Improvements relating to the Production of Prints, Lithographs, and the like.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 18th May, 1899.
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Feb., 1900-Accepted, 7th Apr.,
1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Production of Prints, Lithographs,
and the like.
I, SAMUEL CRUMP, of Poughkeepsie, in the County of Dutchess and State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the production of prints, lithographs
and similar matter. It comprises a process and a product in which the imprinted
design or impression is overlaid and protected by a surface coating or veneer of
varnish applied locally upon the design only, in perfect register therewith, serving
to impart a lustre to the print and to heighten and intensify the color and other
effects. This process and its product differ from those already known in this art
in respect of the nature, structural arrangement and relation, and mode of applica-
tion of the ink or pigment and varnish.
The improved process which is one of the objects of this invention, affords a
simple, effective and economical method of producing the prints, which as
articles of manufacture, form another object of the invention. By this method
or process the varnish is applied only upon the impression and in perfect register
therewith, as a surface coating or veneer, heightening the color and other effects
by sharpness and coincidence of definition, by contrast with the unvarnished
back-ground, and in the case of different colors, by intensified contrast with each
other. The surface coating or veneer of varnish is incorporated with the surface
of the underlying or color impression so that the two form an integral deposit.
In producing these improved prints by my improved process, the desired design
is first impressed, transferred or deposited upon the desired fabric, which is pre-
ferably one having an absorbent or partially absorbent surface, so as to absorb
a portion of the liquid or fatty ingredients of the ink. The next step in the
process consists in applying a finely powdered gum or varnish in the form of
dust, upon the print while the first impression is still wet, so that the dust adheres
only to the imprinted design. Any dust that may adhere to the background, or
between the lines of the design, or impression, is then brushed, shaken or blown
off. Then the remaining dust, which exactly covers the imprinted portion of
the design throughout its entire extent, is subjected to a temperature sufficient
to melt the powdered varnish, and allow it to flow together and to form a trans-
parent coating or veneer for the design, with which it becomes integral by the
uniting of their adjacent surfaces. This melting operation may be performed in
any suitable oven or kiln.
After the heating or melting operation, the combined ink and varnish dries
almost immediately, so that the sheets may be piled together without sticking,
the prints being now ready for delivery, or for any desired subsequent use.
The underlying or foundation stratum of ink or color pigment may be of any
desired kind suitable for use by printing, transfer or lithographic processes already
well known. The surface coating or veneer of varnish may be made from any of
the commercial gums, such as gum demar, gum sandarac, kaurie, or any analogous

page_text: material capable of being applied in the form of fine dry powder. This may, if
desired, be mixed with a drier, so as to still further hasten the drying operation.
The surface veneer of varnish may be tinted by means of suitable pigments
powdered and mixed with the powdered varnish, thereby modifying or heighten-
ing the color of the original impression, or some desired colors may be wholly
obtained by thus mixing the powdered varnish with a dry tint, and in that case
the base or first deposit may be composed wholly of a suitable size, which may be
colorless.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements relating to the Production of Prints, Lithographs,
and the like.
I, SAMUEL CRUMP, of Poughkeepsie, in the County of Dutchess and State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in the production of prints, lithographs
and other ink or color impressions produced by letter press, lithograph, transfer,
and similar methods, including typographical, illustrative and ornamental
matter, such as may be employed for labels, show cards, posters, wall paper,
and similar productions. It comprises a process and a product in which the
imprinted design is overlaid and protected by a surface coating or veneer of
varnish applied locally upon the design only, and in perfect register therewith.
The object of this invention is to produce, simply, effectively and rapidly, a
lustrous print, lithograph or similar production the surface of which instantly
becomes dry, to the end that such prints, lithographs or similar productions may
at once be freely handled and piled together or rolled; and to the end also that
the color and other effects may be improved; and to the end also that rapid
printing, and especially rapid multicolor printing, may be made practically
manageable.
This process and its product differ from those already known in this art in
respect of the nature, structural arrangement and relation, and mode of applica-
tion of the ink or pigment, and the varnish employed to delineate or portray
the desired design or picture.
