IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SURFACES FOR PRINTING OB ORNAMENTING FABRICS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, JOHN
CUMMING, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Pattern
Designer, 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 Twenty-ninth day of
April, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs. and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Cumming, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John
Cumming, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
John Cumming, my exors, admors, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales; and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SURFACES FOR PRINTING OB
ORNAMENTING FABRICS;" in which said' Letters Patent is contained a proviso
requiring that. I, the said John Cumming, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention; and in what' manner the same is to be performed; and shall
cause the same to be enrolled 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Cumming, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by this present Instrument in writing as follows, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto attached, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to various novel arrangements of apparatus or
means to be used for the production or formation of figured surfaces for
printing, embossing, or ornamenting other surfaces, such figured surfaces being
obtained partly by the agency of what is known as the electro-metallurgic
process, or the electro-disposition of metals. The figured surfaces so produced
are applicable for a great variety of uses, but more especially for the orna-
mentation or printing of woven fabrics, instead of blocks, plates, or cylinders,
engraved or figured in the ordinary way, the main objects of my Invention
being the obtainment of such surfaces with greater facility and accuracy, and
at a cheaper rate than by the existing modes in use. According to one
modification of my routine of processes, I proceed by taking a thin smooth
copper plate silverized on one surface, and on this silvery surface I deposit
a thin layer of copper by immersion in a solution of sulphate of copper
under the ordinary well-known electro-deposit process. When a thin layer
of copper has been obtained in this manner, the plate is removed from the
copper solution, and a sheet of fine silver wire gauze, or other permeable
material of a similar nature, is laid upon the newly-deposited copper layer.
In this state the whole is again subjected to the electro-deposit process,
and a second, but very slight deposit of copper is made on the back or
surface of the wire gauze. This latter deposit is continued until the penetra-
tion of the deposited metal between the meshes of the gauze shall connect the
latter firmly to the copper layer beneath it. When this is done, the first
copper layer is detached by heat in the usual manner, as practised by electro-
typists, the plate so detached having a smooth copper surface on one side, and
an adhering sheet of wire gauze on the other. The intended pattern is now
drawn or formed on the smooth face of this plate in or by a suitable varnish.
This varnish must be a non-conductor of electricity, and may be composed of
mastic, shell-lac, or other substance of a like nature, being by prefefence laid
on the plate by a hair pencil or pen. When the figure is so drawn or pro-
duced, the prepared plate is immersed in a vessel containing a solution
of a metallic salt, and is then put in communication with the negative
pole of a galvanic or voltaic battery. This treatment has the effect of
reducing, eating away, or dissolving all those parts of the plate which are

page_text: uncovered by the varnish or protecting coating, and the figure formed by
which coating is therefore left in relief and projecting from the surface of the
wire gauze.
In some solutions employed for the deposit, the silver wire gauze
must be protected from their effect, in others it will require no such protection,
as will be obvious to the practical man. According to another mode of
treatment, the plate, with its pattern drawn upon it, as I have described, is
immersed in a solution of nitric or other acid, the reverse side of the plate and
the wire gauze being protected from the action of such solution by a varnish.
In this way the uncovered surfaces of the plate are reduced or dissolved,
leaving the figure in relief above the surface of the wire gauze, as beforo
described. When this is accomplished, the plate is removed from the solution,
and the varnish thereon is washed off with the assistance of turpentine or
other suitable solvent, leaving the pure metallic relief surface beneath. Then,
to produce the actual blocks or plates for printing from, the treated plate is
laid with its figured surface downwards upon a layer of some soft non-conduct-
ing material, which may be composed of strong boiled oil and mastic or other
varnish mixed to the requisite consistency. Pressure is then applied to the
back of the plate, so as to cause the soft material on which the gauze surface
lays to percolate through the gauze and fill up all the spaces behind it, as left
between the lines of the relief figure, leaving the figured surface clear. In
this condition the plate, with its gauze and the layer of soft material applied
as I have described, is removed and immersed in a solution of any suitable
metallic salt, as sulphate of copper, and is connected to the positive pole of the
battery. This treatment causes the deposit of the metal in solution as copper
upon the metallic figured surface, so as to heighten the relief of the figure.
This deposition is continued so long as it can be done without causing the
spreading of the lines of the figure, or any injury to their sharpness or
evenness, when, if still further relief is necessary, the plate is removed from the
cupreous solution, and is again pressed with its gauze surface against another
layer of the soft non-conducting material already used. This second application
forces another layer of this soft substance through the gauze, adding so much
more to the thickness of the layer already percolated through the gauze to fill
up the spaces to the level of the increased relief of the figure. In this condi-
the
tion the whole is again placed in the metallic solution for deposition upon
figured surface of the metallic deposition, and the filling or forcing up beneath
the gauze being alternately carried on until the required relief of the figure is
arrived at. When the operator is satisfied of the sufficiency of this relief to
enable him to print from the figured surface with clearness, the entire surface
of the figured side of the plate is coated over with plumbago or other

