An Improved Method of Making Coloured and other Prints.
Year: 1890

page_text: Complete specification Left, 1st Dec., 1090-Accepted, 20th Apt., FOST
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of Making Coloured and other Prints.
I, HENRY SANDHAM, of Hotel Edinburgh, Columbus Avenue, Boston, in the
County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Artist,
do hereby declare the nature of my invention for AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
MAKING COLOURED AND OTHER PRINTS, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The common method of making a coloured print is to first draw, paint, or other-
wise create the complete subject which is subsequently to be produced by printing,
and to then transfer to the plates or blocks used in printing the said subject as a
whole, generally by some photographic method or tracing; and whether the
printing is done from one plate or block in one colour or a number of plates or
blocks in different colours or tones it leaves the preparation and cutting of the
block or plate to be guided and controlled by the engraver or artisan, who is
obliged to take from the photograph or tracing of the completed subject as much
of it as is to be reproduced by a certain block or plate and then use his own
judgment in applying to the cut the finish, technique, and artistic skill, and the
result is that, having to work according to their own ideas of what is needed, the
reproduction as a rule is not satisfactory and is expensive and requires very skilled
workmen to produce a desirable result, frequently departing in a marked manner
from the original conception of the artist.
While by my method it may be desirable to prepare a subject as a whole in the
first instance, I do not use such subject in the material parts of the process for its
reproduction but on the contrary I make for each block or plate to be used or for
each particular tone or half-tone to be printed in the print a separate sketch or
drawing of that particular colour, tone, or detail, and execute it in such form,
style, &c., as such particular section or part of the whole may require, in order to
be artistically and properly represented as a part of the whole. These separate
sketches and details furnish, it may be said, infallible guides for the engraver cr
artisan to work from, each one being complete in and of itself and not being mixed
or associated with the other features of the subject, so that the engraver or artisan
is enabled to transfer by photography or in any other way from each sketch to the
block or plate which is to print that section of the subject all the touches and
characteristics of the artist's work, the detail of which has been carefully prepared
in advance with especial reference to its association and its effect with the other
subelements or details of the subject, and the blocks, plates, or other printing-
surfaces having transferred to them these separated or independent complete
subdetails are then used in printing as in the ordinary method of type-printing.
This method of preparing the subject removes from the engraver or wood-cutter
the necessity of determining certain things which belong more or only to the artist
to determine, and enables an intelligent and artistic co-operation of details, colouring,
and drawing to be obtained in the print which cannot be obtained where the

page_text: blocks, &c., are prepared by the methods now in vogue. To illustrate, suppose I
desire to represent by printing an old vase or to reproduce a picture of the vase. I
first divide the subject into the number of parts or details which will require
separate or independent blocks or plates for printing. I then make an independent
sketch of each of the said details, representing in each sketch the various qualities
which that part of the subject which it illustrates should have, and these separate
sketches or drawings are also prepared with especial regard to their co-operation
and harmonizing as a whole, and they are then transferred by photography or in any
other of the common ways to the blocks or plates which are to print them, the
blocks being reproduced by half-tone or process to print each subject.
This invention is especially applicable in reproducing water-colours, paintings,
and other subjects in colour and permits of great range in the employment and
mingling of half-tones, tints, &c.
It will be seen that the individual drawings or sketches may be made in any
medium on any texture or paper, and that the reproduction by photography gives
to each block all the peculiarities of the original drawing, thus combining when
printed in colours any and every quality desired, and thereby meets a long-felt
want in connection with book-illustration, &c.
I would say that this invention applies particularly to the modern half-tone and
process printing, where the subject is transferred to the printing-plate chemically
or by photography and treatment by acids, &c., to produce a fac-simile design upon
the plate automatically, it may be said, or without necessitating engraving by hand,
and the characteristic of each separate section or sketch will thus be accurately
transferred and reproduced on each plate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The method of printing subjects in colours or shades, comprising the making of
separate sketches or drawings of the various parts of the subject requiring separate
printing in its reproduction, which sketches and drawings serve as guides in the
preparation of the printing-surfaces upon the plates or printing-blocks, and which
are transferred to said plates or printing-blocks in the ordinary way, and printing
from said plates, blocks, or other printing-surfaces to produce a print made up
of such independent or separate sketches or drawings, as and for the purpose
described.
Dated this 1st day of December 1890.
F. W. BARKER,
Applicant's Agent.