Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 15th June, 1888
Specification Accepted, 28th Sept., 1888
A communication from HENRY FERDINAND ARNOLD, of Manchester, Delaware
County, Iowa, United States of America, Attorney at Law.
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, M.I.M.E.
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in blotter baths or devices for keeping the
pads for making what are known as letter press copies, in a moistened condition at all
times, and with such a uniform moisture that they can be used without further
trouble and with the best results. To accomplish this result, the pads are kept in a
constantly moist atmosphere within a closed receptacle so that after use they will
absorb as much moisture as they parted with when in use, and thus always remain in
condition for instant use. The degree of moisture of the atmosphere in which they
are kept must be easily regulated in order that the pads may never become too wet or
too dry. These objects are achieved by means of the mechanism as will be herein-
after more particularly described.
Referring to the accompanying drawings in which the same letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in each of the Figures :-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bath open. Figure 2 is a vertical sectional
view of the same, closed. Figure 3 is a detached detail view of the interior arrange-
ments of the bath, and figure 4 is a similar view partly broken away, of a modified
form of the interior arrangements of the bath.
A designates the pan which may be of tin, galvanised iron, earthenware or other
suitable material, and of any convenient shape and size. To this vessel a closely
fitting lid or cover B, is hinged or otherwise suitably secured, which when closed can
be secured by means of an ordinary clasp or fastening D, and when open, may be
supported in a vertical position by means of brackets, or supports E upon the rear
side of the pan, and against which the edge of the lid rests when open. Any kind

page_text: of short legs or supports may be placed under the vessel, or they may be dispensed
with and the vessel may rest flat upon its bottom.
Within this vessel is placed the rack or other support F upon which the pads are
placed, which consists of a plate of metal, or other suitable thin material, either with
or without holes or apertures through it. This rack can be secured in position in a
variety of ways, as for instance by means of beads upon the interior of the vessel at
the desired height above the bottom, or it may be provided with legs or feet. The
legs may be made separate from the rack, and be suitably secured thereto by means
of screws, riveting, &c., or they may be formed by bending the two opposite edges of
the plate of metal down at right angles to the body of the plate. In this manner the
rack can be made very cheap as it can be struck up from a single piece of metal, and
requires no particular construction of the vessel for its support.
up
Secured to this rack and extending up into the lid or cover B, is a cloth G, or piece
of absorbent material which by reason of capillary attraction will take a portion of the
water which is placed in the bottom of the vessel below the rack, and will spread it all
over the top of the rack from whence it will be absorbed by the pads, and will also
pass it the side of the vessel into the cover from whence it will escape by evapora-
tion and be absorbed by that portion of the pile of pads farthest from the layer of
moisture upon the top of the rack. In this manner the entire pile of pads, of which
there are sufficient to copy several letters at the same time, are kept at the same
degree of moisture throughout and the copies taken by the different pads will all be
the same without the necessity of turning the pile occasionally to keep those at the
bottom from becoming too moist and those at the top from becoming too dry.
The cloth may be secured to the rack in any suitable manner, it only being
necessary that a portion of it upon each, side be extended, down into the water and
pass entirely over the top of the rack. The opposite portion of the cloth is secured
upon a frame H, made out of wire or other light material, and is kept in place by
means of the spring, or elasticity of the frame, or it may be secured upon hooks or
other means of securement placed within the lid. It is preferable to have the portion
of the cloth that extends from the cover down into the bottom of the vessel to pass
down the side of the vessel to which the cover is secured as it interferes less with the
operation of the cover than it would at any other place. If desired, the cloth may
be left long enough to hand down in front when the cover is closed and thus envelope
the pads upon all sides.
To prevent the bottom pads from absorbing too much water from the wet cloth
upon the top of the rack, a perforated piece of water-proof material I, is placed
upon the cloth which will prevent the passage of the water up into the pads only
through the holes in the water proof. To regulate the amount of water that passes up
into the cloth upon the rack, two clamps J, J, are employed one upon each side of the
rack through, which the cloth is passed, and which are each provided with a thumb-
nut K at each end. One half of each clamp is placed above the rack and the other
half is below it and the thumb nuts are passed through the upper pieces, through the
rack and into the lower pieces, so that by turning the nuts the one way or the other,
the clamps can be made to permit more or less water pass through the cloth, and thus,
regulate the amount that is to pass into the blotters upon the waterproof material, the
water passing from the cloth through the holes L in the waterproof material directly
into the bottom layers of blotters and from those up through the others. The water-
proof might be dispensed with, and tin or other metal substituted, as it is necessary to
have something to prevent, the edges of the pads from becoming wetter than the
central portion and also to prevent them from absorbing too much water. To obtain
a better result it has also been found better to place a piece or strip, M of leather
rubber or other similar material along the edges of the rack directly over the lower
half of each clamp and pass the cloth over it, and then by making the lower edge of
the upper half of the clamp sharp nearly like the edge of a knife so that it will press
down into the cloth and leather, the flow of the water can thus be shut off entirely if
desired, or it can be opened so wide that the blotters can be flooded in a short time.
By securing the lower halves of the clamps to the rack, additional strength is given

