In this work the stencil paper often tore. To overcome this there was only one remedy, which was to make the roller hollow and feed it with color from inside. I did not have the time to try this and worked out another plan. I cut out the places to be colored in felt or leather, applied paste to their obverse sides, laid them face down on the exact parts of the picture which were to be colored, rolled a perfectly round roller over them, and the pieces adhered to the roller in their right places. Then the roller was inked with the required color, and of course took it only in the elevated parts. At both ends the roller had a strip of leather of the same thickness as the cut-outs, thus making it certain that it would not touch the ink except in the proper places. In this way pictures could be illuminated very quickly, and several shades of color could be obtained if the pieces were of different qualities of leather, or of leather, cloth, and cotton, according to the shades desired. A very moderate pressure sufficed for good and even work. What could be more natural than that I should deduce that this sort of printing might be utilized for cotton? Once inked, the roller was good for ten to twelve impressions, if the operator merely used a little more pressure as he proceeded. I saw also that the roller could easily be colored by attaching another to revolve with it and convey the ink. That would give us a form of cotton-printing that would proceed automatically. The idea was too important to be left untried. I took a little roller, two inches in diameter and six inches long. I glued a piece of calfskin completely around it and then cut a design into it. Then this roller was so adjusted with relation to another of exactly the same dimensions that both touched perfectly. On this second one, which was to convey the color to the other, there rested a little box without a bottom, so that the roller itself represented the bottom as soon as the box was pressed on it, which was most easily done with two screws. The color was poured into this box. Now when the lower roller was passed over linen or cotton which was stretched on an evenly planed board with an under layer of cloth, a continuous print was obtained, without off-set, and with such celerity that it could be reckoned easily that with this process several thousand yards a day could be produced.