Improvements in Stencil-sheets for Autographic Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stencil-sheets for Autographic Apparatus.
I, KURT WALTER, of Flottwellstrasse 8, Berlin, W., 35, in the German Empire,
Attorney, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The subject of the present invention is an improved stencil-sheet for autographic
apparatus such as the mimeograph, cyclostyle, and the like, whereby a large
number of copies of a document are produced. With such apparatus, as is well
known, use is generally made of a sheet of paper or tissue, which receives a film
of suitable material. The prepared sheet is then laid upon a plate having a sur-
face ruled to resemble the face of a file and written upon with a style; or it may
be laid upon a smooth plate and written upon with a style having a small toothed
wheel as writing point, whereby the prepared sheet is perforated forming a stencil.
The sheet is then laid upon the paper on which the copy is to appear, and ink
pressed through the perforations by means of a roller or the like.
Hitherto paraffined tissue paper has principally been used for the stencil-sheet,
but this, it is found, has many disadvantages. The paraffin, for instance, clogs
the finely ruled surface of the plate on which the stencil-sheet lies, or in similar
manner blocks up the teeth of the wheel of the style, so that sharp perforations
cannot be made. Paraffin paper moreover, becomes very easily friable, and in
writing rapidly cracks occur, greatly disfiguring the copy. A further incon-
venience in the case of paraffin paper is, that it cannot be sufficiently tightly
stretched, whereby in applying the ink, the sheet creases under the roller, so that
in some places the writing is duplicated, or shifted out of position.
All these disadvantages are overcome by means of the improved stencil-sheet
forming the subject of the present invention. This new sheet is composed of the
upper membrane of the intestines of animals, known in pharmacy as "emplastrum
animale." This membrane, as is well known, is extremely thin, but at the same
time remarkably tough and capable of being stretched to a high degree. It can
be employed for the purpose in question without any paraffin or other film having
to be applied to it. The perforations produced in it when laid on a ruled plate
and written upon with a style are extremely sharp and uniform, and it is capable
of being stretched so exceedingly tight, that creasing under the inking roller is
impossible.
In order to adapt the intestinal membrane for use as a stencil-sheet, I prefer
to treat it with water and sulphurous or sulphuric acids in the proportion of about
1 part of acid to 9 parts of water and to stretch it until it becomes exceedingly
thin, presenting an absolutely smooth surface, resembling a very thin, tightly
stretched drum-head. I leave the membrane in this stretched condition for some
time, and dry it, when it is admirably suited for the purpose in view.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1st. A stencil-sheet for autographic apparatus, composed of intestinal membrane
decoribed

page_text: 2nd. A stencil-sheet for autographic apparatus, composed of intestinal membrane.
stretched in wet condition, racked and dried, substantially as described.
Dadd 1
0011 1
P
גד
1000
FELL & JAMES,
Agents for the Applicant.