IMPROVEMENTS IN DAYLIGHT REFLECTORS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CON- NECTION THEREWITH
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fordred, of Dover, in the County of
Kent, Gentleman, and Thomas Boyle, of Forest Gate, in the
County of Essex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DAYLIGHT REFLECTORS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CON-
NECTION THEREWITH."
Sealed the 6th January 1854, and dated the 25th October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fordred and
Thomas Boyle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 25th October 1853.
We, JOHN FORDRED, of Dover, in the County of Kent, Gentleman,
and THOMAS BOYLE, of Forest Gate, in the County of Essex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DAYLIGHT REFLECTORS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH," to, be as follows:-
The object of the present improvements is to render daylight reflectors
more effective and ornamental, at the same time materially reducing
their cost. Hitherto copper plated with silver has been used in the

page_text: construction of reflectors, but there are many objections to the use of
this material; we therefore propose to use as our reflecting material
silvered millboard or pasteboard made to slide into a groove in the
frame and glazed in front, or of silvered paper, or silvered linen, silk,
or calico, or other woven fabric, or silvered tinfoil mounted on glass
or other backs or bodies of a stiff or a partially flexible nature, either
corrugated or plain, the woven or-milled fabrics protected-from damp
by gutta percha lining, and all covered or protected by a glazed front.
The silver so used to be either bright or frosted, deposited by
electricity or in the ordinary" way. We also propose to use such an
alloy of copper and tin, either by itself or deposited on some other
metal, as will produce the whitest and least oxidizable reflecting
surface.
Our improvements also relate to the franies for reflectors. These have
hitherto been made only of wood. "We propose to use zinc, iron, or
galvanized iron; corrugated or plain, either for the whole frame or for
the backs only; these materials being cheaper and more easily moulded
than wood, and at the same time more durable and entirely waterproof.
Up to this time the frames have been made in very plain shapes, causing
unsightly projections from the windows to which they are affixed. We
make the frame of our reflectors to appear as a balcony, or any, curved
or ornamental form, and this object is materially assisted by the use of
metallic frames or backs. --One-of-the greatest objections to the use of
daylight reflectors hitherto has been, that when fixed to low windows
on a level with the eye, and in other situations, they throw the rays of
light direct in the eyes of persons looking towards them, and so pro-
duce a blinding or dazzling effect, and this is particularly the case in
bright or sunshiney weather; in order to obviate this, we use in con-
nection with our improved reflectors, either inside or outside of the
windows, a screen or blind made of glass, or silk, or linen, or any other
suitable material, for the purpose of subduing the reflected light, such
screen or blind being fitted so as to be capable of sliding vertically up
or down the window, and of being retained at-different heights as occa
sion may require. "Daylight reflectors, as hitherto made, are ineffectual
for the lighting of retail shops where the ordinary street blinds or

page_text: sun shades are used, because when the blinds are drawn down, they
overshadow the reflector, and prevent its giving light, thus rendering it
of least use when most necessary. We combine a reflector and sun
shade or blind, by attaching to the bottom of the reflector a suitable
screen or blind, fitting into the back of the reflector as a panel, and
which may be drawn up when not in use, and let down when required
to be used as a shade for the window.. When in use as a shade it is
kept in position by stays or cords attached to the frame of the screen or
blind, or by other suitable means. Daylight reflectors have hitherto
been made either as a square, oblong, or other right-angled shape;
which when placed underneath a skylight in the centre of an apartment,
to diffuse the light all round it, do not fit together so as to occupy the
whole of the light-giving space. We make our reflectors triangular, so
that they fit edge to edge, and form a circle or segment of a circle or
other curve, occupying the whole space underneath the skylight, and
therefore giving the maximum quantity of light obtainable. In cases
in which the apartments are very wide and lofty, so that it would be
inconvenient to hang reflectors in the middle of the apartment by chains
from the galleries on either side, or the ceiling, we erect a pillar or
column of any suitable material, upon and around which we hang or fix
our triangular reflectors, and so diffuse the light equally throughout the
apartment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Fordred and Thomas Boyle in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN FORDRED, of Dover, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, and
THOMAS BOYLE, of Forest Gate, in the County of Essex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the

page_text: seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said John Fordred and Thomas
Boyle, Her special licence that we, the said John Fordred and Thomas
Boyle, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said John Fordred and Thomas Boyle, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DAYLIGHT RE-
FLECTORS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Fordred and
Thomas Boyle, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George John Fordred and
Thomas Boyle, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
Our Invention consists, first, in the preparation of a surface for
reflecting daylight of pure unalloyed silver attached to a plate of glass
in a thin bright film, and backed by a coating of tinfoil or of any
suitable varnish or pigment, to protect it from air and damp, such as
Brunswick black thinned down with turpentine. The glass may be
either sheet or crown, corrugated, figured, or plain. We prefer that
known in the trade as fluted Belgian sheet glass, on account of the
absence of color and the regularity of the flutes, which serve to diffuse
the light over a greater surface; we find sheet glass preferable to plate,
in consequence of its absorbing less light, and allowing the rays to pass
through it more readily. In applying this silver to the surface of the
glass we employ a solution of the finest Russian isinglass prepared with

