IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY, APPARATUS, METALLIC AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, POR THE PURPOSES OF LETTER-PRESS AND OTHER PRINTING
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GERARD
JOHN DE WITTE, of Brook Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of March,
in the thirteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Gerard John De Witte, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power and authority, that I, the said
Gerard John De Witte, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as
I, the said Gerard John De Witte, my exors, adñiors, 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, the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the
Invention, communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad, of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY, APPARATUS, METALLIC AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, POR
THE PURPOSES OF LETTER-PRESS AND OTHER PRINTING;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, requiring that I, the said Gerard John De

page_text: Witte, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
had thereto, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Gerard John De Witte, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried
into practical effect, is fully described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, and by reference to the three Sheets of illustrative Draw-
ings hereunto annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, and to the
numeral figures and letters of reference marked upon the said Drawings, that
is to say:-
The Invention is the formation;. by a novel mode: and composition, of type in
cylinders. and attaining a more facile and swift process of printing, cutting, and
folding. It is well known that flat stereotype plates have been long in use in
typographical printing, and have therein rendered immense service, but until
now they have only been applied on alternating moving machines, or machines
which advance and retreat, or go in and come, and are moved or move with
little celerity. Instead of making flat stereotype plates and applying them on
flat imposing stones, by this Invention, cylindrical stereotypes are manufactured
to mount or fix the types or cylinders, which will permit the operation of
printing to be performed on endless paper or other material with extreme
celerity, which performs" partly the object of this Invention. The operations
by which stereotyped impressions are taken for cylindrical stereotype is pre-
cisely the same as those employed in taking impressions of flat stereotype
plates, and consist in applying on the ordinary form composed of moveable type
a wet or moist cardboard formed of five or six alternate layers of tissue or
silver paper, pasted or otherwise made to adhere together by a little Spanish
whiting or other suitable material; this cardboard is struck with and rubbed
trine by a hard brush, and with sufficient force to make it completely receive
the form of the type underneath. When it is considered that such form or
impression is thoroughly taken on the moistened card, pieces of cardboard
are placed on all the blanks of the form and a last sheet of paper is sized or
otherwise fastened thereon. This operation is carried out on one of the
imposing stones e (Sheet 3). The term given to these sheets so pressed and
stuck together, the one above the other, is called a mould, which is now (being
complete) placed in the oven or furnace P, L, Sheet 3,' Figures 1 to 4, and

page_text: is then dried, and in this oven or furnace the casting of the type as stereotype
is effected. The oven or furnace is composed of a rectangular metal casing,
usually of sheet iron, of an iron boiler or kettle in which the composition
which is to form the type is melted, of two complete moulds with imposing
stones, a grate, registers, and partitions or chambers for the alternate passage
of the smoko under the moulds and under the imposing stones. On taking, or
having taken, an impression on the paper, the form still covered by the said
moistened paper mould on the impression stone, which should be previously
heated so as to accelerate the drying of the paper mould, it is recovered with
a cast-iron grating made very hot, or with a charcoal furnace or pan filled with
glowing charcoal; when this operation is properly performed four or five
minutes will be sufficient to complete the drying process; when dry, the paper
mould is easily lifted or detached from the form, and there is not the slightest
danger of its warping. The operator places it in the interior of the metal
mould at the place indicated by the marks made for that purpose, and the two
circular rules that limit the length of the stereotype plate, and then the
cylinder C serving as a nucleus to the moveable crane n, the two levers / aro
forcibly pressed and a wedge of wood or metal is applied at each side of the
cylinder, and in this position or situation every thing is ready for the casting.
While the herein-before described operations are going on, the composition
which is to serve for the casting should be carefully melted. This composition
is composed of, say, in one hundred parts, take eighty-five of lead, thirteen of
antimony, and two of tin; when the mixture is at the proper temperature,.
which is easily known by plunging therein a piece of paper which should
thereby be only slightly scorched, it is time to make the casting by the aid of
a shuttle; the pot g, containing exactly the quantity of matter necessary for
casting one stereotype, when it has arrived at a sufficient height, it is tilted and
the composition runs along an inclined sheet iron or conduit into the mould.
It will be remembered that the several parts serving this purpose have
already been directed to be heated in such a manner as to assure the
composition from cooling suddenly; the want of such precaution will render
the obtention of perfect stereotype very precarious. Directly the compo-
sition is in the mould, pains should be taken to assist quickly the operation
of cooling, and for this purpose the cylinder may be moistened by a
sponge forming a circle or collar round it, saturated with cold water,
which is also continually poured on the breaks
seconds the composition becomes thick, coagulated, or set; the two breaks are
then taken away and the cylinder (nucleus) is raised by the moveable crane.
The two circular rules or guides are withdrawn, and the operator raises
from a laddle; in a few