page_text: to the rack and the rack could thus be made out of wire netting or woven wire.. By
making the clamps out of iron or some non-corrosive metal, there will be no trouble
of its swelling when it becomes wet, as would be apt to be the case with wooden
clamps.
Instead of constructing the interior of the bath as above described, it can be made
as shown in figure 4 in which the rack is provided with horizontal slot N N and has
a slotted slide upon it, the slot of which register with those of the rack, and which,
when it is moved forward or back upon the rack, will open or close the holes. The
slide can be moved by means of a thumb piece P, and is kept in place by means of
screws through the slots R. In this construction the cloth. over the top of the
rack is dispensed with entirely and the blotters moistened by the evaporation from the
water placed in the bottom of the pan, although the cloth in the top of the cover
having its side extended down into the water is used in the same manner as in the
other construction. To permit of the free circulation of the moistened air under-
neath the pile of blotters they are placed upon a supplemental rack S about half an
inch above the top of the lower rack. This supplemental rack is provided with
horizontal slots that extend entirely across the rack, or the rack can be more
preferably and cheaply made out of wire netting or woven wire, having its edges
bent down to form feet or have feet secured to it in any suitable manner as with the
lower rack.
In either of the above constructions, it is necessary that such material be used as
will not be affected by the action of the water, such as tin, galvanized or plated
metal, and the pan and rack can be made of such size as will accommodate the size of
pads to be used. If desired, the additional rack could be placed upon the cloth instead
of the waterproof material and the pads be moistened from evaporation.
In operation, the blotter pads are first moistened by placing about half of them
in water and thoroughly wetting them, after which they are placed alternately
between the dry ones and placed all in a press for a short time. This causes the
entire lot of them to become of about the right degree of moisture for use. They
are then placed on the rack in the bath and the clamps regulated to keep them
at about that degree as long as they remain in the bath. If the atmosphere is hot
and dry, it will require that the clamps be more open than when it is cold or moist.
A little experience will soon enable the operator to judge of the right position to
leave the clamps after which it will only be necessary to give the thumb-nuts a
slight turn one way or the other to always have the blotters in condition to make
clear and distinct copies of all letters or papers without having one portion of them
so faint that it cannot be read or another portion to be so blurred from the excess of
moisture as to be unintelligible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is
1. The combination with a blotter bath of a lining of absorbent material.
2. The combination with a blotter bath of a rack for the pads, and a lining of
absorbent material.
3. The combination with a blotter bath of a rack for the pads, and a covering for
the rack of an absorbent material.
4. The combination with a blotter bath of a rack for the pads, a covering for the
rack, of an absorbent material, and mechanism for regulating the amount of water
passing into the cover for the rack.
5. The combination with a blotter bath, of a rack for the pads, a covering for the
rack of absorbent material and clamps for regulating the amount of water passing
into the cover for the rack.
6. The combination with a blotter bath of a rack a covering for the same of an
absorbent material, a clamp upon each side of the rack consisting of two pieces, one
above and the other below the rack, a strip of leather upon the top of the rack

page_text: between the two pieces of each clamp, the under edge of the upper piece of each
clamp being sharpened and thumb nuts at each end of each clamp.
7. The combination with a blotter bath, of a rack a covering for the same of an
absorbent material, and a piece of perforated waterproof material upon the absorbent
material.
8. The combination with a blotter bath provided with a cover of a frame within the
cover, and a piece of absorbent material upon the frame one edge of which extends to
the bottom of the bath.