“To all to whom these presents shall come, &c. Now know ye that, in compliance with the said proviso, I the said William Nicholson do hereby declare, that my said invention is described in the plan hereunto annexed, and the description thereof hereunder written, and in manner following; that is to say, my invention consists in three parts or particulars; namely, first, the manner or method of making, preparing, or placing, the original model, models, casts, types, engravings, carvings, or sculptures from which the impression is to be made. Secondly, in applying the ink, or colouring-matter, to such models, casts, types, engravings, carvings, or sculptures. And, thirdly, in taking off the impression, or transferring the ink, or colouring-matter, from such models, casts, types, engravings, carvings, or sculptures, to the paper, cloth, or other material upon which it is intended it should remain.

“I. In the first place then, I not only avail myself of all the methods of making, preparing, and placing, the original models, casts, types, engravings, carvings, or sculptures which have hitherto been known or used in printing, and do myself make use of them in conjunction with my newly-invented method of applying the ink, or colouring-matter, to such original models, casts, types, engravings, carvings, or sculptures, and also with my newly-invented method of taking off the impressions, but I do likewise make, put together, and arrange them in a new manner, as occasion may require; that is to say,

“II. I make my moulds, punches, and matrices, for casting letters, in the same manner, and with the same materials, as other letter-founders do, excepting that, instead of leaving a space in the mould for the stem of one letter only, I leave spaces for two, three, or more letters, to be cast at one pouring of the metal; and at the lower extremity of each of those spaces (which communicate by a common groove at top) I place a matrix, or piece of copper with the letter punched upon its face in the usual way. And moreover, I bring the stem of my letters to a due form and finish, not only by rubbing it on a stone, and scraping it when arranged in the finishing-stick, but likewise by scraping it on one or more sides, in a finishing-stick whose hollowed part is less deep at the inner than the outer side. I call that side of the groove which is nearest the face of the disposed letter, the outer side; and the purpose accomplished by this method of scraping is, that of rendering the tail of the letter gradually smaller the more remote it is, or farther from the face. Such letter may be firmly imposed upon a cylindrical surface, in the same manner as common letter is imposed upon a flat stone. I specify and affirm that the above described methods of casting two or more letters at once, and of chamfering or sloping their tails, are parts of my new invention.

“III. I impose or dispose my letter for printing in the common manner, to be used in conjunction with my newly-invented improvements. And I likewise impose it in frames or chases adapted to the surface of a cylinder of wood, or metal, and fasten it to the said surface by screws, or wedges, or in grooves, or by other methods well known to workmen; and this imposing letter upon a cylinder I state and affirm to be part of my new invention.

“IV. I cut, carve, engrave, chase, cast, model or make, (in the usual manner of performing those operations,) blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, to be used for printing, either of wood, metal, or other materials; and these I use in conjunction with my other newly-invented improvements. I likewise, for other kinds of work, do fasten with glue, cement, screws, wedges, or by other known methods, such blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, as aforesaid, to the surface of a cylinder. I likewise, for other kinds of work, do cut, carve, engrave, chase, cast, model or make, blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, as aforesaid, of a cylindrical form, of wood, metal, or other materials. And I state and affirm that this disposition of blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, upon a cylinder, and also that the cutting, carving, engraving, chasing and casting, modelling or making, blocks, plates, types, or originals, of a cylindrical form, as aforesaid, are parts of my new invention.

“V. In the second place, I distribute or apply the ink, or colouring-matter, upon the surface, or in the interstices, of the blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals aforesaid, by causing the surface of a cylinder, smeared or wetted with the colouring-matter, to roll over, or successively apply itself to, the surfaces of the said blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, of whatever figure or construction such blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, may be. Or else I cause the said blocks, forms, plates, types, or originals, successively to apply themselves to the said cylinder. I call the said smeared or wetted cylinder, the colouring-cylinder. Its surface is covered with leather, or the dressed skins which printers call pelts, or else it is covered with woollen, or linen, or cotton cloth. When the colour to be used is thin, as in calico-printing, and in almost every case, the covering is supported by a firm elastic stuffing, consisting of hair, or wool, or woollen cloth wrapped one or more folds round the cylinder. When the covering consists of woollen cloth, the stuffing must be defended by leather, or oilskin, to prevent its imbibing too much colour, and by that means losing its elasticity. It is absolutely necessary that the colouring-matter be evenly distributed over the surface of the cylinder; for this purpose, when the colour is thick and stiff, as in letter-press printing, I apply two, three, or more small cylinders, called distributing-rollers, longitudinally against the colouring-cylinders, so that they may be turned by the motion of the latter; and the effect of this application is, that every lump or mass of colour which may be redundant, or irregularly placed upon the face of the colouring-cylinder, will be pressed, spread, and partly taken up, and carried by the small rollers to the other parts of the colouring-cylinder; so that this last will very speedily acquire and preserve an even face of colour. But if the colouring-matter be thinner, I do not apply more than one or two of these distributing rollers; and, if it be very thin, I apply an even blunt edge of metal, or wood, or other material, or a straight brush, or both of these last, against the colouring-cylinder, for the purpose of rendering its colour uniform.

“VI. When I apply colour to an engraved plate, or cylinder, or apply the colour through the interstices of a perforated pattern, or cylinder, as in the manufacturing of some kinds of paper-hangings and floor-cloths, I use a cylinder entirely covered with hair or bristles, in the manner of a brush.

“VII. The whole of the manipulations or practices described in the two preceding paragraphs (numbers V. and VI.) are parts of my invention.

“VIII. In the third place, I perform all my impressions by the action of a cylinder or cylindrical surface; that is to say, I cause the paper, or cloth, or other material intended to be printed upon, (and previously damped if necessary,) to pass between two cylinders, or segments of cylinders, in equal motion; one of which has the block, form, plate, assemblage of types, or originals, attached to, or forming part of, its surface, and the other is faced with cloth or leather, and serves to press the paper, cloth, or other material, as aforesaid, so as to take off an impression of the colour previously applied. Or otherwise, I cause the block, form, plate, assemblage of types, or originals, previously coloured, to pass in close and successive pressure or contact with the paper, or cloth, or other material, wrapped round a cylinder with woollen. Or otherwise, I cause the last mentioned cylinder, with the paper, or cloth, or other material wrapped round it, to roll along the face of the block, form, plate, assemblage of types, or originals, previously coloured. Or otherwise, I cause a cylinder having the block, form, plate, assemblage of types, or originals, attached to, or forming part of, its surface, to roll along the surface of the paper, cloth, or other material intended to be printed, and previously spread out upon an even plane covered with cloth or leather; the said cylinder being supplied with colour by means of a colouring-cylinder herein before described, and herein after more particularly to be noticed.

“IX. The foregoing description shews the nature of my invention; which may be applied to a great variety of uses, and constructed or put together in a great variety of forms. Its uses consist in the printing of books in general, the printing of paper-hangings, floor-cloths, cottons, linens, woollens, silks, ribands, laces, leather, skin, and every other flexible material whatever. And its form or construction, being no essential part of the invention, may without difficulty be obtained and carried into effect, by any workman possessed of common skill and ability. Nevertheless, as there may be some artists of such a moderate capacity as to find the foregoing instructions not sufficient to enable them to construct my machines, I shall proceed to exhibit drawings, and describe several methods of constructing them. But, at the same time, I think it pertinent to take notice, that as the following constructions cannot be exclusively claimed by me by virtue of his Majesty’s letters patent granted unto me, excepting so far as the same include or contain my new improvements and inventions, so, on the other hand, I do not exhibit the same as the only practical methods of carrying my invention into effect, but I claim the general and universal application of the principles discovered and brought into practice by me, as before described; and do here proceed to exhibit and describe certain specific applications of those principles, chiefly from a conviction that it is my duty to render this present specification clear and intelligible by every means in my power. And moreover, since in the following applications or particular methods there are, and may be found, several contrivances resulting from a considerable degree of deliberation, labour, and expence, and tending to facilitate the practice of my said inventions, I do not by any means hereby exclude the following descriptions and drawings from my present specification; for I do not consider them as being merely illustrative of the general principles herein before described and explained, but do hereby assert and maintain, that all and every parts and part of the machines herein after described, which have not hitherto been used as parts of some other machine, or in combination directed to the accomplishment of the like purpose of printing, are stated and claimed by me as parts of my said invention; for the exclusive enjoyment of which, as well as of every other part of the said invention hereby specified by me, I claim all protection and every advantage which, by his Majesty’s letters patent, I may lawfully be entitled to.

“Explanation or the annexed Drawings.

“Fig. 1. represents a printing-press, more especially applicable to the printing of sheets of paper, or books. A. and E. represent two cylinders running or turning in a strong frame of wood, of metal, or both. The cylinder A. is faced with woollen cloth, and is capable of being pressed with more or less force upon HI, by means of the lever M. HI is a long table, which is capable of moving endways, backwards and forwards, upon the rollers E and K. The roller A acts upon this table by means of a cog-wheel, or by straps, so as to draw it backwards and forwards by the motion of its handle L. The table is kept in the same line by grooves on its sides, which contain the cylinder A. D is a chase, containing letter set up and imposed. B is a box, containing a colouring-roller, with its distributing-rollers CC; it is supported by the arm N. O is a cylinder faced with leather, and lying across an ink-block; this cylinder is fixed by the middle to a bended lever movable on the joint Q.

“The action. When D, or the letter, is drawn beneath the cylinder B, it receives ink; and when it has passed into the position R, a workman places or turns down a tympan with paper upon it; (this tympan differs in no respect from the usual one, except that its hinge opens sideways;) it then proceeds to pass under the cylinder A, which presses it successively through its whole surface. On the other side, at S, the workman takes off the paper, and leaves the tympan up. This motion causes the cylinder B to revolve continually, and consequently renders its inked surface very uniform, by the action of its distributing-rollers CC; and, when the table has passed to its extreme distance in the direction now spoken of, the arm G touches the lever P, and raises the cylinder O off the ink-block, by which means it dabs against one of the distributing-rollers, and gives it a small quantity of ink. The returning motion of the table carries the letter again under the roller B, which again inks it, and the process of printing another sheet goes on as before. N.B. The table in this drawing is not quite long enough in its dimensions, compared with the inking-roller.

“Fig. 2. is another printing-press: in this, B is the inking-roller; A is a cylinder, having the letter imposed upon its surface; and E is a cylinder, having its uniform surface covered with woollen cloth: these three cylinders are connected, either by cogs or straps at the edges of each. The machine is uniformly turned in one direction by the handle L. The workman applies a sheet of paper to the surface of E, where it is retained, either by points in the usual manner, or by the apparatus to be described in treating of Fig. 4. The paper passes between E and A, and receives an impression; after which the workman takes it off, and applies another sheet; and in the mean time the letter on the surface of A passes round against the surface of B, and receives ink during the rotation of B. The distributing-rollers CC do their office as in the machine Fig. 1.; and once in every revolution the tail F, affixed to B, raises the inking-piece G, so as to cause it to touch one of the distributing-rollers, and supply it with ink. In this way therefore the repeated printing of sheet after sheet goes on.

“Fig. 3. is a printing-press, more particularly adapted to print cottons, silks, paper-hangings, or other articles which run of a considerable length.

“Fig. 4. is a printing-press, chiefly of use for books and papers. 1 2 3 4 represents a long table, with ledges on each side; so that the two cylinders A and B can run backwards and forwards without any side shake. In one of these ledges is placed a strip or plate of metal cut into teeth which lock into correspondent teeth in each cylinder; by which means the two cylinders roll along, without the possibility of changing the relative positions of their surfaces at any determinate part of the table. This may also be effected by straps, and may indeed be accomplished, with tolerable accuracy, by the mere rolling of the cylinders on the smooth or flat ledges without any provision. A is the printing-cylinder, covered with woollen cloth, and B is the inking-cylinder, with its distributing-rollers. The table may be divided into four compartments, marked with a thicker bounding-line than the rest, and numbered 1 2 3 4. At 1 is placed a sheet of paper; at 2 is the form or chase, containing letter set and imposed; at 3 is an apparatus for receiving the printed sheet; and 4 is employed in no other use than as a place of standing for the carriage E, after it has passed through one operation, and when it takes ink at F. Its action is as follows: the carriage is thrust forward by the workman, and as the roller A passes over the space numbered 1, it takes up the sheet of paper previously laid there, while the roller B runs over the form and inks the letter. The sheet of paper, being wrapped round the cylinder A, is pressed against the form as that cylinder proceeds, and consequently it receives an impression. When A arrives at the space numbered 3, it lets go the sheet of paper, while the prominent part of the carriage, G, strikes the lever P, and raises the inking-piece, which applies itself against one of the distributing-rollers. In this manner therefore the cylinder A returns empty, and the cylinder B inked, and in the mean time the workman places another sheet of paper ready in the space numbered 1. Thus it is that the operation proceeds in the printing of one sheet after another.

