IMPROVE- MENTS IN PRINTING AND ORNAMENTING CUT PILE AND OTHER FABRICS AND YARNS
Year: 1851

page_text: BURCH, of Crag Works, Macclesfield, 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 Nineteenth day of
December One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Burch, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Burch,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Burch,
my exors, admiors, 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, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING AND ORNAMENTING CUT PILE AND OTHER FABRICS AND YARNS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Joseph
Burch, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by any instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery, within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Burch, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The first part of my Invention consists in a mode of producing designs upon
velvet piled and other fabrics, by combining the processes of printing and
embossing, the result of cach process forming part of the same design and
together perfecting it.
The second part of my Invention consists in applying steam to fabrics before
the process of embossing them.
The third part of my Invention consists in the adaptation of the principle of
my patent block printing machine to a mode or apparatus for hand block
printing, and by this means I ensure the perfect registering of the different
colours of the design without depending upon the skill of the workman. It
also consists in a mode of fixing the fabric on an endless cloth by means of pin
points and clasps, and moving it from block to block, or from workman to
workman; and in order to ensure its passing under each block in a direct line,
the attaching to each side of the endless cloth a non-elastic band having guide
rollers at suitable distances through its whole length, and by means of holes in
the bands and corresponding studs on the entering drum, move it forward by
such stages that the head joinings of each impression are not made in a line
It also consists in the
across the piece, but fall half the length of the sketch.
mode of adapting sliding frames for carrying the printing blocks, and which,
being actuated by hand labour, are passed over furnishing rollers, instead of
as heretofore, the block being carried by the workman and furnished with
colour by being dipped upon the colour sieve.
The first part of my Invention is illustrated by Drawings 1 and 2, which
represent pieces of velvet pile or other fabrics. In No. 1 Drawing, the parts of
the design which are intended, after the process of printing, to be brought out
by embossing, are thereon made a plain clear ground, as exhibited on the
upper half of the design; and the lower half of the design, shows a figure upon
the clear ground, which is to be produced by embossing. Drawing No. 2
represents a design which is to be worked out by first subjecting the fabric to
the embossing process, whereby the fibre is laid in various shapes, being in
themselves the outline or ground work, and having relation to and forming a
part of the design; the work is then finished by printing the details of the
design upon the embossed shapes, but this can only be done by using opaque

page_text: colours or colours which require no after process to fix or cleanse them. The
upper part of this Drawing represents the design simply embossed, and the
lower half the processes of embossing and printing combined. The advantage
of this process is that much richer effects and contrasts can be produced when
the two processes are combined than by either process singly. On velvet piled
fabrics the effect is very striking; the material being an absorbent of light when
simply printed, becomes a reflector of light by the aid of embossing at those
parts of the design which have been subjected to that process, and the contrast
of chintz printed colourings with the plain details of the design worked out by
being embossed produces effects exceedingly rich and elegant. The ordinary
modes of printing are used in the process, and the objects of relief on the em-
bossing rollers or surfaces are in form the same as are represented in those
portions of the design, the effect being produced in the usual way by pressure.
The second portion of my Invention consists in a mode of passing the fabrics
before they come under embossing surfaces through a steam chamber or box
filled with steam of a suflicient heat to soften the fibres of the material, which
by this mode is made to yield to the embossing surfaces with a lesser amount
of pressure than by ordinary methods, and a softer and more agreeable effect
upon the fabric is the result; the steam chamber must be placed in front of the
embossing machine, as the effect is lost if much time is allowed to clapse
between the processes.
The third part of my Invention is illustrated by Sheet 3. Figure 1 is a side
elevation of a block printing apparatus; Figure 2, a plan; Figure 3, transverse
section; Figure 4, end elevation; Figure 5 shews a portion of endless cloths
with bands, guide rollers, and pin points; Figure 6, section of endless cloth,
metal band, and holding down clasp; Figure 7, a longitudinal view of holding
down clasp and portion of metal band, endless cloth, and pin points. The letters
of reference, with the apostrophe's over, signify a repetition of those parts.
A is the framework of the apparatus; B, the printing tables, are placed
equidistant from each other along the framework; b' are grooves or longitu-
dinal guides on each side of the upper surfaces of the tables; C's are guide
rails fixed across the apparatus over each printing table; D's are sliding frames
which move in V grooves upon the guide rails; d', registering batch; e' are
four sockets in each slide frame, in which are placed spiral springs, and they
form vertical guides for E', the printing block backs which rest upon the
spiral springs, and are thereby raised from the fabric after being pressed down
by the workman. F, the printing blocks, are fastened to the under surfaces
of the block backs by f*, small screws. G', sieve furnishing rollers; these are
placed on the off side of the apparatus opposite each printing table; ' are

