Improvements in and Connected with Apparatus for the Repro- duction of Writings, Drawings, and other Delineations.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 12th May, 1888
Complete Accepted, 22nd June, 1888
Improvements in and Connected with Apparatus for the Repro-
duction of Writings, Drawings, and other Delineations.
I, GUSTAV HENRY BLOCK of 26 Oakfield Road, Penge, in the County of Surrey
Lithographer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to what are known as "amateur lithographers," that is
apparatus by means of which after a little practice an unskilled person may reproduce
an indefinite number of writings, drawings, and such like.
The apparatus as at present made consists of a lithographic stone held in a rigid
rectangular frame and a flap or cover made of a gelatinous composition and secured
along one of its edges to one side of the frame. In using this apparatus the stone is
written on direct with lithographic ink and after preparing the stone and inking, the
flap is applied to the surface of the stone and a negative impression taken and from
this impression the writings etc., are reproduced on paper. There are certain
disadvantages in the use of apparatus thus constructed for by reason of the flap or
cover being loose along three of its edges unless great care is taken a slurred or
defective negative is obtained and the prints are consequently imperfect.
The object of my invention is to avoid this objection.
The apparatus of my invention consists of a pair of open rebated frames hinged
together and the one adapted to receive the lithographic stone or a zinc plate
preferably prepared as hereafter described, and the other adapted to hold a sheet of
composition which is preferably prepared as hereafter described The lithographic
stone and zinc plate are merely supported in the frame, so that they may be removed
and replaced at will while the composition-sheet is fixed at its edges in the other
frame. At the back of the latter frame I provide a fixed block which about fits the
frame at the back and serves as a support for the composition sheet. This apparatus
is used in practically the same way as that above referred to, that is to say the
negative is taken from the lithographic stone or zinc plate on to the composition
sheet by closing the frames and rolling the sheet at the back. The frames are then
thrown open and the prints taken by laying the sheets of paper on the composition
sheet and rolling the block which fits the frame at the back forming a bed for the
composition sheet and keeping it firm during the operation.

page_text: and to these materials I add india-rubber dissolved in coal-tar naphtha in sufficient
quantity to give the composition the required firmness and render it capable of
resisting heat and damp..
The preparation to which the zinc plate is submitted has for its object to produce a
roughened or grained surface. To this end, the plate is placed in a bath composed
of alum, nitric acid, and water, in order to oxidize the surface of the plate which is
afterwards washed with water and finally with carbonate of magnesia to entirely
remove any acid or oxidized particles which may adhere to the plate after the first
washing.
Dated the azil
100-
G. H. BLOCK.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.

page_text: duction of Writings, Drawings, and other Delineations.
I GUSTAV HENRY BLOCK, of 26 Oakfield Road, Penge in the County of Surrey,
Lithographer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention relates to portable apparatus of that class in which a reverse
impression of the writing or drawing, etc., is taken from a lithographic stone or zinc
plate on a sheet of gelatinous composition which constitutes the printing surface from
which the impressions are transferred to paper.
Heretofore this transfer printing medium has been in the form of a loose flexible
sheet secured along one of its edges only, and in using such apparatus unless great
care is taken, the sheet is liable after repeated applications upon the stone or plate,
to become slurred and yield defective prints. The object of this invention is to
provide a portable apparatus with which perfect impressions may be readily obtained
by an unskilled person.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 is a face
view of the apparatus open in position for printing; figure 2 is a cross-section of the
same on line 1-1 figure 1; and figure 3 is a similar section, the apparatus being in
position for transferring the original writing etc., on stone or zinc to the gelatinous
printing surface. Figures 4 and 5 shew similar views of a modification in which
the frame wherein the gelatinous transfer sheet is held, is flexible. The same letters
of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
The apparatus comprises a pair of frames A B, hinged together so as to open and
close book wise, and containing the one, A, a lithographic stone C (or it may be a
zine plate fixed on a backing board) which is removably fitted in the rebated opening
of said frame, and the other, B, a sheet of composition D (hereafter described) held
in place by beads & secured in the opening of said frame B. To the frame A is
hinged a board E which carries a table F adapted to support the composition sheet D
under the pressure with which the paper is applied thereon in printing.
The stone or plate C and sheet D are so placed in their frames that when the latter
are closed together the sheet D will be applied fairly and evenly on the stone or plate,
as shown in figure 3.
In figures 4 and 5, the frame B is flexible instead of rigid, being made of strips of
thin sheet metal, preferably spring steel (rivetted or otherwise connected together at
the corners) so as to bend sufficiently to enable the gelatinous sheet to be gradually

