US1178870A - Overlay. - Google Patents

Description

1. 8. NEA'LE.

OVERL AY. 7

APPLICATION FILED AUG-14,1915.

1 17 17 Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

JOHN B. NEALE, or BATTLE; CREEK, MICHIGAN, Assienoia or oun n'anrxro seen w,

' GAGE, or, BATTLE annex, MICHIGAN.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN citizen of the United States, residing at Battle Creek, in the county of Calhoun and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Overlays; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,

reference being had to'the accompanylng the usual 'way,,and

drawings, which form part of this specification; v

This invention or discovery relates to the art of printing, and has particular reference to the producing of fine high-grade illus} trated work commonly called half-tone printing; and the object of the present invention is to provide a novel overlay by the employment of which such half-tone printing can be effected in a superior manner, and be successfully produced upon grades of paper, such as uncoated book paper and ordinary newspaper stock, which have heretofore been considered impractical to use for such printing. Such novel overlays will also-reduce the amount of labor, time and skill required in making ready the 'press and enable superior half-tone printing' to be -that by making overlayswith a measurablyproduced on ordinary presses. I My invention is based upon the discovery yielding cushioned or resilient surface, as compared with the hard unyielding overlays heretofore employed, greatly superior results can be obtained in printing, such results be-.

ing primarily dueto the said resilient orcushion surface of the overlay.

The present invention consists in making,

the overlays of resilient or cushioning material, such as rubber. 'Such an overlay can be produced in the following manner: An inked proof is taken from the original halftone plate from which it is intended to print,

and while fresh is given a coating of bronze, or other suitable finely divided opaque powder. This proof is then used as a negative for printing upon the sensitized surfaceof a metal plate (properly prepared to take such print by the usual processes employed by metal etchers or engravers) making a reverse same size asrthe original halfprint of the This reverse print is then detone plate.

veloped and fluid by any suitable method. The printed plate is then etched to the depth desired in B. NEALE, a.

rendered resistant to etching may further be hand made from said etched plate in the usual way by pressure and heat, by any suitable means, sufficiently firmnir hard to retain the .desired gradations and toning effects of an overlay, but retaining in itself suflicient resilience or yielding properties to give-the desired cushioning effect. Such overlays made entirely of rubber, orother material,

' which in itself possesses the necessary yielding or cushioning properties, whengnade of I Specification of Letters Patent. Patgntgd A QlL 191$; Application filed August 14, 1915. Serial no, 45,579.

"tooled to make further changes in its tonal value f desired. The rubber overlay is then targe size, have a tendency to shrink when vulcanized. Any shrinkage occurring in small sized overlays ofthis kind could'be overcome bystretching-the overlay to ,position and fastening it clown. for printing purposes,.but if the overlay is large, register may be insured by vulcanizing the overlay upon a backing of wire netting of the kind used for millers bolting cloth, or a special fine and light netting could be used to hold the-material of the overlay in register withthe original plate from which it is 'desired to print. In some cases a perforated flexible plate, or anything else that would prevent excessive' shrinkage or contracting of the overlay when removed from the vuleanizing mold, or any suitable backing that will not change its size nor be injuriously affected by the processes of making the overlay inwhich it is employed, may be used:

In use such resilient cushioned overlay is placed upon the'cylinder'or' platen of the press, just as an ordinary overlay wouldvbe placed. The superior results obtained in printing by using my invention are due to the yielding or cushioning nature of .the overlay, rather than to any novelty in the mode of placing theoverlay in the press, or.

to any novelty in the mode of operating the press after the overlay is in position.

under a varying number of sheetsof tympan paper, but Ihavefound that this is not essential when using my invention; that is,

The ordinary overlays'are usually buried were it not for the'liability of mechanical injury my novel overlays might be placedon topvof the tympan sheets and still be, effective for some classes of work.

Upon someclasses of printing it might be expedient to interpose more or less tympan paper between the overlay and the material to be printed, toobviate. any tend'ency to over-eflr ct. This is common ractice with I 7 finer grades of paper the work produced is I v with various projections as a and depres-- any ordinary make-ready. A patch sheet or auxiliary overlay could be applied as usual to my overlay if desired to augment pressure at any particular point.

Pressmen will readily understand the many factors which enter into the production of a perfectly printed sheet and .Which may require minor changes of make-ready that do not alter the underlying principle of the invention. My resilient or cushioned overlay. is therefore subject to such variations of position and hardness as will produce the best results, as there is no fixed degree of resiliency'orresistance that will yield unvarying results upon all classes of printing.

With such novel overlays I am able to produce beautiful high-grade half-tone printing on ordinary newspaper stock, printing the same in an ordinary fiat bed or rotary press, and produce results which are ecpial or superior to those produced by the otogravureprocess. When printing on superior in appearance to that produced by any of the heretofore known overlays or processes.- The overlays maybe also employed in printing upon fabrics and other materialwith greatly improved results, and is also peculiarly adaptable to the production of loose-leaf catalogue illustrations in half-tone without resort to the off-set process -of lithography now employed where fine illustrations must be shown upon bond or ledger papers upon which it has hitherto been considered impossible to print successfully half-tone work.

In the accompanying drawing I have illus;

trated conventionally a magnified overlay embodying my invention; said overlay as shown having a body 1, preferably formed of rubber or other suitable material, having a top-or working surface, 2 which in itself possesses the necessary yielding or cushion-- ing properties; and a backing or stiffening 3 of wire fabric or other suitable material; the said working surface may be formed sions as 1) according to the degree of variation of pressure desired. a

My noveloverlays obviate the objectionable tendency of hard-surfaced overlays to crack, bend, or emboss the paper being printed. "By. using mynovel overlays superior and hitherto unattainable effects can be produced from half-tone plates upon cheap 5 rial being printed.

grades of newspaper, or rough-surfaced papers, upon which paper it has previously been impossible to produce lmpresslons of the artistic character and quality produced by the use of my invention, it having heretofore been an accepted maxim of the trade that highly surfaced paper is necessary for fine work in half-tone printing.

What I claim is:

1. An overlay formed of material providing in itself a resilient cushioning surface, for the purpose specified.

' 2. An overlay for use in half-tone printing composed of material having a limited degree of resiliency or cushioning properties.

3.. An overlay formed'of material, having sufficient inherent elasticity to compensate for minute surface. irregularities in the paper or material being printed.

4. A self-contained overlay, formed integrally of rubber having a resilient cush ioning surface, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.-

5. An overlay for use in half-tone printing, formed of rubber and having sufficient inherent elasticity to compensate for minute surface irregularities in thepaper or mate- 6. An overlay formed of material providing a resilient cushioning surface, and a non-shrinkable backing, for the purpose specified.

7. An overlay formed of material having sufficient inherent elasticity to compensate for minute surface irregularities in the substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. NEALE.

Witnesses:

GEo. W. MECHEM, I THERESA F. GiBBoNs.

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