IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REPRODUCTION OF FORMS OF OBJECTS, APPLICABLE TO THE PRODUCTION OF PRINTING SURFACES
Year: 1861

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,.in
the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchapan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE REPRODUCTION OF FORMS OF OBJECTS, APPLICABLE TO THE PRODUCTION OF
PRINTING SURFACES."-A communication from abroad by Louis Kessler, of
Paris, in the Empire of France, Chemist and Joseph Alfred Xavier
Michiels, also of Paris, in the Empire of France, Gentleman.
Sealed the 19th November 1861, and dated the 21st June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson, at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st June 1861.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REPRODUCTION OF FORMS OF OBJECTS, APPLICABLE TO THE
PRODUCTION OF PRINTING SURFACES," a communication from abroad by Louis
Kessler, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Chemist, and Joseph Alfred Xavier
Michiels, of Paris, Gentleman, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain peculiar processes for reproducing the forms
or shapes of various objects, and of obtaining printing surfaces from engraved

page_text: plates or surfaces either on a reduced or enlarged scale, or of the same scale
as the original object or surface to be reproduced.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention for the reproduction
on a smaller scale of an engraved plate or wood block, for example, a layer or
sheet of gelatine is laid upon the engraved surface, so as to take an accurate
impression thereof, after which the gelatine is removed and placed in a suitable
bath for the purpose of effecting the required contraction of the gelatine to
suit the reduction desired. Various baths, composed as herein-after men-
tioned, may be used for this purpose, composed of such substances or com-
pounds as are capable of effecting the contraction of the gelatine.
following baths will give good results:-
Any of the
1. An alcoholic bath, composed of 60 per cent. of alcohol, and 40 per cent.
of water. The immersion of the gelatine is repeated in other alcoholic baths
of a gradually increasing strength. The gelatine, after being subjected to these
baths, is partially dried, and is then placed in a bath composed of a solution
of protosulphate of iron and sulphate of copper, or of sulphate of the peroxide.
of iron.
Second, one or a series of baths composed of a solution of the protosulphate
of iron, and of a solution of sulphate of copper, both solutions being of different
degrees of concentration or strength, the immersion in such baths commencing
with the weakest and terminating with the strongest bath, which latter may
serve for effecting the deposition of copper on the gelatine by means of the
electrotype or other galvanic process.
Third, a bath of sulphate of peroxide of iron, or of sulphate of the protoxide
of iron, may be used alone if the surface of the gelatine be not too large.
Other salts and substances may be employed for contracting the gelatine,
such, for example, as the salts of alumina and of manganese. Instead of
contracting the impression in gelatine by immersion, it may be allowed to dry
slowly, and may afterwards be-coagulated or hardened by means of a solution
of either sulphate of peroxide of iron, or a solution of nitrate of silver, or a
solution of other suitable metallic salts. The gelatine having been sufficiently
contracted and hardened is removed from the bath, and is coated with
plumbago, or otherwise rendered conductive by the well-known application
of a light precipitate of silver or gold, or of the phosphides of silver or gold,
or of the arsenurets or antimonnrets of those metals.
By a modified process an impression is first taken from the surface to be
copied in gutta percha or some suitable composition or alloy, and an impression
in gelatine is then taken from this matrix, and when reduced by the processes
herein-before mentioned is dried and hardened, and a cast in stearine is taken

page_text: from the surface of the gelatine, which cast may serve as the base upon which
the deposit of copper is to be made. The gelatine may be readily separated
from the stearine by dissolving it by means of a solution of chloride of
calcium, in which it is soluble; or an impression may be taken from the
gelatine in gutta percha, amalgams of mercury and silver, of precipitated
copper, of cadmium, or of gold, which will harden under pressure, or in any,
other suitable plastic material.
In order to obtain an enlarged copy of the original, it is requisite to
immerse the gelatine upon which the impression has been made in a bath
composed of a solution of sulphate of copper, either neutral or slightly acidu-
lated, and then to effect the deposition of a film of silver on the surface after
it has been expanded, and then subsequently to deposit a coating of copper
upon the expanded impression, either in the aforesaid cupreous bath, or in any
other solution of copper, by any of the well-known methods. Copies of bas-
reliefs, mouldings, artistic decorations of all kinds, statues, bronzes, and
various articles of manufacture in commerce may be similarly obtained. The
gelatine itself may suffice to preserve these forms by hardening it, and ren-
dering it insoluble by different methods, more especially by coagulating or
hardening it, and by combining the gelatine either with oxides of iron or
lead, or with sulphates of barytes or of lead, either by incorporation of the
precipitated oxides or sulphates, or by immersion into solutions capable of:
producing such desired oxides or sulphates by alternate immersion in suitable
solutions; or the gelatine may be mixed with a tannate, such as tannate of
lime, ammonia, lead, or barytes, and dipped into an acid, which will set free
the vegetable acid, and effect the coagulation, and render insoluble the
gelatine. The dessication of the gelatine alone when mixed with the tannate
of ammonia will suffice to harden it, and the action of the carbonic acid of the
air upon the other compounds of tannic acid will suffice to produce a similar
effect.
In lieu of gelatine, for the purposes above mentioned, caoutchouc may be
employed, for example, in the reproduction of a plate after blackleading.or
soaping it. A sheet of plastic caoutchouc may be stretched over it, and
pressed firmly thereon so as to take the impression, after which it is allowed
to contract, and so effect the reduction desired. In order to render the
caoutchouc more plastic it may be previously mixed with lime, or soaked in
some solvent, such as benzole, or mixed with gutta percha or other suitable
material; or a layer of dissolved caoutchouc may be poured over the plate,
and a distended sheet of caoutchouc applied on to the layer.
By another process caoutchouc softened by suitable solvents-into a paste-

