IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTO
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Bentley Woodbury, of Greenhithe, in
the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTO-
Sealed the 25th November 1873, and dated the 30th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Bentley Wood-
bury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th May 1873.
I, WALTER BENTLEY WOODBURY, of Greenhithe, in the County of
Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PHOTO-MECHANICAL PRINTING, AND IN APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES
THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate,-
Firstly. To a method of obtaining by photography blocks suitable for
employing with type in the ordinary method of typographic printing
from subjects that are represented by half tones only, such as portrait
or landscape from nature or a painting.

page_text: Secondly. To improvements in the known process and termed in the
trade "Woodbury type," by which that process is much simplified.
Thirdly. To an improved method of producing the same by mechanical
means.
Fourthly. To an improved method of preparing blocks by photo-
graphic agency to be used in producing the water mark in paper.
To accomplish the first part of my Invention I proceed as follows:-
I prepare sheets of bichromatized gelatine, such as are used in the
process called "
Woodbury type" and expose these under a photo-
graphic positive to the action of light, but interposing between the
positive and the gelatine film a transparency on collodion or mica
of what is known as musquito netting, Brussels net, tulle, and so
forth, which has the effect of breaking up the resulting relief into a
multitude of fine square or hexagonal lines, or for some subjects I
interpose a transparency on mica or collodion of any design of a
similar nature that will have the same effect, such as an impression
from a grained stone, or the same from a number of fine ruled lines.
This sheet of gelatine when washed will give a relief having the
positive photograph represented by a number of lines instead of the
simple half tone it originally possessed; I then take an impression
from this by means of hydraulic or other pressure in any soft metal,
and use the block so obtained for printing at a type press where only
a few copies are wanted, but where large numbers are required I
electrotype the same in the ordinary way. I prefer to use different
daylight or sunlight through ground glass or tissue paper to produce
the relief, as in that case the light in the parts that represent the
whites creeps around the lines, thus partially obliterating them in
that part, and leaving them strongest only in the parts printing dark.
I sometimes adopt another method. I take a negative of the network
by transmitted light, and copy this together with the negative to be
reproduced, thus producing a positive with the lines already thereon.
from which I proceed to make a relief and block, as stated.
To accomplish the second part of my Invention I proceed as follows:
-In place of using a thin film of collodion to support the gelatine
(as is now used in the process called " 'Woodbury type ") I proceeds
as follows:-I first rub over a sheet of plate glass with ox gall, and

page_text: then coat with the bichromated gelatine solution, as now used. When
this is dried and ready for use I expose the side that was next to the
glass for a few seconds to daylight before exposing it under a negative.
This has the effect of causing a very thin film of the gelatine to become
insoluble, which after subsequent exposure under the negative will not
wash away, but form a support for the image afterwards impressed.
When the gelatine relief either thus produced, or by the method
now in use is dried, I take a sheet of thin tin foil, and having attached
it to the edges of the relief by gum or any other adhesive substance,
I lay on the back of this a stout sheet of plate paper and pass the
whole through an ordinary rolling press; the foil is by this means
impressed into all the details of the relief, but in that state it would
from its thinness and flexibility be useless to print from; I proceed
as follows:-A shallow metal box having a depth of not more than
one-sixteenth of an inch is filled with one of the compositions named
below, which on warming become soft, but harden on cooling; such
compositions I make as follows:-Shellac and asphalte, lac and Venice
turpentine, lac or resin and silica, in such proportions that on cooling
they will have sufficient hardness to resist the action of printing.
This shallow box having been filled with the composition I place on
a hot plate until the composition softens it, it is then placed on the
lower plate of the ordinary Woodbury printing press and the foil
and relief laid on it, the press closed, and the pressure applied by
the under screw. When the composition has hardened the tin foil
adheres to it, and I then remove the gelatine relief from the mould
and print from it in the same manner as from the soft metal moulds
now in use, by this means doing away with the powerful hydraulic
presses now necessary to obtain the moulds in soft metal; the side
of the foil next the composition I generally roughen with acid to cause
it to adhere thoroughly to the composition. I also use the composition
filled boxes direct without the foil as a printing mould, and when
sufficient numbers have been printed the box holding the composition
is again heated and can be used over and over again.
The third part of my Invention consists in an improved method of
printing "Woodbury type "by machinery; this I accomplish as
follows:-Out of a solid block of iron I have turned a cylindrical
hole in which is made to fit very loosely a cylinder of soft metal
having a taper or conical hole through it lengthwise. Between the

