IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING ON CLOTH AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carlo Pietroni, of London Wall, in the City of
London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING ON
CLOTH AND OTHER FABRICS."-A communication from Guiseppe Bossi, of
Vienna.
Sealed the 2nd December 1856, and dated the 10th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carlo Pietroni at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th June 1856.
I, CARLO PIETRONI, of London Wall, in the City of London, Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
ON CLOTH AND OTHER FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of machinery or apparatus so disposed and arranged
as to print cloth and other fabrics on to or upon the upper or top face, by a
movement or pressure of the cloth or fabric upwards to and against the
printing surface or surfaces, whether such surfaces are employed to print one
color only or two or more colors at a single operation or printing, or by a
series of operations or printings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Carlo Pietroni in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARLO
PIETRONI, of London Wall, in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Carlo
Pietroni, Her special licence that I, the said Carlo Pietroni, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Carlo Pietroni,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING ON
CLOTHS AND OTHER FAERICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Carlo Pietroni, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Carlo Pietroni, 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
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of machinery or apparatus so disposed and arranged
as to print cloth and other fabrics on to or upon the upper or top face by a
movement or pressure of the cloth or fabric upwards to and against the
printing surface or surfaces, whether such surfaces are employed to print one
color only or two or more colors at a single operation or printing, or by a
series of operations or printings.
And having thus set forth the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner in which it is to be performed. For this purpose I
have represented in the accompanying Drawing (as an illustration of the use
or purpose to which the Invention is more especially adapted) a machino or
apparatus, the particular object and intention of which is to print or impress

page_text: the four corners or quarters of the cloth or fabric to be printed each with a
repetition of the same design (which is to be produced in four colours), the
several quarters being printed each in a different color at one operation or
one series of printings, and the design completed in four operations or series
of printings, by quarter turns of the cloth or fabric, so as to repeat the four
colours upon cach quarter.
.
Figure 1 represents a plan view of the said machine or apparatus without
the carriages P and Q hereafter mentioned, and also without the upper
portion. or. frame of the table C hereafter mentioned. Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal sectional elevation of the apparatus; Figure 3 a transverse sectional
elevation of a portion of the same, shewing particularly the printing tablo
B, B, hereafter described, and parts in immediate connection therewith; and
Figures 4 and 5 are transverse and longitudinal sections respectively of the
color roller hereafter described. The Figures 1, 2, and 3, are drawn to a
scale of about three-fourths of an inch to a foot, and the Figures 4 and 5 to
a scale of about one inch and a half to a foot.
The apparatus consists mainly of a strong wooden framework A, constructed
so as to hold and contain three tables, namely, a printing table B, B, and two
color tables C, C, and D, D. Each of the three tables consists of two principal
portions or frames, that is to say, an upper frame and a lower frame, tho
frames of each table being so arranged that the pair may be lifted or raised
together, and the upper frame B of the middle or printing table being also
arranged so that it may be still further lifted or raised, so as to become
independent of and disconnected from its corresponding lower frame B. This
middle table is the one upon which the cloth or fabric to be printed is placed,
the same being stretched either upon the upper frame B or upon a portable
additional frame, fixed, when required, to or upon the said upper frame.
E is a lever, by pressing upon which with the foot the spindle F will be
lifted, carrying both the frames B, B, with it. G is another lever, which
may either be connected or not with the lever E by means of the adjusting
lever II, but when connected, and the lever E is pressed upon, will still
further lift the upper frame B, so as to raise it above the framework A, in
which position it will be free to turn round upon the spindle F (see Figures
1 and 3), and consequently a quarter turn may be given to the cloth or fabric
to be printed, when required. The lower frame B is to be properly secured,
so as not to turn, but simply to slide upwards and downwards, and the upper
frame B is formed with projecting pins or studs, *, which, when this frame
is lowered, fit into corresponding holes, grooves, or sockets *, *, in the lower
frame B, so as to prevent the upper frame from turning round upon the lower

