US962718A - Process of making multicolor prints. - Google Patents

Description

VICTOR PETERSON, OF DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS OF MAKING MULTICOLOR PRINTS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J une 28, 1910.

Application filed June 4, 1908. Serial No. 436,538.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Vic'i'oir Terrasson, a citizen of the United States, residing at Downers Grove, in the county of Dupage and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making'Multicolor Prints, of which the following is a specification. l

This invention relates to an improved process of making multi-color prints, the printing being done by a succession of iinpressions and being analogous to the so' calledv four-color process.

Thesalicnt object of the present invention is to provide a process whereby a subject may be printed in a plurality of colors, properly distributed and blended, Without the necessity of'providing different special printing plates for each color.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a process which renders less essential extreme accuracy of register; to provide a process which eliminates much of the technical and artistic skill, experience and judgment necessarily involved in successfully car- Aiying out the-so-called tri-color or fourcolor processes; to provide a process which is more rapid as a Whole; to provide a process which is capable of being carried out by extremely simple appliances, in ordinary printing establishments and at a very .substantial saving in cost as vcompared with the tri-color or four-color processes, and

' which in this Way opens up a much Wider iield of application; and in general to provide lan improved process ot the character1 referred to. f

To the above 'ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will be more readily understood by a description of a specific example of carrying it-out; the description of suchI example being accompanied by drawings.

For illustration I have chosen a red rose 'arranged in a blue vase, the leaves and stein of the rose being green, and the `shade and outline lines being black. Accordingly, Figure 1 illustrates the completed colon-type print; F ig. 2 illustrates a relief tympan sheet, the relief portions of which effect theprinting of those partslivhich are to appear in yellow and green; Fig. 3 is a second relief tympan sheet, the relief portions which it is desired to have appear on the finished print.- The outline late is then set upon the press in the usual) or any suitable inanner. The platenv or cylinder of the press is equipped With a suitable tympan sheet, and thereupon the pressman proceeds to print ay plurality of sheets, say for example, la half dozen, so as to have a surplus, using paper which is suitable for use as tympan sheets and therefore prefenably using the saine kind of pa er as that of the tympan first placed upon tie press.' These tympan sheets are preferably printed with ordinary black printers ink, care being taken to apply the ink thoroughly but sparingly so as to secure clean-cut, sharp impressions., lVith the saine inake-ready the pressinan runs, off a plurality of impressions upon, what for convenience l will call overlay-stock sheets; these overlay-stock sheets being made of rathei'thick resilient paper, having, however, a dense, smooth surface, and of such character that it can be conveniently both cut into sections and 'readily peeled or scraped olf in thin layers. In practice I nd that paper of the character of the socalled enameled blotter stock, running yabout from 140l to 200 pounds to the ream, is suit'- able. This stock has the characteristics desired, and may be accurately cut into desired shapes by the use of an ordinary small pointed, sharp knife. Desirably also the pressman will run olf a few 'impressions on any suitable paper, and desirably on the saine stock which is to be used for the roposed job. These sheets I term register sheets and they are used simply for the purpose of helping the pressman secure register in preparing the several make-readys hereinafter described.

With the printed tympan sheets and printed overlay-stock sheets a s et of relieftympaii-sheets is now prepared, one for each dierent vcolor impression. These relief stock .sheets those portions of the impressions which ar t to appear in a given color, say yellow, and mounts these cutout porl tions in exact register with, and npoii the corresponding portions of the impression on one ofthe tympan sheets. Ordinarily, where there is considerable detail, iii doing this he will first cut out from the overlay-stock Ai5- the entire impression, transfer it to, fit it and paste it in exact register upon the iinpression on the tympan sheet; ,\s soon as the paste or other adhesive is dry. he will then proceed to eountersink, peel ott. or cut out and remove from the' over-lay stock thus pasted upon the tympan all those portions, except the arcas which are to become the impression surfaces ot' the tympan. The iinpression surfaces will thus lie left in relief'. es

artist will peel ofl' tor scrape down such portions as are to appeairless strongly in the finished impression, thus leaving the un` reduced surfaces to malte the strongest inipressions. Uf course, thel surfaces o'l1 the relief portions may be carved, dug or burned out, so as to produce stippled surfaces or other non-uniform surfaces, upon the printing areas, and the possibility ol so treating these surfaces renders the process extremely.

flexible and capable of producing blending` and. shadingetl'ects. In this connection it will, of course, he understood that the intaglio portions of thc,tyinpan which are 40 not to print may be removed as to the entire thickness of the overlay-stock or only a part of this thickness.

