IMPROVEMENTS IN EMBOSSING OR IMPRESSING SURFACES OF LEATHER AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
NICKELS, of Guildford Street, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of November, in the first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Christopher Nickels, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Christopher Nickels, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher Nickels, my exors,
admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed; should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England; Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
EMBOSSING OR IMPRESSING SURFACES OF LEATHER AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE
TO VARIOUS PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that 1, the said Christopher Nickels, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to:
be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there.
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Christopher Nickels, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked:
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention relates, first, to a mode of employing perforated plates in place
of the sunk dies heretofore employed for similar purposes; and, secondly, to tho
application of sawdust or dust of wood in substitution of the counterpart or
die in relief.
And in order to give the best information in my power for performing
my Invention, I will proceed to describe the Drawings annexed, by which
the principal of my Invention will be seen in its most simple state, by
which the workman will readily become acquainted with the Invention, and
will then, according to his taste, so perforate the plates as to produce embossing
or impressing of leather and other substances at very little cost, and with much
greater dispatch than when deep and varied designs have to bo engraved or
sunk on to steel blocks, and counterparts made in relief on other blocks of
steel or other metal or other suitable material; for according to my Invention
the plates are so thin that they may have the design perforated or cut through
with facility; and I prefer plates of copper, brass, or other suitable metal,
about the 3th of an inch thick, but do not confine myself thereto; and
I would remark that the patterns may be varied by using plates of different
thicknesses for the same design. Figures 1, 2, and 3 represent three plates
of equal dimensions, but with holes of different diameters a, b, and c.
Supposing a piece of leather (which should be damped) to be placed under
the plate, Figure 1, there being some yielding substance below the leather,
such, for instance, as sawdust, and the unperforated plate, Figure 8, were
placed on the upper surface of the plate, Figure 1, it would be evident that on
exerting pressure equally on the whole surface of the plate Figure 8, by a
screw press or other suitable means, the effect would be to produce an emboss-
ing or impressing of the leather, the section of which would be similar to that
shown at Figure 4; and in case the plate, Figure 2, has been placed on
the upper surface of the plate, Figuro 1, and an impression taken from
two plates, Figures 1 and 2, the embossing produced on the leather or
other substance would be in section similar to Figure 5; and if the three plates,
Figures 1, 2, and 3, had been employed one above the other, the embossing
obtained to the leather or other surface would be in section similar to Figure 6.

page_text: From the foregoing description a workman will have become acquainted
with the Invention in its most simple condition, and it will be evident that by
varying the perforations or cuttings through of the plates, a greater variety of
embossings may be obtained; and it will be evident that much will depend on
the taste displayed in designing patterns; and it will be evident that by sloping
the edges more or less of the sides of the perforations of the plates the emboss-
ing produced, and the various parts thereof, may run more easily into each
other, or they may be made to stand more strongly in relief, and have sharper
angles or lines, according to the object desired; thus, supposing that the circular
holes or perforations in the plates, Figures 1 and 3, had the sides thereof cut
truly perpendicular, and that the opening of the plate, Figure 2, were inclined,
the section of the embossing produced would be similar to Figure 7; and it will
be further evident that many plates may be used for a single embossing, and
the character of the embossing produced by the whole number of plates may,
in a great variety of ways, be varied, by leaving out one or more of the plates
in taking other impressions; hence, by this mode of embossing or impressing, the
same design may be taken in greater or less relief, according to the number of
plates employed at one time.
The full effects of the Invention depending on taste, it will be impossible to
describe the varied figures and designs which may be produced, I have there-
fore thought it better to confine ny description to circular figures, as a
workman clearly understanding the mode of working of such plates will,
according to the pattern he is desirous of producing, and the quantity of
relief he wishes to obtain, vary the thickness and number of plates for
any particular case; and it is only desirable further to state that in using
perforated plates, as herein explained, care must be observed to have them so
arranged and kept in register when used that a large number of embossed
surfaces may be obtained correct one with another; and in order to accomplish
this desirable object, I employ two or more register pins, which pass through
holes in the plates, as I have the box containing the yielding material of such
dimensions, and having projecting surfaces against which the edges of the per-
forated plates should come, and in such manner that the plates will just fit
within the same, by which the plates will be correctly retained when the
impression is being obtained.
It will be evident that the working surfaces of the plates may be engraved
with various designs, in order to give additional beauty and character to the
embossings made according to my Invention, and, if desired, such embossings
may be coloured with a variety of colors, for it will be evident that each plate

page_text: at its working parts may be covered with any suitable coloring matter or ink,
in order to become printing surfaces. And I would remark in respect to this
part of my Invention, that although I have only mentioned leather, it
will be evident that paper, velvet, and a great variety of surfaces may be
embossed or impressed according to my Invention, but as my Invention is for
the mode of embossing, and not for the materials embossed or impressed, it
will not be necessary to enter into any particular description thereof, the more
particularly as surfaces or substances have long been embossed and impressed
and is well understood. And further, I do not confine myself to the employ-
ment of any particular means of producing the requisite pressure, and it is
not necessary that the perforated plates should be used at all times in the
form of plates, as they may be curved on to or form cylinders, which in their
revolution in suitable axles would produce a similar effect as above described;
and a great variety of matters may be employed as yielding materials for
forcing the leather or other substance into the dies made of perforated
plates, but I have found sawdust or dust of wood a most efficient
material, offering many advantages, more particularly where the substance
to be embossed or impressed requires to be damped, the wood dust (or dust of
wood produced by sawing or rasping) absorbing the damp as it is pressed out
of the substance being embossed or impressed. In using wood dust there is
also the advantage of its cheapness and the circumstance that it may be used
over and over again, and may be obtained in any required degree of fineness.
The sawdust is placed in the box abovementioned, and the leather or other
substance is placed thereon, then the perforated plates, then the plate, Figure 8,
and suitable pressure is to be exerted, by which the embossing will be
performed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would remark that
what I claim is,-
First, the mode herein described of embossing or impressing leather and
other substances.
And, secondly, I claim the application of saw or other dust of wood to the
uses of embossing or impressing in substitution of other matters heretofore
employed for like purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Nickels, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
CHRISTOPHER (L.s.) NICKELS

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of May,
in the year of our Lord 1888, the aforesaid Christopher Nickels came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.