IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD,
BEARD, of Egremont Place, New Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventeenth day of June, in the second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Beard, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Richard Beard, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Beard, my exors, adññors, or 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, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER FABRICS," com-
municated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Beard, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same manner performed, to be inrolled in Her said 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..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Beard, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the fignres and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The Invention relates,―
First, to a mode of printing a series of different colors from the same
cylinder roller, in place of using a separate roller for printing each color.
Secondly, the Invention relates to a mode of constructing the portions of a
roller for applying colors to printing cylinders (when printing from surfaces
in relief), in such manner that the color surfaces for a particular color, (when
receiving color from their respective rollers, will range in the same line around
the roller; and the surfaces, having received their respective colors, are then
capable of movement in opposite or varied directions, and of being brought to
a position suitable for putting the particular color on to the particular part of
the relief printing design on the printing cylinder. And,
Thirdly, the Invention relates to modes of producing suitable surfaces for
relief cylinder printing.
And in order to give the best information in my power, I will proceed to
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The construction of machines for printing calicoes and other fabrics with
several colors, and also the mode of working, being well understood, I have
not thought it necessary to shew Drawings of complete machines, the first
part of the Invention only relating to modes of printing two or more colors
from the same printing cylinder, whether the same be engraved cylinders
or cylinders for printing in relief; according to the ordinary construction
of printing machines for working with several colors, a separate printing
cylinder is employed for each separate color. Now, according to the first part
of the Invention, by suitably arranging the design and parts thereof of the
patterns to be printed, a less number of printing cylinders for a given number
of colors may be used with advantage.
Figures 1 and 2 represent two designs or patterns to be printed, each
having six different colors, yet, owing to the arrangement of those colors in
each, the mode of applying colors to the printing cylinders, and of printing
two colors by the same cylinder, will enable the same machine to print such
different designs by simply changing the patterns of printing surfaces, and by
employing only four printing cylinders: In working, according to this part
of the Invention, the design is to be prepared with reference to the arrange-

page_text: ment of the machine and its apparatus for giving colors to the different
printing cylinders. It should be remarked that the designs, Figures 1 and 2,
are full size; but the rollers A, B, C, and D, are small party rollers placed
between such designs, in order to indicate that the same surfaces of A, B, C,
and D, will in both cases be supplied with the same colors by the same appa-
ratus. The cylinders A, B, C, and D, may be said only each to represent a
small portion of a full-size printing cylinder, and they are thus shown small
and only indicating parts of the surface of a full-size printing cylinder, in
order to facilitate the description of the Invention, for it should be understood
that they in fact represent parts of ordinary printing cylinders; and the
different colors are applied to such cylinders in different parts of such
cylinders, and in such manner that two different colors do not follow each
other in the same time, consequently it allows the surface of the printing
cylinders to be scraped, or otherwise have the colors on different portions of
their surfaces removed without the colors running into each other. Thus,
on the cylinder A, which is supplied with two different colors, violet
and blue, the cylinder's surface being divided into seven portions, four of
which are, according to the designs Figures 1 and 2, to be supplied with
blue color, and three of the portions are to be supplied with violet color;
and it will be evident that the scraper or doctor employed for removing
the colors will, on scraping all round the cylinder as the cylinder A
revolves, not scrape one color into any part of the cylinder which ought to
print with another color, for in fact, although the cylinder A is all one sur-
face, engraved according to any particular design, the seven different portions
thereof act as if they were seven different cylinders. Thus, in respect to the
cylinder A, the portion from a to 6 would, by a proper arrangement of the
color apparatus, as hereafter described), receive blue color, and whatever be
engraved on that portion of the roller would print with blue, and the portion
of the surface from 6 to c of the cylinder A would print with violet, and so on
with respect to the other of the seven portions of the cylinder A. Hence it will
be seen that in place of having a separate cylinder for printing each color of a
particular design, one cylinder may be applied, according to this mode of
working, for printing two or more colors, only observing that two or more
different colors from the same cylinder are not to follow in the same line one
after the other. The cylinder B is for printing only the green, and the whole
of this cylinder is rendered necessary for one color, owing to the green of the
pattern running the whole width of the patterns or design. The cylinder C
prints with two colors, and may be said to be divided into eight portions, four
of which are for the brown color of the design; the others are for the pink

