IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF INK TO BE USED IN PRINTING BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER MONETARY INSTRUMENTS IN ORDER TO PREVENT FRAUD BY THE ALTERA- SAID INSTDIMENTS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Anthony Nesbit, of No. 38, Gracechurch Street, in
the City of London, Analytical Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PREPARATION OF INK TO BE USED IN PRINTING BANKERS' CHEQUES AND
OTHER MONETARY INSTRUMENTS IN ORDER TO PREVENT FRAUD BY THE ALTERA-
SAID INSTDIMENTS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Anthony Nesbit at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th October 1879.
ALFRED ANTHONY NESBIT, of No. 38, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
Analytical Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF INK TO BE USED IN
PRINTING BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER MONETARY INSTRUMENTS IN ORDER TO
PREVENT FRAUD BY THE ALTERATION OF THE SAID INSTRUMENTS."
The object of my Invention is to prevent or to facilitate the detection of the
fraudulent alteration of bankers' cheques and other monetary instruments. This
I effect by preparing the ink with which they are printed as hereinafter described.
The coloured ink ordinarily used in printing cheques from engraved steel or
copper plates is composed of a "base" stained or coloured with an aniline or other
dye dissolved in a suitable liquid, the said materials being used in such proportions
as to produce a homogeneous composition of a suitable consistence and colour.
According to my Invention I dry the composition herein before described and
pulverize it, and add to the powder a quantity of finely powdered aniline colour or
dye (which I term the "secondly added dye "), and I make the mixture into a paste
or mass of the required consistence by moistening and working it up with any
suitable liquid which will not dissolve the said aniline colour or dye, which paste or
mass may then be used in printing from engraved steel or copper plates in the
ordinary way. When a cheque printed with composition or ink prepared according
to my Invention is immersed in or moistened with water or an aqueous solution in
order to effect the removal or obliteration of the ink with which the blank form of
the check is filled up by the drawer, the "secondly added dye" is dissolved before
the writing ink can be removed, and causes the printed impression or inscription to

page_text: appear blurred and the paper around it to be stained, thereby rendering certain the
detection of the alteration or attempted alteration.
Should it be possible in any case to remove the writing ink without blurring the
printed inscription, a more or less legible print or trace of the writing would remain,
owing to the "secondly added dye "having been dissolved by the writing ink.
The "secondly added dye" may be of the same colour as that originally mixed
with the starch or flour, but I prefer to use dye of a different colour, as the blurring
of the inscription or the staining of the paper is thereby rendered more obvious.
Owing to the "secondly added dye" being undissolved by the liquid which I use
in mixing it with the powdered composition or ink, the original colour of the ink is
very slightly altered and the presence of the "secondly added dye" is almost imper-
ceptible, except when the cheque has been moistened with water.
.
•
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Anthony Nesbit in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
April 1880.
ALFRED ANTHONY NESBIT, of No. 38, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
Analytical Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF INK TO BE USED IN
PRINTING BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER MONETARY INSTRUMENTS IN ORDER TO
PREVENT FRAUD BY THE ALTERATION OF THE SAID INSTRUMENTS.”
The object of my Invention is to prevent or to facilitate the detection of the
fraudulent alteration of bankers' cheques and other monetary instrument. This I
effect by preparing the ink with which they are printed as hereinafter described.
The coloured ink ordinarily used in printing cheques from engraved steel or
copper plates is composed of a "base" stained or coloured with an aniline or other
dye dissolved in a suitable liquid, the said materials being used in such proportions
as to produce a homogeneous composition of a suitable consistence and colour.
According to my Invention I dry the composition herein before referred to, and
pulverize it, and add to the powder a quantity of finely powdered aniline colour or
dye (which I term the "secondly added dye"), and I make the mixture into a
paste or mass of the required consistence by moistening and working it up or
grinding it with any suitable liquid which will not dissolve the said aniline colour
or dye, which paste or mass may then be used in printing from engraved steel or
copper plates.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe the
manner in which it is to be performed.
The coloured base which I preferred to use in carrying my Invention into effect
'consists of clay or clay and soap coloured with an aniline or other very fugitive
colour, or pigment, or dye, that is, a colour pigment or dye which is rapidly destroyed

