US1003187A - Electrolytic production of printing-plates and the like. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES "PATE T OFFICE.

AUGUST LEUOHTER, OF BROOKLYN, YORK.

ELECTROLYTIC PRODUCTION OF PRINTING-PLATES AND THE LIKE.

No Drawing. I

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 23, 1909. Serial No. 491,727.

PatentedSept; 12, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that T, AUGUST LEUOHTER, a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Electrolytic Production of Printing-Plates and the Like, of which the following is a specifi cation. l

The invention relates to a novel method of producing a new printing surface or plate and the like. It is well known that electrotypes and analogous printing blocks and plates are commonl made of copper and that the softness of t e printing surfaces has occasioned so much loss and annoyance that various processes have been resorted to with the View of producing improved and more durable printing surfaces. These prior processes have not, as is commonly known, produced entirely satisfactory results. In some .of them hard printing surfaces have been produced but they have been too thin and also too brittle to be considered entirely efficient or adaptable for general use, especially on modern high-speed cylinder presses. Notwithstanding the various endeavors made to improve electrotype printing plates, the copper plates are generally in use. A copper printing plate possesses many good qualities,

owing to its ease of production, lack of brittleness and other characteristics, but the copper plate lacks durability and the capability of withstanding the heavy modern ress-pressures, as well as the capacity of faithfully portraying color or delicate lights and shades to the degree desired in reproductions of fine half-tone plates. One attempt to improve the copper plates and es-. pecially to render them more durable, has been by depositing, in an electrolytic bath, a thin film of nickel over the finished copper plate. This film of nickel was necessarily so thin as to add little increased life to the plate and in addition deprived the plate of a portion of the sharpness of delineation it would otherwise have possessed. Another attempt to improve printing plates has been by depositing nickel to form a very thin shell .over the surface of the wax mold or case and then depositing copper on and as a backing for said shell. One difficulty connected with this latter process is that nickel sulfate alone will not only not deposit readily'but will nottravel overthe entire surface of the wax mold or case to produce the shell, and the result hasbeen that in carrylng out the process it has been deemed necessary to use a double salt in the bath, whereby a complete though less durable shell has ensued, or to deposit a thin film of another- This printing surface may be formed of any thickness but for the sake of economy in mater als, speed of production and general requlsites in practical commercial practice will generally be deposited in the form of a' shell on the wax mold or case and backed by a deposit of copper.

The printing surface produced in accordance with my invention is harder than either nickel or iron and possesses great tensile strength; it has the hardness of steelfand lacks brittleness; it can be readily removed from the wax mold or case; it'faithfully reproduces the finest delineations of the mold; it is non-corrosive under all the conditions that printing plates are usually subjected to; it is extremely durable, and its cost of production is not greatly in excess of that of a copper printing surface while it is far more durable and more economical of use.

In carrying out my invention I prepare the wax case or mold in the customary manner up to and including the step of blackleading and washing off of the same, and hence this portion ofthe eneral process, being commonly known and practiced by electrotypers, need not be specifically described. My process involves the production in an electrolytic bath, of the printing surface on and in reproduction of the delineations presented by the face of the wax case or such mold as may be used, and said surface is aware,. any

known.

r deposited on the shell. By my'process I am formed by' depositin in one continuous operation iron-and nic el on the mold to produce a plate or shell, which may thereafter be backed, if desired, by a deposit of co per or other metal.

The printing sur ace, whether -a' plate or a shell, is thus formed of a composite'metal or alloy and is therefore neither ,a nickel or an iron surface but a surface of-peculiar nature and possessing char-. aCt6I1StlCS not present in, soy far as I am printing; surface heretofore In the practice of my process I preferably employ the nickel as the anode and an iron salt, preferably sulfate of iron, in the bath,

, and-the mold .having been hung in the bath in the customaryinanne'r as a cathode, the

- I deposition of the ironand nickel on the mold 'i will follow. In the productionof electro-' type's, the action of the bath will be permitted rtofcontinue until a shell of the requisite thickness has been formed, and thereafter the .mold' and shell will .be removed from the'bath and "submitted to another electrolytic bath in which a copper backing will'be enabled to successfully make the plate or shell of any desired thickness in the nickelandgiron-bath but for the sake of economy in producing electrotypes I prefer to form the plate or-shell of only the requisite thickness and then back it up with copper, which tain the strength ischeaper than the metal of the shell. In

.earryingon the process and in the continitunderstood that my invention also comprises the use of iron asgthe anode and nickel in the bath. i e

The printing plate produced in accordance with and embodying my invention possesses hardness to an exceptional degree coupled with tensile strength and springiness,-

and it may be bent into curved form for cylinder presses without any previous annealing. The strength of my plateis such that'it may be made of considerablethin-.

ness and yet possess a durability enabling it to-do the work of four or five successive copper plates Without changein its printing face.