“The preceding description is not incumbered with an account of the apparatus by which the paper is taken up and laid down. This may be done in several ways: Figs. 9 and 10 represent one of the methods. D E is a lever, moving on the centre pin C, and having its end D pressed upwards by the action of the spring G. The shoulder which contains the pin C is fixed in another piece F, which is inserted in a groove in the surface of the cylinder A; (Fig. 4;) so that it is capable of moving in and out, in a direction parallel to the axis of that cylinder. As that cylinder proceeds, it meets a pin in the table; which, (letter P, Fig. 9,) acting on the inclined plane at the other end of the lever, throws the whole inwards, in the position represented in Fig. 10; in which case the extremity D shoots inwards, and applies itself against the side of the cylinder.

“In Fig. 11 is a representation of part of the table; the dotted square represents a sheet of paper, and the four small shaded squares denote holes in the board, with pins standing beside them. When the lever DE (Fig. 10) shoots forward, it is situated in one of these holes, and advances under the edge of the paper, which consequently it presses and retains against the cylinder with its extremity D. Nothing more remains to be said respecting the taking up, but that the cylinder is provided with two pair of these clasps or levers, which are so fixed as to correspond with the four holes represented in Fig. 11. It will be easy to understand how the paper is deposited in the compartment No. 3. (Fig. 4.) A pin P, (Fig. 10,) rising out of the platform or table, acts against a pin E, projecting sideways out of the lever, and must of course draw the slider and its lever to the original position; the paper consequently will be let go, and its disengagement is rendered certain by an apparatus fixed in the compartment numbered 3, (Fig. 4,) of exactly the same kind as that upon the cylinder, and which by the action of a pin duly placed in the surface of the cylinder A, takes the paper from the cylinder in precisely the same manner as that cylinder originally took it up in the compartment numbered 1. (Fig. 4.)

“Figs. 5, 6, and 7, represent a simpler apparatus for accomplishing the same purpose. If Aa Bb (Fig. 7) be supposed to represent a thick plate of metal of a circular form, with two pins A and B proceeding sideways or perpendicularly out of its plane, and diametrically opposite to each other, and G another pin proceeding in the direction of that plane, then it is obvious that any force applied to the pin A, so as to press it into the position a, (by turning the plate on its axis or centre X,) will at the same time cause the pin G to acquire the position g; and, on the other hand, when B is at b, or the dotted representation of the side-pin, if any pressure be applied to restore its original position at B, the pin g will return back to G. Now the figures 5 and 6 exhibit an apparatus of this kind, applied to the cylinder A; and that cylinder, by rolling over the pins P and p, properly fixed in the table to re-act upon the apparatus, will cause its prominent part G, either to apply to the cylinder and clasp the paper, or to rise up and let it go. The compartment numbered 3 (Fig. 4) must of course have an apparatus of the same kind, to be acted upon by pins from A, in order that it may take the paper from that cylinder.

“There is one other circumstance belonging to this machine which remains to be explained. When the carriage E (Fig. 4) goes out in the direction of the numbers 1 2 3 4, both rollers, A and B, press the form of letter in their passage; but in their return back again the roller A, having no paper upon it, would itself become soiled, by taking a faint impression from the letter, if it were not prevented from touching it: the manner of effecting this may be understood from Fig. 12. The apparatus there represented is fixed upon the outside of the carriage E, near the lower corner, in the vicinity of the roller A; the whole of this projects sideways beyond the ledge of the table, except the small truck or wheel B. The irregularly triangular piece, which is shaded by the stroke of the pen, carries this wheel, and also a catch movable on the axis or pin E. The whole piece is movable on the pin A, which connects it to the carriage. C D, or the part which is shaded by dotting, is a detent which serves to hold the piece down in a certain position. It may be observed, that both the detent and the triangular piece are furnished each with a claw, which holds in one direction, but trips or yields in the other, like the jacks of a harpsicord, or resembling certain pieces used in clock and watch making, as is clearly represented in the drawing. These claws over-hang the side of the table, and their effect is as follows. There is a pin C (Fig. 4) between the compartments of the table numbered 2 and 3, but which is marked F in Fig. 12, where G H represents the table. In the outward run of the carriage these claws strike that pin, but with no other effect than that they yield for an instant, and as instantly resume their original position by the action of their respective slender back-springs. When the carriage returns, the claw of the detent indeed strikes the pin, but with as little effect as before, because its derangement is instantly removed by the action of the back-spring of the detent itself; but, when the claw of the triangular piece takes the pin, the whole piece is made to revolve on its axis or pin A, the wheel B is forced down, so as to lift that end of the carriage, and the detent, catching on the piece at C, prevents the former position from being recovered. The consequence of this is, that the carriage runs upon the truck B, (and its correspondent truck on the opposite side,) instead of the cylinder A, which is too much raised to take the letter, and soil itself; but, as soon as the end of the carriage has passed clear of the letter, another pin R (Fig. 4) takes the claw of the detent, and draws it off the triangular piece; at which instant the cylinder A subsides to its usual place, and performs its functions as before. This last pin R does not affect the claw of the triangular piece, because it is placed too low; and the claw of the detent is made the longest, on purpose that it may strike this pin.

“Fig. 8 represents an instrument for printing floor-cloths, paper-hangings, and the like, with stiff paint and a brush.”

“Lastly, I must take notice, that in these and every other of my machines, as well as in every machine whatever, the power may be wind, water, steam, animal strength, or any other natural change capable of producing motion; and that the mechanism by which such powers may be applied to produce a regular unceasing, or an intermitting, motion, as circumstances may require, may be used with these machines, though I have held it totally unnecessary either to specify or annex those methods. The materials, the adjustments, the fittings, and that degree of accuracy necessary to the perfection of every machine, have likewise made no part of my specification, because every workman must know that no mechanism can be completed without a due attention to these well-known particulars. In witness whereof, &c.”—Repertory of Arts, &c. vol. v. 1796.

“Observations on the Art of Printing Books and Piece Goods by the Action of Cylinders.”
——Experto credite.

“We may conceive three ways of delineating figures, or writing. The first and most ancient consists in making the traces successively by a brush, a pen, or other instrument. This is design, painting, or writing. In the latter methods, either the whole or the greater part of the figures are made by the action or pressure of an original pattern against the material intended to be written or painted upon. It is the art of printing. The colouring is either deposited from the face of prominent parts of the original form, which is usually called a block or type; or else it is pressed from cavities cut in the face of the original, which in this case is called an engraved plate. Most books are printed from original patterns, in relief; and most of the imitations of paintings are performed by means of engravings. These arts are most frequently distinguished by the names of letter-press and copper-plate printing.

“It can scarcely be matter of new information to those who are but moderately acquainted with the state of the Arts, to be told that letter-press or book-printing is performed by an assemblage of single metallic letters, called types, made of lead hardened by an addition of antimony in the metallic state; that these letters are composed in the form of book pages, and wedged together in iron frames called chases; that the ink is a composition of linseed oil and lamp black, of so singular a nature, that it will adhere to a ball covered with a pelt or sheep’s skin soaked in water, and kneaded to extreme softness under the feet, but quits this skin with great readiness to apply to the face of the letter when dabbed with the ball; and still more, that it almost totally quits the letter to adhere to paper rendered semitransparent by soaking in water; or lastly, that the paper is applied and pressed against the form of composed letter by means of a flat piece of wood urged downwards by a screw. These and numerous early discovered principles of this most useful art are generally known, and require no more than mere recapitulation in this place.

