IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY BY WHICH THE LENSULAR DEFECTS OF THE PRESENT PROCESSES OF TAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS ARE AVOIDED, AND IMPRESSIONS ARE OBTAINED OF ANY Size
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robinson Elliott, Artist, of South Shields, in the
County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY
BY WHICH THE LENSULAR DEFECTS OF THE PRESENT PROCESSES OF TAKING
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS ARE AVOIDED, AND IMPRESSIONS ARE OBTAINED OF ANY
Size"
Sealed the 16th February 1858, and dated the 1st September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the. said Robinson Elliott at the
., Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
September 1857.
I, ROBINSON ELLIOTT, Artist, of South Shields, in the County of Durham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PHOTOGRAPHY, BY WHICH THE LENSULAR DEFECTS OF THE PRESENT PROCESSES OF
TAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS ARE AVOIDED, AND IMPRESSIONS ARE OBTAINED OF
ANY SIZE," to be as follows:-
In the best photographic prints taken from coloured pictures the lensular
defects are considerable, and by the processes at present used a print from
a pictüre is necessarily much less in size than the original, and an impression,
say, from a picture with the heads as large as a penny piece becomes so
diminutive as to be almost valueless. The lensular defects alluded to are the
different ways in which the camera represents certain colours; blue, for
instance,however powerful or deep;is represented as white, and red as black;
these, when the true chiaroscuro of a work is required, as is always the case
in engraving, are ruinous. By means of the following process, for which I am
desirous of obtaining a Patent, pictures may be reproduced with all the truth
of-engravings at a cheaper rate. I take a piece of good glass, as free from
וסס

page_text: specks and impurities as possible, of the size I intend the impressions to be ; I
next, with a brush, do the surface of the glass over with a thin transparent
paste, or any other similar compound, as gum water or glue size; I next fix
the glass in a frame. Should the picture which I am about to copy be the
same size as the glass, I place it underneath, and with some tracing imple-
ment, as a fine coloured point of chalk, trace the outline of the picture on the
surface of the glass covered with the transparent medium I have described.
Should the picture, however, not be the same size, but larger or smaller, an
outline is made on paper of the desired size, and placed under the prepared
glass instead of the picture, and traced in the same manner. But if the artist
prefers it, he can make his outline at once on the prepared glass, which is
perbaps the better plan. The outline being complete 1, I place a black or
dark-coloured cloth behind the glass, and proceed to paint the picture on the
glass with one colour. The more opaque the colour is for this purpose the
better, as the colour is put on for the purpose of obscuring the glass, and
of such consistance and thickness as may secure the required gradations for
obtaining the lights of the picture when the photographic impression is taken
on the sensitive paper. Where the paint is quite solid or thick on the glass,
the impression on the paper will be white, and underneath the transparent
parts of the glass it will be dark in proportion to their transparency; the pure
glass will give the darkest shades, the light passing through such places
without obstruction, and acting with full power on the sensitive paper
underneath. It is better to use a colour of a light hue, in order to see easily
the effect of the work as it progresses; white lead, combining opacity with a
light hue, is the best. Where sharpness is required in the lights, a little
black may be used with good effect, as it aids the obscurity caused by the
thick white; the black is to be used pure by touching sharply over the white
when the white is dry; it is, however, not always necessary. While the artist
is at work, the dark cloth serves the purpose of showing during the progress
of the painting the various gradations of shadow in the picture. When the
picture on the prepared glass is worked up to the amount of finish deemed
necessary, it is completed by scraping off whatever paint is not required with
a scraper or etching tool, and thus clearing and sharpening the shadows.
This painting on glass being completed, the cloth is removed, and the glass
then has a very different appearance. Before the cloth is taken away it
looks like a brilliant engraving; but when the dark ground is removed and
the glass held up to the light, the shadows are all more or less transparent,
and the lights proportionally opague. I now take a piece of sensitive paper
the size of the glass, and prepared in the ordinary way, and place it on the

