Improvements in or relating to Illuminated Advertising Mediums or Devices.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 30th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Illuminated Advertising Mediums
or Devices.
HARRY WILLIAM Cox, Photographer, 49, Park Row, Nottingham, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
A machine for producing automatically any given word words or device on a com-
bination of electric lamps erected for the purpose. The machinery for producing the
words & changes consists of one or more cylinders having thereon in lines an
arrangement of adjustable studs or metallic contacts which are automatically brought
into contact in rotation, with a series of metallic contacts in line therewith and which
are in direct and independent connexion with the lamps.
28th day of February 1898.
HARRY WILLIAM COX.
Improvements in or relating to Illuminated Advertising Mediums
or Devices.
HARRY WILLIAM Cox, of 49, Park Row, Nottingham, Photographer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to improvements in and relating to a machine for producing
automatically any given word, words or devices on a combination of electric lamps
erected for the purpose, the object of the invention being the construction of a
machine provided with means for selecting any required lamp or combination of
lamps without the use of independent means such as jacquard cards or their
equivalent.
According to this invention the lamps are directly and independently connected to
a series of metallic contact springs, and electric contact is made by contact studs or
fingers which are carried by cylinders, and so arranged that they can be moved into
and out of their operative position. The cylinders are suitably mounted and are
intermittently rotated by ratchet or other mechanism.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine.
Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the machine showing a section on the line A A Fig. 1
and with the driving motor and gearing removed.
Fig. 3 is a plan to an enlarged scale of a few of the selecting bits and brushes or
spring contact pieces.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a section on the line B B Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is an elevation of part of a group of lamps.
Fig. 6 is an elevation of one bar of selecting bits, and
Fig. 7 is an end elevation of Fig. 6.
In the particular machine shown on the drawings three hundred and sixty lamps
are used, and these are arranged in ten horizontal rows with thirty six in each row.
This group of lamps is divided into six sets and each set comprises ten horizontal
rows with six lamps in each row. The lamps in each set are numbered as shown
between the lines CC Fig. 7, and one of the wires from each lamp is coupled to a
series of contact springs or brushes a while the other wire from each lamp is coupled
direct to one of the main cables. The other cable is joined to the machine and con-
tact is made for lighting the lamps by a series of fingers b which are arranged to
correspond with the contact springs or brushes a these latter and the fingers b being
numbered as shown in Fig. 6 to correspond with the lamps in each set.
In the selecting machine there are preferably as many cylinders as there are sets
of lamps in the group, and each cylinder is provided with any convenient number of
sets of fingers which represent the number of different advertisements that can be
displayed in succession without altering any part of the machine.
The cylinders consist of end dises c mounted on shafts & which revolve in bearings e
on the side frames f. Between the discs c there are three rods g h and i for each
set of fingers b which are fitted to turn on the rod g between the rod h above the
rod g Fig. 4 and the rod h of the next adjacent set of fingers below the rod g, that is
to say the rod h of one set of fingers limits the upward movement of such fingers
and the downward movement of the next adjacent set of fingers. The fingers
required for making contact with the lamps to be lit remain approximately in a
a radial position while the fingers that are not required are turned upwards and the
divided set of fingers are held in their relative positions by the rod i which is passed
through holes or slots in the end discs c and secured by nuts or other convenient
fastenings.
In Fig. 5 the double circles represent the lamps required for the display of the
letter S and these lamps correspond with the fingers shown in their operative
position in Fig. 6.
The contact springs or brushes a are arranged as shown and are attached to a block
of vulcanite or otherwise insulated from each other and the machine the block k
being carried by an angle bar from the frames f.
Outside the bearings e both beds of the shafts d are fitted with cranks m, those at
one end being at right angles to the cranks at the opposite end, and the cranks are
coupled together by links n to ensure the simultaneous and equal movements of all
the cylinders. For actuating these cylinders one of the shafts is fitted with a
ratchet wheel o which is actuated by a weight or a spring 8 through a lever q and
and pawl p the lever being moved against the resistance of the spring or weight to
engage another tooth by a cam r on a shaft s¹ which is driven by worm gearing t
from a motor u or by any other convenient source of power.
In the machine herein described it has been assumed for the sake of simplicity
that each letter is shown in one set of lamps. In practice however one set of
lamps may be occupied by one or more letters or parts of such letters, and there may
be one or more rows of letters, but in all cases the number of fingers on any one rod
multiplied by the number of cylinders equals the total number of lamps in the
group.
Previous to this invention advertisinents have been displayed on a group of electric
lamps by selecting certain lamps to form the advertisements, but such lamps have
been selected, or it has been proposed to make such selection by particular methods
of grouping the lamps, by hand selection, or automatically by a jacquard or jacquard
mechanism, and the principles involved in the display of an advertisement on
a group of lamps and in the automatic selection of the required lamps is hereby
disclaimed.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In an electrical advertising machine the use of fingers which are selected and
moved to their operative position according to the lamps required for the display
of the advertisement, such fingers being carried by intermittently rotating
cylinders and arranged and operating substantially as herein described with reference
to the accompanying drawings.
2. An electrical advertising machine constructed arranged and operating sub-
stantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1000
W. H. POTTER,
Patent Agent, Brougham Chambers, Nottingham.