Clichés with Intaglio or Cameo Surfaces for Printing.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Oct., 1886
Complete Left, 20th July, 1887
Complete Accepted, 18th Oct., 1887
Clichés with Intaglio or Cameo Surfaces for Printing.
We, JACQUES BRUNNER, of Winterthur, Switzerland, Photographer, and CHARLES
KLARY, of 22 rue de Beaume, Paris, France, Photographer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:-
This invention has reference to improvements in or relating to the manufacture of
plates or clitchés having intaglio or cameo surfaces, that is to say, surfaces either
hollowed out or in relief, adapted for printing purposes. According to this invention
the plates or clichés are composed of celluloid or other substances having a similar
composition, or of hardened caoutchouc, ebonite, or other combinations of vulcanized
or non-vulcanized india-rubber, their intaglio and cameo surfaces being obtained by
the use of carbon paper or a gelatine surface that has been acted upon by light so as
to form hollows and reliefs thereon.
We have given to this invention the name of "Cellulotype." The method or
process of producing a plate or cliché is as follows:-We take carbon paper or a leaf
of gelatine or a layer of gelatine spread upon glass, metal, or any other surface, and
sensitize it with a solution of bichromate of potash or bichromate of ammonia or other
substances capable of sensitizing the gelatine. The gelatine may be of varying
thickness according to the nature of the original to be reproduced. When this
preparation is dry, we expose it to the light under a negative or a positive, the whole
being obtained by known photographic means. The latent image is then developed
by the usual methods, and we obtain an image either positive or negative, as the case
may be, consisting of hollows and reliefs, the surface being deeper or more elevated
according as the layer of gelatine employed was thicker or the exposure to the light
more or less prolonged. The photographic negatives or positives employed may be
obtained hatched or grained if images in half tones are required, or ordinary negatives
or positives may be obtained by the means usually adopted if a picture or drawing is
to be reproduced. When the picture obtained with the gelatine is dry it is hardened
by any suitable known means.

page_text: It is at this stage of the process that the novelty of our invention begins. By
means of an hydraulic press or other variable pressure we compress (in the state of
heat and malleability required by the product employed) the picture formed on the
gelatine and composed of hollows and reliefs on to a plate or leaf of celluloid, xylonite,
phibrolithoid or any other suitable substance with a basis of cellulose, and thus obtain
on the said plate or leaf a reproduction of the picture or image on the gelatine.
We may also employ hardened caoutchouc, ebonite, or other combinations of
vulcanized or non-vulcanized caoutchouc.
By this method or process we obtain as described a plate or cliché having surfaces
either hollowed out or in relief, which may be used direct for printing on printing
machines of various kinds.

page_text: COM
Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Plates or
Clichés with Intaglio or Cameo Surfaces for Printing.
We, JACQUES BRUNNER, of Winterthur, Switzerland, Photographer, and CHARLES
KLARY, of Paris, France, Photographer, 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 has reference to improvements in or relating to the manufacture, by
the aid of photography, of plates or clichés having surfaces in intaglio or in cameo
form, that is to say, surfaces either hollowed out or in relief adapted for printing
purposes. According to this invention the plates or clichés are composed of celluloid
or other analogous products, known in commerce under the names of Fibro-Lithoid,
Xylonite, and so forth, having a base of nitro-cellulose, their intaglio and cameo
surfaces being obtained by the use of coloured gelatinous tissues or any other surface
bearing a similarly composed gelatinous film, coloured or not, that has been acted
upon by light or photographic agencies, so as to form hollows and reliefs thereon.
The method or process of producing a plate or cliché is as follows:-We take a
piece of coloured gelatinous tissue or a leaf of similarly prepared gelatine, or a layer
of such gelatinous composition, coloured or not, spread upon glass, metal, or any
other suitable surface, and sensitize it with a solution of bi-chromate of potash or
bi-chromate of ammonia or other substances capable of sensitizing the gelatine.
The gelatine may be of varying thickness according to the nature of the original
to be reproduced.
When this preparation is dry, we expose it to the light under a negative or a
positive, obtained by known photographic means.
The latent image thus obtained on the gelatine is then developed by the usual
methods, and we obtain an image, either positive or negative, as the case may be,
consisting of hollows and reliefs, the surface being deeper or more elevated according
as the layer of gelatine employed, or the colouring of it, was thicker, or the exposure
to light more or less prolonged.
The photographic negatives or positives employed may he obtained hatched or
grained if images in half tones are required, or ordinary negatives or positives may
be obtained by the means usually adopted if a picture or drawing is to be reproduced.
When the picture obtained with the gelatine is dry, it is hardened by any suitable
known means.
It is at this stage of the process that the novelty of our invention commences.
By means of an hydraulic press or other means capable of exerting a variable
pressure, we compress the picture formed on the gelatine and which picture consists
of hollows and reliefs on to a plate or leaf of celluloid, xylonite, or Fibro Lithoid, or
other suitable material having a base of nitro-cellulose, so as to obtain a printing
plate or cliché therefrom and of that material.