page_text: color. D is the cylinder which prints the black; and as the black is intended
to run completely across the design, the whole surface of the cylinder D is
appropriated to printing with black. On the parts of the cylinders A, B, C,
and D, it will be seen that parts of the design, Figure 1, are tinted, in order
to indicate the position of the different parts of the engraving. If the design,
Figure 2, were required to be printed, then the printing surfaces or cylinders
would be changed, having those parts, a to b, and c to d, &c. of the printing
surface of the cylinder A engraved with proper parts of the design required
respectively to print with blue and with violet colors; and it will be evident
that whatever be the design, so long as the different colors are required to fall
on the fabric in the same order as those shewn in Figures 1 and 2, the
same arrangement of apparatus for applying the colors to the different rollers
and the different parts thereof will be resorted to. I have thus far only spoken
of there being only two colors on a single cylinder, but it will be evident that
three or more colors might in like manner be applied to the same cylinder, pro-
vided the pattern or design required them, only observing to avoid putting two
or more colors to follow on the same line on the same cylinder.. In other
respects the cylinders are to be applied with the ordinary care in the machine,
in order that the various parts of the pattern or design printed by different
cylinders should fall correctly in their places on the fabric.
In applying
different colors to the same printing cylinder when an engraved cylinder, the
color trough to such cylinder is to be divided into as many separate com-
partments as there are different colors to be applied, and of lengths according
to the quantity of length of the cylinder. The pattern or design on such
cylinder requires particular colors to be supplied to certain parts of its surface,
and the color rollers are to be separate for each color, but affixed on the same
axis, and there are to be partitions to separate the color on the scraper or
doctor, in order to return the color scraped off any particular part of a roller
to be returned into the same compartment of the trough from whence that
color was supplied; and it should be remarked that in printing with cylinders
with the designs in relief I use furnishing coloring rollers covered with
woollen cloth, such rollers being of like length to the color rollers which
revolve in the color trough, and I use a scraper to the color rollers in order to
prevent the colors going up unequally to the surfaces of the furnishing
rollers.
Figure 3 represents the four printing cylinders A, B, C, D, with their
respective color troughs in section, but in this instance the color troughs are
shown to be divided into ten compartments each for the cylinders A & C,
but this depends on the number and different positions in which the colors are

page_text: to be placed, consequently the number, size, and position of the different com-
partments of the color troughs will depend on the extent of the particular
parts of the design on the printing cylinder. Figure 4 is a plan of one of the
cylinders A & C. Figure 5 shows end views of the cylinders A, B, C, D;
and the troughs of the cylinders A, C, are in section, by which the means of
applying the colors is clearly shewn; and the partitions of the troughs f, f, in
addition to separating the different colors, come under the scrapers or doctors g, g,
hence any color scraped off any particular part of the printing cylinders A & C
will be returned into the same compartments of the troughs from which such
color was taken. The troughs and parts for supplying color to the cylinders B
& D are of the ordinary description, and of the length of their respective
cylinders.
I will now describe the mode of transposing the colors on the transmitting
rollers, which constitutes the second part of the Invention. Figure 6 shows
so much of an ordinary printing machine for printing calico or other fabrics,
with the improvements applied thereto, as will enable me to explain this part
of the Invention, the parts being shewn in section. a, b, c, are three ordinary
printing cylinders. The cylinder a is for relief printing, and the cylinder b and c
may be so too, or they may be engraved cylinders. d represents what I call
the transmitting rollers, constructed according to the Invention, suitably placed
for transmitting colors to the printing cylinder a. Figure 7 represents an
end view of such roller d, and Figure 8 represents a longitudinal section of
the roller d. In each of these Figures the same letters indicate similar parts.
It should be stated that the color trough is divided into several compartments
according to the different colors to be employed in the design or pattern. The
parts of the color trough are shewn separately at Figure 9. The cylinder d
consists of certain moveable surfaces on to which the color is laid, and by
means of which such color is transmitted to the printing cylinder, and the
proper color is applied to the proper part of the device or pattern of such
cylinder. e is a shaft or axis affixed to the framing of the machine. On this
axis the transmitting roller moves freely. f. f. are circular framings,
bolted together by longitudinal ties or bolts g, g; and h, h, are cogged
wheels, by which the roller d is moved at a proper speed to supply
its printing cylinder a with colors. i, i, are two guiding surfaces affixed
to the axis or shaft e. These are arranged around the axis e in
such manner that they will cause the color surfaces to come opposite
each other when receiving color, and then transpose those color surfaces
according to the various positions where particular colors are required to be
given to the design on the printing cylinder. By this arrangement one trans-

