IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF TRANSPARENT AND OTHER DEVICES APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY FOR ADVERTIZING AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Evan Jefferies, of Yeo Bank, Congresbury, in the
County of Somerset, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF TRANSPARENT AND OTHER DEVICES APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY FOR
ADVERTIZING AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES."
Sealed the 10th January 1879, and dated the 20th July 1878.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Evan Jefferies at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th July 1878.
JAMES EVAN JEFFERIES, of Yeo Bank, Congresbury, in the County of Somerset.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TRANSPARENT AND OTHER DEVICES
APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY FOR ADVERTIZING AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of transparent
and other devices applicable especially for advertizing and decorative purposes.
For this purpose I take any printed or other device either on paper or cloth, or
other material, and either in black ink or in colors, and saturate the paper or fabric
with a mixture of wax and borax, by preference composed of two parts wax to one
of borax.
The saturation of the paper or cloth I by preference effect as follows:-On a
heated metal plate I spread with a brush a layer of a melted mixture of the borax
and wax, on to this I lay the printed sheet of paper or cloth, and spread on to the
cloth or paper a further coating of the mixture. By this means a perfect saturation
of the cloth or paper with the mixture is effected. The coating of the mixture
quickly hardens, and the surface is subsequently varnished with any ordinary
varnish. By this means the paper or fabric on which the design has been printed
is not only rendered waterproof but the colours of the device are greatly enriched and
their brilliancy heightened, not only when the device is illuminated by light trans-
mitted through it but also when the device is placed against an opaque back-
Paino 171

page_text: ground; the paper or fabric also is rendered less inflammable, especially if a larger
proportion of borax is used.
The mixture of wax and borax when applied to plain paper also gives to it a
satin effect, and such paper may be cut to various designs for ornamental and other
purposes.
In place of the borax being mixed with the wax the paper or fabric might be
impregnated with a solution of borax and dried before having a coating of wax
imparted to it, or alum or pearlash, or other substance capable of rendering fabrics
uninflammable might be used in place of borax.
If the design is printed on the paper or cloth in water colors (say, aniline dyes),
and the design is still wet when laid on to the wax surface the wax will not be
taken up on the printed parts, and thus varied effects can be produced.
A great number of thicknesses of paper or cloth can be printed with aniline and
other dyes or with melted wax by using dies or blocks with a thin projecting rim
around each part of the design to effect the printing.
When the design is printed on to the paper or fabric by litho printing a colored
dye may be used in place of water for washing over the surface of the plate; thus,
if the stone is cut away to any desired pattern a print in two colors is obtained,
one from the dye the other from the ink.
In some cases I form transparent and other devices by printing the device with
color mixed with wax or wax and borax. This may readily be effected by spreading
the colored wax mixture on a heated plate, then laying over the plate a perforated
sheet of metal and dabbing down the paper on to the wax wherever it is exposed
through the perforations in the plate.
Marbled effects can also be obtained by sprinkling liquid dyes and water on to
the plate or on to the paper or fabric before coating with wax.
When the ornamental perforated plates are of metal they may be obtained by
producing any desired device upon the plate and eating away the unprotected metal
by quicksilver.
The colored wax might also be spread on to ordinary printing blocks and printed
on to the paper or cloth.
The paper or cloth may also have a device printed on to it in various colors at
the time of pressing it on to waxed surface.
Bronze and other colors or substances, either powdered or more or less crushed
or comparatively small, might be used mixed with the wax or wax and borax,
or these powdered colors might be dusted on to the surface of the wax designs in
wax, or varnish, or oil colors may also be covered with quicksilver.
Blocks of wax of any desired pattern may also be used for printing from, and
the paper be placed on to the wax in a heated state.
Embossed effects can readily be obtained wherever, in the processes above
described, heat is employed.
Various devices may also be produced on waxed paper by embossing.
The waxed prints or designs may be transferred to other surfaces, especially in
cases where water cannot be applied for getting rid of the transfer paper.
In printing with colored wax various colored waxes may be used at the same
time and be kept separate by division lines between them, the raised dividing
surfaces might be inked so as to print on to the paper or cloth at the same time
that wax is taken up from the recessed parts.
The waxed papers or fabrics may likewise be embossed, and in some cases the
depressions formed may be filled in with color.
Also when a layer of wax has been spread on to a heated plate a design or thin
paper may be laid on to the wax, and over this another design, and be both incor-
porated together by the wax mixture, so that the thinner design will appear as
Hoated over the surface of the other.
In some cases the printing blocks used for producing the designs may be partly
of wood, partly of metal, in order that the one part may be heated and the
other not.