The varnishing of printed matter has hitherto been accomplished by applying
one or more coatings of dissolved or liquid varnish over the entire surface of the
sheet or fabric, after the inked or color impression is dry, covering the unprinted
as well as the printed portions. Or where it has been desirable to varnish or
gloss the printed portions only, the varnish, or glue and varnish, has heretofore
been printed, i.e., applied in solution by a separate printing surface. Still another
method now in vogue of obtaining a gloss print is that of printing the original
impression with ink in which a necessarily limited amount of dis-
solved or liquid varnish and drier, or of glue, has been previously
mixed. The sheets thus printed must, however, be hung up or kept separate
until thoroughly dry; otherwise, they would offset and stick together, because of
the character of this kind of ink. If a drier is used, it dries rapidly upon the

page_text: distributing rolls and interferes with the proper distribution of the ink, besides
clogging the printing surface so that it will not produce a clear and sharp
impression.
While some degree of lustre may be obtained in such a print, it is greatly
lessened because of the fact that the oil or varnish ingredient is uniformly mixed
with the ink deposit instead of lying upon its surface. In certain classes of work
attempts are made to heighten the effect and produce an increased lustre by a
second impression of the varnish ink over the first. Among the inherent difficul-
ties in the production of prints by these double impression methods is that of
expense, and also that of exactly registering the second impression upon the first,
because of the difficulty of twice locating the same sheet of paper in exactly
the same relation to the type or stone, and because of the shrinking or expanding
of the paper due to changes in the humidity of the atmosphere during the interval
between the two impressions. It is furthermore necessary in these pre-existing
methods or processes to properly dry the original impression before receiving the
second, and then to dry the second impression for a considerable time before the
work can be handled or delivered, involving not only vexatious delay to the printer
or lithographer and his customer, but also requiring extensive drying space,
especially where several color impressions are successively applied.
My improved prints consist of a foundation coating of ink, pigment, or size,
impressed, transferred or otherwise deposited upon the paper or other fabric in
any of the several well known ways. This is then covered by a superimposed
crust or veneer of varnishing material, applied locally to all portions of the design
or impression, and in exact coincidence therewith, leaving the intervening. space
or background fresh and clear in its original color, and with all of the inherent
pliability of the fabric, also leaving the sheets flexible to a considerable degree
as compared with the results obtained by applying varnish over their entire
surface.
The structural formation or composition of these improved prints is illustrated
by the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a plan or face view
of a sheet of paper or other suitable fabric having a series of figures impressed
upon it. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are edge views in section taken on the line X X of
Fig. 1, showing the fabric and its layers of ink and varnishing material in greatly
exaggerated thickness. Fig. 2 represents the fabric with the first or foundation
coating of ink or pigment applied. Fig. 3 represents the foregoing, with the
addition of a coating of powdered varnishing material, and Fig. 4 represents the
approximate relation of the united coatings in the finished article.
The letter a in each of the views represents the paper or fabric upon which
the print is made; b indicates the first or foundation layer of ink or pigment,
while e represents the crust or veneer of varnishing material.
In preparing the work for the present process, the desired designs of whatever
nature or character are first impressed upon the desired material, such as paper,
fabric, or other absorbent surface, in the usual way, from type, electrotype, litho-
graphic stone or any character of printing surface in any desired size, ink or color
or equivalent liquid printing material. The next step consists in applying dry
powdered varnishing material in any convenient way upon the design or impression
while the latter is still wet enough for the powder to adhere. The dry powder
is applied equally to all parts of the surface of the impressed material, but it
adheres only to the parts of the surface which carry the still wet ink or size of
the design or impression. The superfluous powder not so adhering is then removed
in any suitable way, leaving varnishing material only on the printed portions
of the paper or other absorbent surface and not on the unprinted portions. The
varnishing material may be comminuted in any way and may be any of the
commercial gums, as gum damar, gum sandarac, kaurie, or any other similar
varnishing material capable of being applied as fine dry powder. It may also
be composed of, or include, a suitable proportion of any desired drier, such as
litharge, manganese, burnt umber, sugar or lead, or oleate of lead; the selection

page_text: and proportion of these components being determined by their affinities, by the
colors to be produced, and by the degree of lustre desired.
This pulverized material, when dusted or brushed upon the imprinted surface,
before the ink or size has become dry, adheres only to the imprinted design,
the superfluous powder being then brushed or shaken off, so that only those
portions which are wet with the ink retain a covering of dust. The amount
of powder thus adhering to the design may be varied to almost any desired extent.
