wax or other similar material, so as to receive the several
impressions, when the whole surface may be reproduced by the electrotype
or stereotype process, with or without the aid of a plaster cast. The apparatus
which it is proposed to adopt for impressing the letters or other typographical
devices in the surface placed to receive them, consists of a number of horizontal
radial arms turning on one common centre, and having their outer ends turned
or bent downwards, in the faces of which are engraved the several letters of
the alphabet, with other characters required in typography: These arms are
individually brought over the surface to be impressed, and the letters are
impressed in the order required to produce a word or sentence by striking
them downwards on to the surface. After each letter the surface is moved
forward slightly by a screw or otherwise to receive the next letter, and so on
till a line is completed, when the surface is moved at right angles and back
again, so as to commence another line. The arms pass over a bridge piece,
which serves to hold them up from the surface of the plate; but the arm

page_text: which is immediately required for action is allowed to be depressed by being
brought over a slot in the bridge, which allows the die to penetrate only a
certain given distance with the material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that. I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PREPARING PRINTING SURFACES," a communication from John
McElheran, of Brooklyn, in the County of King, and State of New York,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Henry Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates, firstly, to certain improved systems or modes of
producing and preparing picture types or other raised surfaces to be printed

page_text: from for the reproduction of landscapes, or other drawings or designs;
secondly, to an improved system or mode of preparing typographic printing
surfaces, whereby the ordinary printing type is entirely superceded, and the
tedious processes of setting and distributing the same consequently dispensed
with.
In carrying out the first part of this Invention, I employ the electrotype
process for depositing metal on to suitably prepared surfaces, whereby I obtain
the required surface for printing from. The design to be reproduced is mado
in outline upon paper or other suitable transparent material, which should
then be fastened to a plate of glass previously coated with wax on the opposite
side to that on which the design is attached. The wax should be applied with
great care, for which purpose the plate should be well cleaned, and then sub-
mitted to the action of gentle heat, so as to expand the pores in a uniform
manner over the entire surface of the glass. The wax, which should be per-
fectly clean and free from any coloring matter, is then applied over the
whole surface, and will adhere thereto by entering the pores of the glass.
The heat of the plate, however, should not be too great, as the wax in cooling
would become brittle or fragile, and would not combine as intimately as is
requisite with subsequent layers of wax, and consequently such layers would
chip off under the engraver's tool. The lines of the design are traced through
on to the wax, and with a brush more wax is applied over the lights in the
drawing, the thickness of such layers of wax depending on the greater or less
intensity of the lights; thus the higher the lights, the greater should be the
thickness of the wax over them. I may here observe that for very thick
layers I propose to employ a mixture of Canada balsam and wax, as the
balsum renders the wax more ductile, and consequently easier to be worked.
Over those parts in the design which are finely lined or deeply shaded the wax
is to be scraped away to a thin layer. The most isolated lines at the broad
lights may be cut out with the graver, which should have a broad shoulder
formed upon it, then more wax is brushed over, this will produce a deep
transparent furrow ready to receive the finishing cuts. A ridge of wax is
finally built round the design, and the whole waxed surface, which at this
stage of the process is in a very uneven state, is passed lightly over the flame
of a spirit lamp, for the purpose of partially blending and smoothing the irre-
gularities of the surface. The operation up to this stage will not occupy more
than a few minutes. The fastening of the drawing to the back of the glass
plate, or other transparent medium employed, is a substitute for the processes
of tracing, drawing, and shading on the wood or metal. The filling up of the
lights with melted wax obviates the necessity for, cutting away, as in wood-

page_text: engraving, or for etching as in other methods. By this peculiar method of
preparing a transparent engraving plate, I am enabled to produce a fine and
perfectly graduated relievo before the engraving is commenced.. This consti-
'tutes a feature in my. Invention, and offers many advantages, since the
drawing, tracing, and engraving are all effected simultaneously, and the plate
when thus prepared is perfectly ready for the electrotyper, without the
necessity for rolling or etching, or even for taking a plaster or other cast, as in
the case of woodcuts. Should white lines or dots be required on any dark
part of a drawing, then a plaster cast may be taken from the wax, and these
lines or dots put in, or they may be made with less trouble on the electrotype
itself. In order to produce a beautiful and delicate drawing in white lines ou
a perfectly black ground, as in microscopic views, it is only necessary that the
surface of the wax be left perfectly level, and a plaster or other cast taken
thereof, which cast will contain the lines, previously traced in the wax, raised
ou its surface. An electrotype or metal casting of the plaster cast completes
the process, and presents a printing surface which will produce white lines on
a black ground. It is obvious that the finer and more delicate are the lines
of the drawing or engraving to be copied and reproduced, the thinner should
be the glass plate or other transparent medium employed; for very fine work,
it is proposed to use such plates of glass as are, employed for microscopic
purposes. The object of using this glass, is to obviate the inconveniences
attendant on the refraction of the rays of light which, in very minute lining,
might prevent perfect accuracy of copying. The following is the method
preferred for coating such thin glass with wax:-Place the sheet of thin glass
upon a perfectly even, but rather heavy plate of glass or metal, which should
be somewhat larger than the thin sheet, so as to allow the latter to be pasted
round the edges, by means of strips of paper, which will secure it to the large
plate. The two plates thus fastened together are then to be gradually heated,
and melted waxed is poured over the thin glass, and allowed to spread evenly
all over its surface. When cool, the thin glass is to be detached from the larger
or bed plate, when the process of preparing the surface and the copying the
design is proceeded with in the manner herein-before described.
In
Care should be taken to lay the sheet of thin glass, when tracing, on a
perfectly level surface, otherwise it will be liable to accidental fracture.
most cases of copying or tracing it will be found sufficient merely in the first
instance to make a general outline of the design, the minute lines. being filled
in at leisure. For all ordinary illustration the common one-eighth of an inch
plate will serve the purpose. This process is applicable to the production of
copies of all kinds of pictures, provided such pictures are drawn, printed, or.