. My invention is of particular value in theproduction of electrotype plates, since the deposited shell however-thin it mabe, may

owingto its tensile strength and exibility,

' be readily stripped fromthe wax surface.-

-A shell of iron would-require, owing to its brittleness, to be formed of considerable thickness,-as compared with the shell of my invention, and' would become distorted under the heat used in the backing-up step or the. securingof the plate to the typemetal, as commonly practiced.

The fact that my rinting plate possesses the characteristics. of hardness and springiness or, flexibility, is of very great advantage and adapts 'it for eflicient use on modern high speed cylinder resses.

The advantages 0 securing ahard printin surface of uniform character and roper th ckness are obvious and such sur ace is produced by my invention. In addition the plate made in accordance with my invention faithfully reproduces the finest delineaitions of the wax case or mold and hence is well adapted for the reproduction ofhalftone plates of the highest character. One

reason -vvh my plate so faithfully reproduces the est delineations of the wax surface is that the nickel and iron together will deposit perfectly on the black-leaded wax surface and that the customary metallization of the wax-surface by means of a film of copper or silver or the like thereon is entirely avoided, and which 'metallization step when employed naturally produces an outer surface on the plate which is more or less soft and not capable of withstanding heavy pressure or portraying the delicate color required in half-tone work.

The printing surface produced by my invention and composed of nickel and iron in one homogeneous composite layer or thicknessdifiers essentially from a nickel surface or an iron surface or a nickel surface 7 on an iron surface or an iron surface on a nickel surface or a plate made up of a layer 'of one metal superimposed on a layer of a different metal.

The plateof my invention while initially costing more than a copper plate is capable of ready production at reasonable expense and at less expense than a nickel'surfa'ce, although superior thereto since the nickel for the anode may be purchased at present prices for about fifty cents per pound and theiron sulfate for three and one-half cents per pound. In ractical use the plate of my invention W111 outlast several co per plates and henceis more economical 0 use than copper plates.

- I have discovered not only that the nickel and iron produce a rinting surface of ex ceptional merit but that in carrying out my process the nickel and iron readily deposit and work together harmoniously, whereby a surface of uniform character is secured.

One economy secured in the use of my plates above copper andother heretofore known plates is that they are capable when set u with other matter on a 1press, of withstan ing long runs without c ange in their printing face, whereas under like conditions making ready essary the stoppin of the press andthe o the form, which in itself is 'a matter greatly to be avoided I not only attain economy in the practice of my invention but secure a printing plate which in itself is characterlstically different from the plates of the prior art. I have described my invention as embodied in a printing plate for use in a printing press but do not confine my invention exclusively 'to a printin plate in a strictly technical sense, since t e plates produced by my invention may be employed 'for stam 1ng and embossing and in other ways for reproducing the designsdelineated on' them. My invention is of special utility however for use in printing presses and particularly in modern high-speed, presses used for long runs,

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. The process of rod-ucing a printing plate in'an electrolytlc bath which consists,

in preparing a mold bearing the characters to be produced in the plate, metallizing the surface thereof, suspending the samein the bath, simultaneously depositing nickel and iron electrolytically as an alloy on said metallized surface, to form the plate, removing the mold of the plate to and plate from the bath, and then depositing in another bath a .dif-

the nickel as the anode and the iron 'salt in the solution, removing the ,platefrom the mold, and backing the plate.

3. The process of roducing a printing plate in an electrolytic bath which consists in Ipeparing a mold bearing the characters to surface thereof, suspending the same in the bath, simultaneously depositing nickel and iron electrolytically as an alloy on said metallized surface to form the plate, with the nickel as the anode and the iron salt in the solution, removing the mold and plate from the bath, and then depositingiin another bath a different metal on the back of the plate to form a backing therefor.

4. The process of producing electrol tically a late in reproduction of the sur ace of a mo (1, which consists in preparing the mold in Wax, metallizing the surface thereof produced in the plate, metallizing the by a black-leading method, suspending the mold in the bath, simultaneously depositing nickel and iron electrolytically as. an alloy -on said metallized surface to form the plate, removing the mold and plate from the bath, and backing the plate, the nickel in such process being in t e form of an anode suspended in the bath and the iron a salt in solution in the bath. v

5. The method of making an electrotype, comprising electrolytically depositing upon the conducting surface 0 a mold an alloy of nickel and iron, and a plying a backing 'of another metal to said eposit-ed alloy.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New.York and State of New York, this 22nd day of April A. D. 1909;

' AUGUST LEUCHTER. Witnesses: