IMPROVED MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE FORGERY OR IMITATION OP BANK NOTES, BILLS, CERTIFICATES, CHEQUES, BONDS, DEEDS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE FORGERY OR IMITATION
OP BANK NOTES, BILLS, CERTIFICATES, CHEQUES, BONDS, DEEDS, AND OTHER LIKE
ARTICLES."A communication.
Sealed the 5th May 1857, and dated the 3rd March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd March 1857.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE FORGERY OR
IMITATION OF BANK NOTES, BILLS, CERTIFICATES, CHEQUES, BONDS, DEEDS, AND OTHER
LIKE ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in combining the form of note or other document
printed either by copperplate, or otherwise, with a photographic or other like
picture produced by the effect of light upon paper chemically prepared for the
purpose, or with a picture printed from copper or other plate produced by
the electrotype process from a photograph on glass or other suitable material;
or a daguerreotype picture may be first taken, and from it any number of

page_text: negatives produced and arranged so as to print a number of pictures at one
and the same operation. In this way the photographs may be printed in
sheets very rapidly, which when fixed, washed, and dried, are ready to
receive the copperplate, or other impression, to designate the name and
character of the note or other certificate; or the copperplate impressions may
be made first, and the photographs printed afterwards. Or, a photograph may
be taken upon glass coated with suitable material, which is then plated by the
electrotyping process, which being separated from the glass is found to bear
on its face the counterpart of the original design in intaglio or relievo, the
reverse of that on the glass. This being produced in intaglio may be
printed from in the same manner as from an engraved plate, and the print
therefrom will be found to represent every shade of object in such perfection as
to defy imitation by any human skill. The design thus printed is then to be
printed over by copper plate, or otherwise with ink of a contrasting colour,
after which the blank will be ready for use..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed:
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said. William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others.
as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR PREVENTING FORGERY OR IMITATION OF BANK
NOTES, BILLS, CERTIFICATES, CHEQUES, BONDS, DEEDS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Newton,, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the dato of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention of "Improved Means for Preventing Forgery or Imitation of
Bank Notes, Bills, Certificates, Cheques, Bonds, Deeds, and other like Articles"
relates to a novel method of producing blanks for bank notes, bills, certificates,
checks, bonds, deeds, and other like purposes, whereby the successful imitation
or alteration of such documents may be prevented. The Invention consists in
combining the form of note or other document printed either by copperplate,
or otherwise, with a photographic or other like picture produced by the effect
of light upon paper chemically prepared for the purpose, or with a picture
printed from copper or other plate produced by the electrotype process from a
photograph on glass or other suitable material, which is then ready to be
signed by the proper officials.
The photographic picture is taken by the camera obscura on glass, which
has been previously coated with albumen or collodion according to the process
well known to photographists. This picture is what is termed by artists a
negative, that is to say, the reverse as regards light and shade of a true picturo
when held against the light; after this negative picture has been fixed in the
usual way it is coated with a transparent varnish to preserve it. A positive
picture may then be taken from this negative by placing a sheet of paper
previously prepared with a solution of salt, and coated with a solution of
ammoniacal nitrate of silver, and dried in a dark room in close contact with
the plate, and exposing it to the action of light until the picture is of a proper
depth of shade, after which it is fixed in a solution of hyposulphite of soda,
chloride of gold, and oxide of silver, and then washed well with pure water to
prevent the picture from fading. When thoroughly washed and dried, any
number of negatives on glass may be taken from it, and arranged side by side
in a frame to the size of a sheet of bank note paper, or a daguerreotypo
picture may be first taken, and from it any number of negatives produced and
arranged as before mentioned, so as to print a number of pictures at one and
the same operation. In this way the photographs may be printed in sheets
very rapidly, and when fixed, washed, and dried, they are ready to receive the

page_text: copperplate or other impression to designate the name and character of
the note or other certificate; or the copperplate impressions may be made
first, and the photographs printed afterwards. This is but one of a variety of
processes well known to photographic artists for producing very similar results,
and although I consider it the best adapted to the purpose, I do not intend to
confine myself to this mode of producing the photographs. By the other
process a photograph is taken upon glass coated with suitable material, which
is then plated by the electrotyping process, which being separated from the
glass is found to bear on its face the counterpart of the original design in
intaglio or relievo, the reverse of that on the glass. This being produced
in intaglio may be printed from in the same manner as from an engraved
plate, and the print therefrom will be found to represent every shade of object
in such perfection as to defy imitation by any human skill. The design thus
printed is then to be printed over by copper plate, or otherwise with ink of a
-contrasting colour, after which the blank will be ready for use.
For the more thorough understanding of this plan, let us suppose the
design to bo a group composed of the portraits of the entire firm, or
the president and cashier of a bank, over this is printed a fine copper-
plate lithograph, or other impression of the name and style of the firm,
and form of note or other certificate; or the printed impressions of the
note may be, made first, and the photographic design printed afterwards,
when the prepared blank will be ready to be signed by the proper officials.
If an attempt should then be made to duplicate this by photography or
other like process, the printed and written parts will be photographed also,
which will be very easy of detection; as if the picture is produced of the
same depth of shade and tint as the original, only the print will not resemble the
impressions of copper plate either in color or appearance, and so with the
signatures; but on the other hand if printed so deep that the letters shall be of
a jet black, then the appearance of the picture will be completely altered, as it
also will have been printed of a black tint, so that in either case neither will
resemble the original, but which may be more effectually obviated by printing
the form with a colored ink. Again, if an attempt should be made to copy
this photographic picture by an artist with the pencil for the purpose of
producing from such copy duplicates by photography, it is argued that the
most skilful painter can never produce a duplicate of nature, or the results of
nature so perfectly as not to be distinguishable therefrom. Moreover, if the
parties forming the group were again to set for a second picture, it would be
impossible for them to arrange themselves, in precisely the same position under
the effect of the same light, so as to produce a picture of corresponding size

page_text: with likenesses of the same expression as in the original. It therefore appears
that the only way to duplicate the genuine note is first to extract all the
copper plate or other printing, together with the signatures, dates, &c. from
the note, and then to photograph from the naked picture; but when we consider
the character of that picture we see at once the impossibility of accomplishing
it in this way. The paper having been chemically prepared to receive the
effect of the rays of light, that effect is so sensitive to the action of either
alkalies or acids capable of obliterating ink as to render it impossible to
remove the one without destroying the other; which is more especially the case
when the form has been printed first, and afterwards photographed, as the
picture is then only printed over such parts of the paper as have not been
previously covered with printing ink, so that wherever the ink has been
removed a white print or the naked paper will appear instead; and for further
security colored ink may be used, but I do not intend to confine myself to any
peculiar character or quality of ink.
Having thus described the Invention that has heen communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters
Patent the combination of the arts of photography, or of photogalvanographic
print with copperplate or other printing or writing, or both, for the purposes
above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, tho Third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
5 Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lanc.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)