page_text: may be used, and if removed from the surface of the model before it is quite
dry, and then further dessicated in order to effect the desired contraction, or
by allowing it to dry more or less upon the model, it may be afterwards
enlarged or expanded by placing it in a confined atmosphere charged with the
vapours of those liquids which are solvents of caoutchouc, which will effect its
expansion, other substances than gelatine and caoutchouc may be used in
carrying out this Invention; for example, gluten, isinglass, gum dragon, and
fibrinė may be employed.
be employed. When albumen is applied to the object to be
reproduced, it is subsequently coagulated by heat, and may also enable reduced
copies to be obtained, which may be electrotyped in a similar manner to that
which is herein-before described for precipitating copper on gelatine.
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 21st December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth 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, administrators, 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 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
REPRODUCTION OF FORMS OF OBJECTS, APPLICABLE TO THE PRODUCTION OF PRINTING
SURFACES," a communication from abroad by Louis Kessler, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, Chemist, and Joseph Alfred Xavier Michiels, also of Paris,
in the Empire of France, Gentleman, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of
one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: 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 ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :—.
The said Invention relates to certain peculiar processes for reproducing the
forms or shapes of various objects, and for obtaining printing surfaces from
engraved metal plates, wood, or other surfaces, either on a reduced or enlarged
scale, or of the same scale as the original object or surface to be reproduced.
The essential feature of the new processes which constitute this Invention is
the employment of an expansible and contractible plastic substance, such, for
example, as gelatine, gluten, coagulated albumen, caoutchouc, and plastic sub-
stances used in the ceramic art, fibrine and other substances of an analogous
nature. The expansion or contraction of reproductions or impressions obtained
by the aid of these substances may be effected in various ways, as for example,
by the processes of endasmose or exasmose imbibition, dessication, or by mecha-
nical compression or expansion. By the employment of the substances, and
the processes herein-before referred to, negative reproductions of forms or
objects can be obtained, that is to say, reproductions in intaglio from forms in
relief, and vice versa, and also positive reproductions by repeating the operation
either in the same manner, or by the aid of other processes hereinafter men-
tioned. Whatever may be the course adopted, whether negative or positive,
the products or reproductions obtained may constitute commercial articles in
themselves, either in the form of moulds or matrices, or of articles of art or
utility. The plastic materials or substances employed in moulding, may, after
having undergone final preparation, be introduced at once into the market,
but in most cases they will serve as moulds or matrices for more solid and
durable reproductions, effected by the electrotype process, casting in plastic,
compression or moulding of wood, and other known processes for obtaining
copies or reproductions of forms. The shrinking or contraction of the gelatine,
and its hardening when such substance is used, is effected in such a manner
as to allow of it being blackleaded by a brush without endangering its surface.
The contraction may be effected by means of the cupreous baths employed in
electrotyping, more especially if care be taken that such baths be as neutral
as possible, and if a slight addition of a syrupy solution of iron without excess of
acid be made thereto. In lieu of blackleading, it is preferred to coat the
surface of the cast or impression with a deposit of gold or silver in the well