“The genius of the Chinese language not permitting that people to analyse its sounds into an alphabet, as has been done by most other nations, has induced them to retain those signs of things, and of their correspondent words, which probably constituted the first picture or hieroglyphic writings of every rude society. Changed and complicated as these may have become by the rapidity of transcription, the corruption of ignorance, or whatever other causes may have operated through a long succession of ages, they still for the most part use words that properly denote things, and not sounds. Such words cannot, therefore, be subdivided; and it has accordingly been found most convenient, by these first possessors of the art, to print from entire blocks, as was also done by the first printers in Europe. But our artists soon discovered that a few of the simplest characters, namely, the letters of the alphabet, would be in many respects more useful, as the elements for composing blocks for printers, than a number of blocks originally cut for every page of every individual book.

“Book-printing, therefore, though in fact of the same nature as block-printing, has been carried into effect by very different machinery from that made use of in the arts which still retain the latter method. In book-printing, the heavy metallic form lies on a kind of table, and the colour and the paper are successively applied to its face: but in block-printing, the block is carried and applied to the colour, and afterwards to the work intended to be printed. Thus, for example, in the printing of paper-hangings, the colour is spread with a brush upon a woollen cloth stretched over a surface of parchment or skin evenly supported by a half fluid mass of water and mashed paper. To this the block is carefully applied by a slight perpendicular stroke or two; after which it is applied to the dry paper on a table, and pressed against it either by one or more blows with a mallet, or by the regular action of a lever. The mechanical part of callico-printing is effected nearly in the same manner; but with smaller blocks, because of the greater difficulty of making the successive fittings on so flexible a material. And in both these arts, as well as in book-printing, in red and black, the variety of colours are produced by repeated applications of forms or blocks, of which the prominent parts are made to fit each other according to the nature of the design.

“In the art of printing from copper-plates, a colour somewhat more fluid than for book-printing is made use of. It is pressed into the cavities of the plate by smearing it over the surface; and by subsequent careful wiping the redundant colour is cleared away. In this state, if soaked paper, for which purpose the most spongy texture is the best, be strongly pressed against the plate, by passing both together between two cylinders of metal or hard wood, properly defended by woollen cloth, the greatest part of the colour adheres to the paper, and forms what is called a print.

“In all these processes, it is easily seen, that in the successive applications of colour, the accurate filling of the form or original with the material intended to receive the impression, and in various other parts of the manipulation, there is much room for the display of skill, or for injury from the want of it. It may moreover be collected, that the motions attendant on the various steps of manufacture, are in many instances difficult to be performed with rapidity and ease, until by long continued habit the workman himself is converted as it were into a machine. A very slight degree of attention to this subject must also shew that, if the originals were of a cylindric form, with a contrivance for regularly applying the colour and performing the subsequent operations, it would be easy to print books and piece goods with a degree of rapidity and uniformity, of which the usual method of successive applications seems scarcely capable without uncommon care and skill. This obvious conclusion has no doubt led to numerous experiments; none of which, so far as I can gather, whatever may have been their particular utility, have given much promise to supersede the ordinary methods. But as the increased demand for the manufacture of printed goods has rendered such an improvement an interesting object to manufacturers, as well as to those indefatigable artists who have directed their efforts towards improvements; and as the latter generally take up a new object under a strong persuasion that it has not before been pursued by others, it will certainly be of advantage to these deserving classes of men, to relate a few of the difficulties of this new art.

“The difficulties attendant on any improvement in the arts may be considered either as moral or physical. Under the moral, I would class every thing that relates to the prejudices of men in favour of the old methods, and their fears of risk, together with the œconomical and commercial inconveniencies attending the new processes. The physical difficulties are such as attend the actual performance of any project after the same has been carefully arranged in the mind of the inventor. It happens unfortunately here also that the inventor is seldom aware of the moral impediments; but almost always concludes, that if he can succeed in accomplishing the purpose that he has in view, his cares and labour will then be at an end; and that the manufacturer, in particular, instead of pointing out new impediments discernible only from long continued experience, will more readily embrace and approve of the new processes, in consequence of his superior knowledge of their intrinsic value.

