AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRODUCING RELIEF PLATES FOR PRINTING, STEREOTYPING, OR ELECTROTYPING
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Day, of Hoboken, in the County of
Hudson and State of New Jersey, United States of America, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRODUCING RELIEF PLATES FOR
PRINTING, STEREOTYPING, OR ELECTROTYPING."
Sealed the 23rd August 1864, and dated the 15th March 1864:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Day at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
March 1864.
I; BENJAMIN DAY, of Hoboken, in the County of Hudson and State of
New Jersey, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRODUCING RELIEF PLATES FOR
PRINTING, STEREOTYPING, OR ELECTROTYPING," to be as follows:→
I take clay, chalk, oxide of zinc, flour, or other suitable material in a
finely pulverized state, and I spread a layer thereof upon a sheet or surface
of metal or other suitable material, and by a powerful pressure against a
smooth surface I consolidate and render flat the surface of such chalk or.
other material. This surface is to be prepared for drawing upon by applying
a weak sizing of starch, glue, saccharine, or glutinous material only sufficient
to render the surface better adapted to drawing upon. I then proceed
to draw any design or configuration as required for the stereotype, electro-
type, or print, and for this I employ an ink made of glue or similar material,
with a small quantity of sugar and lampblack or other coloring material

page_text: to render the drawing visible; these ingredients being mixed with water
to the proper consistence to be applied by a pen, brush, or other instrument
in making the drawing. This ink I have found practically to answer the
desired purpose, but any other character of ink that will remain on the
surface and not sink into or spread upon such prepared surface, and having
sufficient body to resist the next operation may be employed. The
surface of the chalk, clay, or other material not protected by said ink is
now removed to the necessary depth by brushing, rubbing, washing, or
otherwise acting on the same, which leaves the drawing in relief. The
block or surface is then to be prepared for electrotyping, stereotyping, or.
otherwise obtaining a surface for printing by filling the pores of the clay,
chalk, or other material with melted wax, stearine, shellac, varnish, or other
suitable substances, to harden the relief surface, and adapt it to electrotyping,
stereotyping, or printing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Day in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
DAY, of Hoboken, in the County of Hudson and State of New Jersey,
United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Benjamin Day, Her special license that I, the said Benjamin
Day, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Day, 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 Iк-
PROVED METHOD OF PRODUCING RELIEF PLATES FOR PRINTING, STEREOTYPING, OR
ELECTROTYPING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Benjamin Day, 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

page_text: 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 Benjamin Day, 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 follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
In Letters Patent granted in the United States, November 13th, A.D. 1860,
to D. W. Hitchcock, E. B. Larchar, and E. M. Larchar, a mode of pre-
paring surfaces in relief for printing is set forth, consisting generally of a surface
of chalk, clay, or similar material upon which the drawing is made with
liquid silex or other material that will penetrate sufficiently to harden the
chalk or other material, that it may resist a subsequent brushing or rubbing
operation that removes the surface of such chalk, leaving the lines in relief.
In this method of producing relief for a printing surface difficulty arises from
the silica or other hardening ink spreading as it penetrates the chalk, hence
precluding the possibility of obtaining very fine lines, and rendering the lines
rough on their edges, marring the beauty of the picture printed from such
relief plates.
The nature of my said Invention consists in drawing upon such surface
of prepared chalk, clay, or similar material with a non-penetrating ink
having sufficient body or strength in itself to resist the subsequent brushing
or rubbing operations that remove the surface of the chalk or other material
at the parts which are not protected by such ink, and thereby leaving the
drawing in relief. I have found that an ink prepared of glue dissolved in
water, with the addition of a small quantity of sugar and sufficient of lamp-
black. or coloring matter to render the lines visible and easily obtain the
desired effect of light and shade on the drawings to be the best. It will be
evident that any other materials might be employed for forming the ink,
provided said ink would not penetrate the surface of chalk or similar material,
but remain on the surface as a coating or protection to the parts to which
it is applied. After the drawing has been made, the brushing or rubbing
operation is to be performed for the objects and as set forth in aforesaid
Letters Patent, and the surface or block is to be hardened by saturating
it with liquid silica or other suitable material, and the aforesaid ink that
stands above the surface of the block may be washed off, so that said surfaco
shall be smooth and adapted to the reception of ink for printing or for taking
impressions for stereotyping, or electrotyping.
In the Drawing I have illustrated lines drawn on a prepared surface of

page_text: clay or other material in the plan and section Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 3 is a
section representing the plate after the non-protected surface has been
brushed or rubbed away, and Fig. 4 illustrates the printing plate after
hardening and washing off the ink from the surface.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is preparing a !
surface of chalk, clay, or similar material with an ink that does not penetrate,
but adheres to the said surface, and protects the same, while brushed or
rubbed, for producing a relief printing surface as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Day, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year]
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four..
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
119 & 121, Nassau St.,
CHAS. H. SMITH,
N. York.
119 & 121, Nassau St.,
N. York.
BENJAMIN DAY. (L.S.)