page_text: the stereotype by the two breaks or lugs, his hands being protected by
very thick gloves, or handfulls of wool or other suitable soft material
When the operation has been well conducted throughout, the cardboard is
taken off with the greatest facility; but when the temperature, whether of the
mould or of the composition is too high, the cardboard adheres firmly to the
metal; in such case it must be wetted with water; should there still be any
fragments of paper remaining they may be removed by a brush. At this stage of
the operation the stereotype is placed on a cylinder, composed either of wood or
metal; the breaks or lugs are then knocked off or otherwise removed, and the
borders or edges are carefully cut by a graver (graving tool); the scraping to
which all castings are submitted is called scalping. As soon as it is ascertained
that the stereotype so cast is faultless, it is ready for printing purposes, and
may be mounted on the machine prepared for its reception. The cylindrical
stereotype, the manufacture of which I am now describing, can be employed
in typographical printing woven fabrics of all kinds, or papers used for paper
hangings, and other purposes. What I have herein-before stated in regard to
taking impressions from typical characters will equally apply to designs, or
blocks, or plates used for printing stuffs, paper hangings, and other purposes of a
similar nature.
I will now proceed to describe the machinery by which continuous
circular motion is imparted to typographical printing by the cylindrical
stereotype plate, and I will remark that the machine hereafter described is
only for the employment or use of cylindrical stereotype. Hitherto in my
Specification I have only spoken for a composition or matter cylindrical
stereotyping, consisting of an alloy of lead, antimony, and pewter, in definite
proportions as herein-before mentioned alone, that I limit or confine myself to
the precise parts or proportions. The stereotype that is mounted on every
cylinder for printing does not entirely encircle the said cylinder, it being formed
of two or more parts, separated by two or more rulers or bars of iron, corre-
sponding in width to the margin of the sheets to be printed off. The various
parts of the stereotype are fixed on the cylinders by countersunk screws. The
machine is constructed so as to print on both sides of the paper at once, for
which purpose two printing cylinders are used, as also two inking rollers
complete.
At Figure 4, Sheet 1, which is a section taken through the line A; B,
Sheet 1, four horizontal cylinders A, A, B, B, are placed parallel, each
following the other; the two external cylinders A, A, carry or bear the stereo-
type, and the two interior or centre ones are provided or covered with cloths
or blankets. Those cylinders C, C, provided with blankets, serve to apply or

page_text: press with exactness or nicety the paper against the projecting face or faces of
the stereotype. Above each stereotype cylinder is fixed a cast-iron cylinder
G, G, of the same diameter; it is on this cylinder that the operation of spread-
ing the ink is performed. At each extremity of the machine is a third
cylinder D, D, designed by the name of the inking table or cylinder. A cast-iron
trough E fixed against the cylinder by cornered wedges or props F, F, enclose
or holds the ink necessary for the printing process; a little cylinder made of
gelatine K, moved by a go-and-come motion by a pulley which comes and
takes up the ink from the cylinder D to carry it to the cylinder, called the ink-
ing table. On this table are two other rollers N, N, of gelatine, animated or
set in motion by two persons, one of rotation by the rubbing of their weight
(gravity), the other the come-and-go already mentioned by an excentric system,
aided by levers. And lastly, two other L, L, rollers of gelatine, taking up the
ink from the table G to deposit it on the projecting faces of the stereotype;
these rollers are mounted on grooved pieces, which may be pushed forwards or
drawn back at will to admit of their taking up more or less ink, and enclosed
in these carriages are small cornered cushions or pads which allow the ascent
and descent of the rollers so as to secure the touching and inking the pro-
jecting faces of the stereotype with proper nicety and lightness. The paper
usually used for this species of printing is that commonly termed endless paper;
it is mounted or placed on the machine or near it, and follows the sinuous
course marked by the red lines in Sheet 1, Figures 1 and 4 of the Drawings
hereunto annexed. During its passage between the cylinders A, A, B, B, the
printing or impression is formed on both sides of the paper at once, and it
exists or passes out at the cylinders O, P, and there it is cut to the desired
lengths. These two superposed cylinders O, P, are formed a little wider than
the width of the paper used; "width" meaning, in this instance, the length of
the cylinder. The upper cylinder O carries, within a groove cut or cast therein,
a saw blade, with long and wide teeth perfectly sharpened or set; the ends of
the blade project beyond the ends of the cylinder, and are constantly pressed by
cushioned springs S, Figure 3. The bent pieces R, Figure 3, non-concentric
with the cylinder O, are applied against the interior surfaces of the sides.
The slot into the inferior cylinder always presents itself opposite, or vis-a-vis,
to the groove in the upper cylinder at the moment the blade descends; the
bent pieces serve to retire the saw blade into the interior of the cylinder. The
paper arrives printed by the machine in such manner that the centre of the
margin to be cut faces the centre of the two slots or grooves as these meet in
turning; the saw escapes rapidly from the bent pieces, and cuts the paper in
its course. It is indispensible that great care should be taken in the perfect

