Improvements in Printing, Photographically and otherwise, Labels, Show Bills, Posters, and the like from Thin Movable Metal Types.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Sept., 1889-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Printing, Photographically and otherwise, Labels,
Show Bills, Posters, and the like from Thin Movable Metal Types.
I, RICHARD TISSINGTON, of No. 10 Wells Street, Oxford Street, London, W.,
Manufacturer of Music Engravers' plates do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
Letters, figures, sections of borders and other printing characters &c., varying in
length of face from one third of an inch to eight or moro inches are cast or other-
wise made in metal of about one-fortieth of an inch in thickness and laid down on glass,
as a type printer composes a forme, to constitute a printing negative, design, or
forme. The slightest amount of mucilage may be applied to two opposite points of
each type to ensure its keeping in the required position on the glass. The types by.
being rigid and non-porous (unlike paper, card-board &c.) may be easily moved into
position by a finger, and printed from in one combination, or re-used in other com-
binations an unlimited number of times.
When a design is completed the plate is placed in a pressure frame sensitised paper
is placed over it, and by exposure to light a print is obtained in the usual manner
according to the nature of the printing paper employed.
There are in this invention two classes of types, one of which bears the actual
shapes of the letters &c. in metal which obstructs the passage of the light and in the
print produces white characters on a dark ground, and the other which consists of
a border of metal surrounding an open letter or figure, allows the light to pass to
the paper and fix the character in dark on a white or light ground. In this latter
class of types the perpendicular edges are bevelled or fitted so as one laps the other
and effectually prevents the light passing, and leaves the dark characters on a clear
solid light ground.
Letters or characters such as B's, D's, and O's which require the inner portion to
be unacted upon by light either require to have the inside shapes affixed separately.
or the outer and inner portions are kept in their relative positions as a single type
by affixing them to thin mica or sheet gelatine.
For producing lithographic transfers without the aid of photography the metal
characters are fixed by mucilage on paper, wood, or cardboard, and transfer ink
applied to their faces by means of a small flat rubber-covered pad, and the impression
taken on suitable paper by means of a platen or ordinary copying press.
For Photo-lithographic transfers the ordinary bichromated-gelatine paper may be
printed by contact, and a transfer in greasy ink obtained by washing away the soluble
portions of the surface.
For obtaining reduced negatives through the medium of the camera, the photo-
graphic metal types can be most readily set up for reduction.
The simplicity, cheapness, effectiveness and durability of these thin metal types
will be likely to render them of practical value for photographic and other printing
purposes and it is purposed to designate the various processes to which they may
be applied in the production of prints which require to be developed by water by
the general term "Hydrotype."
Dated this Twenty-first day of May 1889.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Printing, Photographically and otherwise, Labels,
Show Bills, Posters, and the like from Thin Movable Metal Types.
I, RICHARD TISSINGTON, of No. 10 Wells Street, Oxford Street, London, W.,
manufacturer of music engravers' plates do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is in some important respects practically to place
lithography and photography on a kindred basis to the elder sister art of
typography.
In typography the printer has, in the cast and cut types of commerce, ready to his
hand an elegant, cheap, and simple means of constructing a forme capable of yielding
any required number of impressions, the component parts of which forme are, after
distribution, ready and competent for renewed similar service, while in connection
with lithography and, what may be termed verbal or line photography the basis of the
printed copies has specially, and usually at great trouble, cost, and delay, to be
engraved or drawn in each instance, and the labour and skill thus expended in the
production of such basis are not available in any future operation apart from it.
The nature of my present invention consists in rapidly, effectively, and inexpensively
producing, by combinations of characters formed of metal,-or, in certain cases, of
other material capable of sustaining independently the shapes of the characters,―
printing surfaces, plates, formes, or negatives in a manner akin to the setting of types
in connection with letter-press printing, and which surfaces, plates, formes, or
negatives subserve the purposes of lithography and photography in a manner similar
to that in which the well known forme of combined types is instrumental for the
purposes of ordinary typography, especially so inasmuch as prints may be had direct
from the completely composed forme or negative, and its component parts may after-
wards be distributed and used again and re-distributed and again used in other
combinations indefinitely.
