AN IMPROVED PROCESS POR PRODUCING ENGRAVED METALLIC PLATES FOR COMMERCIAL INDICATIONS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stanislas Ambroise Buirat, of Boulevard de
Strasbourg, No. 23, Paris, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
PROCESS POR PRODUCING ENGRAVED METALLIC PLATES FOR COMMERCIAL
INDICATIONS."
Sealed the 10th June 1870, and dated the 16th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stanislas Ambroise
Buirat at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th December 1869.
I, STANISLAS AMBROISE BUIRAT, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23,
Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ENGRAVED METALLIC PLATES FOR COMMERCIAL
INDICATIONS," to be as follows:-
The mode of galvano-plastic engraving which I have invented has
great advantages over all the methods at present employed for engraving
by hand or by acid. It is chiefly to be applied to the reproduction of

page_text: letters and designs for show plates, lablets, or coats of arms, and other
similar devices.
My Invention consists in forming by means of movable characters,
which are rivetted or otherwise secured upon a plate of metal, a type
mould; this type mould is subjected to an electro chemical bath for the
galvano-plastic reproduction of any number whatsoever of copper plates
bearing in intaglio the inscriptions, letters, signs, titles, or designs which
have been formed in relief upon the plate used as the mould. The plate
thus formed, after having been coated, preferably with plumbago or
with fatty bodies, is subjected to the galvano-plastic bath in the ordinary
manner, and at the expiration of a certain time which is determined
upon by the thickness that it is desired the plate should be made a
plate with the design or impression is obtained. To render the engraved
portion more conspicuous the bottom of each one of the letters is
painted or varnished, whilst the plate may be well polished, painted,
or decorated.
It will be readily understood how numerous are the advantages which
my Invention affords.
Firstly. There results a considerable economy of hand labour from the
case with which a number of show plates or coats of arms can be pro-
duced in intaglio without the aid of a skilled engraver or artist. These
plates or coats of arms can be of any required size.
Secondly. It affords rapidity of manufacture, and by its adoption any
kind of letters, signs, titles, or designs are able to be produced.
Thirdly. The workmen are enabled to alter the mould types at will to.
suit circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stanislas Ambroise Buirat in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STANISLAS 30
AMBROISE BUIRAT, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23, Paris, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Stanislas Ambroiso Buirat, Her special
licence that I, the said Stanislas Ambroise Buirat, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Stanislas
Ambroise Buirat, my executors, administrators, and 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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ENGRAVED
METALLIC PLATES, FOR COMMERCIAL INDICATIONS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Stanislas Ambroise Buirat, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner tho
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters. Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stanislas Ambroise Buirat; 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 thereof, reference being, had to the.
Drawings herçunto annexed, that is to say :-
The process of galvano-plastic engraving which I have invented has.
great advantages over methods at present employed for engraving by
hand or by acids. It is chiefly applicable to the reproduction of letters
and designs for show plates for shops, offices, private apartments, and
other places, for coats of arms, and other similar devices.
My process consists in forming by means of moveable characters (such
as printing type or characters cut by hand or with a punch) which are
rivetted or otherwise secured upon a plate of metal or other material, or
which are fixed in a compositor or type mould, which when submitted
to the ordinary galvano-plastic process permits any number of copper
plates to be obtained, bearing engraved upon them in intaglio or relief
the inscriptions, letters, signs, titles, or designs which may be desired
in the form of show plate, tablets, coats of arms, or any other that may
be required.

page_text: It is sometimes advantageous instead of working directly from the
type plate to reproduce the latter by the ordinary processes in gutta
percha, and to take the reproduction directly from the gutta percha
plate, which thus serves as the type mould. For plates engraved in
relief the letters are in their ordinary position, whilst for those engraved
in intaglio they are reversed, that is to say, the right is to the left, and
vice versa, in the contrary direction to that in which it has to be read.
In damp stamps the printing characters are fixed in a compositor in the
contrary sense. For seals for sealing wax, &c. the characters are placed
in their natural sense.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a specimen of a
type mould A with characters in relief for the reproduction by the
ordinary galvano-plastic process of the engraved plate A', Figure 2.
A is a plate of copper serving for the type, and of equal size to the one
desired to be produced with the engraving in intaglio. The characters
in relief, one of which B is shewn separately in Figure 3, are applied by
glueing, rivetting, or screwing upon the type plate A. These characters
are fastened to the plate A in the sense contrary to that in which they
are to be read; thus the wood "bureau" shewn upon the plate A reads
reversed from the right to the left. Figure 4 is a transverse section of
the plate A with letters B projecting therefrom. The type plate A being
thus prepared is covered over with plumbagine (graphite) or other fatty
body, then in the galvano-plastic bath under the ordinary condition,
for a time varying according to the thickness to be given to the plate.
On proceeding from the galvano-plastic bath the plate A', Figure 2, is
obtained, reproducing in intaglio the word "bureau" which was in
relief upon the type plate A, only the engraving reads in its natural
sense upon the plate A'. Figure 5 is a transverse section of the
plate A. In order to render the engraving more apparent, the interior
of the engraved character may be painted or varnished, and the surface
of the engraved plate A¹ may also be polished, painted, or varnished.
The numerous advantages of my process will be readily perceived;
among them I may mention,-
1stly. The considerable saving in labor effected by it in consequence
of the facility with which any indefinite number of show plates, coats
of arms, seals, or other devices can be produced in intaglio or relief,
without the aid of engraver or skilled workman,

page_text: Second. The rapidity with which the plate can be prepared and
reproduced by the galvano-plastic process.
Thirdly. The facility of reproducing all characters, signs, devices, &c.
And, fourthly. The facility with which alterations in the characters or
devices may be effected upon the type plate.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First. The formation of moulds or type plates by means of movcable
characters or devices which are attached to the former by glueing,
rivetting, screwing, or other means of attachment.
Secondly, Immersing the said type moulds or plates in a galvano-
plastic bath in order to obtain show plates, coats of arms, stamps, scals,
and other such articles.
And, thirdly. Obtaining by the above-described process an engraving
in intaglio or relief for commercial indications of all kinds; all sub-
stantially as herein-before described and shewn in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stanislas Ambroise Buirat, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Fourth day of June One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
CI. ARMENGAUD,
Civil Engineer,
23, Bt. de Strasbourg,
Paris.
S. A. BUIRAT. (L.S.)