Improvements relating to the Mounting of Photographs, and to the Preparation of Fac-similes of Public and Private Records, Deeds, and the like
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Mar.. 1899
Specification Accepted, 27th Apr. 1839
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Mounting of Photographs, and to the
Preparation of Fac-similes of Public and Private Records, Deeds,
and the like.
1. DANIEL KINDLE ZUMWALT, of Visalia, in the County of Tulare, State of
California, United States of America, 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 an improved method of mounting photographic proofs or
prints in such manner as to neutralize the tendency of the sheets to cockle or curl up,
which in connection with other steps of my said invention, as hereinafter fully
explained, is particularly adapted to the production of fac-simile copies of public
records, deeds, and legal instruments of record in a form suitable for convenient.
handling and reference, and as a substitute for and an improvement upon the mode
or method of copying such papers and instruments by hand as heretofore generally
done in public offices."
The objects sought to be attained in and by my invention are, to reduce the size
and bulk of record-books to give fac-simile copies of all papers and instruments
whether written or printed, with every erasure, interlineation, peculiarity of hand-
writing and every characteristic of the original, to prevent fraudulent alterations in
such records, and to greatly reduce the cost of preparing the same.
To attain the ends of my said invention I mount the photographic proofs or prints
of the papers or instruments previously taken in the usual way by means of a camera,
and place and fix the sheets in pairs back to back without any intervening card or
sheet, so that the tendency of the sheets to cockle or curl up is neutralized and the
prints preserve a flat condition at all times.
By photographing deeds, mortgages and like instruments of record and then
mounting the prints back to back in the manner named and binding or uniting the
mounted sheets in book form, with the pages properly following one another, I
prepare and produce reduced fac-simile copies of such papers, which are exact in
every respect.

page_text: In the case of a deed or other instrument presented for record, instead of being
copied by hand into a record-book, as heretofore, I now take a photograph of it, and
from the negative obtained I print copies in the usual way upon albumenized paper.
A print is obtained in this way of each page of the instrument, and then every two
prints or copies are firmly pasted together back to back to produce a single leaf
or sheet. As many leaves or sheets are formed in this manner as it requires to
produce all the pages or sides of the instrument, and all the copies thus prepared of
instruments filed for record from time to time are made of uniform size and are bound
together in book form to produce a volume of convenient size.
By mounting two sheets of the albumenized paper back to back in such manner
I am enabled to dispense with card-board or paper mounts, because the tendency to
cockle or curl is entirely overcome and the sheets will lie flat and smooth when the
book is opened. In consequence of this, it is practicable to bind a considerable
number of those leaves or sheets together. A volume of these photographic copies
will be more compact and of less bulk than a manuscript volume of the same
matter.
This method of producing and forming fac-simile copies of public records is
particularly applicable to the preparation of Abstracts of Title in a complete form.
In such case of application of my said invention copies of the deeds and other
instruments in the chain of record are prepared as before described and the photo-
graphic copies thus obtained are mounted as before mentioned and then bound
together in the order of their dates. An abstract thus produced will present a
reduced fac-simile copy of every deed, transfer, mortgage and other instrument
affecting the title in question, and will be produced at much less expense in many
cases than could be done by hand.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, J. declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The within-described improvement in the art of mounting photographic proofs
.or prints consisting in mounting such proofs or prints back to back in the manner set
forth, whereby the tendency of the sheets to cockle or curl inward toward the
albumenized or printed side is neutralized, as set forth.
2. The hereindescribed improvement in producing and preserving fac-simile
copies of deeds records and other legal documents and instruments, which consists
in first obtaining a photographic print of each page of the document to be recorded
then mounting every two sheets back to back and finally arranging and binding such
leaves or sheets in proper order into book form.
Dated this 15th day of November A.D. 1888.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.