The drawing lodged with this specification and to which reference will hereafter be
had is a photographic print originally made direct from some of the movable metal
types employed in the process under description, the design having been composed
on a background or support of glass in accordance with the mode of procedure
herein published.
°
In the first instance, in connection with my invention letters, figures, sections of
borders, flourishes, ornaments, inusic, shorthand and other printing characters varying
in length of face from one-eighth of an inch to ten or more inches, are cast or
otherwise made in suitable metal or other material of, preferably, about one-fortieth
of an inch in thickness, and are deposited in the partitions of a suitable type-case.
In the setting up or composing of the types for printing photographically or photo-
lithographically, I proceed as follows:-
First. On a flat table I place a sheet of pasteboard or white paper on which
appear a number of lines, drawn horizontally and perpendicularly, with a view to
promote the desirable regularity of the work. One of these ruled sheets can be used
many times.
Second. Over the ruled card-board or paper I place a sheet of glass or other trans-
parent material as a support for the design of types.
Third. Having decided on the dimensions of the design and the characters to be
employed in its construction, I proceed to select those characters from the type-case
and lay them in their proposed places on the support.
Fourth. If a forward or ordinary print is required, I lay the lines of letters &c.
backward, i.e. from right to left. If a backward print is required, which may
occasionally happen, I lay them forward, i.e. from left to right.
Fifth. When the types have all been arranged on the transparent support I proceed
to lift them, one by one, with the left hand, and, with a small camel-hair pencil held

page_text: in the right hand and charged with liquid gum and glycerine, or other similarly
translucent mucilage, to touch several points of the under surface of each type with
the adhesive solution, and then to lay the type back again in its place on the
support.
: .
Sixth. When the adhesive matter has been applied to all of the types, I employ
the forefinger of the right hand to move them into their approximately exact
positions.
Seventh. Absolute exactness of position in regard to every one of the types,
however, need not at this stage be considered indispensably necessary; for a direct
advantage towards such end will now be gained by placing the whole-support and
composed types in a photographic frame under pressure for a short time-which
course will have the effect of causing the types to adhere closely to the support and
arrive at the condition most favourable for the delicate operation of their final
adjustment in lines. Frequently at this stage a thin rule of wood or metal may
advantageously be employed to test or effect the regularity of the lines of type.
Eighth. If corrections or alterations in a design are requisite, or its distribution
desirable, the types may at any time he readily detached from their position by
inserting the point of a penknife between them and the support. They are next
returned to their position in the case and are in readiness for future use.
Thus. as
in letter-press printing, these types may be used and re-used in new combinations
thousands of times.
Ninth. When a design is completed the work is placed in a photographic pressure
frame, sensitized paper, according to the nature of the required result, being super
imposed, and a print or prints obtained in the usual manner by exposure to light..
Tenth. Negatives in tone or line, either on glass or stripped filins, may be incorpo-
rated with the types on the support, and the whole printed and developed or fixed
at one time, or together. Any difficulty arising from a disparity between the thick-
ness of the negatives and the types may be overcome by the introduction of cardboard
on the printing paper, over the type or negative according as the employment of a
glass or stripped film may render necessary.
Eleventh. In cases where there is no probability of prints being required from the
types by direct contact, but that the setting up is solely for the purposes of reduction,
a sheet of thin tough white paper may advantageously be employed for the ground or
support, as the types adhere readily and perfectly to paper, which is cheap and not
liable to fracture, and the composition may be done either forward or backward, as
the finished work can be placed either side to the light, and the gentle weight of the
types serve to keep the sheet of paper tight and even when suspended for the purpose
of being copied in reduction by means of the camera.
Twelfth. For the production of plates or formes of Music, the metal characters are
cast about four times the required size superficially, and the reduction made through
the medium of the camera.
The pre-
Thirteenth. Chromo-lithography is subserved by the present process.
liminary steps towards which being as follows:-
I place a sheet of ordinary sensitized paper over the forme of types in the pressure
frame, and expose to the light for a minute or two. The paper is then taken out,
and without washing, cut into sections, the number and shape of which will represent
the portions of the prints that are to appear of a certain tint, previously decided upon,
the image on the paper serving as a guide in the cutting of the sections. Then,
with some portions of the sections of printed paper acting as a mask for the required
blank parts, I make a transfer for each colour required. This course obviates the
necessity of transferring the whole of the work to one stone in order to obtain sectional
transfers.