page_text: feeding rollers (which revolve in the colour troughs g, 1) and furnish color to
the sieve rollers. On one end of the axis of each of the sieve rollers is a tooth
wheel (d,s,) and tooth racks are fixed to the corresponding sides of the slide
frames; these are for the purpose of revolving the sieve rollers at the same
speed that the blocks pass over them, when the slide frames are pushed across
by the workman. e, 1 are wood packings on the block backs, which receive
the blows from the workmen's hammers while giving the impressions; H,
entering drum fixed upon brackets at one end of the apparatus; h, bandle
upon the axis of the entering drum, which it moves by means of the catch h, 1,
acting against the projecting divisions h, 2; the short end has a skew edge which,
coming in contact with the registering bolt 1, draws it out of the division holes
i, 1, when the handle is depressed to take up a division, in order to move on
the entering drum; (i) is a spiral spring for forcing the registering bolt into
the division holes. J is the delivery drum placed at the opposite end of the
apparatus are screw bolts which act against the sliding journals in which
the axis of the delivery drum works, and are for the purpose of adjusting a
proper tension upon K, the endless cloth, and L' the metal non-elastic bands.
The bands Lare fixed on each side of the endless cloth by small bolts or revits.
are guide rollers placed at proper distances along cach side of the endless
cloth and metal bands, these pass along the grooves in the sides of the printing
tables and guide the endless cloth in a direct line, so that as the fabric which is
fixed upon the endless cloth advances through the apparatus under the various
blocks, the correct registering of each block's impression is ensured. Along
the whole length of the metal bands are (1, 1) stud holes, and on the periphery
of each side of the drums are studs, which work into the stud holes as the
drums revolve, and thereby ensure the correct onward movement of the cloth.
M are supporting rollers; N are the positions of the workmen; O, the fabric
being printed, and the design marked upon it indicates the manner in which
it receives the impressions of the various blocks as it passes along the appa-
P is a clasp these clasps are fixed at suitable distances along the
metal bands, and are for the purpose of holding down such fabrics as have an
edging or margin, such as tapestry, paper hangings, &c. The vertical studs Q
and rollers, as the clasps move along, come in contact with guides, which are
to be placed at each end of the apparatus, and which open the clasps, so as to
receive the edges of the fabric when entering the apparatus and to disengage
it when leaving the delivery drum.
ratus.
;
The mode of working is as follows:--The fabric being entered upon the
endless cloth is brought forward under the first slide frame, and the workman
having passed and repassed the slide frame and printing block over the color

page_text: "
sieve roller, and secured it by the registering catch, with one hand presses the
block down upon the fabric and with the other discharges its impression by a
smart blow given with his maul or hammer upon the wood packing. The
impression given reaches over only a portion of the piece, but between each
impression the endless cloth is moved forward half the length of the design,
and then another impression of the block is given on the other side of the
-piece; the cloth is again nioved on half a length and the block brought again
to its first position, and the fabric having moved two half lengths, the block
will now join on to its first impression, and thus, by moving on by half lengths,
every impression, the head joinings of the pattern are made to "step," and
a better mixing of the design effected; where "three overs are worked by
narrow blocks, the first and third impressions are given without a movement,
or the advance is made each time by having division notches in the drum,
corresponding with one-third the length of the design. Blocks reaching across
the piece I also use, where straight head joinings and the expense of large
blocks is not an objection. For printing thick fabrics I have the pin points
about four or six in a superficial foot of space, projecting all over the upper
surface of the endless cloth; these prevent the shifting or derangement of the
fabric, as it is carried through the apparatus. I also at times use rows of pins
along cach side of the endless cloth for holding the fabrics by their selvedges,
and also arrange them upon the endless cloth to come through the plain
spaces of the design and thereby avoid any injury from the impressions of the
blocks. I do not confine myself to any number of tables and frames along
the series, 2, 3, or 4-are sufficient for some styles; but rich chintz.designs in
carpets, furnitures, paper hangings, &c., require a greater number, say from
15 to 25 or even more.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the mode in which
it is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not claim as of my
Invention printing and embossing fabrics in styles where the two processes have
no connection with each other as regards the details of the design, or where
two distinct patterns are promiscuously worked over each other; neither do I
apply the colour to the fabric upon the embossing surfaces; neither do I claim
as my Invention the separate parts of the block printing apparatus, excepting
in combination with each other, or the use of them separately for the purposes
herein described. But what I claim as my Invention is,―
Firstly, the mode of combining and using the processes of embossing and
printing or printing and embossing in the manner and for the purposes herein
described.

page_text: Secondly, the mode of passing woven fabrics through a steam chamber
before the process of embossing them.
Thirdly, I claim the mode of using the combination of hand block appa-
ratus described in the third part of this Invention.
Fourthly, I claim the mode of using surface blocks with sliding frames and
furnishing sieve rollers in connexion with hand printing.
Fifthly, I claim the mode of using, in connexion with hand printing, an
endless cloth with non-elastic bands having guide rollers for guides, stud holes
for stud holding down clasps and pin points, for the purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Burch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, One thousand eight hun-
dred and fifty-two