AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF PRODUCING PRINTS OR TRANSFERS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES."
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugenio de Zuccato of Charterhouse Street in the
City of London for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF
PRODUCING PRINTS OR TRANSFERS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES."
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugenio de Zuccato at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th August 1883.
EUGENIO DE ZUCCATO, of Charterhouse Street, in the City of London
"AN
IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF PRODUCING PRINTS OR TRANSFERS OF PHOTO-
GRAPHIC PICTURES
"
My invention relates to an improved method or process of producing prints or
transfers of photographic pictures, and is carried into practice in the following
manner, that is to say, I take what is known as a "Woodbury-type relief" of the
picture desired to be printed or transferred, and I lay this relief upon a sheet of
paper or other analogous or suitable material, and on the other side of this paper
or other material 1 place some substance (hereinafter mentioned) having a smooth
surface which is partially inked with printers' ink so that the ink forms a grain,
stipple, or series of closely packed lines. I then press all these together by suitable
mechanical means whereupon the printers' ink will "set off" or be impressed on
the paper or other analogous material and form a grained, stippled, or lined
This
picture or ink-photo-print corresponding to the Woodbury-type relief.
grained, stippled, or lined image or picture may then be transferred to metal or
lithographic stone by any methods well known to printers; or in some cases I
prefer to photograph the grained, stippled, or lined image or picture and to make
a transfer therefrom by any method well known to photo-lithographers and photo-
zincographers.
The term "Woodbury-type relief" is well understood by photographic printers,
but to prevent any misapprehension I desire to state that I mean a gelatine film
in which the varying tints of a photograph are represented by varying thicknesses
of gelatine.
Those materials which, for the purposes of my invention, regard as analogous
to paper are such flexible materials as will readily take an impression in printer's

page_text: ink. Among these may be mentioned tracing cloth, and tracing paper, tin or other
metallic foil, sheet gelatine, gold beaters' skin or other tissue.
To explain that which I mean by "a smooth surface which is partially inked with
printers' ink so that the ink forms a grain, stipple, or series of closely packed lines,"
I quote the following as examples, viz:-
(1) A lithographer's stone upon which a stipple or lined ground of any kind is
imprinted.
(2) A zinc.plate upon which a stipple or lined ground of any kind is imprinted.
(3) A slab of any kind upon which a tint or stipple in priuter's ink has been
impressed, inscribed, or transferred.
(4) A slab or sheet of paper, either enamelled or plain, upon which a tint or
stipple in printer's ink has been impressed, inscribed, or transferred; it being well.
understood that in any case, the printer's ink must not be allowed to thoroughly
indurate before the inked surface is used.
By printer's ink I mean any usual printing ink in which a pigment is incorporated
with an oily vehicle; or such similar fatty inks as are especially made and sold
for the purpose of transferring. When I re-photograph the ink-photo-print I
sometimes use an ink of which the vehicle is glycerine, mucilage, or similar
substances.
Soft wax, fat, varnish, soap or a mixture of these may in some cases be used in
place of ink when the image is to be transferred to stone or metal.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Eugenio de Zuccato in the Patent Office on the 28th February
1884.
EUGENIO DE ZUCCATO, of Charterhouse Street, in the City of London,
" AN
IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF PRODUCING PRINTS OR TRANSFERS OF PHOTO-
GRAPHIC PICTURES
"
My invention relates to an improved method or process of producing prints or
transfers of photographic pictures, and is, curried into practice in the following
manner, that is to say, I take what is known as a "Woodbury-type relief" of the
picture which it is desired to print or transfer, and I lay this relief upon a sheet
of paper or analogous material, placed on a slab or plate (such as those hereinafter
described) having a smooth surface which is inked with printers' ink so as to form
a grain, stipple or series of closely assembled lines or dots; I then press the said
relief, the paper, and the slab or plate together by suitable mechanical means,
whereupon the printers' ink will more or less completely "set off" and be impressed
on the paper or analogous material, and thus form a grained, stippled or lined
picture or ink-photo-print corresponding to the said "Woodbury-type relief." This
grained, stippled or lined image or picture may then be transferred to metal or
lithographic stone by any method known to printers; or the grained, stippled, or
lined image or picture may be photographed and a transfer made therefromn by any
method known to photo-lithographers and photo-zincographers.
The term "Woodbury-type relief" is well understood by photographic printers,
but to prevent any misapprehension I desire to state that I mean a gelatine film in
which the varying tints of a photograph are represented by varying thicknesses
of gelatine; or a substitute for the said "Woodbury-type relief" such as a cast
or mould.
The materials which, for the purposes of my invention, I regard as analogous to
paper are such thin flexible or yielding materials as will readily take an impression
in printers' ink. Among these may be mentioned tracing cloth, ribbed or grained
transfer paper, tin or other foil, gold beaters' skin, silk-fabric, or other suitable
tissue.
To explain what I mean by "a slab or plate having a smooth surface which is
inked with printers' ink so as to form a grain, stipple or series of closely assembled
lines or dots," I quote the following as examples, viz :—
(1) A lithographers' stone upon which a stipple or lined ground of any kind is
imprinted.
1
(2) A zinc plate upon which a stipple or lined ground of any kind is imprinted.
(3) A slab of any kind upon which a tint or stipple in printers' ink has been
inscribed or transferred.
1
(4) A slab or sheet of paper, either enamelled or plain, upon which a tint or
stipple in printers' ink has been impressed, inscribed or transferred.
By the term "printers' ink" I mean any ordinary printing ink in which a
pigment is incorporated with an oily vehicle; or similar fatty inks such as are
especially made and sold for the purpose of transferring. When I re-photograph
the ink-photo-print, I sometimes use an ink of which the vehicle is glycerine,
mucilage or a similar substance.
Soft wax, fat, varnish, soap or a mixture of these materials may, in some cases,
be used in place of ink when the image is to be transferred to stone or metal

page_text: Having thus fully described my said invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it understood that I claim:-
The production of a picture or transfer by pressing paper or analogous material
between a "Woodbury-type relief" and a slab or plate lined, grained or stippled
with ink, substantially as described.
In witness whereof I the said Eugenio de Zuccato have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twentyseventh day of February in the year of Our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty four.
EUG. DE ZUCCATO (L.S.)