page_text: construction of this mechanism, as on its. accuracy depends the proper division
of the paper, when newspapers or similar subject, which require rapidity in
printing, are operated upon in this machine. The cylinders employed in cutting
or dividing newspapers and other similar works are also employed in holding
the same, but they do not leave the machine földed entirely, but so far
as to diminish considerably the labor of the actual and final folding. For this
purpose, the cylinders are furnished with sides, or portions of sides, parallel
and perpendicular to the axis, and lollowed in the parts corresponding
to the sides (côtes) which permits or causes the paper to leave the
cylinder folded in two. The other folds are formed at pleasure; but the
most convenient method has been found to fold newspapers in the form
the stuff or cloth in a lady's fans is folded; it is only then required to pick up
each paper, approach (fan like) the folds together, and the operation of folding
is complete.
The journals, newspapers, and other similar papers, being printed and cut as
I have herein-before described, come out or have the machine with such rapidity
that the sheets or pieces are quite in disorder, and it is very difficult to receive
and arrange them in a proper manner. The process I employ for this pur-
pose is represented by Drawing hereunto annexed, Sheet 4, by three Plans or
Figures, Figure 1 having a lateral elevation, Figure 2, a plan view, and Figure 3,
a section taken through the line A, B, at Figure 2. This illustrative Drawing
takes up the machine herein-before described at the cylinders F, F, one of
which, it will be recollected, holds the saw or knife for cutting the material,
and the other contains the groove which meets said saw, and into which the
saw sheatheth itself while in the act of cutting. I place two small cylinders
C; these two cylinders are surrounded by cords or tapes I, I, embedded in the
grooves formed on and in the face of the circumference of said cylinders,
which seise the paper or other material the moment it has been subjected to
the effect of the saw. The paper is not entirely cut, but pierced with the
points or teeth of the saw, or more properly, toothed knife, and remain
attached to such other by some slight fillaments. At a convenient distance, the
cylinders marked D are placed, and these cylinders are also furnished with
grooves similar those cut on or in C, and the cords or tapes run in, or aro
einbeddied, as before explained. Thèse cylinders being of larger diameter
than cylinders C, to which they are attached or bound by the cords or tapes
mentioned, and possessing greater speed by reason of this extra diameter on
their peripheries, produces a strain on the paper of sufficient strength to sever
the remaining fillaments by which the portions are connected after the opera-
tion of the saw blade, as aforesaid. By or between these cords or tapes and

page_text: cylinders the paper is conducted to the tunnel G, which serves for directing
conducting tunnels, from whence the sheets pass into a wheel E, divided into
many compartments by means of threads or steps or strands of cardboard or
other suitable material, drawn or fixed from the centre to the circumference.
The number of these compartments is variable at will, according to the most
convenient required space for the introduction of the sheet. Each of these
openings presents itself successively, by means of a movement calculated from,
and regulated by, the speed with which the sheets arrive or are delivered from
the machine. The wheel, in its rotation, either deposits the sheets one upon
another, or presents them at the side opposite G, in such a manner that a person
being there placed máy easily catch and arrange them. If desirable, a roller
might be placed at the extremity of the machine, but in such case the opera-
tion of cutting would be performed separately.
I will now describe the machine for printing woven fabrics, or painted
papers commonly called paper hangings, and other similar stuffs, papers, or
matérials. The Drawing, Sheet 2, Figure 1, 2, 3, represents a machine
destined for printing five colors at once, but the same process is applicable to the
printing of any number of colors that may be desirable; the only limit is the
strength or force of the motive power employed. The impression or printing
is effected by means of portions of metal, cylindrical rings, or rings in relief,
placed on the cast-iron or other cylinders. These rings or circular plates are
made of brass or other suitable material, such as the composition already
described for forming the stereotype, or any substance possessing sufficient
power of resistance or hardness to support printing operations of considerable
duration. The several pieces, placed as before mentioned on each cylinder,
should be sufficient in number to form, when all are placed, a complete ring
on the cylinder, and bearing in relief the reproduction of everything apper-
taining to the same color. The plates or rings which surround the cylinder
are pressed close against each other, and held by tongues and grooves (plough
and tongue), and (at their extremities) by screws or otherwise. In case
stereotype plates of great length are used, intermediate screws must be fixed.
In general there is a special or single stereotype for every color, but it is
evident that for designs of a certain nature a single cylinder will serve for
printing many colors. Designs of parallel or longitudinal lines, for example,
may be printed in a great number of colors by the use of very few cylinders.
The number of colors possible to be used at once is unlimited.
The applica-
tion of each of them is obtained by the aid of an apparatus composed in the
same fashion or form for all, and analogous to that which serves in typogra