page_text: peeled off the stone after being applied thereon as above mentioned, this construction
being more particularly intended for use in warm climates where the sheet may
adhere tenaciously to the stone. The gelatine sheet would be securely clamped and
stretched in the steel frame which would work on hinges, as before, so as to ensure
accurate register of the gelatine sheet with the stone or plate.
The mode of using the apparatus is as follows. The lithographic stone or zinc plate
having first been suitably prepared and then been written, drawn transferred, or
photographed on, etched, and rolled up with an inking roller, all in the usual manner,
the
face of the composition sheet D is laid upon the face of the stone or plate C, as shewn
in figure 3, and a pressure roller is then applied on the back of the composition sheet,
whereby a reverse impression is obtained upon said sheet. The frames A, B, are then
opened out, as shewn in figures 1, 2, so that the table F supports the sheet B. The
paper to be printed is then laid upon the said sheet and rolled in order to obtain an
impression therefrom. The lithographic stone or plate is then rolled up again, the
gelatinous sheet is re-applied upon the inked stone or plate in order to renew the
transfer impression on the gelatinous sheet from which a second impression on paper
is obtained, as before, and so on, ad infinitum. This renewed transfer impression
must coincide with absolute accuracy, with the one previously obtained, and similarly
for all subsequent ones, and this absolute accuracy is ensured by keeping the gelatinous
sheet distended by a rigid or flexible frame hinged to the stone or plate-holding
frame.
The composition sheet D consists of the following ingredients incorporated in about
the proportions mentioned-vict.―
Cologne Glue
Nelson's Gelatine
Glycerine
10 parts by weight
5 parts
4 parts.
The glue and gelatine are swelled with water in the usual way, and warmed to melt
them, after which the glycerine is added and the whole stirred well together. To this
mixture is then added sufficient solution of india rubber in naplitha or benzole to
render the composition firm and enable it to resist warmth and damp. The quantity
of india rubber required is small say about one part. The india rubber solution having
been stirred well in the warm mixture the latter is spread on a backing of stout
American or leather cloth; preferably that quality of which the basis is extra stout
moleskin. The moleskin surface of the leather cloth is prepared by being first sized
and then painted with a waterproof paint made of whitening and coach body varnish
thinned with turpentine after which it is coated with the gelatinous composition in the
usual manner. The enamelled surface of the leather cloth forms the back of the
compound sheet.
When a zinc plate is used instead of a lithographic stone, it is prepared in the
following way in order to give it'a suitably grained or roughened surface. The plate
is placed in a bath composed of :-
in about the proportions mentioned, in order to oxidize the surface of the plate which
is afterwards washed in water and finally with carbonate of magnesia to neutralize any
acid, and remove any oxidised particles which may adhere to the plate after the first
washing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I 5
claim is
1. A lithographic or zincographic transfer printing apparatus of the kind herein
described wherein. the gelatinous transfer sheet is stretched in an open frame hinged to

page_text: the stone or plate support, so as to be applied upon the stone or plate and register
accurately therewith, substantially as shown and described.
2. In a lithographic or zincographic transfer printing apparatus of the kind herein
described the combination with the gelatinous transfer sheet stretched in a hinged frame,
as described, of a base board hinged to the stone or plate support and having a table to
support the gelatine sheet, as described.
3. In the manufacture of the gelatinous transfer sheet, the addition to the herein
described composition of glue, gelatine and glycerine, of india-rubber, as and for the
purpose specified.
4. The herein described method of preparing the zinc plate for use in a printing
apparatus of the kind described.