page_text: interior of the steel block and soft metal cylinder I insert the gelatine
reliefs, then by means of a taper or wedge-shaped spindle (roughened)
I drive by hammering or by pressure the soft metal against the iron
cylinder, thus impressing the relief on the outside of the metal cylinder,
the taper spindle at the same time forming a shaft for the cylinder
to be used in the process of printing; I then mount this roller bearing
the relief in vertical slots in a frame, having a bed of plate glass on
which the paper rests, the roller resting on the glass by its own weight,
and being dragged round by the paper itself; or in place of the glass
plate I allow the soft metal cylinder to lie on another fixed roller of
metal or glass. The plate may be hollow so as to reduce its tem-
perature in hot weather by a stream of cold water running through it.
The fourth part of my Invention consists of a method of introducing
the designs produced from photographs into the pulp of the paper
for use as a water mark; this I accomplished as follows:-Having|
made a relief from a negative and obtained a reverse from it in soft
metal by the ordinary means, I then make from this an electrotype
in the manner following:-I employ the ordinary means of electro-
typing, but having the plate to be cooled in a horizontal position face
upwards at short intervals during the whole process of depositing the
copper, I sift over it at first fine and afterwards coarse granules of
asphalte, or other substance that may by its solvent be afterwards
dissolved away, the said granules having been obtained of an equal
size by sifting through fine gauze; this I continue until the deposit
has obtained a sufficient thickness, when I remove it from the battery,
wash it, and then place it in the medium necessary to dissolve out the
granular material in the copper, thus obtaining a spongy porous electro-
type suitable for use in joining the water mark by draining away the
water from the pulp of the paper; the electrotype may also be mounted
in such a way that the air may be exhausted through it, thus hastening
the abstraction of the water from the pulp. Any gum or resin not
soluble in water may be used, which can after be dissolved out by its
solvent, so that the electrotype is left in a spongy or porous state.

page_text: ACATION In pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter Bentley Woodbury in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
BENTLEY WOODBURY, of Greenhithe, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Walter Bentley Woodbury, Her
special license that I, the said Walter Bentley Woodbury, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter
Bentley Woodbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agrec 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTO-MECHANICAL PRINTING, AND IN APPA-
BATUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Walter Bentley Woodbury, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calender months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter Bentley Woodbury, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings
(that is to say) :-
Thane:

page_text: from subjects that are represented by half tones only, such as portrait
or landscapes from nature or a painting.
Secondly. To improvements in the process termed "Woodbury type
by which that process is much simplified.
Thirdly. To an improved method of producing the same by mechanical
means.
Fourthly. To an improved method of preparing blocks by photo-
graphic agency to be used in producing the water mark in paper.
To accomplish the first part of my Invention I proceed as follows:-
I prepare sheets of bichromatized gelatine such as are used in the
process called "
Woodbury type," and expose these under a photo-
graphic positive to the action of light, but interposing between the
positive and the gelatine film a transparency on collodion or mica
of what is known as musquito netting, Brussels net, tulle, and so
forth, which has the effect of breaking up the resulting relief into a
multitude of fine square hexagonal lines; or for some subjects I
interpose a transparency on mica or collodion of any design of a
similar nature that will have the same effect, such as an impression
from a grained stone, or the same from a number of fine ruled lines.
This sheet of gelatine when washed will give a relief having the
positive photograph represented by a number of lines instead of the
simple half tone it originally possessed; I then take an impression
from this by means of hydraulic or other pressure in any soft metal,
and use the block so obtained for printing at a typo press where only
a few copies are wanted; but where large numbers are required I
electrotype the same in the ordinary way. I prefer to use diffused
daylight or sunlight through ground glass or tissue paper to produce
the relief, as in that case the light in the parts that represent the
whites creeps around the lines, thus partially obliterating them in that
part, and leaving them strongest only in the parts printing dark.
I sometimes adopt another method. I take a negative of the network
by transmitted light, and copy this together with the negative to be
reproduced, thus producing a positive with the lines already thereon
from which I proceed to make a relief and blocks, as stated.
To accomplish the second part of my Invention I proceed as follows:
-In place of using a thin film of collodion to support the gelatine
(as is now used in the process called "Woodbury type," I proceed