page_text: substance, which will render the entire surface a conductor of electricity
Then, to clear off the plumbago from the surface of the relief lines, the
whole surface is treated with dilute nitric acid. The plate is. then again
finally placed in the battery, and metal is deposited over. its entire surface to
form a solid plate as a block or back for the figure to hold the lines in position,
so as to enable the operator to attach them to a printing block surface, or
form them into a cylinder, if intended for cylinder printing. The operation
is finally completed by separating the wire gauze with the front skeleton or
outline of the pattern.attached thereto, by means of heat, in the usual manner
of the separation (separation) of electro-deposited surfaces from their matrices.
The skeleton pattern or figured lines so removed with the gauze then answers
for the production of future copies of the figure, whilst the lines deposited on
the plate by the battery action, as before described, are left in. a. completed
state in readiness..for attachment to the printing apparatus,. the: layer of
non-conducting material being carried off by treatment with turpentine.. By
another modification of my processes, I commence by preparing a copper or
other metal plate with a coating of silver or other suitable conducting metal
by any of the. usual modes of electro-deposition plating or silverizing. This
coated plate is then treated with a partially conducting composition as a
ground, such composition being made of white lead. or other suitable conduct-
ing powder and 'tallow, wax and turpentine, or ingredients of a similar. nature.
This composition is varied to suit the kind of: pattern which is to be produced,
the proportions of the ingredients and the consistency of the composition being
determinable only by. the operator in reference. to: the openness. or otherwise,
or the intricacy or delicacy of the pattern, and the temperature: of the apart-
ment wherein the process is carried on. But the mixture. which I prefer for
general purposes consists of two parts of tallow, two of white lead, one of wax,
and a little maxtic. It is laid on the plate with the assistance of heat, in
order that the softening or melting of the composition may allów. the white
lead, or whatever other metallic matter may be used, to subside or fall through
the thickness of the coating until it forms a metallic layer in contact with the
silverized plate surface. This treatment is most conveniently carried on by
placing the original metal-coated plate in a shallow trough or case, the edges
of which fit the edges of the plate, and. the whole being placed horizontally,
the composition is poured over: the plate surface to the necessary. thickness.
When this coating hardens by the ordinary atmospheric temperature, the
treated plate consists as it were of four separate layers of material, the
original plate, its metallic coating, the layer of white lead, and..the external
tallow or greasy.composition. In this condition, the external coating being