A set of relief tympans one for each color having been thus prepared, the outline plate 5 is removed from the press, and a plaiitplate is substituted. The tympan whichV was used for taking olf the tympan sheet and overlay-stock sheet impressions is removed fromthe press and the relief tympan for the first color substituted upon the platen. This rcief 'tympan is adjusted to register, and a strong butfrather thin (,lraiv-sheet placed over it and secured in place.` 'lhe press being now ready, I run the job through l'or the `first impression or color. The press is then cleaned, the draw sheet released, the relief tympan removed, the tympan for the next color substituted and adjusted, and the job run through foi" the second il'nprcssion or color. ln the same way the other relief tympan sheets are applied andv their colors printed, .the printed sheets being then finished so far as the colors are concerned.

inain outlines. and key plates are, therefore,

used for the final print.

.lelerriiig to the drawings lFig. 1 shows thelinished print or subject, except only the Ihalt-tone or screen lines, which are so l l i As to these relief surfaces, the printer orx inicroscopical as to be incapable of proper illustration; the several parts of the print being .shaded to indicate their respective colors. Fig. 2 shows the first relief tympan sheet in which the relief portions appear as shaded,--yellow being indicated. The outline lines also appear upon the tyinpanbut are of course not in relief. `Fig. 3 shows the second relief tympan in which similarly the relief portions are shaded to indicate red. Figashowsthethird tympan sheet in which the relief portions are shaded to indicate blue. 4

Vln the finished print the center of the llowc f appears in yellow', the petals red, the leaves and stem lgreen tit being noted that the yellow and blue lare superposed as to these portions) while thevase is blue, the outlines, dividing lines and shade lines being black.

I "or liner grades of work the plain plate associated with the relief tympan sheets, instead otf being ahsoliitely smooth, may have the usual screen lines of suitable mesh upon its face, and' a different plateV of this kind can ly i applied foreach color impression by the tympan sheets, or the same plate can be re-adjusted on the press to change the angle or directionfol the screen lines. Other modifications can also be made in my invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim as my invention:

l. The improvement in the art of printing in colors. which. consists in preparing a plurality of relief colortyinpans having their relief portions (flifl'erently located thereon so as to apply the various colors on theproper place in a picture, equipping the bed of the press with a plain plate and the platen with oie ol? said relief tympans and then ruiming tin-(nigh the job for the `first color impression, next removing sa'id first relief tympan, substituting another relief tympan on the press and running through the job for the next color iml'iression, finally removing the last used relief tympan and on the press a key plate and running through the job for the final impression to receive outlines, dividing' lines or shade lines.

printing, which consists in first preparing an outline printing plate for printing the color boundaries, making ready the press with said outline-'plate and an opposed plain tympan, printing a plurality of sheets of over-lay stock and a plurality of sheets of tympan stock, cutting from each printed over-lay stock sheet that portion to be printed in a certain color, mounting said portion in its proper place on one of the tympan sheets, and so forming a relief tympan for said color, similarly forming a. relief tympan for each different color, next equipping the bed of the press with a plain printing plate and the platen with one of said relief tympans, and running through the job for the rst color impression, next removing the iirst used relief tympan and substituting a second relief tympan on the press and running 'through the job for the next color impression, repeating the operation of substituting tympans and running 'i through the job for each4 color impression,

and finally removing the last used relief tympan and substituting on the pinten a plain tympan, removing from the bed the plain printing plate andv substituting thereon a key plate and runninglthrough the job for the final impression to receive outlines, dividing lines, or shade lines.

The improvement in the art of print- 2. The improvement in the art of color in the press, then successively applyin picture.

pression which Aare to lie rinted in the several different, colors, ,emp oying these re,

lief tympans s'uccessively'on the press, in opposition to and in conjunction. with a plain printing plate, in printing thel several color impressions, except the last, and making the last impression with a key plate and plain or non-re1ief tympan opposed therelga.- 0I' 4. The improvementin the art off-lo printing which consists in preparingan,ont-` line plate of a picture to be printed, priilting.

a plurality of tympan sheets with said plate, printing also a plurality of over-lay stock sheets With said plate, peeling olf or countersinking portions of each over-lay sheet to leave. relief portions for printing a certain color, then securing each over-lay sheet'to a tympan sheet with the prints thereon in register, then removing-the outline from the press and substituting a plain printing plate, then successively mounting the tympan sheets with the relief stock sheets thereonl to theprinting plate the colors to be printe by the tympan sheets, and then successively printing the different -colors to form the Vvieron PETERSON.

Witnesses l Lois Fonos, ALBERT H. GRAVES'.

ing to the parts of the im-

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