“Every good invention appears simple in the prospect, but it scarcely ever happens in the execution that the most direct road is taken; and in every case there will infallibly be many things unknown or unforeseen, which practice only can point out as necessary to be done for the complete accomplishment of the object in view. Hence, and likewise because few men possessed of independent fortune are likely to engage or persevere in a labour of this kind, it almost invariably happens that the expences exceed the ability of the inventor himself. For these and other reasons, new undertakings are generally brought forward by the inventor, a man strongly prejudiced in favour of his leading pursuit, together with a moneyed friend, who hopes speedily to increase his capital from the abilities of the other. It is not necessary in this place to describe the usual consequences of a partnership, where the minds, the views, and the circumstances of both individuals are so very different, and which may be modified still more essentially if either of the parties be deficient in the common principles required to bind men to each other. It is certainly of the highest importance to both, that the circumstances of such connections should be very maturely weighed before they are entered into.

“The commercial difficulties or facilities attending any invention, are also of great consequence. Every inventor ought to enquire not only what has been done before, but likewise into the present state of the manufacture he means to improve. In this way it is ascertained how small a part the mere press-work constitutes in the price of a book. He will find that twelve yards of paper-hangings are printed for one penny, in a single colour, by hand, which afterwards, by the accumulation of price, in paper, colour, duty, and ordinary profit, are sold for three shillings; none of which the inventor can pretend to diminish; and if he could annihilate the whole labour, his advantage would therefore be less than three per cent. without reckoning the cost and operation of his machinery. In the callico-printing, with a more expensive material, dyeing and field-processes, duty and profits of manufacture and vender, the price of laying the block will turn out to be an object still less considerable. Again: it will be seen that small flat blocks cost but little money in comparison with cylinders of sufficient diameter to retain their figure, and long enough to apply to the whole breadth of the cloth.

“Under these and other similar points of view, the inventor, who may consider the subject in a superficial manner, would be ready to abandon his undertaking. But this again ought not to be rashly done. It is true, that where the great force of capital is employed on objects not comprehended within his project, the saving, however large in its absolute amount, or desirable to a manufacturer, will scarcely come within the reach of the inventor by any bargain he can make short of an actual partnership. But it may be possible to separate the respective departments of a manufactory. A spinner is not necessarily a weaver; nor a printer a linen-draper or a dealer in paper-hangings. The several departments of manufacture and commerce are, generally speaking, in the hands of acute men, who seldom reason ill with regard to the advancement of their peculiar interests; and these departments are continually fluctuating in their arrangement, as convenience, profit, or the accumulation of capital may lead. Experiments are for ever on foot, from day-work to piece-work, and from piece-work to the employ of master-workmen with others under them, all supported by the capital of the large manufacturer, who himself in many instances is the mere instrument maintained by the advances or acceptances of the warehouseman, the factor, or the merchant. An inventor, who has not capital, may seek for employ on the goods or the capital of others; and if he has skill to maintain his ground against the numerous enterprises which the activity of opposite interests will raise against him, he will find that the old order of things will readily alter, as soon as an evident interest in favour of the new is shewn by actual and continued proofs in the market.

