CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Vincent Marie Dopter, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, and of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, for the Invention of
AT PRINTING ADDIC "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Vincent Marie Dopter
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th April 1855.
I, JEAN VINCENT MARIE DOPTER, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and
of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING FABRICS" to be as
follows, viz. :-
My Invention relates to the application of ordinary printing colours which
are reduced into powder to printing and tracing off, or counter-drawing, on any
kind of fabrics by lithography, chromo-lithography, zincography, copper-plate
engraving, typography, and also by all the modes of printing that are carried
on in different colours with fatty or glutinous substances that can be reduced
into powder, such as varnish, mordants, resin, different kinds of wax and gum,
glue, dextrine, &c. For this purpose, the colours having been pulverized very
fine by any suitable means, either one or the other of the following processes
may be adopted':-The stone, wood, or metal on which the engraving has been

page_text: made is coated with a fatty or else with a glutinous or agglutinative substance,
and the design having thus been prepared is made to receive the powdered
colour, which by application of a considerable pressure is then fixed on the
fabric that has previously been damped for that purpose.
Another process which I follow consists in printing the fabric over with a
fatty substance or with an unctuous substance, the fabric having previously
been covered with thin leaves of gelatine, or coated with a soluble matter,
which forms a proper dressing or sizeing for protecting the fabric and resisting
the colour except where the coating is printed upon.
A third mode is by printing with the above-mentioned substance upon a
very thin sheet of gelatine, powdering the parts printed upon and affixing or
glueing said sheet upon the fabric, which being subjected to steam absorbs the
colours on the parts powdered upon by the steam dissolving the gelatine.
A fourth mode is by printing- upon any kind of fabrics covered with gum,
varnish, gelatine, caoutchouc, starch, and upon smooth wood surfaces, varnished
or enamelled leather, vellum, plain metals and paper, and also such as have
been glazed by pressure or by the application of gelatine, varnish, gums, &c.;
and also by printing upon any solid and smooth surface which can receive
impressions from unctuous or glutinous matters, and from which these impres-
sions when duly powdered with the proper colour can be taken off on dry or
damp fabrics.
A fifth mode which I use is by making impressions upon paper, or any other
solid body that has been coated on one side, like counter-drawing paper, with
some soluble and unfatty substances, for tracing off by pressure and damping
any fatty substance that may be printed on it, and made to retain the colour
strewn upon the same. The paper or other object to be printed from must, on
the contrary, be prepared with fatty substances when impressions have to be
traced off that are made with a watery or unfatty solution. All the prints
thus obtained can be illuminated as may be desired with liquid colours that
are charged with salts and acids, the same as they are prepared in all printing
operations. The colouring may be done by blocks, by patterns, or templets,
and brush, either on the impression that is dusted over with colour powder for
tracing off, or else on the fabric itself, which is coated with starch, and has
already received the shape of the design either by direct printing or by tracing
off. Those substances that are apt o form resists upon a coloured ground
work, either on account of being.impervious or of being composed of corroding
or of fatty matters, may also be used in powder for the different kinds and
different means of printing described above. The fabrics as usual are sub-
jected to the action of a mordant previously to receiving the colour, and are

page_text: subjected to steam, when the printing or colouring operation is finished.
In order to bring the patterns of different colours in the precise place where
they ought to be, I fix the fabric before beginning tracing off by means of a
glutinous substance or any solid body, such as paper, leather, vellum, metals,
sized, dressed, varnished, or gummed fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Vincent Marie Dopter in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
VINCENT MARIE DOPTER, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 82,
Essex Street, Strand, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Jean Vincent Marie Dopter, Her special licence, that I, the said Jean Vincent
Marie Dopter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Jean Vincent Marie Dopter, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Jean Vincent Marie Dopter, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Vincent Marie Dopter, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My Invention relates to the application of ordinary printing colours which
are reduced into powder to printing and tracing off, or counter-drawing, on any
kind of fabrics by lithography, chromo-lithography, zincography, copper-plate