page_text: phical printing, as herein-before described. Its description will suffice to give
a complete knowledge of the machine. Two superposed cylinders are formed,
the under one of hollow cast iron, covered with woollen cloth or vulcanized
india-rubber, and the lower one also of cast iron, furnished with a stereotype
casing, on the surface of which is the design or designs in relief; between
these two cylinders the subject to be printed in color passes. In order to
obtain a very close and perfect impression the two cylinders must be pressed
firmly against each other, and for this purpose counterpoised or weighted
levers are usually employed. As this would be very troublesome, I place
between the screws and cushions a plate or band of vulcanized india-rubber,
which serves as a spring. The elastic body so interposed has to perform also
the office of correcting any defect in the cylindricity of the stereotype, and to
husband or save the motive power employed. The stereotype cylinder is
surmounted by two cylinders composed of gelatine covered with a thin coating
of vulcanized caoutchouc, or any other substance proof against color. Above
these is a metal cylinder, true as possible, against which presses a hopper,
which may be moved forward and retired as well; a circular brush, situated
below this hopper, lightly brushes the last-named cylinder. The color being
placed in the hopper, passes between the cylinder and the lower edge of the
hopper, and is spread by the brush (which is endowed with a double movement,
circular and backwards and forwards, "to go and come,") and thence by the
rollers of gelatine, to be deposited on the relief of the design, and thence is
applied to the subject to be printed. The cylinders A, B, are set in motion by
two catch or cogged wheels of the same diameter, and the cylinder C receives its
motion from a chain. The brush moves equally by chain-work, and the rolls
of gelatine turn simply by the contact of their rubbing surfaces. The lower
cylinders have no direct communication with each other, but transmit motion
from one to the other by the help of intermediate cog wheels, and thus
compel all the cylinders to revolve in the same manner.
All the cylinders which compose the machine are mounted on two framings
of cast iron, which serve also to support the hopper for the color. The
middle cylinder is furnished with large cog wheels, which receive motion
from a pinion on the shaft or spindle, on which is a fan of small weight, of no
use when the power used is inanimate, but indispenable when the machine is
hand-worked. The fabric or printed paper comes from a beam or roller,
passes over a threaded screw, the half of its length on the right, and the other
half on the left, in order to assure the straightening out of folds or creases
therein.

page_text: Another mode of printing by the machines:-The stereotype cylinders
and the taking-up cylinders are in this machine one above another and
there is no reason why the cylinders (stereotyped) should not be supported,
on one side, and the catch or taking-up cylinders on the other; and by this
mode the fabric or paper would come to hand vertically instead of horizontally.
Again, the several cylinders might be placed circularly; and I reserve the right
of placing any of the parts of my machine, such placing or displacing being
merely a matter of convenience, the working of the machine being still the
same.
Having now described the nature of this Invention of "Improvements in
Machinery, Apparatus, Metallic and other Substances, for the Purposes of
Letter-press and other Printing," and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed and carried into practical effect, I desire it to be perfectly understood
that I do not claim individually or separately any of the parts of the machinery
herein-before described, or intended so to be, or any of the materials which
together compose, through amalgamation, a composition from which, or by
means of which, I form the cylindrical stenotype; nor do I confine myself to
the precise details herein set forth, inasmuch as variations must necessarily
take place or be requisite in the machinery to suit various sizes of stuffs, paper,
and other material, without departing from the principle here, laid down for
manufacturing the cylindrical stenotype (clichage), and the printing, cutting,
and folding herein-before described. Also, the quantities named as forming
the amalgam or composition may be varied according as the quality of the
materials used may require. But what I do claim is, the combination of
machinery or apparatus herein-before described, set forth, and shewn in this
my Specification, and in the illustrative Drawings, Sheets 1, 2, 3, and 4,
hereunto annexed, for the purpose of manufacturing cylindrical stereotype,
clichage cylindrique," by which newspapers, journals, or other works or
papers are printed on both sides at once by a continuous movement, and cut
and folded when required; and also the printing of painted papers (commonly
called paper hangings), and woven and other fabrics, by a similar continuous
movement (as shewn and described,) by or with the use of cylindrical stereotype
(clichage cylindrique).
66
In witness whereof, I, the said Gerard John De Witte, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
G. J. (L.B.) DE WITTE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Gerard John De Witte 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 Spécification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.