Fourteenth. For obtaining photo-lithographic transfers by contact printing from
formes or negatives composed of these types, paper coated with gelatine and rendered
sensitive by bi-chromate of potash is employed. The print is covered with greasy
ink and the soluble portions are subsequently washed away. Fig. 2 shows the

page_text: nature of a print originally obtained in this manner from direct contact with the
metal types.
For obtaining letter-press prints or lithographic transfers from these thin metal
types without the aid of photography, I adopt the following methods:
First. The types, preferably cast rather thicker than those employed for photo-
printing, or about one-twentieth of an inch thick,-are fixed by mucilage on to thick
paper, cardboard, wood, or a metal plate, and the ink, ordinary or transfer, applied to
their faces by means of a very small and not too soft rubber roller, and the impression
effected on suitable paper by means of a burnisher, or a platen or copying press.
Fig. 1 is intended to show the character of a print obtained by the means just referred
to. Fig. 1 also serves to show the nature of a print obtained by directly photo-
graphing the forme or negative composed of the thin types.
Second. For the production of lithographic transfers of music without recourse
being had to photography, produce in metal of about one-twentieth of an inch in
thickness the various characters having faces of the natural size, and affix them to
wood or a metal plate, and obtain a print in transfer ink by means of a platen
press.
In the production of transfers of music from the thin types referred to in the
preceding paragraph, I find it much more simple and expeditious to omit the stave
lines in the composition of the metal' types, and to subsequently rule them on the
transfer with a ruling pen and transfer writing ink.
In the case of songs or compositions in which there is an abundance of small
lettering to be printed the following method meets every requirement, and is
probably one of the cheapest, best, and simplest methods invented for producing
transfers of music with words for printing by lithography :-
The music types, of the natural size and about one-twentieth of an inch thick, are,
omitting always the stave lines, mounted with mucilage on to strips of wood or metal
which shall cause the faces of the types to stand exactly the height of ordinary
printing types. Ordinary letter-press types are then set up and employed for the
wording of the composition. The whole is afterwards locked up in an ordinary chase
and a transfer is taken at the platen press. The stave, and occasionally other, lines
are subsequently inserted with a pen and transfer writing ink.
Third. The thin metal types are, in this method, permanently mounted on separate
pieces of wood, or wood thinly coated with metal, perfectly squared, and made type
high, and are set together just the same as ordinary wood or metal types, locked in a
chase, inked in the ordinary way, and printed at any of the type machines or presses
in use.
Some of the special advantages of my invention in this particular application of it
are as follows:
1. The faces of the thin cast types are more accurate and uniform than those of
wood or hand-cut letters.
.
2. These types wood-bodied, metal-faced-are lighter, more convenient in use,
and much less liable to injury than wood or ordinary heavy metal types.
3. They are cheaper than either wood or metal types, and much more durable.
4. They can be used either alone or in conjunction with the smallest or any other
metal or wood types, or type high letters, electros, stereotypes, illustrations, or letter-
press characters of any description.
5. These thin metal borders, ornaments, letters, and characters of every kind can
be so mounted type high, and used as separate movable types from a pica body up to
the largest size.
6. Such printing types, while possessing nearly all the lightness of wood types and
the uniformity, and general superiority of face of new metal types, are free alike
from the flimsiness and irregularity of the one and the unwieldiness and fragility of
the other, and the comparative costiiness of both.
There are in connection with this invention two distinct classes of types employed-
one of which, bearing the actual shapes of the letters and characters (as in Fig. 3),

page_text: produces, in contact printing, white letters on a dark ground (as in Fig. 6),—the
other, which consists of a metallic or other rim or border, surrounding an open letter
or figure (as in Fig. 4), allows the light to pass to the paper and fix the characters in
dark on a white ground (as in Fig. 3).
In this latter class of types the perpendicular edges in contiguity will generally fit
sufficiently closely to prevent the passage of light at their junction. But this may be
the better provided against by bevelling, mitreing, or rabbiting the edges of the
types, so that one may overlap another.
