Producing Photographs in Relief.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 7th Nov., 1896
Producing Photographs in Relief.
I, THEODORE CHRISTOPHER MARCEAU, of No. 826 Market Street, in the
City and County of San Francisco, State of California, United States of America,
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:-
My invention relates to certain improvements in the art of finishing and
mounting photographs after they have been taken, and is especially designed to
throw certain parts of the picture up into relief above the plain surface.
It consists in certain details of construction which will be more fully explained
by reference to the accompanying drawings upon which―
Figure 1 is a view shewing the manner of outlining the picture upon the surface
in which the corresponding intaglio is to be produced.
Figure 2 is a view showing the means for registering the pictures which are to
be afterwards thrown up into relief.
Figure 3 is a vertical section through the mould.
The object of my invention is to simplify the methods of making relief pictures
so that any number of such pictures may be made to accurately coincide and
correspond with each other.
In carrying out my process, I first prepare a photographic negative in the usual
manner. The pictures are then taken from the negative upon films of sensitized
paper, and the outline of those portions which it is designed to show in relief, is
cut out from one of these sheets, and pasted upon a surface of glass as shown at A.
The paper upon which the pictures are taken is all cut of a certain size, and the
negative is marked so that this paper is always laid in the same position upon the
negative for printing each picture. The pictures are, therefore, all in identically
the sane relative position upon the paper, and they all correspond with the one
from which the outline was cut for the purpose of making the intaglio block.
The exterior portion of the paper from which the outline has been cut now
serves as a pattern for the exact registry of each of the pictures which are to be
thrown up into relief, and is afterwards used for this purpose as will be hereafter
more fully explained.
The surface A upon which the figure is pasted, as previously described, forms
one side of a mould, the space between the two sides being sufficient to provide a
necessary thickness, and the sides being also connected by edge strips so as to form
an enclosure, as shown in Fig. 1.
Into this enclosure I pour plaster-of-Paris or other plastic material which will
afterwards set and become hard filling the space within the mould.
The plastic material flows around the figure which has been pasted upon the
glass, and this figure projecting the thickness of the paper above the surface of
the glass, will form a corresponding indentation in the material with which the
mould is filled, and which indentation remains after it has set.
The mould is then opened, and the hardened material is taken out, the outline or
figure is removed from the face of the plaster, if it has adhered thereto, and the
perfect outline remains upon the surface.

page_text: The surface of the block is now excavated or engraved out in the usual manner
for producing intaglios, so as to form the various features of the picture to greater
or less depth as the shade and contour of the picture demands and the taste of the
artist shows to be proper.
When this is completed, it is in readiness to receive the pictures which are to be
thrown up into a relief corresponding with the depth of the intaglio which has
thus been formed.
The part B. from which the figure was cut to form the outline upon the block, is
now pasted or otherwise attached to the block forming an accurate peripheral
outline around the intaglio, and as all the pictures are in exactly the same relative
position upon the printed sheets, it is only necessary to register the edges of each
sheet with that upon the block, to register each picture with the intaglio. The
picture is wetted and then pressed into the block by any of the usual or well known
means for producing raised surfaces, and those parts of the picture which are
designed to be thrown up into relief will be correspondingly forced into the various
depressions of the intaglio in the block, remaining there under pressure until dried,
after which they can be removed and the pictures mounted in any usual or well,
known style for mounting such pictures.
If preferred, any suitably prepared block may be used and the outline within
which the engraving or intaglio is to be made, may be marked upon the surface of
the block, by laying the cut out figure thereon and outlining it, and afterwards
engraving the block.
A convenient method for effecting this is to lay the picture to be produced in
relief upon a supplemental sheet which is properly proportioned to the block and
then to cut the outline of the picture and at the same time cut through the
supplemental sheet beneath, the two sheets being secured together so as to remain
in the same relative position until the cut has been completed.
The supplemental sheet may he made of any suitable material. I have found
that collodion in thin sheets makes a very satisfactory substance for the purpose,
but it will be manifest that other materials may be used without departing from my
invention. This supplemental sheet is then laid upon the block to which it is
temporarily fixed by pins or clamps, and the outline which is to be engraved in the
block is marked by following the outline of the cut. The sheet may then be
removed and the engraving of the block completed. The pictures to be thrown
into relief are then fitted to the opening in the supplemental sheet and the picture
and sheet are placed upon the block, the face of the picture coinciding with the
intaglio which has been cut in the block, as in Figure 2.
This registration is insured by passing pins through the holes already made in
the supplemental sheet and through the picture, these pins entering the holes
previously made in the block, and after this is effected the pressure is applied to
throw the picture up into relief by pressing the parts of it into the intaglio in the
block.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:
1st. The method of forming photographic pictures in relief, consisting in cutting
out one of a set of pictures and outlining it upon a block formed by hardening a
plastic mass within a mould, engraving an intaglio upon the block to correspond
with said outline, then registering the other pictures upon the block, and pressing
the portious coincident with the engraved surface thereinto.
2nd. The method of forming pictures in relief, consisting in cutting the outline of
one of the pictures and a supplemental sheet upon which it is overlaid, indicating
said outline upon a block, and engraving an intaglio in said' block corresponding
with the outline, fitting the pictures successively to the opening in the supplemental
sheet, inverting then and the sheet over the engraved surlace, and retaining the
pictures in register with said surface, while they are pressed thereinto by uniting
L

page_text: the pictures and the supplemental sheet and entering corresponding holes in the
block.
Dated this 15th day of September 1896.
Applicant,
GEDGE & FEENY,
60 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agents.