IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR COPYING OR REPRODUCING AND MULTIPLYING MANUSCRIPTS AND DRAWINGS."
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Philip George Rosefeld at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th June 1879.
RE
PHILIP GEORGE ROSEFELD, of New York, in the United States of America,
Manufacturer. IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR COPYING OR
REPRODUCING AND MULTIPLYING MANUSCRIPTS AND DRAWINGS."
My Invention relates to those processes in which writings and drawings executed
in ink made of some aniline colour dissolved in alcohol and water are transferred
to the surface of a gelatinous block consisting of a mixture of gelatine, glycerine,
and water, sheets of paper being successively pressed upon the reversed impression
of the writing or drawing on the said block, so as to take "positive" impressions
therefrom.
Such processes as heretofore practised are attended by the defects that the
gelatinous block soon becomes putrid or decomposed owing to there being no anti-
septic in its composition, that the letter or drawing to be reproduced must be
executed in strong lines, fine lines not being capable of proper reproduction, that
the ink spreads on the said block and on the paper, and the impressions taken
therefrom are consequently blurred, and that the sheets of paper are apt to stick to
the block.
Now the objects of my Invention are to remedy these defects, to obtain a much
larger number of impressions or copies of the writing or drawing transferred to the
block than can be obtained by the process hereinbefore referred to, and also to
render the process applicable to the copying of letters into letter books.
According to my Invention I make the block by mixing the following ingre-
dients:-Gelatine, isinglass, or glue, water, glycerine, molasses (preferably white
molasses) or sugar, acetic acid or other suitable acid, oxide of iron, bi-sulphite of
soda.
Of these ingredients the oxide of iron and the bi-sulphite of soda may be omitted,
but I prefer to use them.
I I pour this composition into shallow trays, as has heretofore been done with the
gelatinous composition in the process hereinbefore referred to; or I form it into
slabs, blocks, or sheets of any suitable thickness, which may be mounted on paper,
pasteboard, tin, or other suitable backing; or sheets of paper, pasteboard, tin, or
other material, may be coated with the said composition. The sheets to which the
said composition is applied, or on which the gelatinous sheets are mounted (which I
DO

page_text: term transfer sheets), may be pressed upon the leaves of letter copying books when
it is wished to take therein copies of the writings or drawings on the said sheets.
This part of my Invention enables me to use letter copying books having thicker
leaves than those used in books for copying by means of an ordinary copying press
and copying ink, no press being necessary for copying letters from my transfer
sheets.
I make the transfer ink to be used in connection with the aforesaid blocks or
Alcohol.
Bi-sulphite of soda or ether, of vinegar, gum, or sugar.
With this ink I write or draw upon ordinary paper the writing or drawing to
be copied, reproduced, or multiplied, and let it dry; and I slightly damp the surface
of the composition slab, sheet, or block, and press the paper with its written side
downwards upon the said surface, and thus transfer thereto the writing or drawing
on the said paper, which I then remove. I then take the sheet of paper to which
such writing or drawings is to be transferred and press the said paper on the said
surface, and thus impress on the said paper a copy of the writing or drawing on
the said surface; I then press another sheet of paper thereon, and so take another
copy of the said writing or drawing, and so on. I can by my Invention obtain 100
good copies of writings or drawings from the same transfer sheet or block.
When the copies are to be taken in a book the transfer sheets hereinbefore
described are used.