IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, in the City of London, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of June, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas De la Rue, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas De la Rue, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas De la Rue, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
CALICOES AND OTHER SURFACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Thomas De la Rue, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas De la Rue, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say) —
My improvements relate,-
First, to certain modes of applying tissues or fabrics of wire as printing
surfaces.
Secondly, my Invention relates to the application of electrotype plates
obtained from patterns of wire tissues or fabrics. And,
Thirdly, my Invention relates to a mode of printing on calico and other
surfaces several colors at one time by a single operation.
In respect to the first part of my Invention I would remark that I employ
wire tissues or fabrics, either plain or figured, according to the result I wish
to obtain. Thus, if I print from a surface of plain wire cloth in the state it
comes from a loom I produce only a series of dots, but if I pass the wire
fabric between a pair of smooth rollers, so as to press the fabric flat on the
surfaces, the impression taken is composed of a series of short lines; and if I
take two impressions on the same surface, in such manner that the lines of
the pattern surface cross the first impression, the effect will be that the effect
produced will be a waving of the pattern similar to what is called. " watering;"
and I am enabled to obtain the effect of "watering" in a single. impression
of a surface of wire fabric by passing two surfaces or sheets of wire fabrio
surface to surface between smooth rollers, and thus produce pressure thereto,
whereby each sheet of wire tissue. or fabric will have a waved appearance pro-
duced thereto; and when suitably inked and held, and an impression taken
from either of them, that impression will be a watered. pattern. It will there-
fore be readily understood that, although. weavings of wire, without under-
going. any pressure, are useful for printing surfaces, yet a very improved
result is to be obtained by submitting the wire fabrics to pressure before
using them as printing surfaces. And I would state that it is important,
in the using of wire tissues and fabrics, that when they are employed
for printing from by hand or machine printing, surface presses or printing
machines, that the wire surfaces should be securely held, not only for the
convenience of applying ink thereto, in like manner to what ink is applied
in type or surface printing, but also that it should be securely held in
order to obtain numerous impressions therefrom, and I have found that in
such cases the only secure mode of holding a surface of wire fabric is by
fastening the same at the edges or margins thereof on to a stiff and unyielding
block or form, which may be of metal or wood, but I prefer combining a form
5

page_text: or block for having secured thereon wire tissue as a printing surface a com-
bination of. wood and metal, and to fix the edges of the wire fabrics securely
thereto by means of nails, or the edges of the wire cloth may be clamped' and
securely held over the unyielding surface or block over which the wire fabric
is spread. And I may here remark that I am aware that it has been prot
posed, by means of a cement, to stick wire gauze to india rubber, and to use
it so combined as a printing surface, but I believe the same lias failed.
Now the first part of my Invention consists of certain modes of employing
wire tissues or fabrics or gauze as printing surfaces, and such modes consist,―
First, of using a continuous surface of wire cloth for printing calico and
other surfaces.
Secondly, of a mode of using wire tissues or fabrics by spreading them
over forms or blocks capable of retaining their forms and affixing the wire
surfaces thercon by nailing or clamping at the edges thereof.
Thirdly, of a mode of applying wire tissues or fabrics as printing surfaces,
by submitting them first to pressure.
Fourthly, of a mode of applying wire tissues or fabrics as printing surfaces,
by causing two sheets thereof to be jointly pressed, whereby the effect of
watering is obtained thereto, and may be produced therefrom in printing
impressions.
Fifthly; of a mode of printing watered patterns by applying on the same
surface of calico or other fabric two impressions of wire fabrics.
Sixthly, of a mode of employing wire tissues or fabrics as printing surfaces,
by forming enlarged holes or meshes therein by forcing a point or stiletto
through such tissue, and such holes may be made in various directions or
designs in pattern, and they may be of various sizes, thus adding to the
pattern of the wire tissue or fabric. And further, by driving pins or studs in
pattern at different parts of the block or form of the wire-printing surface,
and rubbing the surfaces thereof even with the wire-printing surface, the
patterns of weaving may be still further varied, depending on the taste of the
person preparing the surface to be printed from.
The first part of my Invention does not relate to any particular mode of
fabricating tissues or fabrics of wire. They may be made plain or figured' by
weaving or fabricating the same by plain or fancy weaving by the aid of
common or of Jacquard or engine looms or machines for producing plain or
figured fabrics, which are well known when producing fabrics of silk, hemp,
cotton; and other fibres, and which are now being employed in working wire
into plain and-figured fabrics or tissues for various purposes.
I will now proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the