page_text: as follows:-I first rub over a sheet of plate glass with ox gall, and
then coat with the bichromated gelatine solution, as now used. When
this is dried and ready for use I expose the side that was next to the
glass for a few seconds to daylight before exposing it under a negative.
This has the effect of causing a very thin film of the gelatine to become
insoluble, which after subsequent exposure under the negative will not
wash away but form a support for the image afterwards impressed.
When the gelatine relief, either thus produced or by the method
now in use, is dried I take a sheet of thin tin foil and having attached
it to the edges of the relief by gum or any other adhesive substance,
I lay on the back of this a stout sheet of plate paper, and pass the
whole through an ordinary rolling press, the foil is by this means
impressed into all the details of the relief, but in that state it would
from its thinness and flexibility be useless to print from; I proceed
as follows:-A shallow metal box having a depth of not more than
one-sixteenth of an inch is filled with one of the compositions named
below which on warming become soft, but harden on cooling; such
composition I make as follows:-Shellac and asphalte, lac and sulphur,
lac and Venice turpentine, lac or rosin and silica, in such proportions
that on cooling they will have sufficient hardness to resist the action
of printing. This shellac box having been filled with the composition
I place on a hot plate until the composition softens, it is then placed
on the lower plate of the ordinary Woodbury printing press, the foil
and relief laid on it, the press closed, and the pressure applied by the
under screw.
When the composition has hardened the tin foil adheres
to it, and I then remove the gelatine relief from the mould and print
from it in the same manner as from the soft metal moulds now in use,
by this means doing away with the powerful hydraulic presses now
necessary to obtain the moulds in soft metal, the side of the foil next
the composition I generally roughen with the acid to cause it to adhere
thoroughly to the composition. I also use the composition filled boxes
direct without the foil as a printing mould, and when sufficient numbers
have been printed the box holding the composition is again heated and
can be used over and over again.
The third part of my Invention consists of an improved method of
printing "Woodbury type" by machinery; this I accomplish as
follows:-Out of a solid block of iron a, a, shown in the annexed
Drawing, I have turned a cylindrical hole in which is made to fit

page_text: very loosely a cylinder of soft metal b, b, having a taper or conical
hole through it lengthwise. Between the interior of the iron block
a, a, and the soft metal cylinder b, b, I insert the gelatine reliefs c, c,
then by means of a tapered or wedge-shaped spindle d, d, roughened,
I drive, by hammering or by pressure, the soft metal b, b, against the
interior of the iron cylinder a, a, thus impressing the reliefs on the
outside of the metal cylinder, the taper spindle d, d, at the same time
forming a shaft for the cylinder to be used in the process of printing;
I then mount this roller bearing the reliefs, as shown at Figs. 2 and 3,
in vertical slots e, e, in the frame f, f, having a bed g, g, of plate glass
on which the paper h, h, to be printed rests, the roller resting on the
glass by its own weight, and being dragged round by the paper itself;
or in place of the glass plate I allow the soft metal cylinder to lie on
another fixed roller of metal or glass. The latter may be hollow so as
to reduce its temperature in hot weather by a stream of cold water
running through it.
The fourth part of my Invention consists of a method of introducing
the designs produced from photographs into the pulp of the paper
for use as a water mark; this I accomplish as follows:-Having
made a relief from a negative and obtained a reverse from it in soft
metal by the ordinary means, I then make from this an electrotype
in the manner following:-I employ the ordinary means of electro-
typing, but having the plate to be coated in a horizontal position face
upwards at short intervals, during the whole process of depositing the
copper I sift over it at first fine and afterwards coarse granules of
asphalte or other substance that may by its solvent be afterwards
dissolved away, the said granules having been obtained of an equal
size by sifting through fine gauze; this I continue until the deposit
has obtained a sufficient thickness when I remove it from the battery,
wash it, and then place it in the medium necessary to dissolve out the
granular material in the copper, thus obtaining a spongy porous electro-
type suitable for use in forming the water mark by draining away the
water from the pulp of the paper; the electrotype may also be mounted
in such a way that the air may be exhausted through it, thus hastening
the abstraction of the water from the pulp. Any gum or resin not
soluble in water may be used which can after be dissolved out by its
solvent, so that the electrotype is left in a spongy or porous state.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,

page_text: together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that
I claim,―
Firstly. The use of a positive photograph with network interposed,
or a positive made from a negative and network combined, in com-
bination with hydraulic or other pressure to produce printing blocks.
Secondly. The method of replacing the collodion film, as now practised
by an insoluble thin film of gelatine for making reliefs for "Woodbury
type."
Thirdly. The use of thin metal, such as tin foil, with a plastic backing
to produce moulds for Woodbury type printing.
Fourthly. The use of true planed metal boxes holding the plastic
composition instead of soft metal, as now used.
Fifthly. The method, herein-before described and illustrated by the
Drawings annexed, of constructing and mounting the soft metal
cylinders used the production or printing of "Woodbury type" by
machinery.
And lastly. The method herein-before described of preparing blocks
by photographic agency to be used in producing the water mark in
paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Bentley Woodbury, havo
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
WALTER BENTLEY WOODBURY.
(L.S.)