CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE MODE, METHOD, OR SYSTEM OF OBTAINING OR PRODUCING DUPLICATE COPIES OF MANUSCRIPTS, WRITINGS, AND DRAWINGS, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MACHINERY USED IN THE SAME
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DUNKIN, late of No. 2, Trinity Place, Charing Cross, in the Parish of Saint
Martin-in-the-Fields, and County of Middlesex, but now of Bordeaux, in the
Kingdom of France, late Officer in the 18th Regiment of Hussars, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of May, in the fifth year of His reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, did.
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Dunkin, His especial licence, full power, sole privilego and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Dunkin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Dunkin, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agreo with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS. IN
THE MODE, METHOD, OR SYSTEM OF OBTAINING OR PRODUCING DUPLICATE COPIES OF
MANUSCRIPTS, WRITINGS, AND DRAWINGS, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MACHINERY
USED IN THE SAME," being a communicated made to me by a certain foreigner
residing abroad, in which said Letters Patent there is contained a. proviso,
that I, the said Thomas Dunkin, shall cause a particular description of the.

page_text: nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performe
to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calend
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Lette
Patent, as in and by the same, referenco being thereunto had, will more ful
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the sa
Thomas Dunkin, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention an
in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described an
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereo
(that is to say):-
This Invention of certain improvements in the mode, method, or system c
obtaining or producing duplicate copies of manuscripts, writings, and drawings
and in the apparatus or machinery used in the same, consists, first, in a
improved method or system of obtaining duplicate copies or impressions o
writings, or pen and ink drawings, plans, or etchings; and in the second place
in an improvement in the construction of the press or apparatus used in the
same, to enable duplicate copies or impressions to be taken, or made with
greater facility on the leaves of a bound book. The first improvement, viz, the
improved method or system of obtaining the duplicate copies, is as follows:-
The manuscript, writing, drawing, plan, or etching in the first instance is made
with a pen on ordinary writing or other paper, or on any other proper smooth
surface with ink, (such as herein-after described,) or a gummy liquid not
susceptible of drying immediately. This writing or drawing is then to be trans-
ferred before it dries by pressure (as by passing it through a double roller or
other press) on to another perfectly smooth surface (such as herein-after
mentioned) capable of taking the ink or gummy writing or drawing from the
first paper; the now transferred writing or drawing is then to be covered with
an impalpable ink powder (such as herein-after described) capable of absorbing
the exterior dampness of the transfer, and should be black or coloured powder,
or such as will be so when wetted or melted by the dampness of the transferred
writing or drawing. This covering of the writing or drawing with the powder
may be done by shaking it over the transferring surface, the powder remaining
only on the lines of the transfer or drawing. The surplus powder is then removed
from the transferring surface with a light brush, which takes off all that does
not adhere to the lines of the transferred writing or drawing. After this is
done, the transfer is damped by breathing over it or otherwise, by which the
powder will become liquid or nearly so, and form the ink for giving the dupli-
cate copy or impression. The sheet of paper other material intended to

page_text: take the impression, is then laid upon the transfer, or the transfer upon it, and
both are subjected to pressure by passing them through a double roller or
other press, and by this means the damp ink powder is transferred to the sheet
of paper, and the first duplicate copy or impression is obtained. The transfer
is again to be powdered and the surplus removed, then again damped, and a
second sheet of paper placed in contact with it, and a second duplicate copy or
impression taken, and the same way for a third, fourth, and so on, at each
duplicate copy following the same proceedings. When the gummy transfer
fails in taking up sufficient ink powder to produce a perfect impression, it may bo
rubbed out or cleaned off the transfer surface with a sponge and water, and the
same surface again used for another transfer, and in order that this improved
system or method may be better understood, I shall more minutely and parti-
culary describe the ink and powder used therein, and also the process of pro-
ducing the duplicate copies. The manuscript, writing, or drawing is first
produced by a pen with a prepared ink, ink made as the ordinary writing ink,
such as two hundred parts of water, fifteen parts gall nut, fifteen parts sulphate
of iron, ten parts of common sugar, twelve parts gum arabic. To eighteen parts
in weight of this ordinary ink, add six and a quarter parts of sugar candy, two
and a half parts of deliquescent salt, such as marine salt, hydro-chlorate of lime,
chlorine or calcerine, &c.
Having written a page or produced a drawing on a sheet of paper or other
material with this prepared ink, place it on a waterproof varnished or polished
oiled silk or skin or other proper surface laid on the bed board of the press,
the writing or drawing being placed next or in contact with the smooth
surface of the said oiled silk or skin, a double cloth or a smooth card board
is then to be placed on them, and the whole passed through the press between
the rollers, by which the writing or drawing will be transferred from the
paper on to the oiled skin or silk or other smooth surface in reverse. An
impalpable powder intended to form the ink for making the duplicate copy or
impression, and composed of coloring ingredients according to the color desired,
is then passed over the oiled skin or silk or transferring surface; for example,
for black line writing or drawing the powder may be composed of sulphate of
iron or the acetate of iron, gall nut or gallic acid, sugar candy and lamp
black, the portions being varied according to the intenseness of the colour or
the number of duplicate copies wished to be obtained; for example, one part
lamp black, twenty-seven parts sulphate of iron, thirteen parts gall nut,
sixty parts of powdered sugar candy, will make an ink powder capable of
obtaining several copies of ordinary writing. The powder being passed over
the transferred writing or drawing adheres to it, and with a light long-haired

