IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SHOW TABLETS, ADVER- TISEMENT TABLETS, NAME PLATES, ARCHITECTURAL FACINGS AND DECORATIONS, AND OTHER ORNAMENTAL, DECORATIVE, AND INSCRIPTIVE ARTICLES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Morris Johnson, Edmund Johnson, and Charles
Johnson, all of Castle Street, Holborn, in the City of London, Show
Tablet Manufacturers and Printers, and Louis Bertling, of Ironmonger
Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, Draughtsman, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SHOW TABLETS, ADVER-
TISEMENT TABLETS, NAME PLATES, ARCHITECTURAL FACINGS AND DECORATIONS,
AND OTHER ORNAMENTAL, DECORATIVE, AND INSCRIPTIVE ARTICLES."
Sealed the 16th October 1863, and dated the 4th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Morris Johnson,
Edmund Johnson, Charles Johnson, and Louis Bertling at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 4th May
1863.
We, JOHN MORRIS JOHNSON, EDMUND JOHNSON, and CHARLES JOHNSON, all
of Castle Street, Holborn, in the City of London, Show Tablet Manufacturers
and Printers, and LOUIS BERTLING, of Ironmonger Street, Saint Luke's, in the
County of Middlesex, Draughtsman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SHOW TABLETS, ADVER-
TISEMENT TABLETS, NAME PLATES, ARCHITECTURAL FACINGS AND DECORATIONS,
AND OTHER ORNAMENTAL, DECORATIVE, AND INSCRIPTIVE ARTICLES," to be as
follows:-
Our improvements relate to the production of show tablets, advertisement
tablets, name plates, architectural facings and decorations, and other orna-
mental, decorative, and inscriptive articles. By our improvements we produce
varied and artistic effects; for example, a single subject may be produced in

page_text: different colors and metals, a portion of the device being in one color or metal
and another portion in another color or metal. To avoid repetition the expression
"device" is herein-after used to include any required complete device, subject,
inscription, or design, and also a portion thereof; and the expression "glass"
also includes other transparent substances.
According to our Invention we first print on thin paper in one or more
colors combined with varnish a defined outline, device, or first impression, with
or without shading, according to the nature of the design afterwards to be pro-
duced; we transfer this defined outline, device, or first impression upon the
surface of a slab of glass; (for example, in that portion of a design which may
consist of mere lettering, this outline or first impression will contain the out-
Jine and shading of such lettering, together with an outline of any ornamental
portion necessary for the display of the same;) if we desire to obtain greater
strength of outline, the transfer may be dusted with a color or colors. We
then print a device with transparent or colorless varnish on thin paper and
transfer it to the glass, so as to register with the previous outline or device,
and we coat the transfer with leaf or powdered metal, or with flock or
powdered color. The foregoing operation may be repeated as often as necessary
to produce further combinations of colors to complete any required design,
care being taken to register each color with the defined outline or device first
transferred upon the glass. We afterwards coat the glass with a glutinous,
gummy, or adhesive substance, and paint the portions intended to be opaque
with opaque colors, and those intended to be transparent (that is, to exhibit the
background) with transparent colors; we place behind the glass a back-
ground of tinsel, silk, paper, crumpled or crushed foil, or other fabric or
material, and mount or frame the tablet in any ordinary manner.
Or, according to a second process, we print the device in any required
number of colors or metals, or in both, on a sheet of colorless gelatine, which
we afterwards affix to a slab of glass by isinglass dissolved in spirit varnish,
and we place behind the gelatine a background as before. We mount or
frame the whole in any ordinary manner.
According to a third process, we take prepared paper and print thereon by
successive operations devices in colors and metals; we next, by means ef
lithography, cover every printed portion of the device with a coating or layer
of lithographic varnish, and after some hours transfer the device to the glass,
and complete as before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Morris Johnson, Edmund Johnson, Charles Johnson,
and Louis Bertling in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th November
1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHN
MORRIS JOHNSON, EDMUND JOHNSON, and CHARLES JOHNSON, all of Castle
Street, Holborn, in the City of London, Show Tablet Manufacturers and
Printers, and LOUIS BERTLING, of Ironmonger Street, Saint Luke's, in the
County of Middlesex, Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Morris Johnson, Edmund Johnson, Charles Johnson, and Louis
Bertling, Her special licence that we, the said John Morris Johnson, Edmund
Johnson, Charles Johnson, and Louis Bertling, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Morris Johnson, Edmund
Jolinson, Charles Johnson, and Louis Bertling, our 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SHOW TABLETS, ADVERTISEMENT
TABLETS, NAME PLATES, ARCHITECTURAL FACINGS AND DECORATIONS, AND OTHER
ORNAMENTAL, DECORATIVE, AND INSCRIPTIVE ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Morris Johnson, Edmund Johnson,
Charles Johnson, and Louis Bertling, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said John Morris Johnson, Edmund
Johnson, Charles Johnson, and Louis Bertling, do hereby declare the nature
of the 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, that is to say:-

