496 PAPER, MANUFACTURE OF 



several names were appended by persons as conspicuous for their erudition as they 

 were pertinacious in their opinions. 



The water-mark in the form of a letter p, of which an illustration is given, Jig. 1601, 

 was taken from Caxton's well-known work, 'The Game of the Chesse,' a fac-simile of 

 which has been published as a tribute to his memory. Paper was made expressly 

 for the purpose, in exact representation of the original, and containing this water- 

 mark, which will be found common in works printed by him. 



The ordinary mode of effecting such paper-marks as we have been describing 

 is that of affixing a stout wire in the form of any object to be represented to the 

 surface of the fine wire-gauze, of which the hand-mould, or machine dandy roller is 

 constructed. 



The perfection, however, to which water-marks have now attained, which in 

 many instances is really very beautiful, is owing to a more ingenious method which has 

 been patented, and is adopted by the Bank of England, as affording considerable pro- 

 tection to the public in determining the genuineness of a bank-note. 



To produce a lino water-mark of any autograph or crest, we might either engrave 

 the pattern or device first in some yielding surface, precisely as we should engrave a 

 C"pper-plate for printing, and afterwards, by immersing the plate in a solution of 

 sulphate of copper, and electrotyping it in the usual way, allow the interstices of the 

 engraving to give as it were a casting of pure copper, and thus an exact representation 

 of the original device, which, upon being removed from the plate, and affixed to the 

 surface of the wire-gauze forming the mould, would produce a corresponding impression 

 in the paper ; or, supposing perfect identity to be essential, as in the case of a bank- 

 note, we might engrave the design upon the surface of a steel die, taking care to cut 

 those parts in the die deepest which are intended to give greater effect in the paper, 

 and then, after having hardened, and otherwise properly prepared the die, it would 

 be placed under a steam-hammer or other stamping apparatus, for the purpose of 

 producing what is technically termed a 'force,' which is require! to assist in trans- 

 ferring an impression from the die to a plate of sheet brass. This being done, the dio 

 with the mould-plate in it, would next be taken to a perforating or cutting machine, 

 where the back of the mould-plate that is, the portion which projects above the 

 face of the die would be removed, while that portion which was impressed into the 

 design engraven would remain untouched, and this being subsequently taken from 

 the interstices of the dio and placed in a frame upon a backing of fine wire-cloth, 

 becomes a mould for the manufacture of paper of the patteru which is desired, 

 or for the production of any water-mark, autograph, crest, or device, however com- 

 plicated. 



Light and shade are occasioned by a very similar process, but one which perhaps 

 requires a little more care, and necessarily becomes somewhat more tedious. For 

 instance, in the former case the pulp is distributed equally throughout the entire sur- 

 face of the wire forming the mould, whereas now we have to contrive the means of 

 increasing to a very great nicety the thickness or distribution of the pulp, and at the 

 same time to make provision for the water draining away. This has been accom- 

 plished by first taking the electrotype of the raised surface of any model or design, and 

 again from that, forming in a similar manner a matrix or mould, both of which are 

 subsequently mounted upon lead or gutta-percha, in order that they may withstand 

 the pressure which is required to be put upon them in giving impression to a sheet of 

 very fine copper wire-gauze, which, in the form of a mould, and in the hands of the 

 vatman, suffices ultimately to produce those beautiful transparent effects in paper-pulp. 

 The word ' Five ' in the centre of the Bank of England note is produced in the same 

 manner. The deepest shadows in the water-mark being occasioned by the deepest 

 engraving upon the die, the lightest, by the shallowest, and so forth ; the die being 

 employed to give impression by means of the stamping press and 'force ' to the fine 

 wire-gauze itself, which by this means, providing the die bo properly cut, is ac- 

 complished far more successfully than by any other process, and with the additional 

 advantage of securing perfect identity. 



It may be interesting to call attention to the contrast as regards the method of 

 mould-making originally practised and that which has since been adopted by the 

 Bank of England. In a pair of five-pound note moulds, prepared by the old process, 

 there were 8 curved borders, 16 figures, 168 large waves, and 240 letters, which had 

 all to be separately secured by the finest wire to the waved surface. There were 

 1,056 wires, 67,584 twists, and the same repetition where the stout wires were intro- 

 duced to support the under surface. Therefore, with the backing, laying, largo 

 waves, figures, letters, and borders, before a pair of moulds was completed, there were 

 some hundreds of thousands of stitches, most of which are now avoided by the new 

 patent. But further, by this multitudinous stitching and sowing, the parts were 

 nflver placed precisely in the same position, and the water-mark was consequently 