page_text: Ornamental raised surfaces may also be formed by printing in varnish any
desired device over a waxed surface, then removing wax from the unvarnished part
by heated sand or otherwise, whilst wherever varnish has been applied the wax is
impeded from running.
The designs may be colored at the back with aniline or other colors and brilliant
effects thus produced, whilst at the same time the color is protected to a great
extent from the action of light and air upon it, or a layer of colored paper at the
back will shew itself through the transparent portions and give a different color
apparently to the surface.
Two transparencies can also be placed one behind the other. If the back one.
is materially darker than the front one the dark one only would shew with a back
light, whilst the front one only would be seen with a front light.
In place of using wax or borax and wax, paraffin, or other hard greasy materials,
might in all cases be used, or a varnish composed of turpentine and Canada balsam,
either together with or without wax.

page_text: :
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Evan Jefferies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
January 1879.
JAMES EVAN JEFFERIES, of Yeo Bank, Congresbury, in the County of Somerset.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TRANSPARENT AND OTHER DEVICES
APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY FOR ADVERTIZING AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of transparent
and other devices applicable especially for advertizing and decorative purposes.
For this purpose I take any printed or other device either on paper or cloth, or
other material, and either in black ink or in colors, and saturate the paper or fabric
with a mixture of wax and borax, by preference composed of two parts wax to one
of borax.
The saturation of the paper or cloth I by preference effect as follows:-On a
heated metal plate, either plain or with a device upon it, I spread with a brush a
layer of a melted mixture of the borax and wax, on to this I lay the printed sheet
of paper or cloth, and spread on to the cloth or paper a further coating of the
mixture. By this means a perfect saturation of the cloth or paper with the mixture
is effected. The coating of the mixture quickly hardens, and the surface is sub-
sequently varnished with any ordinary varnish. By this means the paper or fabric
on which the design has been printed is not only rendered waterproof but the
colors of the device are greatly enriched and their brilliancy heightened, not only
when the device is illuminated by light transmitted through it but also when the
device is placed against an opaque background, the paper or fabric also is rendered
less inflammable, especially if a larger proportion of borax is used.
In place of the borax being mixed with the wax the paper or fabric might be
impregnated with a solution of borax, either colored or uncolored, and dried before
having a coating of wax imparted to it, or alum or pearlash, or other substance
capable of rendering fabrics uninflammable night be used in place of borax.
Devices in the nature of bill posters, transparent window bills, shades, screens,
lanterns, theatrical scenes, and a great variety of other devices for other such like
purposes may be produced in this manner.
In a similar manner I also produce devices in imitation of lace and lace papers,
frosted and other patterns on glass, and also to produce satin effects by printing
in opaque pigments, for many of these purposes a white pigment, the lace or other
pattern, and subsequently treating the device in the manner before described.
In many of these cases the effect is greatly heightened by also embossing the
pattern upon the paper. This may be effected simultaneously with the printing
when lace or other fabrics are to be imitated by printing upon the paper from the
lace or fabric itself, in a manner similar to that described in the Specification of a
former Patent granted to me, No. 2874, in the year 1876. The printed pattern in
opaque pigment thus obtained is a repetition of the fabric or article to be imitated,
and when the imprinted portions are subsequently rendered transparent a close
imitation of lace or other open-work fabrics are obtained.
In many other cases also it is advantageous to emboss the paper as well as print
upon it, or in other cases it may be embossed only.
Imitations of various varieties of goods and a great variety of other substances
may also be produced in the same manner.
I also according to my Invention apply a mixture of wax and borax either
colored or uncolored, and preferably in the proportions before mentioned, to plain
papers, and in most cases afterwards varnish the surfaces as before explained.
Paper thus prepared is applicable for a great variety of purposes, as, for example,
for grate screens and transparent coverings; and it may also be cut up to various
designs for ornamental and other purposes.
I also according to any Invention print a great number of thicknesses of paper