page_text: engraving, typography, and also by all the modes of printing that are carried
on in different colours with fatty or glutinous substances that can be reduced
into powder, such as varnish, mordants, resin, different kinds of wax & gum,
glue, dextrine, &c. For this purpose, the colours having been pulverized
very fine by any suitable means, either one or the other of the following
processes may be adopted :-The stone, wood, or metal on which the engraving
has been made is coated with a fatty or else with a glutinous or agglutinative
substance, and the design having thus been prepared is made to receive the
powdered colour, which, by the application of a considerable pressure, is then
fixed on the fabric that has previously been damped for that purpose.
Another process which I follow consists in printing the fabric over with a
fatty or with an unctuous substance, the fabric having previously been covered
with thin leaves of gelatine, or coated with a soluble matter, which forms a
proper dressing or sizing to protect the fabric and resist the colour except
where the coating is printed upon.
A third mode is by printing with the above-mentioned substance upon a
very thin sheet of gelatine, powdering the parts printed upon and affixing or
gluing said sheet upon the fabric, which being subjected to steam absorbs
the colours on the parts powdered upon by the steam dissolving the gelatine.
A fourth mode is by printing upon any kind of fabrics covered with gum,
varnish, gelatine, caoutchouc, starch, and upon smooth wood surfaces, varnished
or enamelled leather, vellum, plain metals and paper, and also such as have
been glazed by pressure or by the application of gelatine, varnish, gum, &c.,
and also by printing upon any solid and smooth surface which can receive
impressions from unctuous or glutinous matters, and from which these impres-
sions, when duly powdered with the proper colour, can be taken off on dry or
damp fabrics.
A fifth mode which I use is by making impressions upon paper, or any other
solid body that has been coated on one side, like counter-drawing paper, with
some soluble and unfatty substances, for tracing off by pressure and damping
any fatty substance that, printed on it, may be made to retain the colour strewn
upon the same. The paper or other object to be printed from must, on the
contrary, be prepared with fatty substances when impressions have to be traced
off that are made with a watery or unfatty solution. All the prints thus
obtained can be illuminated, as may be required with the liquid colours that
are charged with salts and acids, the same as they are prepared in all printing
operations. The colouring may be done by blocks, by patterns, or templets,
and brush, either on the impression that is dusted over with colour powder
for tracing off on the fabric, or else on the very fabric itself, which is coated

page_text: with starch, and has already received the shape of the design, either by direct
printing or by tracing off. Those substances that are apt to form resists upon
a coloured groundwork, either by being impervious or by being composed of
corroding matters, may also be used in powder for the different kinds and
different means of printing described above. The fatty resists are also used
for all the modes of printing set off in the description of my process.
I print
or trace off on fabrics in the same manner as the steam, application, madder,
&c. colours, the mordants which corrode, and the substances which make the
fabric impervious to the dying or the print. The fabrics as they are usually
made before receiving the colour are subjected to the action of a mordant
previously to receiving the colour, and are subjected to steam, when the
printing or colouring operation is finished. In order to bring the patterns of
different colours in the precise place where they ought to be, I fix the fabric
before beginning tracing off by means of a glutinous substance on any solid
body, such as paper, leather, vellum, metal, sized, dressed, varnished, or gummed
fabrics.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that what I claim as novel, and being secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, reducing into powder cloth printing colours (either steam or applica-
tion colours), mordants for madder, cochineal, and other dying substances,
mordants corroding on dyed or printed fabrics, and such substances as form
resists or spares, that is to say, preserve the fabric from colouring.
Second, applying those powders to printing or tracing off on every kind of
fabrics by lithography, chromo-lithography, zincography, copper-plate engraving,
typography, and also by all the modes of printing that are carried on in
different colours with fatty or glutinous substances that can be powdered upon.
Third, powdering over the stone, wood, or metal on which the drawing or
engraving has been made, coated with either a fatty or a glutinous or agglu-
tinative substance that is made to receive the powdered colour, and by the
application of a considerable pressure is then fixed on the fabric that has
viously been damped for that purpose.
pre-
Fourth, covering the fabric with a gelatine coating which resists the colour
except where said coating is printed upon.
Fifth, applying on the fabric previously damped a thin sheet of gelatine
printed and powdered upon, which being dissolved by steam leaves the colour
on the fabric.
Sixth, printing on any solid and smooth body than can be powdered upon,

page_text: and transmit the print thus powdered to the fabric, such as paper, wood
metal, varnished leather, vellum, &c., or fabrics coated or uncoated with gum,
varnish, &c.
Seventh, printing on paper or any other solid body glutinous soluble sub-
stances that by pressure and previous damping take off on the fabric any
fatty substance duly powdered with the proper colour.
Eighth, the sizing of the fabric intended to be printed or traced off on any
solid body coated with an agglutinative substance, such as paper, leather,
vellum, metal, wood, &c., in order to bring the patterns of different colours in
their right place.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Vincent Marie Dopter, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
J. V. M. DOPTER. (L.S.)