page_text: means pursued by me in carrying out my Invention. I take a cylinder, and
having sewn the wire tissue or fabric in the form of a jacket to fit the cylinder,
I stretch it on the said cylinder and fasten it thereon at the edges or selvages
by means of a hoop or ring, which fits into a recess made in the end of the
roller, and is fastened in by screws or otherwise, as shewn in A, Figure 1, or
otherwise I employ an endless web of the wire tissue or fabric of the required
pattern, which is made to pass over a cylinder, and in either case the wire
web is made to press against a jacket or an endless belt of felt passing over a
cylinder, as in the ordinary calico-printing machines, which is well known.
This arrangement or mode of applying wire tissues or fabrics as printing
surfaces will be better understood by referring to Figure 2. A represents the
roller, over which an endless web of wire cloth or tissue passes. This web
may be of any length so as to avoid the defect of the sewing. B represents
the fabric which is to be printed. C is the pressure roller, over which the
endless felt K passes. E is the roller, on which the calico or other fabric to
be printed is wound. F, the doctor roller, the color being contained in the
space I between the doctor blade and the roller F, the quantity of color being
regulated by adjusting the blade at various distances, as is well understood.
D is the inking roller, which may be conveniently made by covering a com-
position roller (such as is used in printing letter-press) with fine oiled canvass;
it will not then be acted on by water colors. J is a brush for cleansing the
meshes of the wire fabric or tissue. This arrangement is applicable to printing
in oil or water colours; if for the former, the ordinary composition rollers
must be used, and for any material, whether cotton, worsted, silk, paper, linen,
and other surfaces. It will be evident that printing surfaces of wire tissue or
fabric may be adapted equally to compound machines and printed in more
than one colour forming the ground, and then any design may be printed
thercon. In applying wire tissues or fabrics stretched on blocks of wood or
of metal, and securing it with small nails or tacks, or by clamping at the edges
of the wire fabric, I prefer in making a form for such purposes to nail on first
a piece of sheet zinc over a wooden surface, by turning a portion of the edges
of a sheet of zinc and cutting it into a number of small ears, as in Figure 3.
The wire fabric is then to be stretched evenly on the upper surface and
nailed thereon, or it may be clamped by nailing or screwing straight edges of
wood or metal over the margins or edges of the wire fabric. Thus will the
forms or blocks so produced not only retain their figure, but the wire fabrics
will be securely retained thereon without the surfaces being interfered with or
filled with cement, which are necessary to wire surfaces being well and con-
veniently employed for printing purposes, and it should be understood that the

page_text: object of placing the zinc is to prevent the wire cloth being injured by the
wood giving way under pressure, which would cause the work to be unequal;
and it is proper to remark, that whatever be the nature of the unyielding
block or form to which the wire fabric is affixed, the same should be rounded
off at the edges in order to the wire fabric not being cut when in use by the
presses. And although I consider the above construction of blocks or forms
very suitable, and the best when cheapness is concerned, but cast-iron planed
or turned true on both sides will be found the most useful, such forms having
a recess or groove formed on the edges, into which pieces of wrought iron fit
loosely. These pieces are rounded slightly on one edge to prevent them
cutting the wire through. The wire being laid on the surface of the block it
is secured firmly by forcing in the loose pieces which fit into the grooves, and
arc secured therein by screws. If the effect of plain weaving be required as
the pattern, I take a piece of plain wire fabric or tissue of the required size of
mesh, and before stretching it on the blocks or cylinders I usually pass
it between two polished rollers so adjusted as to press more or less on the
tissue or fabric in order to set it together more firmly; I say usually, because
this operation is not always necessary, its effect being to bring more of the
threads on the surface, and will produce short lines at each point of contact in
taking an impression in place of dots. If the ground pattern is required to
be very slight and only in the form of dots, I omit the operation of pressing
the tissues or fabrics of wire. If a watered ground be required I take a piece
of wire cloth and fold it on itself, and pass it between the polished rollers, or
I take two separate sheets and operate in a similar manner. The polished
rollers in this case must be so adjusted as to press strongly on the double fold
of wire fabric or tissue in order that the threads may mark each other where
they cross. Another mode of producing figures is to take a plain piece of
wire and stretch it on a deal plank, and then inserting a stiletto between the
meshes and pressing it into the board to the figure required, by counting the
threads, the pattern may (if it be a repeating pattern) be formed with great
regularity. In printing bankers checks, bills, &c., bank notes, post-office en-
velopes, letters, and words, or any work requiring great difficulty of imitation,
the wire fabric or tissue may be made with a plain or ornamental ground;
and further to increase the difficulty of imitation, I print in another color with
second wire cloth (which is better to be plain, but may be figured all over,
on to the first printing, the result of which is the production of a complicated
vaved or watered ground, which can never again be produced except by the
same blocks or cylinders, and the various parts of the two blocks fitting
n the same places relative to each other, the slightest alteration in the angle
producing a different wave or watered pattern.

