IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRINTING INK
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Tolmes, of Lincoln's Inn Fields Chambers,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PRINTING INK."
Sealed the 6th November 1866, and dated the 29th June 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Holmes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
June 1866.
I, SAMUEL HOLMES, of Lincoln's Inn Fields Chambers, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRINTING INK," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to take advantage of the intensely black and
brilliant qualities of animal pitch, commonly called bone pitch, obtained from
bone oil, by using it as an economical auxiliary to the vegetable or other
lampblacks heretofore used in the manufacture of printing ink.
For the purposes of this Invention, I propose to submit the pitch to the
action of coal naptha of about eight hundred degrees of specific gravity, which
assisted by heat renders it soluble. The following is an example of the mode
of manufacturing printing ink according to this Invention. In a pan or still, I
place, say, a hundred pounds of hard pitch, to which I add about twenty gallons
of coal naptha of the density above-mentioned, by means of which a complete
solution of the pitch is effected, but may be accelerated by slight heat and
agitation; when fluid, I add about eighteen gallons of any oil suitable for

page_text: making printing ink, and blend them together by stirring; I next close the
still head and increase the heat until the naptha is either partially or entirely
driven off according to the quality of the ink required; after cooling the
pitch and oil will be found united, I then add thereto about twenty-four
pounds of lampblack to deaden the color and give body to the ink; after
taking the ink from the still the whole is incorporated by grinding which
completes the manufacture.
Two other examples of a method of making printing ink possessing all the
advantages of that above described, are as follows:-I form a solution, by
heat, of bone pitch in an oil produced by the distillation of rosin, the pro-
portions of materials being varied according to the density or hardness of the
pitch. For example, to four hundredweight of soft bonc oil pitch melted by
heat, I add about seven hundredweight of the oil obtained from rosin, and
about one and a half hundredweight of lampblack, the whole to be thoroughly
ground, or I dissolve four hundredweight of hard pitch in a pan or other
vessel by heat, and to facilitate its inelting and prevent its being carbonized,
I mix one-fifth part by weight of the oil obtained from rosin and subject them
to heat; when melted the remaining quantity of oil, making-in-all-ten-hundred-
weight, is added and stirred until the whole is thoroughly incorporated, after
which about two hundredweight of lampblack is stirred in, and the whole
ground.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Holmes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HOLMES, of Lincoln's Inn Fields Chambers, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
the said Samuel Holmes, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Holmes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Holmes, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF PRINTING INK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Holmes, 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
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 Samuel Holmes, 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, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to take advantage of the intensely black
and brilliant qualities of animal pitch, commonly called bone pitch, obtained
from bone oil, by using it as an economical auxiliary to the vegetable or
other lampblacks heretofore used in the manufacture of printing ink.
For the purpose of this Invention I proposo to submit the pitch to the
action of coal naptha of about eight hundred degrees of specific gravity, or
thereabout, which assisted by heat renders it soluble. The following is an
example of the mode of manufacturing printing ink according to this Invention.
In a pan or still I place say a hundred pounds of hard pitch, to which I add
about twenty gallons of coal naptha of the density above-mentioned, by means
of which a complete solution of the pitch is effected, but may be accelerated by
slight heat and agitation; when fluid I add about eighteen gallons of any oil
suitable for making printing ink and blend them together by stirring, I next
close the still head and increase the heat until the naptha is either partially or
entirely driven off according to the quality of the ink required; after cooling
the pitch and oil will be found united, I then add thereto about twenty-four
pounds of lampblack to deaden the color and give body to the ink; after taking
the ink from the still the whole is incorporated by grinding, which completes
the manufacture.
Two other examples of a method of making printing ink possessing all the
advantages of that above described, are as follows:-I form a solution by heat
of bone pitch in an oil produced by the distillation of rosin, the proportions
of materials being varied according to the density or hardness of the pitch.
For example, to four hundredweight of soft bone oil pitch melted by heat
I add about seven hundredweight of the oil obtained from rosin, and about
one and a half hundredweight of lampblack, the whole to be thoroughly

page_text: ground; or I dissolve four hundredweight of hard pitch in a pan or other
vessel by heat, and to facilitate its melting, and prevent its being carbonized,
I mix one-fifth part by weight of the oil obtained from rosin, and subject
them to heat. When melted the remaining quantity of oil, making in all ten
hundredweight, is added and stirred until the whole is thoroughly incorporated,
after which about two hundredweight of lampblack is stirred in and the whole
ground.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for improvements in the manufacture of printing ink, together with
the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical
effect, I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim the processes
above described of manufacturing printing ink, and especially I claim
the use of bone oil pitch in and for the manufacture of printing ink
generally.
In witness whereof, T, the said Samuel Holmes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.