page_text: mitting roller may have many colors placed thereon in its revolution, and then
be so transposed as to place the colors in different positions according to the
design. j,j, are a series of slides which move in dovetail grooves in the
frames f, f. The cloth surfaces k, k, are a series of quadrangular spaces of a
size depending on the extent which the particular colors are required to occupy
in the design or pattern. These surfaces are covered with woollen cloth or
other suitable material, in order to receive the color, and readily transmit it to
the printing cylinder. The slides j are capable of moving freely lengthwise of
the roller d; consequently allow of varied change of position, according to the
figure of the guide surfaces or frames i, i, which in the Drawing are repre-
sented to be parallel at the lower parts at ', and at their widest distance apart,
consequently the slides will be opened out as they will go when at the lower
part of their revolution, and the parts are so arranged that those surfaces k on
the different slides which have the same color placed thereon, will come in the
same line around the roller d, and consequently in its revolution for a certain
time will retain that relative position, in order that the color-carrying roller 1, 1,
may apply colors on to the different surfaces, as will be readily understood on
examining the Drawing; L being the carrying rollers which take the color from
the color rollers n, which revolve in the color troughs; o being a doctor or
scraper for preventing the color going unequally up on the carrying roller to
the transmitting roller d; and p is another scraper to prevent the color being
unequal on the color surfaces k. Each of the slides ; have two axes and
friction rollers 9 thereon, which being on either side of one of the guiding
frames, will, in the revolution of the roller d, be moved according to the
arrangement of the guiding surfaces or frames. According to the arrangement
shown in the Drawing, the guiding surfaces or frames approach each other, and
run parallel for a distance, to retain the whole of one set of slides in a correct
position for succeeding each other in giving off their colors to the printing
cylinder. It should be stated that the roller d carries twelve slides, which are
divided into six sets of the slides j. By this arrangement there will at all
times be one set receiving color, one set giving off color to the printing
cylinder, and other sets either going out of action after giving off its color, or
coming into action to take on color.
Figure 10 represents a portion of the surface of the roller d on a somewhat
larger scale than the preceding Figures. In Figure 10 the surfaces k are at
the lower portion of the roller d, and are, as above explained, opened out to
the greatest extent, and in such manner that each color of the same kind on
the different slides will stand in the same line around the cylinder d, and
opposite those compartments in the color trough which contain the respective

page_text: colors for those particular surface k which come opposite them. Figure 10 also
shews parts lengthwise if one set of slides j, suitably arranged for printing
with four different colours, green, pink, violet, and brown; and it will be seen
that these colors, in the present position of the surfaces k, at Fig. 10, range
one after the other in such manner that in their revolution.they would correctly
receive their proper colors.
Figure 11 shows parts lengthwise of another set of slides j, which,
having received their colors in the position Figure 10, have, by their
revolution, arrived at the upper part of the roller d, and have been transferred
by sliding the slides J lengthwise by the eccentric guide surfaces or frames, as
above explained, and are now in the position giving off their colors to the
printing cylinder a, the green to the fronts of the design requiring green, the
pink to the parts of the design requiring pink, and so on.. I would here
remark, that although I have shown only four colors, and sets of two slides,
these may be varied, for the mode now under description is capable of the
greatest possible variety, both as to the number of colors and also as to the
transpositions to be obtained by means of suitable apparatus; and it will be
seen from Figures 12, 13, and 14, that one transposition may have a great
variety of patterns designed for it. a, b, c, on this Drawing, represents portions
of the surfaces of the printing cylinders a, b, c, above referred to, and they
are suitably designed for producing the pattern or design Figure 12; but with
the same transposition of the slides j the patterns Figures 13 and 14 might
be printed from suitably prepared surfaces of printing cylinders, the cylin-
ders b and c being ordinary printing cylinders printing with only one color.
Each have their respective color applied thereto in the ordinary manner of
cylinder printing, according as they are engraved or in relief, and as is well
understood.
I will now proceed to explain the third part of the Invention, which relates
to certain modes of producing suitable surfaces for relief cylinder printing.
According to the usual mode of constructing cylinders for relief printing, such
cylinders, or the surfaces thereof, are composed of wood, which by engraving,
certain parts are sunk and other parts are left in relief, and this mode of pro-
ducing relief surfaces is also aided by affixing portions of metal, generally
brass, of different shapes, on the surface of the wood cylinders; all which is
well understood. And it is well known that from swelling and shrinking such
cylinders of wood are liable to much derangement. Now my first mode of
constructing cylinders for relief printing consists in a mode of applying relief
surfaces according to the design or pattern to metal cylinders similar to those
now engraved, and I accomplish this mode by affixing metal shapes or figures,

