A NEW AND ECONOMICAL METHOD OF AND APPLIANCE FOR TAKING NUMEROUS COPIES OF WRITINGS, PRINTINGS, AND DRAWINGS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Josiah Pumphrey at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th October, 1879.
JOSIAH PUMPHREY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, India Rubber
Manufacturer. "A NEW AND ECONOMICAL METHOD OF AND APPLIANCE FOR TAKING
NUMEROUS COPIES OF WRITINGS, PRINTINGS, AND DRAWINGS."
The object of this Invention, which relates to improvements in or connected with
the means of obtaining copies of writings, printings and drawings, is to render the
process more economical and easier of application than hitherto, and to obtain other
advantages hereinafter enumerated.
The transferring composition which I prefer to use is compounded of glycerine,
water, best French gelatine, and best English glue, which are all thoroughly
incorporated together. The proportions of these ingredients which I find most
suitable are 56 parts of the glycerine, 65 of the water, 9 of the gelatine, and 12 of
the glue, but I do not limit myself to these precise proportions.
When required for use I take a portion of the composition, melt it, and pour it
into a shallow tray, preferably made of zinc, an outlet corner of which I previously
plug or stop up. When the bottom of the tray is well covered with the composition
I withdraw the plug, tilt the tray, and drain off all the composition which will
readily flow therefrom, and allow the deposit upon the tray to set, which it does
readily.
I prepare the writing, printing, or drawing of which it is desired to obtain copies
upon ordinary paper with an ink compounded, preferably, of one part aniline color
and eight parts of water.
When dry, I lay the writing upon the prepared surface of the tray for a short
time, I then remove it, and substitute a paper upon which a copy is to be taken;
this is effected very quickly, and the imprint is then removed and another clean
paper applied, the operation being continued as long as good copies are produced.
When the tray is required for further use, I remove the used composition by
pouring into the tray a sufficient quantity of boiling water or other liquid to dissolve
and remove the composition, which then flows away through the corner outlet.
I then coat or cover the interior bottom of the tray again in like manner as above
described for subsequent operations.
The coating and subsequent use, and the emptying of a zinc or other tray
or plate in the manner above indicated, are the salient or important features of my
Invention.

page_text: By these means I obtain many advantages; I always have a level surface to print
upon and take copies from, so that no part of the writing desired to be reproduced
is omitted, and I always have a clear and unwashed surface to print upon and take
copies from, and one which has no residue of the ink of former impressions, which
the washing of the composition does not always remove, thus leaving stains of 5
former impressions which are absorbed into the composition when such is placed in
a body of much thickness in a tray, as is most generally done, and spoiling
impressions of designs taken from other originals by introducing marks belonging
to previous subjects.