418 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



accurate — for while Petit's Similigravure was indeed based upon 

 a plaster cast produced by the swelled-gelatin method, it employed 

 a V-shaped graver that moved uniformly over the blackened plaster, 

 producing white horizontal and vertical lines which in effect created 

 black dots of varying sizes in the plaster mold. Petit's method did 

 not work out too well in practice, while the Ives process, commercially 

 promoted by the firm of Crosscup & West, was widely used and yielded 

 some beautiful results. 



It should be borne in mind that the mere fact of patenting an 

 idea, however useful, did not ensure that the inventor was able to 

 visualize the steps necessary for carrying it out successfully. Other 

 workers, whose basic ideas were not necessarily original, were able 

 to bring the unsuccessful ideas of others to fruition. These com- 

 ments are not directed at Ives in this instance, but at George Meisen- 

 bach of Germany, who in 1882 patented his halftone process in Eng- 

 land. Meisenbach, who has often been termed "the father of half- 

 tone" on the strength of his successful commercialization of cross- 

 lined letterpress halftone, used single-line screens that were turned 

 during exposure to obtain cross-lined effects. This idea, as we know, 

 was previously proposed by Berchtold and Swan; but it is evident 

 from the quality of his results that Meisenbach eliminated to some 

 degree the uncertainties of focus that had previously been a barrier 

 to reliable results. Although in point of time the Ives process ante- 

 dated Meisenbach's Autotypie halftones by a year or so, the fact 

 remains that Meisenbach's firm was probably the first to achieve 

 commercial success with relief halftones made through the use of 

 screens. Meisenbach's earliest work was in single-line halftone, 

 with the screens moved slightly during exposure, and it is prob- 

 able that cross-line results were not obtained until 1883. 



Shifting the scene to America and reverting to an earlier date, 

 we may note that coarse but clear letterpress halftones were made by 

 Pennington & Co. (National Bureau of Engraving) in 1878 through 

 the electrotyped reversals of photogravure plates. In the same year 

 the U. S. Engraving Co. made letterpress prints from single-line 

 screens. In 1880 Stephen H. Horgan produced a number of single- 

 line halftones, including the much publicized Shanty town, which 

 was made from a Leggo screen. 



The Mosstype was a popular variety of halftone from about 1885 

 to the early 1890's. It was made by the Moss Engraving Co. of 

 New York through the use of the swelled-gelatin process in conjunc- 

 tion with single-line screens, although cross-lined effects were ob- 

 tained also. Since John B. Moss never divulged his methods, it is 

 conjectured that he made an electrotype from the gelatin relief, as 

 in the Leggotype and other variations of Pretsch's process. The dif- 