page_text: known manner. These two methods of preparation admit of the application
of a deposit of copper on the gelatine by the electrotype process.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention in practice with a
view to the obtaining of a copy of an engraved surface, the surface to be
reproduced, whether it be an engraved metal plate or wood block, is first well
oiled or soaped, after which a cast in gelatine is taken thereof, the gelatine
being poured over it in a melted state. In order that a uniform layer or
thickness of gelatine may be obtained, it is proposed to surround the edges of
the surface to be copied with a wall or border of caoutchouc of a height pro-
portionate to the desired thickness of the gelatine. Having filled the space
thus enclosed with gelatine dissolved in water, a plate of glass having its under
surface greased, is laid upon the gelatine, when by applying a slight pressure
thereto the excess of gelatine will be expelled, and as the glass is greased the
gelatine will not adhere permanently thereto. The border of caoutchouc is
now removed, and the layer of gelatine when sufficiently hardened is detached
from the engraved surface, and from the glass, and washed in ether, after
which it is immersed into one or more contracting baths. If desired, the
gelatine may be made to adhere to the edges of the glass by cleaning them,
and applying a slight coating of the gelatine by the aid of a brush, when the
sheet or layer will adhere forcibly at those parts to the glass. In order to
remove the sheet from the glass it is simply requisite to cut off the bordering
which has been applied by the brush. The contraction of the gelatine cast
may be effected in various ways, but any of the following modes of treatment
will be found to answer the purpose.
1. Submitting the gelatine cast to the action of an alcoholic bath composed
of sixty per cent. of alcohol, and forty per cent. of water, and afterwards to a
second bath composed of ninety-five per cent. of alcohol, and five per cent. of
water, or to a number of alcoholic baths of a gradually increasing strength.
After having been subjected to the action of the alcoholic baths the gelatine
is partially dried, and is then placed in a bath composed of a solution of proto-
sulphate of iron and sulphate of copper, or of sulphate of the peroxide of iron.
2. One or a series of baths composed of a solution of the protosulphate of
iron, and of a solution of sulphate of copper, both solutions being of different
degrees of concentration or strength, such baths commencing with the weakest
and terminating with the strongest bath, which latter may serve for effecting
the deposition of copper on the gelatine by means of the electrotype or other
galvanic process.
3. A bath of sulphate of peroxide of iron, or of sulphate of the protoxide of
iron may be used alone if the surface of the gelatine be not too large.

page_text: .
Other salts and substances may be employed for contracting the gelatine,
such for example, as the salts of alumina and of manganese. In place of
effecting the contraction of the gelatine cast or impression by immersion into
these baths, it may be allowed to dry slowly, and may afterwards be coagulated
or hardened by means of a solution of either sulphate of peroxide of iron, or a
solution of nitrate of silver, or a solution of other suitable metallic salts. The
gelatine having been sufficiently contracted and hardened, is removed from
the baths, and when dry is coated with plumbago, or otherwise rendered con-
ductive by the well-known application of a light precipitate of silver or gold,
or of the arsenurets or antimonurets of those metals.
.
When a perfectly flat sheet of gelatine is required, the gelatine may be
cemented to a plate of glass or porcelain by means, of a hot solution of gela-
tine, gutta percha solution varnish, or other suitable cement before immersing
it in the copper depositing bath. In lieu of using a plate of glass or porcelain
as above described for the purpose of obtaining a perfectly flat surface on the
back of the gelatine, the same effect may be produced by various other means,
as for example, by scraping the surface with a hot scraper or doctor, applying
weights thereon, or by using a cutting blade or wire.
According to a modified process, an impression is first taken from the sur-
face to be copied or reproduced in gutta percha, or other suitable composition
or alloy, and an impression in gelatine is then taken from the gutta percha
mould or matrix. When such impression has been reduced or contracted by
the processes herein-before described, and dried and hardened, a cast in
stearine is taken from the surface of the gelatine, which cast may serve as
the base upon which the deposit of copper is to be made. The gelatine may
be readily separated from the stearine by dissolving it by means of a solution
of chloride of calcium in which gelatine is soluble. Or an impression may be
taken from the gelatine in gutta percha, metallic dental mastic, such as
amalgams, or alloys of mercury and silver, precipitated copper, cadmium, or
gold, or other suitable plastic material capable of hardening.
For the purpose of expanding or enlarging the copy of an original, it is
simply requisite to immerse the gelatine cast or impression in a bath composed
of a solution of copper, either neutral or slightly acidulated, and then to effect
the deposition of a film of silver on the surface of the gelatine, after it has
been sufficiently expanded or enlarged by the action of the bath above-men-
tioned. A coating of copper is now deposited upon the expanded silver coated
impression in gelatine either in the herein-before mentioned cupreous baths
or in any other suitable solution of copper by any of the well known methods.
Copies of bas-reliefs, mouldings, artistic decorations of all kinds, statuettes, and

