IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING LETTERS, INVOICES, AND OTHER WRITINGS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Harebooth Gresham, of the Town and County
of Kingston-upon-Hull, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COPYING LETTERS, INVOICES, AND OTHER WRITINGS."
Scaled the 31st December 1858, and dated the 17th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Harebooth Gresham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th September 1858.
I, JAMES HAREBOOTH GRESHAM, of the Town and County of Kingston-upon-
Hull, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING LETTERS, INVOICES, AND OTHER WRITINGS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists of a novel application of pressure for copying
purposes, by which letters, invoices, and other writings may be effectually
copied without the aid of copying presses at present in use.
In carrying out this Invention, the writing to be copied is written in a
copying ink of a peculiar nature, the ingredients of which I give below.
Other copying inks with more or less success may be employed, but the one I
give I have found perfectly answers the purpose. The copying paper is then
damped, and the letter placed in juxtaposition to it, as in the case of ordinary
press copying, and the oiled sheets are employed for preventing the ink

page_text: spreading to other parts of the book- or paper. The book or copying sheets
being thus prepared, I then apply the pressure by means of a roller, the inner
part of which is free to revolve on a centre, whilst the ends are fixed so as to
allow of their being held- firmly in hand. This roller being pressed once or
twice over the book by hand, the letters will be found to be copied as well as
if the book or copying paper had been placed under a press in the manner at
present in ordinary use. The ink which I find to be particularly adapted for
this purpose is composed of malt liquor, logwood, sugar, gall, sulphate of
iron, gum, cloves, and water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Harebooth Gresham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HAREBOOTII GRESHAM, of the Town and County of Kingston-upon-Hull,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant.
unto me, the said James Harebooth Gresham, Her special license that I, the
said James Harebooth Gresham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Harcbooth Gresham, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 COPYING LETTERS, INVOICES, AND OTHER
WRITINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Hare-
booth Gresham, 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 James Harebooth Gresham, 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

page_text: following statement, reference being bad to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
This Invention consists of a novel application of pressure for copying
purposes, by which letters, invoices, and other writings may be effectually
copied without the aid of copying presses at present in use.
In carrying out this Invention, the writing to be copied is written in any
suitable copying ink, and the copying paper is then damped with water, and
the letter placed in juxtaposition to it, as in the case of ordinary press copying,
and the oiled sheets are employed for preventing the ink from spreading to
other parts of the book or paper. The book or copying sheets being thus
prepared, and the letter or other document deposited in its place thereon, I
then apply the pressure by means of a roller, the inner part of which may be
free to revolve on a centre, whilst the ends are held in the hands of the
operator. After this roller has been pressed once or twice over the copying
paper (either in a book or separate sheets between the ordinary pads), the
letters will be found to be perfectly copied.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a partial longitudinal
section and elevation of one form or construction of my copying roller, which
may be modified without deviating from the principles of my Invention. The
body of the roller A, which may be made either solid or hollow, may be
composed of metal, wood, or any other suitable material, but I prefer to use
wood for general business purposes; its diameter may be about two inches,
and its length suited to the size of the sheets of writing to be copied, but I of
course do not limit or confine myself to any fixed dimensions either of diameter
or length. This roller is carried loosely upon a central rod or spindle B, so as
to be capable of turning freely thereon when pressed over the papers to be
copied. The two handles C, C, are screwed one on to each end of the rod or
spindle B, which is turned smooth at a, so as to work freely in the two end
metal washers D, D, secured to the ends of the roller. By another arrange-
ment the roller and spindle may be fastened together or made in one piece, in
which case the handles C, C, should be left free to turn loosely round the two
ends of the spindle. Figure 2 represents a copying case or stand fitted
with my roller and appurtenances, the drawer containing a water tank for
lamping the paper, which tank is covered with a lid, so that the papers and

page_text: oiled sheets may also be contained in the same drawer; Figure 3 shews a
stand fitted up for book copying, the book and oiled sheets being contained in
the drawer, whilst the top of the stand is fitted with a water glass and copying
ink holder; Figure 4 is a travelling case, fitted with copying book, copying
roller, damping brush, and, in fact, all the requisites for writing and copying
documents.
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 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 my said Invention; but what I con-
sider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
Firstly, the system or mode of taking copies from written documents by the
aid of the revolving roller herein-before described, traversed over and pressed
down upon the paper to receive the copy by hand.
Secondly, the general construction and arrangement of pressing roller,
herein-before described, for effecting the copying of written documents.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Harcbooth Gresham, have here-
unto, set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAS. HAREBOOTH GRESHAM. (L.S.)