page_text: Our improvements relate to the production of show tablets, advertisement
tablets, name plates, architectural facings and decorations, and other orna-
mental, decorative, and inscriptive articles. By our improvements we produce
varied and artistic effects; thus we can produce a single subject or device in
different colors and metals, a portion of the device being in one color or metal,
and another portion in another color or metal. To avoid repetition, the
expression "device" is herein used to include any required complete device,
subject, inscription, or design, and also a portion thereof.
Our Invention relates to three methods or processes, by any one of which we
obtain decorative, ornamental, or inscriptive effects.
We proceed to describe one of our methods, which we call our first method.
According to this method we first print on thin paper in one or more colors
combined with varnish a defined outline, device, or first impression, with or
without shading, according to the nature of the design afterwards to be pro-
duced. We transfer this defined outline, device, or first impression upon the
surface of a slab of glass; for example, in that portion of a design which may
consist of mere lettering, this outline or first impression might contain or com-
prise the outline and shading of such lettering together with an outline of any
ornamental portion of the lettering necessary for the display of the same. If
we desire to obtain greater strength of outline, the transfer may be dusted with
a color or colors. We then print a device with transparent or colorless varnish
on thin paper and transfer it to the glass, so as to register with the previous
outline or device, and we coat the transfer with leaf or powdered metal, or
with flock or powdered color. The foregoing operations of transferring may be
repeated or alternated as often as necessary to produce further combinations
of colors or metals (or both) to complete or claborate any required subject,
device, or design, care being taken to register each successive transfer with
the defined outline or device first transferred upon the glass; we then paint the
portions of the glass intended to be opaque with opaque colors, and those
intended to be transparent (that is to say, to exhibit the background) with
transparent colors, and we place behind the glass against the transparent por-
tions a background of tinsel, silk, paper, erumpled or crushed foil, or other
lustrous or glittering fabric or material, and we mount or frame the tablet in
any ordinary manner. In carrying this first method into effect we prefer to
employ lithography for producing our impressions upon paper, and we transfer
the impressions from the paper to glass by pressure, first damping the paper
and slightly warming the glass. We can expedite our above-described first
method by coating the glass on the side bearing the device with a glutinous
substance (preferring isinglass) after having transferred the printings to the

page_text: glass and before applying the paint thereon. We fix the tinsel or other
material composing the lustrous or glittering background to the back-board
of the frame, or mount on the inner side thereof or side intended to be applied
against the glass, and in mounting or framing the glass we place innermost,
that is to say, against or next the inner side of the back-board of the frame, or
mount that side of the glass which bears the device; the device is thus shown
through the glass.
We now proceed to describe our second method. According to this method
we print the device in any required number of colors or metals, or in both, on
a sheet of colorless gelatine, which we next affix to a slab of glass by means of
isinglass dissolved in spirit varnish, and we place behind the gelatine a back-
ground as before. We mount or frame the whole in any ordinary manner.
In carrying this method into effect we apply against the glass the side of the
gelatine on which the device has been printed, and we paint the opposite side
of the gelatine with transparent or opaque colors, or both, at the parts opposite
to or corresponding with the transparent portions of the device. We perform
this painting before adding the background. We apply the isinglass and
varnish to the gelatine by steeping the gelatine in a solution of isinglass in
spirit varnish, whereby the gelatine becomes coated with the solution on all
sides. In mounting or framing we place the glass outermost and the gelatine
innermost, or next the back-board of the frame or mount. By our above-
described mode of affixing gelatine to glass by varnish, we protect the gelatino
from atmospheric influences, to which it is extremely sensitive.
We now proceed to describe our third method. According to this method
we take paper prepared as herein-after described, and print thereon by suc-
cessive printings or impressions, devices in colors or metals, or in colors and
metals. We next, by means of printing, cover every printed portion of the
device with a coating or layer of lithographic varnish, and after some hours we
transfer to the glass the entire device composed as described, and we complete
the article by mounting or framing, as before described. In carrying this
method into effect we prepare the paper by coating it with paste or starch
mixed with glue or size, with or without gum; we sometimes intensify the
opaque portions of the device by covering them with leaf or powdered metal,
or with flock or powdered color; we sometimes also paint the transparent
portions with transparent or opaque colors, and we apply behind the trans-
parent portions a glittering or lustrous background, as in our first method.
We transfer the device to the glass by pressure, first damping the paper and
warming the glass. The device, though composed of a number of printings or
impressious as described, is transferred to the glass by a single transferring

page_text: operation; all the various impressions may be printed on a single-sheet or
piece of paper.
By the three methods we have described we can produce a single subject,
device, or design in various colors or metals, that is to say, one portion of such
subject may be in one color or metal, and other portions thereof in other colors
or metals, or other colors and metals. By these means varied and beautiful
effects may be obtained.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner. the same may be performed, we declare that what we claim is as
follows:-
In respect of our first method,
First, we claim, our first method in respect of the combination of operations,
of which the same consists, as described.
Second, we claim the method of producing a subject, device, design,
ornament, or inscription by two or more successive transfers on glass, as
described.
And in respect of our second method, we claim the affixing to glass of
colorless gelatine bearing a printed device, as described.
And in respect of our third method,
First, we claim covering the printed portions of a device with a coating or
layer of varnish, as described.
Second, we claim transferring at one operation a device, subject, or design
produced by several or successive printings or impressions and coated with
lithographic varnish, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Morris Johnson and Charles
Johnson, for ourselves and on behalf of the said Edmund Johnson and
Louis Bertling, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day
of November, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
Patent Agent,
84, Fleet Street,
London..
CHARLES JOHNSON. (L.S.)