page_text: I will now shortly describe the mode of working the machinery. Having
prepared an endless wire cloth of the required pattern I pass it over the
cylinder A, and having so adjusted the roller 13' that the cloth will run in its
proper direction, I either place in the doctor roller body colors, either ground
in oils, varnishes, or watery vehicles, such as guns, starch, treacle, &c., or stain
colors and dyes proper for the required purpose, the composition of which is
well understood. The goods to be printed in long lengths, such as calico,
silks, paper, &c., being wound on the roller E in long lengths, a piece of waste
being sewn or otherwise fastened to the first end, it is led between the printing
and the felt roller. I then start the machine. The goods are by the action
of the cylinders drawn thro' and become printed. They are usually conducted
on the endless felt over pipes or chests heated by steam so as to dry them.
The like explanation would serve for the machine, supposing the wire stretched
over a roller in the form of a jacket. In compound machines the goods
before leaving the impression cylinder pass under several printing cylinders,
which may one or all be covered with wire cloth, or otherwise be engraved
with portions of the pattern. In using blocks or forms with wire fabrics or
tissues the inking roller should be passed to and fro in the direction of the
warp of the fabric.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of my Invention, which relates
to the use of electro casts from patterns of wire fabrics or tissues. To effect this
it is necessary to make a matrix or counterpart of the wire cloth, which I prefer
to be done in the following manner :-I take a picce of sheet lead of the size
of the piece of wire cloth to be electrotyped, and about one eighth of an inch
thick, and cleanse the surface thoroughly with fine glass paper; I then adjust
pair of polished rollers, so that they will reduce the sheet of lead about ono
thirty-second of an inch in thickness; this is proved by passing several small
pieces through by way of trial. Having so adjusted the rollers I lay the wire
cloth to be copied on the sheet of lead, and then pass them together between
the rollers; the lead then receives the impression of the wire cloth which
remains bedded in the lead. I then take it without removing the wire to a
hydraulic or other flat press, and press it flat between two true iron surfaces
then solder some strips of copper as conductors. The back and edges ard
then to be covered with a non-conducting material; coal-tar varnish answers
well. I then remove the wire gauze or fabric, and if I wish a flat plate
immediately take the plate of lead so produced and place it in the sulphate o
copper trough, and connect it with the voltaic battery. If a roller be required
I take the flattened sheet of lead and cut off as much as is require
to go exactly round a polished iron mandril. I then lap it round the
mandril very carefully, putting the figured side inwards, taking care tha

