IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING. AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Leighton, of 9, Buckingham Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING. AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Leighton at the
Office of the Commissioners. of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th January 1866.
I, ALFRED LEIGHTON, of 9, Buckingham Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in printing, and is applicable
more especially in ornamenting or lettering articles of which the surface is not
flat, but curved or irregular. The printing surface consists of a flexible and
elastic sheet with the device to be printed raised upon it, and this having been
suitably inked is pressed by fluid pressure against the article to be printed.
I employ a sheet of vulcanized india-rubber moulded with the pattern upon
it, and it is mounted over a perforated plate which supports it whilst the ink
is applied. There is a chamber under the perforated plate containing air or
other fluid, and means are provided for putting this air or fluid. under
pressure when desired; it may be by forcing a plunger into the chamber, or
by opening a valve communicating with another vessel containing fluid under

page_text: pressure or otherwise. The article to be printed is placed in a suitable holder,
usually it is convenient to fit it into a suitably formed recess in a wooden
board hinged to the other parts of the apparatus, and when thus held the
article is brought into proper position over the pattern on the flexible sheet and
there secured. The fluid beneath the flexible sheet is then put under pressure,
and the pattern surface is thus caused to press sufficiently firmly against the
article and print it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Leighton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
LEIGHTON, of 9, Buckingham Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Leighton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Leighton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Leighton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Leighton, 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 Alfred Leighton, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in printing, and in apparatus

page_text: employed therein, and is applicable more especially in ornamenting or lettering
articles of which the surface is not flat, but curved or irregular. The printing
surface consists of a flexible elastic sheet with the device to be printed raised
upon it, and this having been suitably inked is pressed by fluid pressure
against the article to be printed. I employ a sheet of vulcanized india-rubber
moulded with the pattern upon it, and it is mounted over a perforated plate
which supports it whilst the ink is applied. There is a chamber under the
perforated plate containing air or other fluid, and means are provided for
putting this air or fluid under pressure when desired; it may be by forcing a
plunger into the chamber, or by opening a valve communicating with another
vessel containing fluid under pressure, or otherwise. The article to be printed
is placed in a suitable holder, usually it is convenient to fit it into a suitably
formed recess in a wooden board hinged to the other parts of the apparatus,
and when thus held the article is brought into proper position over the
pattern on the flexible sheet and there secured. The fluid beneath the flexible
sheet is then put under pressure, and the pattern surface is thus caused to
press sufficiently firmly against the article and print it.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of apparatus suitable for. carrying out
my Invention; Figure 2 shows a front elevation thereof; and Figure 3
shows a plan of the upper parts when opened out.
a, a, is a plate of vulcanized india-rubber, which material by reason of its
great flexibility and elasticity is the material I prefer to employ in constructing
the printing surface. The india-rubber compound is moulded and vulcanized
in a suitable mould with the lettering or the other device or devices thereon.
It should be stated that it is not new to produce and use printing surfaces
formed of vulcanized india-rubber, but according to this Invention such a
printing surface is combined with the pressure of fluid on its back or reverse
side, by which the printing surface is made to apply itself and give off its
impressions to irregular surfaces, and again and again assume a regular form
when having printing ink applied thereto. b is a perforated plate on which
the surface a is supported when being inked; the inking of the surface a, a,
is as heretofore; c is a tube communicating with a vessel or chamber d and
with the space below the perforated plate b. The vessel or chamber d
may
contain air, or water, or other fluid, so that when subjected to pressure the
fluid may act on all parts of the flexible plate a, a, and cause it to apply

page_text: itself to an irregular surface; I, however, prefer to employ air for the purpose.
The apparatus shewn in the Drawings is arranged suitably for printing a
pattern upon a bottle or vessel e, e, of thin nietal. The apparatus may be
arranged for printing in like manner upon other articles of varied form, the
parts of the apparatus used for holding the article to be printed being varied
accordingly. f is a plunger which slides fluid-tight at f¹ into and from the
chamber , or other means may be resorted to for giving the requisite pressure
to the fluid contained in the vessel d. Motion is to be communicated to the
plunger fin any convenient manner; the arrangement shewn in the Drawing
is, however, very convenient for this purpose. f' is a shaft or axis which has
a lever handle f³ fixed thereon and also two arms f*, which by links or con-
necting rods f give motion to the plunger f when the lever handle is moved.
The article to be printed is held in a sort of frisket or folding holder which
consists of two parts g, g', which are hinged together and to the frame h, h,
which carries the other parts of the mechanism, and such parts g, g', are
formed in a suitable manner to receive and hold the article to be printed. In
the arrangements shown, where the article to be printed is a bottle, the part g
is recessed to receive it, whilst the part g' has a hole through it of suitable
dimensions to present a sufficient part of the surface to be printed; this
part g', when necessary, may be of flexible and elastic material fixed at its
edges in a frame.
In Figure 1 of the Drawings the parts are shown as they would appear
immediately before and immediately after the plunger is raised, the printing
surface being flat on the perforated plate, so that on causing the plunger to
rise from its position in Figure 1 the fluid will be caused to press on the lower
or reverse side of the flexible and elastic printing surface.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
combined arrangement of a flexible elastic printing surface a with a chamber
or vessel containing fluid, which on being subjected to pressure is caused to
act on the printing surface, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Leighton, have bereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ALFRED LEIGHTON. (L.S.)