page_text: such as leaves, parts of flowers, stems, dots, and other similar figures or shapes
to those ordinarily employed and affixed on wood cylinders, or produceil
thereon, by engraving or relief, and I usually employ brass for such purposes,
and I prefer a solder for affixing such parts to the metal cylinder, composed of
the following materials, but I do not confine myself thereto :-Twenty parts of
pewter, eight parts of lead, four parts of bismouth, one part of antimony; and
I prepare the cylinder by coating it by means of a brush or other convenient
'means, with three parts of water, three parts of acid muriatic, one part of sal
ammoniac; and the under surfaces of the shapes, figures, or parts of the
design are first coated with the solder above given, and then, being placed in
the proper position, and held there for a short time, whilst a hot iron is applied
to the upper surfaces of the shapes, figures, or parts of the relief design, will
quickly adhere. And I have another mode of producing cylinders for relief
printing, which consists of using a suitable cement for having the designs or
patterns produced thereon by affixing shapes and figures similar to those
employed in wood cylinders in order to produce the design in relief. There
may be various materials used as a proper cement for making such cylinders,
but those are to be preferred which will, when dry and cold, set hard, and not
be liable to change or injure in the working. The cement I prefer is as follows:
I take one part of native asphaltum and one part of hog's lard, and melt them
together. I then take five parts of white pitch and two parts of black pitch,
which are also melted together. These four materials are then mixed together,
and I add to the whole twenty parts of sand. I prefer silver sand and five
parts of red ochre. These are to be intimately mixed, and the cement, when
poured out into moulds, will be found to set hard and retain its figure, and yet
will allow of the parts of the surface for relief designs being set therein by the
aid of heat, and then hold the same securely. From this cement the cylinders
are to be made in any convenient manner. I usually employ an axis of the proper
length for the machine, and prefer that the same should have several pro-
jections in different directions, thus
set a few inches apart, in order
securely to retain the cylinder of cement to be cast thereon; and I con-
struct a metal mould, consisting of three or more parts, of the size of the
required cylinder, which, embracing the axis of the cylinder above spoken of, I
.run the composition or cement into the mould, and thus produce a cylinder of
composition or cement, and when the same is cold and set I remove the mould,
and the cylinder will be in a condition to receive the design in relief; and I
accomplish the setting of the various shapes, patterns, parts, or devices which go
to compose a design by placing them on the surface, and by the heat of soldering

page_text: iron, and by pressing on the parts of the device, I cause them to enter the cement
to a distance of about three-eighths of an inch, leaving the upper surface suffi-
ciently in relief for printing; and when thus set, and the surface cold, the parts
of the pattern or design in relief are to be carefully examined, to see that all
parts project equally, and if not, by means of a file or other convenient instru-
ment, to equalize the whole projecting surface, when the cylinder will be
complete and ready for use.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, I would remark that I
do not claim any of the parts herein described which are well known and in
use. But what I claim is,-
First, the mode herein described of printing two or more colors from the
same printing cylinder, by applying different colors around different parts of
the same cylinder.
Secondly, I claim the mode of transposing colors on what I have called a
transmitting roller d, whereby I am enabled to apply different colors to the
same printing cylinder.
Thirdly, I claim the mode of producing printing cylinders for relief printing
by affixing the relief surfaces to metal cylinders as above described.
And, fourthly, I claim the mode of producing printing cylinders by means
of suitable cement or composition, in substitution of wood, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Beard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
5 AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Richard Beard came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
.aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.