page_text: brush the oil skin is swept gently to take off the superfluous powder or that
which does not stick on with the trausfer. The powdered lines or transfer is
then damped by breathing over the whole surface of the oil skin until the lines
appear black and are damp, or the same effect-may_be_produced with more
regularity by using damped linen stretched over a board or on a sheet of metal
with the edges turned up and slightly wetted with a sponge, such plate or
linen being placed over the oil skin or silk or transferring surface, the edges
of the plate of metal or board preventing its touching the surface of the
transfer, but allowing the powder to take the dampness thrown out by the
linen or metal plate. When the transfer is sufficiently damp the paper
intended to take the duplicate copy is placed in contact with it, and they are
passed through the press and a first duplicate copy of the original manuscript
is taken. The transfer is then again immediately powdered, swept, damped,
and then passed through the press for a second copy, and so on, repeating the
system each time according to the number required, or that which the transfer
will give. Afterwards wash the varnished oil skin or transferring surface
with a wet sponge, and it is ready to take another transfer. The second
improvement, viz', in the construction of the press for producing duplicatė
copies on the leaves of a bound book is shewn in the accompanying drawing,
and consists in the application of a rod supported in ears or notches in front
of the bed board of the press, which rod is to be passed through the hollow
back of the book to support it, while the impression is being taken.
Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal view of a common double roller copying
press or machine with this improvement adapted to it. Figure 2 is a side
view of the same. A, A, is the bed board, which passes with, the transfer
surface and the paper between the pressing rollers B, B, turning in the
supports C, C, and are made to revolve by the winch handle D. E, E, are
two hooks at the end of the bed board supporting the rod F, which being
placed within the hollow of the back of a book, as shewn in Figure 2, supports
the book open in front of the press, so that the leaf on which the impression
is to be taken may be laid open the bed board in the same way as a single
sheet, there being notches or recesses G in the supporters, C, C, to allow the
rod and book to be brought sufficiently near to the rollers to take the impres-
sion up to the inner extremity of the leaf.
I
In conclusion, I would remark that by this improved method ordinary paper
may be used to operate upon in single sheets or in books without spoiling
the original manuscripts or drawings, and without the necessity of wetting the
paper. When copying into bound books, the rod F is passed through the
hollow back of the book, and then placed in the hooks E, the book hanging

page_text: down as shewn in Figure 2; the page or the leaf intended to receive the copy
or impression is then laid on the transfer, placed on the bed board, and the
whole is then passed forward and backward between the rollers, and the
impression is obtained.
And, lastly, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to claim any of
the parts used in these improvements separately, or the construction of the
copying press or machine, as that is not new, and forms no part of these
improvements, but I do claim the improved mode, method, or system of
obtaining or producing duplicate copies of manuscript writings and drawings
herein-before-particularly described, and also the addition of the rod F to tho
bed board of the press for the purpose of facilitating the production of such
duplicate writings or drawings in bound books..
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Dunkin, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
THOMAS (L.S.) DUNKIN:
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-named
Thomas Dunkin in the presence.
EDWARD LANCH,
of us,
Ucrumd-tattér, Place Bardmiac, Bordeaux.
Affidavit of John Brodribb Bergue, sworn this Third day of November, 1835,
before me,
J. E. DOWDESWELL.
John Brodribb Bergue, of the Foreign Office, Downing Street, in the City
of Westminster, Gentleman, make oath and saith, that he.knows and is well
acquainted with the handwriting of Thomas Brand Graham Scott, His

page_text: Britannic Majesty's Consul at Bordeaux, in the Kingdom of France; and
this deponent further saith he believes the signature T. B. G. Scott, set and
subscribed under the acknowledgment written upon the margin of the deed
poll or specification hereunto annexed, marked (A.), purporting to be the
specification of Thomas Dunkin, late of No. 2, Trinity Place, Charing Cross,
in the Parish of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, in the County of Middlesex, but
now of Bordeaux, in the Kingdom of France, late Officer of the 18th Regi-
ment of Hussars, of his Patent bearing dated the Thirteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, for "Certain
Improvements in the Mode, Method, or System of Obtaining or Producing
Duplicate Copies of Manuscripts, Writings, and Drawings, and in the Appa-
ratus or Machinery used in the same," and which specification bears date the
Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year aforesaid, to be of the proper hand-
writing of the said Thomas Brand Grabam Scott; and that this deponent
knows the said Thomas Brand Graham Scott to be His Majesty's Consul at
Bordeaux.