page_text: the edges butt well together; I then secure it carefully by means of solder.
At the same time some strips of copper of about 1lb. to the superficial foot,
and one inch broad, are soldered to the matrix, and afterwards the back and
edges are covered with coal-tar varnish. This is allowed to dry; the material
is then to be carefully withdrawn and the hollow cylinder immediately
transferred to the sulphate of copper trough and connected to the battery.
The modes of obtaining electrotyped plates or surfaces being well under-
stood, and forming no part of my Invention, it will not be necessary to
enter into a description thereof. And I would remark that I am aware that
plates from engravings have been obtained by such means, and used for
printing surfaces; this part of my Invention does not therefore relate to the
employment of electrotype plates generally as printing surfaces, but consists
only in applying such plates or surfaces when obtained from patterns of wire
fabrics or tissues, and I do not confine myself to the use of lead in obtaining
such plates, as other materials may be used, as is well understood in the art of
electrotype processes. These plates or cylinders I use instead of the wire cloth
from which they were produced, and when the surface is partially rubbed down,
I likewise use them as engraved rollers or plates for printing, by filling the
hollows. I sometimes likewise engrave away part of the electrotype plates to
various patterns before I use them, thereby combining two characters of surfaces.
The third part of my Invention relates, as above stated, to certain methods
of printing several colors at one operation, which are made to blend and
produce the effect known as "rainbowing." This I do either in straight
lines or in curves. To rainbow in straight lines I take the ordinary doctor A
roller of a paper-printing machine, and turn in it any number of grooves at
any distance from each other, about one sixteenth of an inch wide, and all to
one depth, say, one eighth of an inch; on the doctor blade I then fit, by rivets
or otherwise, a corresponding number of plates, Figure 6, of steel or brass C,
cut to the proper form, and of such thickness as to accurately fit the grooves;
the doctor roller and the division plates are then ground well to the roller with
a little emery and oil. If this is to be used at the machine I put the dis-
tributing rollers at such angle that, by the reciprocating motion of the table,
they shall only have the required end or lateral motion to blend the colors to
a required extent; in some cases I leave them quite parallel. The various
colours required are put in the divisions of the doctor, and worked in the
ordinary manner. If this apparatus is to be used with the ordinary hand-
printing machines, I then on the inking table have two guides, shewn at D,
Figures 6 and 7, which can be adjusted by means of the slotted arms G, and
held when so adjusted by the thumb screws E; these are adjusted as much

page_text: wider apart than the length of the roller as the required extent or play for
mellowing is required, or they may be so adjusted that they just allow the
roller to work between them. When the ink has been received on the inking
roller, and well distributed thereon by working it on the inking table between
the guides, I ink the form or block with it in the following manner :-I
provide a guide of wood or other material, shewn in Figures 8 and 9, high
enough to pass the axis of the inking roller, and in it I place some pegs
made of iron or other material, which are about half an inch below the under
surface of the wooden guide. The pegs are made to drop into holes made in
a piece of furniture, which is to be adjusted to the proper place; by passing
the roller against this guide, the colors are made to hit always on the same
parts. I do not always make use of the divided roller, but with small blocks
of wood of the requisite width I lay the color on the inking table; this I do
when the number of colors are limited, and the quantity of work small; but I
always use the guides on the table, and on the block or form. I have here
given the simplest construction of guide for the inking, as it answers perfectly
well, and can be readily lifted during the process of taking the impression, and
as readily dropped into its place whilst inking. Other forms of guide might be
used. My method of inking in curves consists in using a coned inking
roller, as shewn in Figure 11, where B is the roller; C, the frame; D, D,
handles which move freely round the studs on the frame; A, a pin whose
centre is at the apex of the cone, of which B is a portion, and whose direction
must be at right angles to the bottom side G, I, of the roller. A hole is made
in the inking table, into which the pin A drops, and when the color is taken
on the rollers, it will, if moved on the inking table, describe a curved line more
or less quick as the cone is more or less obtuse. On the form or block is a
piece of wood put in such position as is to be the centre of the curves, and the
roller worked on the form round the centre. It is clear that the inking table
may be made to revolve, and the roller remain stationary, taking care that the
centre of motion is at the apex of the cone. When several colors are required
they are applied by a conical roller, and when the inking roller is laid against
the roller C', in Figure 10, the apex of the two cones of which the rollers are
each a portion must be in the same plane.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise means of carrying out my various improvements which I have
described, but I believe them to be the best for the purpose; they may, however,
be varied so long as my Invention be retained; and I lay no claim to the
machinery or parts thereof herein described, so far as the same is or are in

page_text: public use and exercise. But what I claim as the first part of my Invention
are the modes herein described of applying tissues or fabrics of wire as printing
surfaces.
Secondly, I claim the application of electrotype plates obtained from patterns
of wire tissues or fabrics.
And, thirdly, I claim the mode of printing in several colors, in order to
produce "rainbowing," as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas De la Rue, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
THOMAS (L.s.) DE LA RUE.