page_text: otherwise produced upon a sheet of paper or other level surface, so as to be
capable of being placed under the prepared glass. When copies of what are
known as ambrotypes are to be made, I use the same plate or glass into which
the picture is etched as the base plate for the matrix, which plate is coated
with wax in the manner above described. The advantages to be derived from
this process are that it enables the artist to trace or draw and engrave simul-
taneously, that more correct work is produced, as the true lines of the drawing
are always preserved, and facility is afforded of repairing broken lines or
redrawing incorrect ones, by simply drawing a flat instrument over the
objectionable part, when it will be perfectly obliterated and ready to be
corrected. Finer lines or touches may be applied also than in any ordinary
method at present in use, since the parts which are very finely shaded are seen
not on but through the wax, which can be laid on in such quantities as will
suit the fineness of the lines at that particular part of the work. Coarser lines
with broader lights can be produced by one cut of the graver or instrument
better than by any other method, as the broader lights and coarser lines are
most clearly seen, and therefore the thicker may be the coating of wax at
those parts.
Another important application of this process consists in simultaneously
copying and engraving objects from nature by means of a camera obscura,
wherein the ground or sheet of paper is replaced by a glass plate coated with
wax or other transparent and ductile material. The view, whatever it may
be, will be thus reflected on the waxed surface, and may be traced therein by a
graver. By this method a more just. proportion of parts is preserved and a
clear perspective panoramic view of. the whole is obtained, as the focus of the
lenses can always be adjusted to take in successively the various distances
between the back and fore ground. This method will also be found of great
service in reducing maps, portraits, &c., to a given standard whilst drawing and
engraving them at the same time, thereby saving time and preventing errors
arising from recopying or retracing the design. A mirror may be attached
to the outer opening of the lens at an angle of 45°, whereby, the object will be
brought right side up, and the plate still kept horizontal.
According to another method of producing or preparing picture types,
wherein lined or granulated effects are desired, I propose to deposit metal by
means of the electrotype process into a matrix prepared in the manner herein-
after described, whereby certain artistic effects may be produced with the
greatest facility and rapidity, which in the ordinary process would require con-
siderable skill, labor, and time. In this process also, like the former, the lines
of the drawing are produced in alto similar to woodcuts, and impressions may

page_text: be taken in an ordinary typographic printing press, with or without accom
panying text. According to this process a thin sheet of glass or other suitable
transparent material is coated over with some adhesive and transparent
substance such as bees'-wax; the original drawing is then placed beneath; its
lines are traced in the wax by the aid of suitable engraving tools. The broad
lights are then filled up with fresh layers of wax as herein-before described,
and a plaster cast taken of the whole, which cast when dry is to be varnished
with cement over those parts that are intended to have a fine grain, and fine
silex powder or ground glass, sand, or other similar material is then thickly
applied to the varnished parts. When dry and perfectly hard the loose grains
are blown or brushed off. Cement is then applied to such parts only as require
a coarser texture or grain, as, for example, the foliage of trees, drapery,
foreground, &c., and a correspondingly coarser grained sand applied at such
parts. It is thus obvious that any desired variety of texture may be produced
in the same picture. Before cementing and sanding, however, the surface of
the plaster cast should be taken down by filing or scraping at the edges of
broad lights, or wherever a certain amount of faintness or dieing away in the
impression is desirable. The sand or other graining material should be
repeatedly and carefully sifted in order to insure as much as possible a
uniformity in size of the component particles or grains of each layer. The
cementing and sanding operations having been completed, a fac-simile is
produced in metal by the ordinary electrotype or stereotype processes, and
impressions taken therefrom in the common typographic printing press.
number of these picture types may be made to represent various portions of
one picture, and when properly granulated as above described and impressions
taken in different colors, the same effect can be produced as in chromo
lithography.
A
The chief advantages arising from the adoption of this peculiar system or
mode of preparing printing surfaces and using the same, are the obtainment
of a sharper grain in a much shorter time than can be accomplished by the
old process of grinding the surface of the lithographic stones, the substitution
of a granulated metallic surface for a stone surface, which latter quickly
wears out when printed from, whilst facility is afforded for printing these
granotypes" along with letterpress in an ordinary typographic printing
machine. The beauties and advantages of lithography and typography are
combined, and various parts of the same picture can be differently grained,
which is altogether impracticable in lithography. I may here observe that
this peculiar process of graining is equally applicable to any other method of
preparing the matrix wherein the drawing is not required to be seen, for the
"