page_text: or fabric with aniline dye, or with wax or color, at one operation, those parts
which are not required to take the color being put under pressure.
I also according to my Invention print designs on to paper or other fabric in oil
and water colors simultaneously.
When the design is printed on to the paper or fabric by litho printing a colored
dye may be used in place of water for washing over the surface of the plate or
stone; thus a print in two colors is obtained, one from the dye, the other from the
ink; and if the stone is cut away to any desired pattern then a portion will remain
plain. Or in place of cutting away the stone what I have called a "perforate" in
the Specification before mentioned inay be placed above the stone. The perforate
will then emboss the fabric, and if wire gauze, or other such like similar roughened
surface be used as the perforate the embossed portions of the paper or fabric will
at the same time be rendered partially transparent and useful as a perforate from
which to print according to my previous Patent, or the perforate may be afterwards
colored or varnished and good effects so produced.
I also avail myself of the mutual repulsion of oil and water colors for printing
from engraved or other plates or dies in two colors, one an oil color, the other a
water color. For example, one portion of the pattern of a die may be filled in or
coated with lithographers' transferring ink, and the whole surface of the die after-
wards wetted with the water color; the oil color may then be applied to the die,
and will adhere to those parts only to which the transfer ink had been applied.
Also according to my Invention I form transparent and other devices by printing
the device with color mixed with wax and borax. This may readily be effected by
spreading the colored wax mixture on a heated plate, then laying over the plate a
perforated sheet of metal or other material, and dabbing or otherwise pressing
down the paper on to the wax wherever it is exposed through the perforations in
the plate.
The colored wax might also be spread on to ordinary printing blocks kept heated
and be so printed on to the paper or cloth.
The paper or cloth may also have a device printed on to it in various colors at
the time of pressing it on to waxed surface.
I also according to my Invention mix bronze and other colors or substances,
either powdered or more or less crushed or comparatively small, with the wax or
wax and borax. In place of this I also in some cases dust these powdered colors,
or natural or other substances, on to the back or face of a printed design. Quick-
silver, tin, and bismuth may also be applied to the designs, either at the back or
front.
In some cases heat may be subsequently applied to vary the effects.
Also according to my Invention I form perforated metal plates to be used as
"perforates," as above described, and as described in the Specification herein-before
mentioned, by producing any desired device upon the plate with a protecting
varnish or coating, or by coating the whole surface of the plate with a protecting
varnish or coating, and then removing from the varnish or coating from the surface
of the plate at the parts to be perforated, and subsequently eating away the unpro-
tected parts by means of quicksilver.
Also according to my Invention in order to obtain on paper or other material
printed patterns in wax or mixtures of wax, either colored or uncolored, I employ
blocks of wax or wax mixture, either colored or uncolored, of any desired pattern,
and print from them. This may be effected by placing the paper or material to be
printed in a heated state on to the surface of the wax block and pressing it against
the block with a light pressure.
Also in a similar way I may, according to my Invention, use a block of solid
color, either varnish or water color, and print from it in a similar manner on to
paper or material previously moistened.
Also according to my Invention in order to obtain marbled effects when printing
with wax by the aid of heated plates, as herein-before described, I sprinkle water

page_text: or liquid dyes on to the waxed plate before printing therefrom, or I sprinkle the
paper or fabric with the water or dye before printing on to it.
Also in a similar manner I obtain marbled effects by the conjoint use of water or
water color, or dye and oil color. For this purpose I use a trough containing a
solution of size or such like substance, upon the surface of which the oil color
thinned with turpentine is first floated; then on to the surface of the oil color water
or water color is sprinkled; the color is then taken on to the surface of the paper
or material in the same way as now practised by bookbinders and others. But it
will be seen that by the process I have described I obtain a marbled effect in oil
color, whereas such effects have heretofore been obtained in water colors only.
In a similar manner marbled effects may be produced on surfaces previously
coated with size.
I also in the same manner apply a plain coating of oil color to surfaces required
to be coated. Bronze or other powdered colors may be sprinkled on the surface of
the size bath before floating the colors over it, or the powdered colors may be
sprinkled over the oil colors.
In some cases I use a floating frame on the surface of the trough to keep the
colors separate. When the material is placed on to the frame the frame is lowered
to the surface.
I also according to my Invention employ tar or japan black together with tur-
pentine as the coloring matter to float on the surface of a marbling trough to produce
marbled and iridescent designs, and at the same time may obtain irredescent
effects, or I obtain iridescent effects by other known methods either on the back
or face of the designs.
Also according to my Invention, when printing with various colored waxes at
the same time, I keep the various colors separate by division lines between them.
The raised dividing surfaces might be inked so as to print on to the paper or cloth
at the same time that wax is taken up from the recessed parts.
Also in some cases when printing with wax applied to the surface of printing
blocks the printing blocks used for producing the designs may be partly of wood,
partly of metal, in order that the one part may be heated and the other not.
Also according to my Invention I emboss waxed papers or fabrics, and afterwards
fill in the depressions with color. This may be effected by smearing over the raised
parts of the surface with oil, or coating them with oil color, and afterwards filling
in the depressions with colored dyes.
Also according to my Invention, when a layer of wax has been spread on to a
heated plate, a thin paper or other design may be laid on to the wax, and
over this another design, and be both incorporated together by the wax mixture, so
that the thinner design will appear as floated over the surface of the other.
Also according to my Invention I produce ornamental raised surfaces by printing
in varnish any desired device over a waxed surface, then removing wax from the
unvarnished part by heated sand or otherwise, whilst wherever varnish has been
applied the wax is impeded from running.
Also according to my Invention, in place of using wax or borax and wax for the
purposes herein-before described, I in some cases use paraffin or other hard greasy
materials; or in place of these I use a varnish composed mainly of turpentine and
Canada balsam, either together with or without the use of wax. In most cases I
prefer to employ the varnish only.
The varnish I prefer is composed as follows:-
2 oz. white resin.
2 oz. methylated spirit.
oz. oil of thyme.
10 oz. Canada balsam.
pint spirit of turpentine.
8 mint