page_text: distilled water, in the proportion of about eight grains to a pint, and at
a temperature of about 120° Fahrenheit. With this the under surface
of the glass is freely wetted, the leaf silver is then applied, and im-
mediately adheres. As soon as this coating is dry it is rubbed down
smooth with fine cotton wool; the rough edges of the silver leaf are
then trimmed off by means of a blunt tool and flat rod. The appear-
ance of the sheet in this state is represented by Figure 1, of the Drawings
annexed. The glass is again moistened with the solution of isinglass,
and another-coating of silver applied so as to overlap and cover the
blank lines left by the tooling process. This coating is allowed to dry,
and then the whole surface is well rubbed down with the finest cotton
wool, which gives it a high polish. The sheet must be afterwards
carefully examined, and if any holes or flaws are discovered they are
covered over and made good with leaf silver, in the same manner as
above described. When the glass has by this means been covered with
a good thick coating of pure silver, it is again washed over with somé
such adhesive solution as the following:-1 ounce of orange shell-lac
dissolved in 4 ounces of coal naphtha. Tinfoil in sheets is applied over
the whole surface, and well rubbed down to make it adhere.
Another method we employ is this:-As soon as the final coat of
silver is perfectly dry and finished, we apply two coats of a mixture of
varnish called Brunswick black, diluted with half its bulk of spirits of
turpentine. After this conting is quite dry we paint the surface over
with some such composition as the following:-1 pint boiled oil,
pint gold size,pound ground litharge, pound ground white lead.
By this means we obtain a protective backing surface completely
waterproof. The reflector thus prepared is then placed in a suitable
water-tight frame, made either of wood or iron, and hermetically closed
in with good white lead putty. To certain kinds of reflectors we add
an additional sheet of glass, generally fluted Belgian, in front of the
reflector, and let into the same frame.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in the construction of a travelling
blind to be employed with daylight reflectors. In some situations
reflectors are obliged to be fixed so low down in the window as to.
be nearly on a level with the line of sight, when the light reflected

page_text: by them is dazzling and disagreeable. In order to obviate this we fix
across the window, inside, a blind composed of a narrow strip of
gauze or linen, about eighteen inches in depth, strained on a wooden
or metallic frame, the two sides of which are tubular. Two rods are
fixed to the sides of the window frame, which allow of the blind
travelling up and down upon them at pleasure. Figure 2, is an eleva-.
tion of such a blind fitted to. the inside of a window. a, is a gauze,.
muslin, or linen blind; B, B, B, B, frame into which it is fitted; C, is
a cord running over pulleys for pulling it up; D, cord for pulling it
down; E, E,. tubular sides; F, F, rods on which the blind is free. to
rise and fall.
Our Invention consists, thirdly, in a combined daylight reflector
and sun shade suitable for shop fronts and the like. Daylight reflectors
have hitherto been inapplicable to the lighting of shops where ordinary
sun blinds are used, for when the blinds are drawn down they over-
shadow the reflector, and prevent its throwing any light. We have
therefore constructed a combined daylight reflector and sun blind which
will be found to answer the double purpose of lighting the shop, and
shading it from the direct rays of the sun. We attach to the back of
any kind of daylight reflector or reflectors, any form of sun blind that
circumstances may render suitable. When roller or spring blinds of
the ordinary construction are used, they are attached to either the top
or the bottom part of the reflector, according as the window is of greater
or less height. We sometimes make the blind to fold in one or more
divisions into the back of the frame of the reflector, in which case it is
attached to the bottom part by means of suitable hinges. Figure 8,
is a view of one of our combined reflectors and sun shades. A, A,
is a daylight reflector supported and held in its position by arms
a, a, one of which only is, seen in the .Drawing. B, B, is a blind
of linen, canvas, or other suitable fabric; which when not in use is
pulled up by the chain C, and fits into the frame of the reflector. In
order to..prevent any direct rays entering above the reflector we fit,
permanently or otherwise, a blind (colored blue, in the Drawing) inside
the top of the window.
.
And lastly, our. Invention consists in the construction of a pillar

page_text: reflector suitable for the lighting of wells in warehouses and other places
where the light is admitted from above. Figure 4, is an elevation of
such a reflector. A, is a pillar or column upon which hang day-
light reflectors B, B. These reflectors may be of any desired form, but
the shape most suitable is that of a triangle. Between the reflectors
we leave spaces C, C, for the direct passage of light to the bottom of
the well, or to another series of reflectors fixed underneath the openings.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,―
First, the formation of a surface for reflecting daylight from pure
silver applied to sheet glass, whether corrugated or plain, in successive
coatings, in the manner herein-before described.
Second, we claim the blind to be employed with daylight reflectors,
described under the second head of this our Specification, and represented
in Figure 2, of the Drawings annexed.
Third, we claim the combined daylight reflector and sun shade
herein-before described, and represented in Fig. 3, of the Drawings
annexed.
And last, we claim the pillar or column daylight reflector herein-
before described, and represented in Figure 4, of the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fordred, for myself and on
behalf of the said Thomas Boyle, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
JOHN FORDRED. (L.S.)