page_text: unpainted side of the glass (the other side would reverse the picture), and put
the paper and glass in a printing frame, such as is generally used by photo-
graphers, and place it in any common window, with the glass outwards, when,
if the sun be shining intensely, an impression will be produced on the paper
in two or three minutes exactly like the picture on the prepared glass; this
impression is then fixed in the usual manner. A like process may also be
employed for taking impressions of any elaborate piece of lace or similar
fabric by fixing the lace on the glass, and placing the paper so that the lace
or other material may be between the glass and sensitive paper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robinson Elliott in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBINSON
ELLIOTT, Artist, of South Shields, in the County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robinson Elliott, Her special licence that I,the said Robinson Elliott, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robinson
Elliott, 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 aud 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PHOTOGRAPHY, BY WHICH THE LENSULAR DEFECTS OF THE PRESENT PROCESSES OF
TAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS ARE AVOIDED, AND IMPRESSIONS ARE OBTAINED OF ANY
SIZE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robinson Elliott,
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 the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to 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 Robinson Elliott, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
In the best photographic prints taken from coloured pictures, as also from
natural objects, the lensular defects are considerable, and by the processes at
present used a print from a picture is necessarily much less in size than the
original, and an impression, say, from a picture with the heads as large as a
penny piece, becomes so diminutive as to be almost valueless. The lensular
defects alluded to are the different ways in which the camera used in obtaining
photographic pictures represents certain colors; blue, for instance, however
powertul or deep, is represented as white, and red as black; these variations,
when the true chiaroscuro of a work is required, as is always the case in
engraving, are ruinous. By means of the following processes these variations
are avoided, and pictures may be reproduced with all the truth of engravings,
though at a considerably cheaper rate:-I take a piece of good glass, as free
from specks and impurities as possible, and by preference of the size I intend
the impressions to be; I next with a brush cover the surface of the glass with
a thin transparent paste or any other similar compound, as gum water or glue
size, to facilitate the laying on of the after opaque colouring matter; I next
fix the glass in a frame if it is not already in one. Should the picture which
I am about to copy be the same size as the glass or the desired impression, I
place it underneath it, and with some tracing implement, such as a fine
colored point of chalk, trace the outline of the picture on that surface of the
glass covered with a transparent medium as I have mentioned. Should the
picture however not be the same size, but larger or smaller, an outline is made
on paper of the desired size, and placed in a similar manner under the
prepared glass instead of the picture, and traced in the same manner; but if
the artist prefers it, he can make his outline of the painting, picture, or other
object at once on the prepared glass, which is perhaps the better plan. The
outline being completed, I remove the painting or other picture or outline
thereof from the back of the transparent surface, and I place in lieu thereof
a black or other dark-colored cloth or other surface to form a dark ground
behind the glass, and proceed to paint or to finish painting the picture on the
glass by preference with one colour. The more opaque the colour is for this
purpose the better, as the colour is put on only for the purpose of obscuring
or giving opacity to the glass, and is of such graduated consistence and
thickness as may secure the required gradations of light and shade of the
picture, when the photographic impression, as hereafter explained, is taken on
the sensitive paper, the dark parts of such impression being obtained by the
absence of such coloring matter from the glass admitting the full action of

page_text: the rays of light upon such sensitive paper. And it is the application of
suitable matters to a surface through which rays of light would otherwise pass,
and for the purpose of intercepting such rays when applied for the purpose
explained in obtaining photographic pictures, which constitutes an essential
element of the improvements; and I have mentioned glass as the surface to
which such matters are to be applied, because I have found it mostadapted to
the purpose.
And it is better to use a colour of a light hue, in order, by the contrast
thereby obtained over the dark ground placed temporarily behind the glass,
more readily to see the effect of the work as it progresses. White lead
(prepared for use in the ordinary manner), combining opacity with a light hue,
is I consider the best pigment for the purpose.
may
Where sharpness is required in the details of the lights a little black be
used with good effect, as it aids the obscurity caused by the thick white. The
black is to be used pure by touching sharply over the white when the white is
dry; it is, however, not always necessary; and sometimes I apply other
opaque matter for this purpose. This sharpness may also be obtained or
increased by applying coloring or other opaque matter on the reverse side of
the glass, or that side of it which is to be next the sensitive
While the
paper.
artist is at work the dark cloth or back ground serves the purpose of showing,
during the progress of the painting, the various gradations of shadow desired
in the picture to be obtained on the sensitive paper. When the picture on
the prepared glass is worked up to the amount of finish deemed necessary, it
may be completed by scraping off whatever paint is not required with a scraper
or etching tool, by which also the clearing and sharpening the shadows is
promoted. This painting on glass being completed, the back ground is
removed, and the glass then has a very different appearance. Before the
cloth is taken away it looks like a brilliant engraving, but when the dark
ground is removed and the glass held up to the light, the "shadow" parts are
all more or less transparent, and the lights proportionally opaque. Iuow take
a piece of sensitive paper the size of the glass, or sufficiently large to receive
the desired impression, and prepared in the ordinary way for photographic
pictures, and place it on the unpainted side of the glass (the other side would
reverse the picture), and put the paper and glass in a printing frame, such as
is generallyused by photographers, and place it in any common window with the
glass outwards, when, if the sun be shining intensely, an impression will be
produced on the paper in two or three minutes exactly like the picture on the
prepared glass when viewed with the dark ground behind it; or the sensitive
paper may be simply placed in its proper position in the frame or other support

page_text: for the glass upon which the graduated opaque painting has been effected, and
then exposed to the action of the rays of light. Where the paint is quite solid
or thick on the glass the impression on the paper will be white, and underneath
the transparent parts of the glass it will be dark, in proportion to their trans-
parency. The pure glass will give the darkest shades, the light passing through
such places without obstruction, and acting with full power on the sensitive
paper underneath. The lights left will be more or less intense, in proportion
to the greater or less degree of opacity of the coloring medium employed.
This impression is then "fixed" in the usual manner. A like process may
also be employed for taking impressions of any elaborate piece of lace or
similar fabric by fixing the lace on the glass and placing the paper so that the
lace or other material may be between the glass and sensitive paper. In.
order to fix the lace or such like fabric to the glass I saturate such fabric in
dissolved gelatine, but other adhesive matter may be employed; and then
having by slight pressure caused the fabric to adhere to the glass, such will,
when dry, be adapted to effect a similar result to that obtained by the painting,
but with a saving of the time and trouble of that operation.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details referred to, as these may be varied, so
long as the peculiar character of the improvements be retained,substantially as
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robinson Elliott, have hereunto. set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
ROBINSON ELLIOTT. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOSEPH WILLIAM ELLIOTT.