1862 London Exhibition: Catalogue: Class 7.: Henry Garside
1602. GARSIDE, HENRY, Maker, Manchester; GAIFFE'S Patent, YORK and Co., Proprietors, 2 Royal Exchange Buildings, London.
Electrograph engraving machine for engraving copper cylinders used in calico-printing, etc.
The machine represented in the accompanying illustration, is used for engraving the cylinders of copper or brass employed in the printing of woven fabrics and paper hangings.
A distinctive feature in this machine, apart from its general mechanical arrangement, is in the application of the subtle agency of voltaic electricity in communicating certain necessary movements, to important and delicate portions of the apparatus.
The cylinder to be engraved is first coated on its outer surface with a thin film of varnish, sufficiently resistant to the continuous action of the strongest acids. The required number of copies of the original design are then traced or scratched simultaneously by a series of diamond points, arranged on the machine parallel with the axis of the cylinder. The metallic surface is thereby exposed in certain parts, and a bath of nitric or other acid being afterwards used to etch or deepen the engraved portions, the operation is completed.
Each diamond point is in connexion with a small temporary magnet, and the entire series is so arranged en rapport with the original design, that intermittent voltaic currents are established, which result in the diamonds being withdrawn from action at proper intervals. The precise adaptation can be understood only by observation of the machine itself.
Amongst other special advantages of this apparatus, the facility with which engravings may be enlarged or diminished to any necessary extent, from the same original, is not the least important. Its capability of producing variety of result is very extensive.
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