page_text: various articles of commerce may be obtained by the processes herein-before
described. The gelatine itself may in some cases suffice to preserve these
forms if it be hardened and rendered insoluble by coagulating and hardening
it, and by combining it either with oxides of iron or lead or with sulphates of
barytes or of lead, either by incorporation with the precipitated oxides or
sulphates or by alternate immersion into suitable solutions capable of producing
such desired oxides or sulphates. Or the gelatine may be mixed or incorpo-
rated with a tannate, such for example as tannate of lime, ammonia, lead or
barytes, and subsequently dipped into an acid which will set free the vegetable
acid, and effect the coagulation of and render insoluble the gelatine. The
dessiction alone of the gelatine, when mixed with the tannate of ammonia,
.will suffice to harden it, and the action of the carbonic acid of the air upon
the other compounds of tamic acid will suffice to produce a similar effect.
Having obtained by the means herein-before described, reduced or enlarged
copies of objects or engraved surfaces, it is obvious that the operation may be
repeated so as to carry on the reduction or enlargement of the copy still
further. For example, a cast or impression in gelatine may be first taken
from an engraved plate, and reduced or contracted as herein-before described.
A second cast or impression in gelatine may then be taken from the already
reduced or contracted copy, and such second cast contracted in its turn to be
again copied after contraction by a third cast, and so on, each cast or
impression being more and more reduced or enlarged as the case may be,
until finally a very minute or a greatly enlarged copy is obtained.
If preferred, caoutchouc may be employed in lieu of gelatine for the
purposes above-mentioned, thus in the reproduction of an engraved surface
after blackleading or soaping the surface to be reproduced a sheet of plastic
caoutchouc may be stretched over it, and pressed firmly thereon so as to take
the impression, after which it is removed and allowed to contract so as to effect
the reduction desired if a reduced copy be wanted. In order to render the
caoutchouc more plastic it may be mixed with lime before being used, or
soaked in sonic solvent such as benzine, or mixed with gutta percha or other
suitable material. Or a layer of dissolved caoutchouc may be poured over
the engraved surface, and a distended sheet of caoutchouc applied on to the
layer by pressure. By another process caoutchouc softened by suitable well
known solvents into a paste may be poured over the surface to be reproduced
and removed therefrom before it is quite dry or hard, after which it is further
desicated in order to effect the desired contraction. Enlarged copies may be
obtained in caoutchouc by allowing it to dry partially upon the surface to be
reproduced, and then removing it and placing it in a confined atmosphere

page_text: charged with the vapours of those liquids which are solvents of caoutchouc,
which vapours will effect the enlargement or expansion desired. Caoutchouc
will be found to be particularly serviceable in carrying out this Invention by
reason of its solidity, insolubility, and durability, which properties admit of
its being used in the immediate or direct manufacture of various articles, and
of vulcanizing such articles by well known processes after they have been
produced according to this Invention. Gluten, isinglass, gum dragon, or
tragacanth and fibrine when dissolved will also serve the purposes of this
Invention. In using albumen it is first applied to the surface or object to be
reproduced, and then coagulated and contracted by heat, when it will admit
of reduced copies being obtained thereof, by the electrotype process in
a manner similar to that which is herein-before described for precipitating
copper on gelatine. The following is the most practical and simple mode
of carrying out this Invention, and one which has been found to give the best
results. When operating upon a wooden surface, such surface is to be well rubbed
with castor oil, a more fluid oil having a tendency to sink into or penetrate
the pores of the wood, and consequently allowing the gelatine to adhere thereto.
When treating a metal plate or surface a small quantity of oleic acid is
dissolved in benzine and then painted lightly over the engraved plate. The
benzine immediately volatilizes, leaving an imperceptible coating of oil upon
the plate which will not clog even the finest lines. Having made a border or
ridge round the edges of the plate by the aid of suitable reglets of a thickness
corresponding to the desired thickness of the sheet of gelatine a solution of
clarified gelatine containing about twenty per cent. of gelatine is poured over
the surface of the plate till it reaches the top of the reglets. A plate of glass
greased or coated with castor oil on its under side is now laid upon the
gelatine so as to cause any excess to exude, thereby producing an even and
uniform layer or thickness of gelatine over the entire surface of the plate.
The gelatine is now left to cool, when the reglets are removed, and the sheet
of gelatine is detached easily from the plate without detaching itself from the
glass. Any greasy or oily matter on the surface of the gelatine is removed
therefrom by immersing it in a solution of soft soap or of alcohol, after which
the gelatine is detached from the glass by passing a fine wire between it and
the glass which readily separates the sheet of gelatine. The detached sheet
of gelatine is immersed into a cold saturated solution of the sulphate of iron
of commerce, and at the expiration of from 12 to 24 hours the desired reduction
or contraction is accomplished. It is then taken out of the bath, laid upon
a sheet of glass, and the excessive moisture removed by the aid of a fine brush
or pencil, after which it is cemented to a sheet of glass or gulta percha, and

page_text: plunged into an alcoholic solution of iodide of cadmium, it is then dried and
placed in another bath composed of a solution of two per cent. of nitrate of
silver whence it is removed and placed in a solution of sulphate of iron, after
which a slight deposit of silver will be visible over the entire surface of the
gelatine when it is ready for the final deposition of copper thereon by im-
mersing it in a saturated solution of suphate of iron and sulphate of copper.
Having now described and particularily ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion, that 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, the peculiar processes for effecting the repro-
duction of the forms of objects and printing surfaces whether on a reduced
or enlarged scale, or on the same scale as the original as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth-first day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)