IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING WRITING AND OTHER MARKS ON PAPER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF PAPER THEREFOR."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Ford, of 22, Gloucester Crescent, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF PRODUCING WRITING AND OTHER MARKS ON PAPER, AND IN
THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF PAPER THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Ford at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th December 1880.
ALFRED FORD, of 22, Gloucester Crescent, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING WRITING AND
OTHER MARKS ON PAPER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF PAPER
THEREFOR."
I add to the pulp of paper before it is made into sheet a solution of a salt of
iron, for example the sulphate, or perchloride, or acetate, or other soluble salt that
will not materially affect the colour of the paper. To produce writing or other
marks on paper thus prepared and made into sheet I apply, by means of a pen or
some other suitable instrument, a solution of one or other of the following
chemicals, viz., of tannin, tannic acid, or gallic acid, or of some vegetable extract
containing these which will produce a black stain, or of the ferro cyanide of
potassium, or of the ferri cyanide of potassium, which will produce a blue stain ;
or of the sulpho cyanide of iron, which will produce a red stain, the per-salts of
iron being used with the ferro and sulpho cyanide of potassium, and the proto-salts
of iron with ferri cyanide of potassium.
To paper after it is manufactured, prepared with a solution of a salt of iron
(preferring those above indicated) and dried, I apply the developing preparations as
described; or I reverse this order by adding a solution of one or other of the
preparations used in the foregoing method as developing agents, namely, tannin,
or tannic acid, or gallic acid, or some vegetable extract containing these, to the

page_text: pulp or to the manufactured paper; and when it has been so treated and made
ready for writing on I apply a solution of a suitable salt of iron, such as one or
other of those already referred to above, to produce the required stains.
The proportions of the chemicals employed will necessarily vary according to the
intensity of the mark or stain I desire to produce, and to facilitate the flowing
from the pen or instrument employed of the solutions applied to the finished paper,
in either case I may add glycerine, or gum, or sugar, or other substance that will
slightly thicken such solutions, and where it is desired to intensify the stain there
may (where tannin and iron are used) be used an alkaline earth, either brushing it
over the surface of the paper before proceeding to write or make marks, or adding
it, where not chemically inadmissible, to the solutions which I employ for the
purpose of writing or making marks.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Ford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th June
1881.
"
ALFRED FORD, of 22, Gloucester Crescent, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING WRITING AND
OTHER MARKS ON PAPER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION
THEREFOB."
I add to the pulp of paper before it is made into sheet a solution of a salt of
iron, for example, the sulphate, or perchloride, or acitate, or other soluble salt that
will not materially affect the colour of the paper. I prefer the sulphate, and of the
strength of about two parts of the iron to one hundred parts of water which has
either been distilled or to which has been added one part by weight of pure sulphur,
and to 1000 parts water to neutralise the lime it contains, otherwise the iron would
make the water yellow and colour the paper. To produce writing or other marks
on paper thus prepared and made into sheet I apply, by means of a pen or some
other suitable instrument, a solution of one or other of the following chemicals,
viz., of tannin, tannic acid, or gallic acid, or of some vegetable extract containing
these, dissolved in the proportion of about two parts of the acid or vegetable extract
to one hundred of water, and the like proportions are to be observed, or thereabouts,
when using the fern salts of potassium herein referred to. These solutions scale the
developing fluid, which will produce a black stain, or of the ferro cyanide of
potassium, or the ferri cyanide of potassium, which will produce a blue or stain; of
the sulpho cyanide of iron, which will produce a red stain, the per-salts of iron
being used with the ferro and sulpho cyanide of potassium, and the proto-salts of
iron with ferri cyanide of potassium.
To paper after it is manufactured, prepared with a solution of a salt of iron
(preferring those above indicated) and dried, I apply the developing preparations as
described; or I reverse this order by adding a solution of one or other of the
preparations used in the foregoing method as developing agents, namely, tannin or
tannic acid, or gallic acid, or some vegetable extract containing these, mixed in the
same proportions or thereabouts as when the salts of iron before referred to are
employed, to the pulp or to the manufactured paper, and when it has been so
treated and made ready for writing on I apply a solution of a suitable salt of iron,
such as one or other of those already referred to above, to produce the required
stains.
The proportions of the chemicals employed will necessarily vary according to
the intensity of the mark or stain I desire to produce, and to facilitate the flowing
from the pen or instrument employed of the solutions applied to the finished paper,
in either case I may add glycerine, or gum, or sugar, or other substance that will
slightly thicken such solutions.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I declare that what I
claim as new and original is, the manufacture and preparation of paper in the
manner and for the purposes herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Ford, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
ALFRED FORD. (L.S.)