page_text: made perfectly flat and level, the intended pattern or device is drawn
upon its surface or transferred thereto from a pencil or other drawing in
the ordinary manner of transfer. The artist or operator now etches down
through both the external coating and the layer of lead with an etching
needle or other hard instrument, having a breadth or thickness of point suited
to the lines required to be produced, the point of the instrument being in all
cases passed clear down through the two coats to the metal, surface, so as to
lay the plate completely bare through the length and width of the lines of the
pattern; or, instead of this process the transferring and etching down may be
simultaneously accomplished with the aid of the pentagraph, as used for copying,
reducing, or enlarging plans and drawings. When this is the case, the
pattern is first drawn upon paper or other surface, and the pentagraph being
suitably adjusted, its tracer is traversed over the pattern figure, whilst the
opposite arm of the pentagraph having a proper instrument attached to it
etches or cuts out the figure to the required-scale; or, instead of this duplex
process, the pentagraph may be used merely for transferring the device from.
the original drawing to the prepared surface of the plate with a light point or.
pencil, as it affords great facilities for the reduction or enlargement of the.
original figure. In this stage of the process the plate presents a composition
surface, with the pattern in intaglio: or sunk through it, in correspondence in
every particular with the original design, or with such portions of the design
as it is intended that the plate shall print. Now as the etching down cannot
be conveniently or accurately performed through a thick coating, owing to the
accumulation of the disentegrated portions of the composition ground and the
difficulty of preserving a clear, sharp outline therein, it is usually necessary, at
least in some details of the pattern, to thicken the coating after the etching
has been accomplished, in order to secure a sufficient amount of relief of the
printing surface. This thickening is performed by floating on a building care-
fully up over the blank portions an additional layer of the composition, or of
tallow alone, or a mixture containing it. This is conveniently effected by
using a heated flask containing the composition in a fluid state, and fitted with
a small tube, by which the fluid may be made to flow gently out upon the
composition on the plate, carefully avoiding any filling-up of the pattern lines;
or, instead of this plan of pouring on the melted material for thickening the
coating; the latter may be gradually thickened by bringing it into contact with
a roller revolving in a trough of melted tallow, so as to cause the roller to lay
on a continuous series of layers of the tallow. This is continued until the
required thickness of coating is obtained, the open portions of the figure
being thickened to a greater extent than the intricate details, less relief being

page_text: required in the printing surface at the latter parts, as is well known to the
practical man. The plate so prepared is submitted to the electro-deposition
process in the ordinary manner, so that copper or other metal, according to
the nature of the metallic solution which is used, being deposited upon the
whole of the uncovered lines, that is, along all the sunk pattern lines, the
deposition being continued until the etched lines are filled up to the level of
the coating. And in case the etching ground should not have been completely
removed in any portions of the lines of the figure, the presence of the lower
metallic layer will cause the due conduction of the electrical action and the
consequent regular deposit of the metal at those parts. The distance between
the external surface of the coating and the plate surface is the amount of
pattern relief. The entire surface, as well of the metallic pattern figures as
the coating, is now made capable of electric conduction by a suitable metallic
coating in the usual way, the coating being removed from the metallic pattern
lines by the aid of dilute nitric acid, and the whole is again placed in the
metallic solution for the electro-deposit of metal over the entire surface to form
a back or solid body or plate for the pattern. The plate is completed for use
by separating the figure surface from the original matrix, when it may be
mounted for printing from.
Another branch of my Invention relates to the formation of printing surfaces
by coating and etching down upon a plate according to the general process
which I have just described. The prepared plate is then immersed in a solution
of iron, zinc, or other metal, soluble in any solution or agent which does not act
on copper. The electro-deposit process is then put in action to precipitate the
metal of the solution so as to fill up the etched pattern lines to the requisite
depth. It is then removed from this solution, and the non-conducting coat is
dissolved or carried away from the surface in the manner which I have already
described, so as to leave the plate clean with the relief pattern lines on its
surface. After this treatment the plate is then further immersed in a metallic
alkaline solution, so that the iron or other metallic relief lines may not be
affected; and in this condition it is subjected to the electro-deposit action for
the deposit of whatever metallic salt is used, such as copper, over the entire
surface of the plate, covering both the relief and sunk surfaces. The original
matrix plate is again detached from the last metallic deposit by heat in the
usual way, as well as from the iron or other metallic relief lines, so as to
obtain the last deposited plate detached from its base, but having the iron or
other metallic lines or figures inserted in it. This latter plate is then immersed
in sulphuric acid or other solvent of iron, for the dissolution of the iron or other
metallic lines, leaving the indented bed of such lines in the unaffected copper