page_text: purpose of being copied through a transparent substance, in which case an
opaque plate may be substituted for the glass, and any non-transparent
substance or composition employed in lieu of wax.
The second portion of this Invention, which relates to the preparing of
typographical printing surfaces, consists in the application and use of letter
dies for the purpose of producing the impressions of letters in the surface of a
metal plate, or other suitable material of a softer nature than the impressing
dies. In carrying out this portion of the Invention an apparatus hereinafter
described is employed, and is so arranged that the impressions will all be sunk
to an equal or uniform depth in the plate in order that a cast or electrotype
may be taken thereof for the purpose of printing therefrem in an ordinary
printing press. The plate in which the letters are impressed may either be as
hard or harder than the dies, and covered with some soft material as bees'-wax,
for example, the dyes being sunk into and through the wax covering down to
the surface of the plate, or the plate itself may be of a softer nature than the
dies, suitable means being employed for causing a uniform penetration of the
dies into the plate. For certain kinds of work the letters may be engraved in
alto or sunk into the dies, so that the impression will produce a counterpart of
cach letter raised, or in relievo with regard to the surface of the plate. In
this case a plaster cast is to be taken previous to the stereotyping or electro-
typing.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a perspective view
of one of the numerous devices which may be employed in carrying out the
principle of this part of the Invention. A, A, are a series of radial arms or
spokes which are secured to a central disc B, free to rotate horizontally. These
arms may either be made slightly elastic so as to be capable of deflection, and
of resuming their normal positions again, in which case they may be rigidly
secured to the disc B, or they may be severally jointed to such disc, and be held
up by springs for the purpose, but for the sake of simplicity I prefer the
former arrangement, which is also indicated by the Drawing. Each arm is
bent downwards in the form of an elbow at the extremity, and on the under
face of such bent portion is engraved a letter, figure, or other typographical
character, as shewn in the detailed under side view (Figure 2) of one of the
arms detached; C is the plate or surface in which the letters are to be
impressed, and is carried by a block D, which is capable of being moved
laterally step by step between the ways or guides E, E, by means of a screw
spindle F, each movement being equal to the space between each letter. The
guides or ways E are attached to a block G, which can be traversed by means
of a screw H, between the guides or ways I, I, fast on the bed plate or stand

page_text: of the apparatus, whereby the impressed surface may be moved longitudinally
so as to space out the proper distance between each successive line of letters.
The arms A carrying the letter dies required to be impressed upon the plate C
so as to form the words and sentences of the text, are successively brought
over the slot or notch K in the bridge piece L, and are then pressed down-
wards so as to imprint the letter in the plate or prepared surface. This
depression may be effected either by hand or by any convenient mechanical
arrangement suitable for the purpose. The width of the slot K corresponds
to the width of the arms, and its depth is such that when the arm touches
the bottom of the slot, the letter die has just penetrated the proper distance
into the plate or into the coating thereon. After a letter has been thus
impressed upon the plate; the plate is moved laterally the proper distance
between two successive letters, and another arm with its corresponding letter
die is brought over the slot and pressed downwards. On the completion of
a line the plate is moved longitudinally the requisite distance between two
lines by the screw H for that purpose, and back again laterally so as to com-
mence a fresh line. In lieu of screws worked by hand for traversing the
plate or impressed surface, a self-acting apparatus might easily be substituted.
The central disc with its set of radial arms may be so constructed as to be
capable of being readily removed and replaced by a fresh disc if requisite with
little loss of time. Each disc may comprise a complete set of letters of a
certain class, as, for example, "primer" with capitals, italics, stops, &c., so
that when a different class of type is required, the corresponding disc and set
of arms can be immediately adapted to the apparatus. By the use of this
apparatus and method of producing typographical printing surfaces, a great
saving of time and labor is effected, and after a cast or electrotype has been
taken, the plate may be recoated with wax and used over again.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the 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 confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion
to describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the system or mode herein-before described of producing printing
surfaces by preparing a mould or matrix of wax, which is applied to a hard,
transparent, smooth, and level plate, into which mould or matrix the metal
destined to form the printing surface is deposited by electrical action.

page_text: Second, the system or mode of preparing granulated surfaces, so as to
produce various shades and effects in printing surfaces, as herein-before
described.
Third, the system or mode of producing typographic printing surfaces, by
impressing dies, containing letters or other characters used in typography, into
plate composed of or coated with such a substance as will readily take and
preserve the impression of such dies, and allow a stereotype or electrotype to
be made thereof, either directly or indirectly, by means of a plaster cast, as
herein-before described.
Fourth, the combination of a rotating letter disc, or series of radial arms,
with a sliding plate and block capable of moving laterally and longitudinally,
in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Fifth, the application and use of the slotted bridge piece, for regulating the
depth of impression, and guiding the die on to the required spot in the surface
of the plate or coating thereof, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)