CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF ENGRAVING IN RELIEF
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GODFREY
WOONE, of Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Eleventh day of March, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Godfrey Woone,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Godfrey Woone,
my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF ENGRAVING IN RELIEF;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Godfrey Woone, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more-fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said:
Godfrey Woone, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascer-
tained as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in certain new and improved modes of producing
engravings in relief, having the character of wood engravings or types, and
are applicable to the production of prints, illustrations to books, and also to the
printing of paper hangings, cotton, silk, and other fabrics, by the mode termed
surface printing, the impressions presenting the novel appearance of tinted copper
or steel-plate engraving, such as equatinto, mezzotinto, stipple, or that of
tinted lithographs. As my Invention embraces several different modes, I shall,
for the sake of clearness, divide this Specification into the following heads:-
First, the direct modes, or those by which the engraving is formed imme-
diately on the plate from which the impressions are to be taken.
Secondly the indirect modes, or those by which an engraved surface in relief
is obtained, but upon some material or substance not sufficiently hard or
durable to print from, and are therefore used as originalls, from which casts
are to be taken fit for printing.
Thirdly, the intaglio mode, or that by which the printing surface is
obtained from a mould'either in a substance coming under the first or second
of the above heads..
I now proceed to explain the first of my direct modes which forms the
most important feature of my Invention. This I shall divide into two opera-
tions, namely,-
First, the employment of a new description of tools for bruising or breaking
up a protecting surface or etching ground.
Secondly, a mode of destroying or decomposing the particles of copper or
other metal left unprotected by the tool, which copper or other metal shall,
after the operation, present a surface more or less broken up, those parts
intended to produce entire black having a true or untouched surface, and the
other parts presenting a more or less open appearance corresponding with
the shade required in the impressions.
First, as to the new description of tools, and manner of breaking up the
etching ground. For this purpose I employ five different tools. The first
is made by taking a steel plate about a quarter of an inch thick, taking care
that the prepared or polished side be perfectly true. On this plate I lay a
mezzotinto ground in the ordinary manner, which now becomes a tool to be
used in the after operation I shall describe. The second kind of tool I employ
is a steel plate of.the same description, on which I lay and bite in an equitinto

page_text: ground in such a manner as, if printed at the copper-plate press, would yield
impressions entirely black. My third description of tool is formed by taking
a copper plate and machineing on its surface two sets of lines at right angles
diagonally across the plate, and bit in to a considerable depth, leaving a
surface of mere dots. My fourth description of tool consists of an electrotype
cast taken from this plate, a quarter of an inch thick, which will present on its
surface a kind of square network. My fifth kind of bruising tool consists of
wire gauze; a medium ground is formed by having it about eighty squares to
the inch. I keep a number of each description of these plates or surfaces,
of different sizes and different degrees of fineess, always ready for use. They
have never before, to my knowledge, been used for any similar purpose.
(I also claim the right of using them in the ordinary process of copper-
plate engraving.) The operator must select one of them for each plate to be
engraved, being guided in his selection by the nature of the subject to be
engraved, and the peculiar character desired to be given to it. A preliminary
experiment will be found far more useful than any rules I could lay down for
that purpose. I now take a copper plate of the required size, and lay on it an
ordinary etching ground, and having made a selection of one of the above
tools (which I slightly blacklead) to prevent any inclination of adhering),
I place the etching ground side of the copper plate and the granulated side
of the tool in juxta-position, and pass them through a copper-plate press.
On very carefully separating them the etching ground will be found to be
broken up into infinitely small particles, and is ready for having the design
made on it, the plate or tool being put bye for another occasion. A tracing of
the design is to be made on this prepared copper plate by the usual modes.
Those part of the design intended to print entirely black are now to be
covered or protected by drawing with a camel's hair brush and the Brunswick
black of the oilshops diluted with spirits of turpentine, until of such a consist-
ence that it may be conveniently used. When this part of the design is
finished and the drawing is perfectly dry, the plate is to be placed in the
decomposition cell of a galvanic battery. I do not consider it necessary to
enter into any lengthened or minute detail of the construction or operation of
the galvanic apperatus, or mode of decomposing metals by galvanic agency,
such being now well understood and clearly laid down in numerous
works treating on the subject. I do not lay claim to any novelty in
this part of the process, but to the means I employ for localizing the
decomposing galvanic action, and producing thereby new and peculiar
effects. The plate is to remain in the cell from five to twenty minutes,
according to the intensity of the action and the depth required. The

page_text: exact period can only be ascertained by practice, or by taking the plate out
and examining it. When the unprotected parts are slightly indented they will
form the next dark shade to the black. The plate is now to be taken out,
washed, and dried, and those parts of the design corresponding with this shade
are to be drawn on or covered with the composition in the same manner as
directed for the deepest shade, and replaced in the cell for a period corre-
sponding with the next shade required, and these operations are to be repeated
for each shade required, the number of shades being regulated by the intentions
of the artist. A very admirable effect, in imitation of tinted lithography, may
be produced by drawing the design in the way described, laying or drawing
the whole subject in at once to print in black lines, aud scraping or removing
with a point or lines or parts desired to print white, and subjecting the plate to
the galvanic action until a middle or medium tint between black and white is
obtained. This plan is exceedingly rapid, and the impressions have a most
pleasing effect. Any extreme or large space of white desired. in either of the
above cases can be readily obtained by cutting down with any suitable tool:
After the above operation, copper, or any other metal liable to galvanic decom-
position, may be employed. When 'finished; these plates require to be fastened
on a block of wood; making the two together type high; they are then fit for
printing from.
The above contains the true principle, and is a faithful description of the
means employed by me in this part of my Invention; but it is impossible and
unnecessary for me here to enter into those trifling manipulatory details, which
the intelligent operator will readily obtain by a preliminary experiment.
My second direct method consists in reversing the ordinary mode of stipple
engraving. As far as I am aware, this has never been hitherto attempted;
but I find this mode capable of producing engravings in relief with great
delicacy, especially if employed in conjunction with the other methods con-
stituting this my Invention. It is particularly applicable to the representation
of flesh tints, or other párts of a design requiring softness and finish.
I now proceed to describe my second or indirect modes. I take one of the
plates or tools before described; and heating it, spread on the surface white
wax, so as to produce a plain and even surface by filling up all the roughened
or uneaven parts; on this I trace the design, and proceed to draw the subject
with vermillion, mixed with gum water; when dry I employ spirits of turpentine
to remove the ground, except where protected by the vermillion, which is to be
washed off with water. A cast taken from such a prepared plate will produce
black lines on a middle tint, and nothing further remains but to engrave any
light lines or spaces required. Originals to cast from, or surfaces which may

page_text: be employed at once to print from, may be made by covering a lithographic
stone with an etching ground, to be broken up by one of the new bruising
tools above described, and proceeding with the drawing in the same manner
as in the first mode I have given, but employing acid instead of the galvanic
operation.
The improvements comprised in my third or intaglio mode consists in
throwing a middle tint entirely over grounds in the methods lately introduced
of producing a printing surface in relief by casting or taking an electrotype
impression from molds formed by drawing through a composition down to a
base of metal. This may be done by machineing lines entirely across the
plates, or employing one of my new tools for throwing a tint over the entire
plate, following the method before directed for bruising an etching ground;
the drawing can be made before or after this operation. White spaces or
lines are to be produced by drawing them in with the heigthning composition
usually employed, or they may be engraved after the cast is taken.
In witness whereof, I, the said Godfrey Woone, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of September, in the year of our
L. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of September, in the
year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Godfrey Woone came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day of Sontember in the won
Lond