page_text: one, and to hold it in either of the four positions required for the successive
stages of the process, the accuracy of the register being hereby ensured. The
upper and lower frames of the color tables C, C, and D, D, 'have springs c, c;
and d, d, interposed, but are lifted together (each pair separately, as required)
by the spindles K and L respectively, and the foot levers M and N respectively;
and are not required to turn upon their spindles. The upper surfaces of each
of these color tables is made clastic by having a woollen cloth stretched over.
it; this is again covered with an oiled cloth, and lastly with a bolting cloth for
receiving the printing color from the rollers hereafter described. None of
these cloths are represented in the Drawing. P and Q are moveable carriages
extending completely across the tables, and running on rails or trams 'R, R;
upon the framework surrounding them, and each of them supporting at one
end or side, and conveying along with itself a pair of rollers side by side
of and in line with each other, one only of which (to each carriage) is
represented in the Drawing, namely at S, S, in the Figure 2, and one of tliem
on the larger scale in the Figures 4 and 5. These rollers, which are for the
purpose of bolding the ink or color, and distributing it on to or upon the
bolting cloths upon the color tables C, C, and D, D, are constructed of sheet
iron, in which holes or openings are formed, and. are themselves covered with
a bolting cloth (not represented in the Drawing) for properly effecting the
distribution. And a square cases is fitted or fixed in the interior of each
roller for containing a store of ink or color, the discharge or supply of which
is regulated by means of a slide s*, which has holes or openings through it
corresponding with holes or openings in the cases when brought over cach
other, a, are spring latches or clips attached to the carriages P and Q, two
of them on each side of cach carriage, for holding it down to the framework A,
when immediately over the printing table B, the said latches or clips fitting
into and taking hold of the hasps or projecting pieces x*, x*, attached to such
framework. The blocks or forms from which the patterns or devices are to be
printed are not represented in the Drawing, but are fixed in underneath or to
the carriages P and Q, each carriage conveying two blocks or forms, each of
one quarter the size of the cloth or fabric to be printed.
The action of the apparatus or mode of using it is as follows:-Suppose the
carriages and the other parts of the apparatus to be in the respective positions
represented in the Figure 2, and the blocks or forms supported by the carriage
Q to have been already inked or colored with two distinct inks or colors, as
hereafter described, and completely ready for printing. The levers E and G
being disconnected, the foot lever E is to be depressed, which will lift up or
raise both portions of the table B together, and with them will also lift up

page_text: or raise the cloth or fabric to be printed, which is stretched upon such table,
and will press the said cloth or fabric against the blocks or forms, whereby it
will become printed in two inks or colors. On releasing the lever E, the
table B will become lowered; the latches a, a, aro then to be released from
the projections *, x*, and the carriage Q is to be moved (by means of its
handle) upon or along the tram R, R, so as to bring it over the color tablo
D, D. In its progress the pair of rollers S, S, which it carries, will distribute
their respective colors upon the bolting cloth or covering stretched over or
upon the said table, and when the rollers shall have passed completely over
and just beyond such table, it is to be lifted by pressing upon the foot lever N
so as to bring the said bolting cloth up to and against the under surface or
face of the blocks or forms supported by the carriage Q, whereby such blocks
or forms will receive two distinct inks or colors ready for another printing.
Suppose now that the same process has been already or previously performed
at the opposite end of the machine, the blocks or forms supported by the
carriage P will have received two further distinct inks or colors from the
bolting cloths upon the table C. The said carriage (P) is then to be moved
(by means of its handle) upon or along the tram R, R, so as to bring it
immediately over the printing table D, and so that its latches a, a, may fall
into and clip the projections a*, *, and hold it down to the framework A.
The levers E and G being still disconnected, the foot lever E is to be again
depressed, which will again lift up or raise the entire table B, and also tho
cloth or fabric to be printed, and will press the cloth or fabric against the
blocks or forms supported by the carriage P, whereby it will become printed
in two further distinct inks or colors. The cloth or fabric will therefore have
been printed with patterns or devices in four distinct colors, but each corner
or quarter will, or may be, different in color or device. The incomplete
printing operation therefore above described is to be repeated four times, the
upper portion of the table B with the cloth or fabric upon it being turned round
one quarter of a revolution between each such repetition. For this purpose
the latches a, a, of the carriage P are to be disengaged, and the carriage is to
be moved back again over the table C, C. The levers E and G are now to be
connected, and the lever E to be depressed, the effect of which will be not
only to lift up or raise both portions of the table B, but to lift up or raise the
upper portion thereof with the cloth or fabric upon it completely above the
framework A, in which position the required quarter revolution or turning
may be effected, the studs and sockets *,, being disengaged from each other.
The said upper portion of the table B is represented in the extreme elevated

page_text: position, and turned round one half of a quarter revolution in the Figures
1 and 3.
It is evident that when the four series of operations or printings above
described have been performed, each corner or quarter of the cloth or fabric
will have become similarly printed with the same devices or patterns, and
with each of the four colors required to be produced. But before concluding, I
would remark that the apparatus may be furnished with either a greater or less
number of color tables and carriages, according to the number of colours and
repetitions of the device required to be produced, and that when only one color
is required to be produced, the revolution of the upper portion of the printing
table and the apparatus for effecting its elevation above the framework may
bo dispensed with.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carlo Pietroni, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of December One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
CARLO PIETRONI. (L.S.)
CARLO PIETRONI.
(L.S.)