AN IMPROVED INK TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHIC PRINTING OR MARKING
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Croc, of Aubusson, in the Empire of France,
Chemist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED INK TO BE USED FOR THE
PURPOSES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHIC PRINTING OR MARKING."
Sealed the 28th April 1863, and dated the 15th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Croc at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th November 1862.
I, LOUIS CROC, of Aubusson, in the Empire of France, Chemist, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED INK TO BE
USED FOR THE PURPOSES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH PRINTING OR MARKING," to be
as follows:-
I prepare an ink to be used for the purposes of telegraphic printing or
marking in the following manner, the whole of the coloring matter which
I employ in accordance with my Invention being obtained from the alkaloid
known as aniline, and which is expressed by the formula CH'Az:-I dissolve.
the coloring matter so obtained in alcohol diluted with water, and I diminish
the drying properties of the resulting fluid by the admixture of any volatile or
non-volatile oil.
For the purpose of modifying or regulating the fluidity of the ink according
to the particular purpose to which or mode in which it is to be applied,
I incorporate with it a solution of gluten or any suitable ingredient capable of
giving the requisite amount of density or body.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Croc in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
CROC, of Aubusson, in the Empire of France, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Louis Croc, Her special licence, that I, the said Louis Croc, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis
Croc, 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 "AN IMPROVED INK
TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHIC PRINTING OR MARKING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis. Croc, 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 Louis Croc, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 inks used heretofore for telegraphic purposes consist of oils, into which
either Prussian or indigo blue is generally pounded, but such inks are liable
to some disadvantages, which I need not point out, as every practitioner in
telegraphy is very well aware of them.
The inks which I have contrived to compose have the following properties:-
They dry rapidly on paper; they keep the inking plug or roller damp for one

page_text: or more days, and yet do not dirt it; they have no corrosive action whatever
on the metallic parts of the apparatus; they are solutions and not coloring
matters in suspension in a liquid.
Coloring Matters.-I claim the use of all colors derived from aniline, which
colors are three in number, red, violet, blue; these colors I use either
separately or conjointly.
Dissolvents. As dissolvents of the said coloring matters I claim the use of
the following liquids, viz. :-All bodies pertaining to the alcoholic series ; the
fixed or solid oils; the volatile or essential oils; glycerine.
Thickening Matters.-I make use as thickening matters of resins, wax, &
generally of all substances which are suitable to unite with the above liquids
to render them thick or siccative.
Dissolutions of aniline in the above-mentioned liquids yield colored oils;
these, like all carburets of hydrogen, are instantly absorbed by paper, which
they penetrate, forming outlines of perfect neatness. This property is very
precious for quick transmission.
The improved inks I use either with Morse's apparatus or the like, or with
any printing type apparatus.
Having thus set forth the nature of my Invention, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that what I claim as new, and as being of my
Invention is, the manufacture and use of a new telegraphic ink, having for
coloring matter the colors derived from aniline, and for solvents and thickening
matters the liquids and substances above specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Croc, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
LOUIS CROC. (L.S.)