IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING IN COLORS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THIS PURPOSE
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Augustus Applegath at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th April
1862.
I, AUGUSTUS APPLEGATH, of Dartford, in the County of Kent, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING IN
COLORS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THIS PURPOSE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in printing in colors, and in
apparatus to be employed for this purpose. For the purpose of printing a
sheet in several colors, I fix the paper or material to be printed in a frame
which holds securely the edges, and it may be other parts of the sheet. In
printing I employ a number of such frames; they are entirely separate from
the printing press, and have the sheets placed in them by hand labor. The
frames are all made of exactly the same length and breadth. The series of
printing blocks (one for each color) are arranged truly in a straight line (or
lines) one behind the other, and their distances apart are made accurately to
correspond. The frames containing the sheets to be printed are laid in
succession on the bed of the press, and they are kept against a guide rail
thereon, so that they may be accurately one behind the other, and the last
frame of the series is pressed up to a stop at the end of the bed.
In printing the series of blocks, arranged as above described one behind
the other, are brought in contact with the corresponding series of frames

page_text: containing the sheets to be printed, and each block prints its own color;
then the end frame of the series is removed, and the remaining frames are
pushed on until they are stopped by the stop at the end of the bed. A fresh
frame being introduced at the commencement of the series, the blocks then
produce another series of impressions, each sheet being then printed with two
colors, which it will be seen will exactly register the one with the other. In
this manner the work goes on, the sheets being impressed in succession with
each of the colors, and this being done, the frames containing them are
removed at the end of the series. Sometimes I arrange the blocks in two
lines or series on separate carriages, and cause one series to run in under the
platten from one side and the other series from the other side. In this
case the series of frames will be pushed forward only once for every two
impressions.
In place of the above arrangement, separate presses may be used for
printing each color of the series, suitable guides being employed to enable
the frames to be in succession accurately placed, so that the sheets they
contain may receive an impression in good register; this, however, is not so
convenient as employing a press working with a series of blocks. Other
arrangements may also be made dependant on the use of a number of similar
frames, each carrying a sheet to be printed from the beginning to the end of
the printing process, however numerous the printing blocks employed. The
frames are, in fact, moveable friskets of the press; the sheet held by them
may either be supported on a bed which may be packed or overlaid, as is
required to produce the full effect, or the sheet may be supported only
on a web or fabric, and the packing or overlapping will then be done in the
usual manner.
applicable when printing letter-
Printing in oil and water colors
The arrangement above described is very
press in combination with colored woodcuts.
may also thus be usefully combined; the sheets will, however, require to be
partially dried after receiving the water color impression before receiving
the oil.