page_text: The principle upon which we are able to effect this is that celluloid, xylonite, and
similar substances become soft and to a certain extent malleable at a high temperature,
and again resume their hardness when the temperature is lowered to the normal.
To carry our process to perfection it is preferable to have an hydraulic or other
press with plates which can be either heated by steam pipes, or cooled by a flow of
water at will, so that the two conditions of heat and cold can be given to the plate
or leaf of celluloid, xylonite, Fibro-lithoid, or equivalent alternately as required.
To obtain the greatest possible evenness of pressure throughout the material
operated on, it is preferable to use apart from the plates of the press two moveable
steel plates of great strength accurately flat and of equal thickness throughout and
each highly polished on one side. Between these two moveable steel plates we first
put the leaf of celluloid or other similar material employed, and then place the whole
in the press and heat to about 110° C. By then actuating the press, the leaf of
celluloid will have imparted to it by the steel plates, smooth polished surfaces, and
will be rendered perfectly even, and be better adapted to the purpose it is intended
for than if it were not so treated. When cool, the steel plates with the perfectly even
leaf of celluloid between them are removed from the press, the leaf of celluloid is
then taken out and it is then ready for use as hereinafter described.
In the first place the picture of gelatine which is fixed to a polished copper or
brass or other plane surface is to be placed upon one of the steel plates hereinbefore
mentioned, and upon the said picture of gelatine is then to be placed a sheet plate
or leaf of celluloid, xylonite, Fibro-lithoid or equivalent which has been rendered even
in the manner hereinbefore described, and above this the second steel plate is placed.
This pile consisting of two steel plates the gelatine picture or its support, and
the celluloid or other leaf is now placed in the hydraulic or other press and the
steam turned on so as to raise the temperature to about 110° of celsius' thermometer;
at this temperature or thereabouts the press is set in action and the pile is squeezed
with a pressure of about 40 kilogrammes to the square centimetre which pressure is
maintained for five minutes or thereabouts.
The steam is now turned off, and the plates of the hydraulic press are cooled by the
passage of cold water and when the temperature has again assumed the normal the
pressure is relieved and the celluloid plate or leaf which is now permanently impressed
as a counterpart to the gelatine picture is removed.
By this method or process, we obtain, as described, a plate or cliché having
surfaces either hollowed out or in relief, which may be used direct for printing in
printing machines of various kinds.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention,
and in what manner it is to be performed, it is to be noted that no claim is made
in respect of the electro-type or etching processes heretofore in use, but what we
claim is
The manufacture of a plate or cliché with intaglio or cameo surfaces for printing
purposes by compressing gelatine or gelatinous composition having a design, picture,
or image thereon, consisting of hollows and reliefs on to celluloid or other similar
product having a base of nitro-cellulose substantially in the manner hereinabove
described.
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