Letters or characters in the latter class, such as B's, D's, and O's, which require the
inner portion to remain white, or to be unacted upon by light, require to have the
inner portion (see Fig. 5) kept and affixed separately.
In certain styles of letters the inner portion may be permanently connected with
the rim by means of two fine lines of metal, such as are shown in the letter O in
Fig. 5.
The writing or lettering of signs, facias, tablets, boards, &c. may be effected in
gold, silver, or in white or coloured paint or enamel by the aid of these thin movable
letters, in the following manner :
After
The letters are first dipped in or brushed over with a solution of gum or dextrine,
and allowed to dry. When required for use the under surface of the letters should
be slightly moistened with water, and the letters affixed in their required places.
When sufficiently dry or firm in their places, the paint, size, or enamel, may be applied
with a brush, inside or around the letters, and the work left to dry a little.
this, water may be freely applied to the letters, which will soften the gum and displace
the metal letters. A further application of water will clear the loose letters from the
paint that was accidentally brushed on them, and clear likewise the ground to which
they were attached, and the letters may be set aside for similar use in the future.
Care must of course always be taken that no gum finds its way on to the ground in
places other than those occupied by the letters, otherwise the paint would not adhere
to the ground wherever gum was present.
Among the numerous advantages of my invention may be mentioned the
following:
(1) Lithographic transfers of elaborate designs can be obtained rapidly and cheaply
and entirely independently of the skilled artist or draughtsman.
(2) Show bills, posters, and the like may be printed direct from the types on photo-
graphic paper, and further, in any tint by means of developed gelatine paper.
(3) Time, trouble, and expense will be saved the Lithographer, who, in some
important classes of work will, in these photo-litho types, have at perpetual command,
as it were, the services of a first-class draughtsman at a most insignificant cost.
(4) The field of commercial photography will be widened to an important extent.
(5) The time and labour-and consequently money-saving character of the process
will be especially apparent in the most important cases, that is, where normal numbers
of copies are required.
(6) No costly or bulky plant is required.
(7) There will be very little or no inking or cleaning of types entailed.
(8) No difficulty will be experienced in setting curved lines, lines off the square,
or lines that diminish or increase in height as they proceed.
(9) In photographic printing there will be no difficulty experienced through lack
of contrast or density in the original design-the types are absolutely opaque.
(10) Economy in space will be as marked as economy in producing a design-The
types can be printed from on either side; therefore nearly 100 founts of these thin
letters will not occupy more space than one fount of ordinary letter-press type.
(11) The types will be very durable.
(12) They are easily attached to or detached from the support.
(13) Being rigid and non-porous they can be moved into position with the greatest
ease.
(14) They can be used over and over again an unlimited number of times.

page_text: (15) White letters on a dark ground, and dark letters on a light ground may be
produced in the same designs (Ex. Figs. 1 & 2).
(16) Stereotype-plates may be produced of any required size from the composed
work.
(17) Labels, circulars, and other small work may be printed from reductions made
from larger designs which can he composed on glass or paper, in an elaborate and
ornamental style, in a few minutes' time.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
First. The improved means or type for the printing of labels, show bills, posters,
music, shorthand, and the like, consisting of letters, signs, and characters cast in or
cut or stamped from or made of thin metal or other material such as herein before
described as and for the purpose set forth.
Second. The within described process of producing surfaces, plates, formes, or
negatives for printing labels, circulars. show bills, posters, music, shorthand and the
like, that is to say, by affixing on a suitable ground or support letters figures,
ornaments, signs and characters made of thin metal, or similarly in other material,
and from the surface, plate, forme, or negative thus set up, printing at the letter-
press or otherwise with ink on ordinary or transfer paper or other material, or
printing photographically without ink direct on sensitized paper, or producing
printing surface by photo-lithography, photo relief, or such like processes as set,
forth.
a
Third. The within described process of painting or writing or lettering of signs,
facias, boards and the like, by first temporarily affixing the movable letters and then
brushing around or inside of such letters or characters paint, size, enamel, or other
pigment as herein before described as and for the purpose set forth.
Fourth. The distinguishing name or title of "Hydrotype" as applied generally to
the processes of printing by means of the thin movable types as herein described and
set forth.
Dated this Second day of September, One thousand eight hundred and eighty-
RICHARD TISSINGTON.