The heavier impressions; or the heavier portions of a given impression will
naturally absorb the greater quantity of the powder, and to gain the highest and
best effects of this process, the impressions should be thoroughly impregnated
with the powder.
t
The next step in the process consists in heating the printed and, powdered
article to a temperature sufficient to fuse or dissolve the powdered varnishing
material. This may be done by placing the sheets in an oven, or they may be
passed directly from the dusting-off. machine through a suitable melting machine,
at a uniform rate suitable for the fusing or dissolving operation, during which
the powdered varnishing material fuses or dissolves and flows together to form a
new surface over the original printed impression, becoming intimately incor-
porated therewith as a crust or veneer thereto. The extent of this intermixing
of the two layers will vary somewhat, depending upon the nature and depths of
the deposits, and upon the degree of heat supplied in the fusing operations. There-
fore, no definite line of separation is, or properly can be, shown in Fig. 4.
•
.
The next step consists in chilling the crust or veneer which instantly hardens
and becomes dry. This chilling consists in reducing the temperature below the
fusing point of the crust or veneer and it may be conveniently attained by simply
removing the paper from the hot box, or it may be expedited by a fan blast or
by a cold blast. The immediate result of the chilling is to harden the entire
outer surface of the print or impression, so that it is at once ready for commercial
delivery and can be handled and piled or rolled without off-setting the impres-
sion. Even if the underlying ink is not immediately and entirely dry, it is covered
and protected by the new surface produced by this process.
.
In selecting the colors for the production of brilliant effects by this process,
it will be observed that, the darker inks and colors will yield a greater contrast
than the lighter shades.
The desired color might be obtained by mixing the varnishing material with a
dry tint and applying it upon a wet impression made with colorless size, or similar
vehicle suitable for receiving and retaining the combined varnishing material
and color.
An important advantage in the use of this process is that the finished product
is dry and ready to use at once upon being chilled; whereas, in the older processes
of applying varnish in solution, several hours are usually required to dry the
varnished sheets sufficiently to enable them to be packed together and bandled
without sticking or slurring.
Another important advantage of the use of my invention is that the varnishing
material is applied to the design or impression, and to every part of it, and in
perfect register therewith, and is not applied to any part of the background
or unprinted portions. Thus the color and other effects are heightened by sharp-
ness of definition, by contrast with the non-lustrous background, and in case of
different colors, by intensified contrast with each other.
Any available kind of gum, having the general characteristics of those above
enumerated may be employed in this process; nor is the process restricted to the
use of a drier or of any particular kind or proportion of drier, this being per-
missibly wholly omitted or varied according to the gum or varnishing material
with which it is to be combined, or according to the effects desired. The tem-
perature to which the varnished sheets are exposed, as well as the duration of that
exposure, may also be varied according to the character of the
gum, and according
to the character and thickness of the printed sheets. In many other ways

page_text: which will suggest themselves to an intelligent operator this process may be
modified without departing from the essential characteristics herein set forth.
I have found that to produce the effects of my process it is necessary that the
paper or other suitable material be of a more or less absorbent nature, and that
the temperature be sufficient to fuse the applied varnishing material.
This process may be employed upon continuous webs of paper or other suitable
material, as well as upon separate sheets. The web may be at once rewound in
The
roll form after being chilled, or the sheets stacked after being chilled.
dusting-off, and fusing, and chilling steps of the process may to advantage be
performed from three to twelve hours after the dusting on of the powdered varnish-
ing material.
These prints may be distinguished from those hitherto produced, by means of
various tests, the selection and application of which will depend upon the nature,
color and other characteristics of the prints to be distinguished. An excellent
method of determining their structural formation is by means of transverse
sections, viewed under a microscope of suitable power. These sections may be
prepared for examination in ways analogous to those in which similar sections
of vegetable, leaf and fibre structures are prepared for microscopic examination.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The process of producing and drying a lustrous print or lithograph upon an
absorbent material, which consists in impressing or transferring the design or
print upon the material with ink or size, applying dry powdered varnishing
material upon the design or impression while wet, and subjecting it to a heat
sufficient to fuse the varnishing material and unite it with the ink or size, as a
surface coating or crust thereof, and chilling the same.
2. The process of producing a lustrous print or lithograph upon an absorbent
material, which consists in impressing or transferring the design or print upon
the material with ink or size, applying dry powdered varnish upon the design
or impression while wet, and subjecting it to a heat sufficient to dissolve the
varnish and incorporate it with the ink or size, as a surface coating or veneer
thereof, and chilling the same.
3. A print, lithograph, or similar production, having its design or picture
composed of a basic layer of ink or size, and a superimposed crust or veneer of
varnishing material co-extensive with the basic layer and united therewith.
4. A lustrous print, lithograph or similar production, having a basic color
impression and a superimposed cruster veneer of varnishing material coextensive
with the color impression and united therewith.
نار
day of
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
15, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.