IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING OIL CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING OIL CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS."-A communication
from Benjamin Underwood, of the City of Brooklyn, in the State
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry John-
son at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th December 1853.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
OIL CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS," being a communication from Benjamin
Underwood, of the City of Brooklyn, in the State New York, United
States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in providing a series of suitable moveable
types of wood, metal, or other material, and so arranging them toge-

page_text: ther in forms or cases that they shall collectively constitute blocks,
patterns, designs, or devices, from which various ornamental figures and
designs may be printed upon oil cloths, felt carpets, and other fabrics,
in a manner precisely the same as if tho blocks, patterns, or devices
had been engraved or carved according to the usual mode. Fac simile
plates can of course be taken in metal or other material, either by the
electrotype process or cast or moulded from the designs composed of
these types, such plates being also employed to print from. The types
may be formed with angular projections on the bottom, and the cases
for containing them may be formed with grooves, for the purpose of the
better holding the types in their places. It is obvious that this arrange-
ment affords great facility for effecting changes in the patterns, and at
a very slight expense.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesox, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special
license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 PRINTING OIL CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS," a

page_text: communication from Benjamin Underwood, of the City of Brooklyn,
in the State of New York, United States of America, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, by an
instrument in writing under uy 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 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, referenco being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to a new and improved modo of producing
blocks, patterns, or devices, for printing oil cloths, carpets, and other
fabrics; and consists in providing a series of suitable moveable sections
of wood, metal, or other material, and so arranging them together in
forms or cases that they shall collectively constitute blocks, patterns, or
devices, from which various ornamental figures and designs, in one or
more colors, may be printed upon oil cloths, carpets, and other fabrics;
and from sections fac simile electrotype plates or casts may also be
taken, in metal or other suitable material, the said fac simile plates
being also employed to print the said ornamental figures, thus avoiding
the ordinary mode of producing said blocks, patterns, or devices, which
is a slow and costly process.
Fig. 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents a plan of
one of the cases filled with sections, composed in an ornamental form and
ready for printing, constituting a "block;" the shaded squares repre-
sent the elevated sections, on the surface of which the coloring matter
is placed when printing is to be done; by taking an impression there-
from on a fabric it is evident that it will receive a figure corresponding
to the elevated sections; the intermediate space not shaded is occupied
by spaces or blank sections.
Fig. 2, is a plan of a case for holding one kind of moveable sections,

page_text: the end piece a¹ being removed. A few lines of the sections are left
in the case, the shaded squares representing the elevated sections, and
the remaining part at that end of the case is occupied by blank sections
or spaces.
Fig. 3, is a transverse section of a case containing sections, with the
angular projection at the bottom fitting into the triangular grooves in
the bottom of the case.
Fig. 4, is a transverse section of a case without grooves, containing
sections without angular projections at the bottom.
Fig. 5, is a transverse section of an electrotype or cast fac simile,
in metal or other material, of the upper surface of the design seen in
Fig. 1.
Fig 6 and 7, are blank spaces or sections formed with angular pro-
jections at their lower parts.
Fig" 8, 9, and 10, are elevated or impression sections having angular
projections at the bottom.
Fig. 11, shows the end piece used in locking up a form of the
angular bottomed sections.
Fig 12 and 13, are blank sections or spaces without the angular
projections.
Fig 14, 15, and 16, are elevated impression sections of the same
kind.
Fig. 17, is a continuous impression section; and,
Fig. 18, shews the end piece for this kind of section.
The usual mode of producing the ordinary blocks, patterns, or
devices for printing oil cloths, carpets, and other fabrics, is either to
take a solid block of wood and divide the upper surface into minute
squares by means of a saw, and then with a chisel or gouge cut out
such of the little squares as the Drawing which the workman has be
fore him requires to be cut out, or to engrave the required design upon
the block, according to the usual mode of engraving, or to drive little
square pegs of wood or metal by means of a hammer into the top of a
suitablo block of wood, and thus produce the desired pattern; all these
difficult modes are entirely obviated by using suitable moveable sections
when it is desired to preduce a pattern or design for oil cloth printing

