AN IMPROVED COLOURING COM- POSITION FOR USE WITH INDIA-RUBBER, WOOD, OR OTHER IMPRESSION STAMPS OR BLOCKS, OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ROLLERS FOR PRINTING PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Albert Ungerer at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd August 1880.
ALBERT UNGERER, of Vienna, Austria. "AN IMPROVED COLOURING COM-
POSITION FOR USE WITH INDIA-RUBBER, WOOD, OR OTHER IMPRESSION STAMPS
OR BLOCKS, OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ROLLERS FOR PRINTING PURPOSES."
The object of this Invention is to provide a more or less solid mass or composition
which will not become liquid in ordinary temperatures, and is specially prepared
for imparting colour to or charging with colour stamps made of wood, india-
rubber, metal, or other materials, and for application in the manufacture of rollers
for printing purposes.
The employment of this composition is preferable to using the ordinary dyes or
inks as now used by reason of its greater cleanliness, and because its solidity
prevents the waste unavoidable when such inks or dies are employed in the ordinary
manner.
In carrying the said Invention into practice, I make a composition of the following
substances, that is to say :-
2 parts of agar-agar or Bengal isinglass (also called pararabin or Chinese
gelatine), 36 parts of water, 54 parts of glycerine, and 12 parts of starch syrup,
and to this composition I add some colouring matter, preferably one of the so-called
aniline or tar dyes, such as methyl-violet, cosine, induline, or the like. An addition
of 5% of methylviolet to the composition will give very good results, but it may
be added in other proportions according to the tint which is to be produced. When
other colouring matters are used, they are to be added in suitable proportions,
which any one acquainted with subjects of this kind will be able to determine by
the nature of such colouring matter and the shade required without further
description.
Instead of agar-agar, gelatine or glue may be used, but the former not being at
all sticky is preferable; moreover, when gelatine is used in place of agar-agar, the
colour is retained more than is required, and it is necessary to employ a piece of
blotting paper, cloth, or the like, which has to be laid upon the mass after having
been wetted with glycerine, whilst the mass if prepared with agar-agar parts with
the dye, even on slight pressure; a mixture of agar-agar and gelatine or glue will
however give satisfactory results.

page_text: In preparing the mass, the water, glycerine, and the colouring matter are first
thoroughly mixed, then the other substances are added, and the whole is rendered
homogeneous by heating. Should some of the glycerine separate and rise to the
top when the mass becomes cool, it may be removed by means of blotting paper,
or by means of some thin textile fabric. To protect the mass from injury, it may be
covered by a piece of cloth, cotton, silk, or blotting paper. The thicker this
covering, the more wet and intense the impressions will be; the thinner the covering,
the dryer the impression. The application of some textile covering is especially to
be recommended when metal-stamps or dies are to be coloured thereby. The linen
or other covering becomes in a short time saturated with the dye or colour as it
absorbs the glycerine with the same from the mass or composition, and the metal-
stamp pressed on this mass so covered will be casily charged with the colour. I
mould the composition into flat blocks, and by slightly pressing the stamp upon
such a block, the former will become sufficiently charged with the coloured mass or
composition for giving a clear and well defined impression.
For printing purposes where the colour is to be applied to a form of type, or an
engraved plate, the composition is moulded into cylinders or rollers, which being
passed over the form or plate will charge the same sufficiently for the purpose.
The mass may also be prepared in the following manner, that is to say:—
Immediately after the ingredients have been thoroughly mixed by heating, and
before the composition solidifies, linen, paper, sponge, or some porous material of a
similar nature is saturated with the liquid composition, and this when dry is used
The latter method would provide
in the same manner as the pure composition.
greater consistency and would thereby be more useful for some purposes.