Improvements in and relating to Show Cards or Cases and the like.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 5th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 18th Feb., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Show Cards or Cases and the like.
I WILLIAM BROWNLIE of James Street Bridgeton, Glasgow, Lanarkshire,
Lithographer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to and comprises certain improvements in the mode
or method and means of cutting letters or ornamental devices out of the thin
prepared sheets of tin or celluloid for attaching or cementing the same on to the
glass or other surface or body plates to form show cards or cases and the like, and
which will be very ornamental and give a more beautiful effect at a cheap cost,
than has been possible heretofore.
When a glass plate is used for the body surface of the case no preparation on the
outside surface would be required, and its inner surface would be painted with fine
chosen coloured pigments to give contrast and relief to the particular character of
letters and ornaments secured on the outside of the glass. But when sheet metal is
used secured on wood or otherwise for forming the card, the metal would be made
of a smooth surface and coated with japanned coloured varnishes or ornamental
orders to give a background of contrast and relief to the particular colour of letters
to be secured on the body plate. Or the body plate may be made of wood or of
cardboard, and have paper lithographed in colour and designs mounted on it, and
varnished to give ornament and relief to the background of the letters.
The letters and ornaments when made of sheet tin would have the one surface
kept of a superior polish and be coated and stoved with the finest japinned
varnishes in imitation of gold, silver, or other effective colours, or imitation
enamel or porcelain, and the sheets would be coated on the back surface with good
paints to prevent the sheet metal from damp or corrosion getting in behind the
letters. The sheets of tin so prepared are then taken and laid on strawboard,
pasteboard, or other equivalent yielding semi-soft material on a flat bed of lead or
other equivalent under the platen of a cutting or embossing press; and the cutting
dies would be laid on the plate and the press brought down over the die to cut out
the letters. By this arrangement the die compresses the tinned sheet all round
into the pasteboard or until it comes down against the lead plate below when the
die will have cut the letter clean all round in outline, which has the effect of
rounding the polished edges before cutting it, and the pasteboard would be also cut
but left all flat and intact in the centre of the letters, leaving these of a beautiful
flat polished surface.
The letters will then easily drop out of the dies and the paper be removed from
the back of the letters so embossed. The thickness of the cardboard or other
material placed under the sheets will determine the depth of which the letters are
so embossed as say from 1 to of an inch. These letters have then laid on their
back hollow embossed surface thin putties or thick varnish mixtures or other
cementing material brushed or otherwise laid on to them to make them to adhear
to the front surface of the glass plate cardboard or other material used to form the
body of the tablet. In forming the celluloid letters or designs the prepared sheets
are got of any desired colour, as white black or a combination colours and of the
desired thickness preferably as thin as possible, about the thickness of drawing
paper, and formed preferably with a smooth polished surface on the front side and
preferably a rough surface on the under side. These sheets are taken and laid on
flat lead or other soft metal plates or on hard wood on the bed plate under the
platen of the press as in the case of making the sheet tin letters and punched in
like manner with very fine sharp punches to give a fine edge to the letters. The

page_text: back roughened surface of the letters is thin coated with adhesive varnishes or
cements and stuck on to the front of the glass or other tablet.
Dated the 26th October 1892.
W. R. M. THOMSON & Co.,
96, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Show Cards or Cases and the like.
I, WILLIAM BROWNLIE, of James Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow, Lanarkshire,
Lithographer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, that is to say:-
This invention has reference to and comprises certain improvements in the mode
or method and means of cutting letters or ornamental devices out of thin prepared
sheets of tin or celluloid for attaching or cementing the same on to glass or other
surface or body plates to form show cards or cases and the like, and which will be
very ornamental and give a more beautiful effect at a cheap cost, than has been
possible heretofore.
When a glass plate is used for the body surface of the case, no preparation on
the outside surface would be required, and its inner surface would be painted with
fine chosen coloured pigments to give contrast and relief to the particular character
of letters and ornaments secured on the outside of the glass. But when sheet
metal is used secured on wood or otherwise for forming the card, the metal would
be made of a smooth surface and coated with oil paint or japanned coloured
varnish to give a background of contrast and relief to the particular colour of
letters to be secured on the body plate. Or the body plate may be made of wood
or of cardboard, and have paper lithographed in colour and designs mounted on
it, and varnished to give ornament and relief to the background of the letters.
The letters and ornaments when made of sheet tin would have the one surface
kept of a superior polish and be coated and stoved with the finest japanned
varnishes in imitation of gold, silver, or other effective colours, or imitation enamel
or porcelain, to form the exposed surface of the letters, and the sheets would be
coated on the back surface with good paints to protect the sheet metal from damp
or corrosion getting in behind the letters. The sheets of tin so prepared are then
taken and laid on a pad of india rubber, cork, or other equivalent yielding semi-
soft material and placed on a flat bed of lead or other equivalent under the platen
of a cutting or embossing press; and the cutting dies would be laid on the plate
and the press brought down over the die with sufficient pressure to emboss the
letters. The embossed sheet afterwards placed upon a bed of strawboard, paste-
board, or other suitable material and the platen press is again brought down over
the die to cut out the letters. By this arrangement the die compresses the tinned
sheet all round into the pasteboard or until it comes down against the lead plate
below when the die will have cut the letter clean all round in outline, which has
the effect of slightly rounding the polished edges before cutting it, and the paste-
board would be also cut, leaving the letters of a beautiful flat polished surface.
The letters will then easily drop out of the dies and the paper be removed from
the back of the letters so embossed. These letters have then laid on their back
hollow embossed surface, a prepared putty, preferably consisting of a mixture of
ordinary putty with about fifty per centum of white lead and copal varnish, or other
thin putties or thick varnish mixtures or cementing material may be used laid on to
the back hollow surface of the letters to make them adhere to the front surface of
the glass plate, cardboard or other material used to form the body of the tablet, a
thin coating of Russian glue being preferably laid along the edges to make the
letters adhere to the background surface until the cement takes effect. In forming
the celluloid letters or designs the prepared sheets are got of any desired colour,

page_text: as white, black or a combination of colours and of the desired thickness preferably
as thin as possible, about the thickness of drawing paper, and formed preferably
with a smooth polished surface on the front side and preferably a rough surface on
the under side. These sheets are taken and laid on flat lead or other soft metal
plates or on hard wood on the bed plate under the platen of the press, as in the
case of making the sheet tin letters and punched in a like manner with very fine
sharp punches to give a fine edge to the letters. The back roughened surface of
the letters is thin coated with adhesive varnishes or cements and stuck on to the
front of the glass or other tablet.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
First. The herein described method of cutting or producing letters or ornamental
devices out of thin prepared sheets of tin, and cementing the same on to a body
surface or background substantially as set forth.
Secoud. The herein described method of cutting or producing letters or
ornamental devices out of thin prepared sheets of celluloid, and cementing the
same on to a body surface or back ground substantially as set forth.
Third. Show cards, cases, and the like formed with letters or ornamental devices
produced from prepared sheet tin or celluloid, and cemented on to a body surface
or background substantially as set forth.
Dated the 4th January 1893.
W. R. M. THOMSON & Co.,
96, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Agents.