“Most of the physical difficulties attendant on any new process are such as experience only can shew. Thus, in the forging of iron by the pressure of rollers instead of hammers, a scheme upon which many thousands of pounds have been expended in this country, it was apprehended that the more impure parts, which are also the most fluid, might be pressed out by the action of cylinders, with equal or perhaps more advantage than by that of hammers; at the same time that the determinate figure of bars of any required size might be given without skill in the operator. Experience nevertheless has shewn, that the more fluid part is driven out much more effectually by the sudden action of a blow, than by the slower compression of a cylinder, which allows time for much of the fluid matter to extend itself within the mass. Various similar effects present themselves when cylinders for printing are substituted instead of planes. Instead of the action of dabbing, the colour is usually applied by simple and gradual contact, to much less effect; and the impression, though not essentially different from that of the block, is performed by a gradual action, which affords time for the cloth or paper to fold itself in a minute degree into the cavities of the sculpture. Hence it is found that the length of paper or cloth printed from a cylinder by a definite number of revolutions, will be greater or less than another piece manufactured precisely in the same way, but with a less or greater degree of pressure. In a block this defect is much less, not only from the considerable hold it takes upon the surface of the material, but also because the error is rectified at every successive application. One of the chief difficulties of cylinder printing consists, therefore, in the difficulty of laying one colour after another; and this would continue to be so even if the materials were not susceptible of change, the contrary to which is the fact. There are two projects for obviating this. The one consists in confining the whole piece to a long table, or to the circumference of a large cylinder; and causing the printing cylinder to move, not by the successive apposition of its carved surface, but of a bearing face regulated by a toothed wheel. The other method consists in the use of a frame to confine two or more cylinders, each provided with its own toothed wheel, and revolving against a large clothed cylinder provided with a suitable wheel to drive the others. The piece is caused to pass between the large cylinder and the others, in order to receive the impression. With regard to the first of these methods, it does not appear easy to confine paper, and still less cloth, in such a manner that its parts may continue without shift or wrinkle during the action of a cylinder, which not being allowed to roll without the check of a wheel, must draw the surface either the one way or the other. The difficulty of confinement will be very much increased by the indispensable requisite that the paper should be afterwards hung up to dry, and the callico be carried to the dye-house and the bleach-field, between the successive impressions, by which means the dimensions of both will be greatly altered. In the second method, it is observable that no colours can be printed but such as fall clear of each other. In this way, moreover, the gathering action of the cylinders may prove very mischievous. For, if we suppose the paper or cloth to pass between the great cylinder and the first printing roller by an action of the latter which tends to make it slip forward on the face of the great cylinder, and that when it arrives at the second printing roller it there experiences an action of a contrary nature, the consequence will be, that the material will become slack between the two rollers, and the fittings will be false. Not to dwell on that experience which brings forward this obstacle among others, its great probability may be deduced from the allowable supposition, that the circumference of the first printing cylinder should be one thousandth part of an inch too large, and that of the second the same quantity too small. For, in this case, the material will be shifted one-twentieth of an inch in fifty turns by the first cylinder, and the same quantity in the contrary direction by the second; a quantity upon the whole quite sufficient to destroy the effect of the colours in the progress of one single piece. Such minute differences can hardly be avoided in the first instance; in addition to which, we may place the varying dimensions of the printing cylinder, if not made of metal; and of the great clothed cylinder, which in effect has a larger or smaller diameter in proportion to the pressure which operates to render its elastic covering either thicker or thinner. The only method of diminishing these evils seems to be, that all the printing cylinders should, by dimension or pressure, or both, be made to draw the same way, the outer cylinder most, and the others gradually less and less, so that the material should have a tendency to apply itself more tightly during its passage through the apparatus.

“The application of the colour to the surface of a cylinder block, is attended with some difficulty. An ingenious mechanic may contrive various means to produce the action of dabbing, if required. When a stuffed cylinder covered with cloth is made to revolve in the colour, and thence, after passing a scraper, to apply itself to the block cylinder, it is found to be no inconsiderable difficulty that its dimensions change, and its covering becomes wrinkled by the action of the scraper as well as that of the block. A better method, therefore, consists in a revolving web of woollen cloth, like a jack towel, stretched over three horizontal cylinders parallel to each other, two of which support the elastic surface of the web, which in its revolution accompanies the block cylinder; and the other serves to guide the same web to the colour, or a cylinder revolving in it. This method would be very easy and pleasant in its operation, if it were not for a property common to all straps which revolve on the surface of two or more wheels. These are observed always to seek the highest place; so that if a cutler’s wheel were made with a groove to carry a strap, instead of a round edge, the strap would infallibly mount the ledge, instead of remaining in the groove. On this principle, the web would very speedily shift itself to one end of the cylinders, if it were not confined sideways, or the lower roller were not made considerably thickest in the middle, and gradually tapering towards its extremities. This last simple expedient is not without its difficulties; but, as I have not actually tried it, I shall defer entering into any discussion on that head.

“The running of the paper or piece-goods towards one end of the leading cylinder is also one of the greatest difficulties attending this method of printing. It is not perfectly removed by tapering the leading cylinders.

“The nature of the trade of paper-staining in this country, which requires a large sum to be immediately vested in the payment of the excise duty, and consequently prevents any considerable stock from being manufactured until orders are actually received, and the varying fashions in printed callicoes, which render the expence of cutting the block by for the heaviest part of the disbursement for printing, are probably the chief reasons why manufacturers in this country have been less solicitous for the construction of machines calculated to afford profit only in the case of very numerous impressions. The physical difficulties of this art have likewise conspired, in no small degree, to prevent its having been applied in the large way to any but a few simple designs of the sort called running patterns in one colour.”—Nicholson’s Journal, vol. i. 1797.