page_text: and other fabrics; the drawing of the required pattern is placed before
the workmen, just as a printer places his copy before him, and then the
design is set up in one of the cases, in much the same manner that the
printer sets up the ordinary printing types. When the sections seen in
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, are employed, having angular projections i on
their under edges, a case shown as a, Figures 1, 2, and 3, is employed,
having triangular grooves h, sunk in and running across the bottom
thereof. Provious to commencing the setting up, the end piece of the case
seen at Figure 1, is removed by means of the screws d. Having ob-
served on the copy the number and position of the elevated sections and
blank sections required in the particular line which is to be composed,
the workman selects the corresponding sections one by one, and holds
them so that their angular projections i, shall enter the groove h, to
which the said projections are made to correspond. The section is slid
down to its appropriate space, and in this manner a line is filled out
ovenly to the sides of the case, and by repeating the operation according
to copy the whole case is soon filled up with sections. Some of the
sections contain one elevated impression surface, and some more than
one, as in Figures 8, 9, and 10, and some of them have the impression
surface left continuous with no division, as in Figure 17. The sectional
view, Figure 8, shews the manner in which the elevated sections and
spaces are arranged in the case. When the case is full of sections
composed in a design, the whole are secured by putting in against the
sections a metallic furniture or card piece b, which is also fitted with
an angular projection i on the under side. When the other kind of
sections are used, having no angular projections, as shown in Figures
12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, the end or furniture piece, shown at Figure 18,
is employed, having no angular projection upon it, on the end piece a,
is then screwed on firmly by means of screws d, which fasten in the
other parts of a. This done, the screws c are turned, thereby pressing
the furniture or end piece against the sections; in this manner the
whole form is locked up securely, rendering it impossible for any of the
sections to drop out. I would remark here that the angular projections
i, on the sections e, and f, are designed to afford security against the
possibility of the sections dropping out when inverted. When the case

page_text: is filled with sections in the manner described and locked up, it con-
stitutes a "block," and is ready for printing, or for electrotyping,
casting, or moulding. If it is not desired to. print direct from the
sections a fac simile plate is made from the upper surface of the block,
which is done either by the electrotype or stereotype process, in metal, 5
or in any other suitable manner or material. A section of such a plate
is shown at Figure 5. When required for cylindrical printing, these
plates are bent round a suitable cylinder, and thus the blocks, designs,
patterns, or devices, which are first set up with moveable sections, may
be employed to print any kind of suitable fabrics, in much the same 1
manner that calico printing is performed; if desired, sections without
any projections upon the lower ends may be used, as shewn in Figures
12, 18, 14, 15, and 16, in which arrangement a plain case only is
required without any grooves to set them, as at a, in Figure 4. A lino
of these types is shown in Figure 4, at e, set up in the case a, The 1
sections are set up in this case from the copy, just as the printer sets
up the ordinary printing sections, and when the caso is full it is locked
up in the manner before described. In this way a different "block" is
made up for each color designated in the copy.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the 2
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not con-
fine or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I
have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be
made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main features 2
of the said Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the formation of the block, pattern, design, or device for
printing ornamental figures and designs in one or more colors upon 3
oil cloths, carpets, and other suitable fabrics, by the employment of
moveable sectious, made of wood, metal, or other suitable material,
constructed and combined in the manner described, or in any other
manner substantially the same.
Second, the formation of said blocks, patterns, designs, or devices 3

page_text: for printing said fabrics, by making fac simile plates from said sections
in metal or other material, after the sections have been set up or
composed.
Third, the application and use of the sections, with angular projec-
tions on the bottoms, as herein-before described; and,
Fourth, the application and use of the case, with its triangular
grooves in the bottom, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.s.)