page_text: plate, which is thus completed in readiness for printing from when duly
mounted. In forming cylindrical surfaces by the direct aid of electro-
deposition, I prepare a copper or other metallic cylinder by silverizing and
coating with the white lead and tallow solution, etching down the pattern as
already described. The prepared cylinder is then submitted to the process
which I described under my last-mentioned modification, for the purpose of
depositing iron or zinc in the lines of the figure; after which, the non-
conducting coating is dissolved and copper or other suitable metal deposited, as
before explained. The cylinder is then placed in the lathe, and the outer
coating of copper is turned off it, bringing the surface quite true and reducing
it by turning until the iron or other metallic deposit beneath comes into view.
When this is the case, the immersion of the cylinder in a solution capable of
acting on the iron causes the solution of the latter metal and completes the
process. I also propose to make use of iron surface printing blocks, plates, or
cylinders, made according to the processes or modifications thereof which I
have herein-before described, to obtain repeats or fac-similes, or reverses
thereof, by pressuré. To do this I case-harden my electro-formed iron sur-
faces or plates to enable them to resist the pressure required, and then impress
them on copper plates or cylinders after the manner of "milling," as practised
at present from engraved rollers.
Another variety of my processes relates more especially to the production of
printing or ornamenting surfaces, to be used for printing a great variety of
colours. This branch is carried into effect by etching down the outline of all
the objects in each colour of the intended pattern on a surface prepared in the
manner which I have herein-before described, under the second general head
of my Invention. When this is completed, all the lining of the block, with
exception of a single colour, is filled up with sand, stucco, or other suitable
material or composition in a state of powder, and able to withstand the effect
of great heat. Then an impression of this prepared plate is taken in soft
metal by casting, so as to produce a plate having a relief surface of those parts
relating to one colour only, and this plate is prepared for printing its share of
the pattern by an electro-deposit of copper or other suitable hard metal on the
relief surface. The same process is repeated throughout the entire routine of
colours, alternately filling up and casting from each colour section until as
many blocks as colours are prepared; or, instead of this process, a similar
result may be attained by an electro-deposit of metal for each block by any of
the processes which I have herein-before described; and although I have
herein-before described my various processes as more especially suited for

page_text: printing purposes, I may remark that the same are also capable of economical
use in the preparation of embossing surfaces and figures for various other
ornamental purposes.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the systems or modes of forming or producing figured surfaces, as
herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of wire gauze or other similar permeable
material for the production of figured surfaces, as herein-before described.
Third, the application and use of figured surfaces formed in combination
with or supported upon wire gauze or other suitable permeable material.
Fourth, the system or mode of increasing the amount of relief of the figure
by forcing non-conducting matter through a permeable back to the face of the
figure.
:
Fifth, the system or mode of thickening, building up, or deepening the
etching or figuring ground by additions to the figured ground, as herein-before
described.
Sixth, the application and use of a metallic layer in the etching or figuring
ground, as herein-before described.
Seventh, the system or mode of conducting the electro-deposit to the bottoni
of the figured lines in the etched or figured ground by means of a metallic
layer or metallic particles in the ground, as herein-before described.
Eighth, the adaptation and use of the pentagraph for drawing on or figuring
the ground, as herein-before described.
Ninth, the system or mode of producing figured surfaces of compound metals,
or of two or more metals in combination, as herein-before described.
Tenth, the system or mode of producing figured surfaces by means of case-
hardened electro- formed iron matrices.
Eleventh, the systems or modes of producing figured surfaces for printing
more than one colour by alternately filling up the lining of all the colours
except one, and casting or electro-depositing the figure in the latter lines, as
herein-before described.

page_text: Twelfth, the employment and use of a coating or layer of silver or other
suitable conducting film to facilitate the separation of the deposited plate from
the matrix or foundation, as herein-before described.
Thirteenth, the application of an electro-deposited back to the pattern lines,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cumming, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.