page_text: by contact with chemicals used for removing writing ink from paper. The said
base may, be prepared as follows:―
From fifty to two hundred parts by weight of aniline dye are dissolved in water
or dilute spirit, and added to one thousand parts by weight of smooth clay very
finely pulverized, and (when soap is to be used) from fifty to four hundred parts by
weight of yellow soap are added. The whole is then thoroughly mixed and ground
between stones, the quantity of water or dilute spirit added being sufficient to
produce a homogeneous composition of a suitable consistence.
"
In preparing the base or composition for treatment according to my Invention, I
spread out a quantity of it, and allow it to dry spontaneously, and when perfectly
dry I reduce it to fine powder. In preparing the aniline dye which I use as the
secondly added dye," I dry it and grind it between stones to an extremely fine
powder. I then mix together the dried and powdered coloured base, and the
powdered dye in the proportions of about one thousand parts by weight of the base
to from one hundred or two hundred and fifty parts by weight of the dye
(according to the depth of colour required, and the concentration of the dye), and
add to the mixture sufficient spirits of turpentine to bring it to a pasty consistence,
and grind it between stones until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, and
the whole is a perfectly smooth mass. If it be required to retard the drying of the
composition, I add to it at this stage of the process a very small quantity of olive
oil, and again grind the mixture until the oil is thoroughly incorporated therewith.
The oil must be added with very great care, as an excess of oil in the composition
will prevent the "secondly added dye" from readily dissolving when the cheque is
moistened. The ink or composition thus prepared may be used for printing from
metal plates in the same manner as the ordinary coloured base is used, and when
required it may be thinned by adding to it spirits of tuentine.
In preparing the paper for printing with my ingved composition or ink care
must be taken to damp the paper only slightly, so as to avoid bringing up the
secondly added dye in the process of printing.
When a cheque printed with composition or ink prepared according to my
Invention is immersed in or moistened with water, or an aqueous solution, or
chemicals used for the extraction or removal of ordinary writing ink, in order to
effect the removal or obliteration of the ink with which the blank form of the
cheque is filled up by the drawer, the "secondly added die" is dissolved before the
writing ink can be removed, and causes the printed impression or inscription to
appear blurred, and the paper around it to be stained, thereby rendering certain
the detection of the alteration or attempted alteration.
Should it be possible in any case to remove the writing ink without blurring the
printed inscription a more or less legible print or trace of the writing would remain,
owing to the "secondly added dye "having been dissolved by the writing ink.
The "secondly added dye" may be of the same colour as that originally mixed
with the base, but I prefer to use dye of a different colour, as the blurring of the
inscription or the staining of the paper, in case of any attempt to remove the written
inscription by chemical means, is thereby rendered more obvious.
Owing to the "secondly added dye" being undissolved by the liquid which I use
in mixing it with the powdered composition or ink the original colour of the ink is
very slightly altered, and the presence of the "secondly added dye" is almost
imperceptible, except when the cheque has been moistened.
Instead of using my improved ink or composition for printing cheques in the
ordinary manner, as herein before described, the whole surface of the cheque may be
covered with the said composition or ink, on which the required inscription may
be printed in ordinary black or coloured ink, or the said inscription may be printed
with water alone, which dissolving the "secondly added dye" will produce an
impression as clear and distinct as if ink were used.
Or my improved ink or composition may be used for printing marks or inscrip-
tions on documents the paper of which is of the same tint as the ink or composition,

page_text: which marks or inscriptions are consequently invisible, and become apparent only
on the document being moistened.
In some cases I prefer to use an uncoloured base. The ink or composition pre-
pared therefrom, when printed on ordinary paper, is thus invisible until moistened,
when the "added dye" dissolves and becomes apparent. In using ink thus prepared
I prefer first to cover the whole surface of the paper with it and then to print on its
surface the required inscription with my improved coloured ink prepared with a very
readily soluble "secondly added dye."
Although the proportions I have stated answer well in practice they may be
greatly varied according to the depth of colour required. As the quality of aniline
dyes varies very considerably it is necessary to the successful practise of my Inven
tion that they be carefully selected, and those only used for the secondly added
dye which are found to dissolve very readily, and which will rapidly and perma-
nently stain paper, and which are the most highly concentrated and the least fugitive
when treated with chemicals. It is also necessary to grind the "secondly added
dye" as finely as possible before adding it to the powdered base. To facilitate the
grinding of the said dye it may be moistened with spirits of turpentine.
Instead of spirits of turpentine any other volatile liquid may be used which will
not dissolve the "secondly added dye," and which will not prevent it from dissolving
when the paper on which the ink is printed is moistened with water or chemicals
or solutions capable of removing ordinary writing ink therefrom, and which will
form a smooth composition with the base.
When the composition is to be used in printing from metal plates I prefer to use
a base containing little soap, or even no soap.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which it
is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the
precise details hereinbefore described, as they may be varied without departing from
the nature of my Invention, but I claim as my said Invention of "Improvements in
the Preparation of Ink to be Used in Printing Bankers' Cheques and other Monetary
Instruments, in order to Prevent Fraud by the Alteration of the said Instruments,"
adding powdered dye, colour, or pigment soluble in water to a powder produced by
drying and crushing or grinding the composition ordinarily used in printing the said
instruments from metal plates, or a composition of similar nature, and forming a
paste or composition by mixing the said powders together and adding to or mixing
with them spirits of turpentine or other suitable liquid which will not dissolve the
said colour or dye or pigment, and will form a smooth composition with the base,
essentially as and for the purpose herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Anthony Nesbit, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.