page_text: fabric transparent by the means herein-before described, I print the design on to
paper which has previously been rendered transparent by such means, preferably by
means of the varnish only applied to both sides.
Also according to my Invention, after a design has been printed in opaque color
on its face, the paper may be rendered transparent by the means herein-before
described and printed on the back with other colors, which, if the device is intended
to be used as a transparency should be of transparent colors.
If in producing a colored design by printing all the colors are applied to the face
of the fabric, as is now commonly practised, great difficulty is experienced in
obtaining perfect register or accuracy in the printing of the various colors without
going to considerable cost; but by printing with an opaque color on the face of a
transparent paper, or paper subsequently rendered transparent, as herein-before
described, and applying to the back a different color or colors, the colors at the
back may be applied without much care being paid to register, or may be laid on in
stripes or patches, and will only appear through such parts of the paper as have not
been printed upon on the face; thus, bill posters, advertizing notices of all kinds,
transparencies, and a variety; of other devices may be produced without the aid of
skilled labour and at small cost, whilst having at the same time a very brilliant
appearance.
Also in some cases, even if the printed design is to be in one color only, the
printing if applied to the back of the paper will when looked at through the paper
have a brilliant glassy appearance, and have a smoother and richer appearance than
when looked at from the back.
In some cases the designs may be printed in color containing an excess of oil;
the oil will spread and vary the effect.
In place also of applying colors to the back of paper rendered transparent, as
herein-before described, and printed on the face with an opaque device, I in some
cases secure at the back of the paper a colored sheet of paper or metal foil, or
colored strips of gelatine either embossed or plain; these will show through the
portions of the transparent paper which have not been covered by the opaque print
at the front, and give apparently to the face of such transparency a color different
from the color of the opaque print.
Marbled effects produced as herein-before described may likewise be applied at
the back of such transparent designs either on separate sheets of paper, or on the
back of the transparent paper itself.
In some cases also parts only of the design may be rendered transparent by
printing or otherwise in varnish instead of color in place of rendering the whole of
the design transparent.
Two transparencies formed by printing in opaque or partly opaque colors on
paper or fabric rendered transparent, as herein-before described, may be placed one
behind the other. If the back one is materially darker than the front one the dark
one only would show with a back light, whilst the front one only would be seen
with a front light.
Also in some cases I place two prints of the same device one behind the other,
but not in correct register, say, with the point on one paper about 1/8th inch below
the print on the other. This is specially applicable to the printing of bill posters,
advertizing bills, and other such like devices. If the front print is on the trans-
parent paper, or if both prints are on the transparent paper, it will appear as if
each letter or part of the bill or notice were printed in three different colors, one
color produced where the colors of the two prints overlap, another when the colored
letters or parts of the top design extend beyond those parts which overlap, and a
third color where the colored letters or parts of the bottom design extend beyond
the parts which overlap.
Also according to my Invention, in order to allow of designs formed on paper or
fabric rendered transparent by the means herein-before described being secured by
paste or gum or such-like adhesive material to any surface to which it may be
desired to secure them, I apply over the back of the devices or over some parts

page_text: of them plain or printed paper; this I secure to the back of the device by means of
varnish without allowing the varnish to come through to the back of such paper or
pieces of paper, or it might be other fabric.
If gum or paste be applied to the back of the paper or fabric so secured to the
back of the various devices they may be secured to any surface desired.
I would remark that the improvements herein-before described can be used
together with most of the processes of printing and embossing described in my
former Patent before mentioned, and will materially improve the effects described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I claim, the various improvements herein-
before set forth in the manufacture of transparent and other devices.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Evan Jefferies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.