IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas John Smith, of the Firm of T. J. and
J. Smith, of Queen Street, Cheapside, in the City of London, Manu-
facturing Stationers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC
ALBUMS."
Sealed the 26th December 1861, and dated the 12th July 1861..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas John Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1861.
I, THOMAS JOHN SMITH, of the Firm of T. J. and J. Smith, of Queen Street,
Cheapside, in the City of London, Manufacturing Stationers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC
ALBUMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved manufacture of photographic albums,
the improvements consisting in the manufacture of the leaves of such albums
of parchment, vellum, or textile fabric, such materials being more durable
and less liable to be torn by the insertion and removal of the photographic
pictures from them than paper or cardboard, hitherto employed in the manu-
facture of the leaves of books for this purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JOHN SMITH, of the Firm of T. J. and J. Smith, of Queen Street, Cheapside,
in the City of London, Manufacturing Stationers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas John Smith, Her special license that I, the said Thomas John
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas John Smith, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas John Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one
of them, should particularly 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 I, the said Thomas John Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to an improved manufacture of photographic
albums, the improvements consisting in the manufacture of the leaves of such
albums of parchment, vellum, textile fabric, or paper mounted upon textile
fabric, such materials being more durable and less liable to be torn by the
insertion and removal of the photographic pictures than the paper or card-
board hitherto employed in the manufacture of the leaves of books for this
purpose.
In addition to the advantage of greater strength and durability, a further
advantage arises from the use of the materials above mentioned, inasınuch as

page_text: the sewing or stitching of the leaves when binding the album is entirely
dispensed with, there being sufficient strength in the leaves to admit of their
being simply glued to the back piece.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings represents one of my improved photo-
graphic albums, which in general appearance resembles the albums in common
use. The mode I prefer to adopt in making these albums is to paste or
cement a sheet a (colored blue in the Drawings, Figure 2, for distinction) of
parchment, vellum, textile fabric, or paper mounted upon linen over the two
contiguous faces of any two of the leaves, the body or inside part of such
leaves being composed of cardboard, as at b, colored red, ' and cut out in the
centre to allow for the thickness of the photograph in the usual manner. The
series of leaves being thus united at c by the cementing of the sheets a
thereon, are glued to the back piece, which I also prefer to make of linen or
other strong textile fabric, and thus the necessity for sewing is avoided.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the.
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the manufacture of the leaves
of photographic albums either wholly or partially of parchment, vellum, textile
fabrics, or paper mounted upon linen, for the purpose of rendering them more
durable and less liable to be torn, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas John Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
THOS. JNO. SMITH. (L.s.)