CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOKBINDING
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HANCOCK, of Windsor Place, City Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of December, in the seventh year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hancock, Histespecial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Hancock, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Hancock, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOKBINDING ; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William
Hancock, should cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be ínrolled
in His 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 thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hancock, do hereby declare that the nature of my said "Improve-

page_text: ments in Bookbinding" consists in attaching or binding the leaves of books
together by applying caoutchouc, or solutions of caoutchouc, or caoutchouc
partly in the sheet state and partly in the state of solution, in such manner to the
backs of the said leaves that sawing and sewing the same is rendered unneces-
sary, and books so bound are made to open perfectly flat, or more nearly so
than books bound by any other method heretofore in use, and also in applying
caoutchouc in the said states and in such manner to the backs of the sheets of
books, after they have been sewn or stitched in the usual way, as greatly to
improve the same in point of solidity and elasticity. And the manner in which
the same is performed I shall now proceed to describe:-
Having folded the sheets of which the book is to consist, according to the
determined size thereof, whether folio, quarto, octavo, or any other form, and
assorted, made up, beat, and pressed the same, as is ordinarily done preparatory
to sewing by the coming method, I place them in a cutting press between
two cutting boards, with just so much of the backs of the sheets projecting
from the upper edges of the boards that on cutting away the same, which
I next proceed to do with the ploughing knife, the leaves of each sheet are
separated and detached at the back from one another. The surface left by
this ploughing process being commonly smooth, I make it a little rough
either by rubbing it with sand paper or by rasping it with a bookbinder's
grater or rake; sometimes also I provide altogether such smoothness of surface
by employing instead of the ordinary ploughing knife, a tooth plane with a
very fine serrated edge. Immediately after cutting, and before shifting the
mass of leaves from the cutting press, I apply to the back surface so cut and
prepared a coating of a solution of caoutchouc obtained by dissolving sheet
caoutchouc in pure spirits of turpentine, in the proportions of a pound of the
former to a gallon of the latter or thereabouts. When the said coating is
dry I add a second coating of the same solution, and when that also has dried
I lay on a strip or band of caoutchouc cloth, which cloth Imake by spreading
a solution of caoutchouc, obtained in the manner herein-before mentioned,
upon linen, woollen, cotton, silk, or any other flexible material adapted to
the purpose of bookbinding. To cause this strip or band to adbere firmly
to the back I apply it in a warm sticky state, and then rub or press it on
with the hand or roller. The mass of leaves of which the book consists
will now be found so firmly cemented together that they may be removed
from the cutting press, and the boarding and finishing proceeded with in the
ordinary way. Instead of ploughing away the whole of the backs of the
sheets as aforesaid, two, three, or any greater number of broad grooves may
be cut therein at equal distances, and just deep enough to go through all the

page_text: folds that may be one within the other, and having coated the whole, the
plain as well as grooved parts, twice over with a solution of caoutchouc, as
before directed, I insert in the said grooves cross bands of the caoutchouc
cloth made as aforesaid, the ends of which cross bands I attach to the boards
or cover of the books in the usual manner. Instead of employing a back band
consisting of cloth, or some other flexible material coated with a solution of
caoutchouc, I sometimes find it convenient to make use of the sheet caout-
chouc in its undissolved state, superadding thereto a coating of the solution.
I find also that in the case of books in folio sheets, and of books in quarto,
when made up in half sheets, and of books in octavo, when made up in
quarter sheets, and generally of all leaves when in a simply duplicate state
with a back of one fold, such sheets and leaves may be very securely cemented
and bound together without any cutting or ploughing at the back, by applying
caoutchouc in any of the states or modes aforesaid to the backs of such sheets
or leaves after the same have been assorted, made up, beat, and pressed as
aforesaid, for the purpose of binding. When a book is composed of leaves
originally single, I plough and rasp them in the manner before described,
and when such leaves are of large dimensions, such as plates or maps, I
attach to the back edgeofeach, by means of a solution of caoutchouc obtained
as aforesaid, a strip of cotton or other suitable material of such size that
it overlaps the leaf to the extent of about a quarter of an inch on each
side, and then make up and bind together the sheets so individually prepared
in the manner herein-before directed for binding books of other descriptions.
I find also that when books are sewn or stitched in the usual way, the solidity
and elasticity of the backs thereof are greatly improved by applying thereto
caoutchouc, or solutions of caoutchouc, in the manner herein-before directed
with respect to books consisting of quarteror other sheets with backs of only
one fold.
And having now described the nature of my said invented improvements
in bookbinding, and the manner in which the same are to be performed, I
declare that I do not claim as new, or of my invention, the employment of
caoutchouc in bookbinding, but that I claim as new and of my invention the
employment of caoutchouc in bookbinding in the manner and nodes herein-
before set forth, so that the sheets or leaves of books are in some cases bound
together without sawing and sewing, and books so bound open perfectly
flat, or more nearly so than books bound by any other method heretofore in
use; and in other cases where books are sewn or stitched in the usual way
the backs thereof are greatly improved in point of solidity and elasticity.
And I claim, as comprehended under my Patent, any and every other mode

page_text: or manuer of employing caoutchouc to produce the new and useful effects
aforesaid, which shall involve no material departure from the manner herein
before specified. And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1 do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this
my said Specification doth comply in all respects with the proviso in the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby
claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hancock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid William Hancock came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Invalled the Seventh day of June. in the year of our Lord One thousand