IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING LIGHT, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Melville Thomson Neale, of 22, Buckingham Street,
Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TRANSMITTING LIGHT, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Sealed the 3rd September 1878, and dated the 5th March 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Melville Thomson Neale at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th March 1878.
MELVILLE THOMSON NEALE, of 22, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, in the County
of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING LIGHT, AND APPARATUS
THEREFOR."
My Invention has for its object improvements in transmitting light, and apparatus
therefor.
The light, which may be electric or other intense light, is in whole or in part
condensed by a reflector or reflectors or lenses, and passed into a suitable reflective
tube, passage, or channel (or tubes, passages, or channels), through which light is
transmitted by reflection to the place or places where the light is to be utilized ;
there the light is emitted and condensed or dispersed by reflectors or otherwise
as required.
In some cases the tubes, passages, or channels may be made wholly or partially
of or be in contact with heat-conducting material for the purpose of extracting or
carrying off any heat.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Melville Thomson Neale in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th September 1878.
MELVILLE THOMSON NEALE, of 22, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING LIGHT, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR."
My Invention has for its object improvements in transmitting light, and apparatus
therefor.
The light, which may be electric or other intense light, is in whole or in part
condensed by a reflector or reflectors or lenses, and passed into a suitable reflective
tube, passage, or channel (or tubes, passages, or channels), through which light is
transmitted by reflection to the place or places where the light is to be utilized ;
there the light is emitted and condensed or dispersed by reflectors or otherwise
as required.
In some cases the tubes, passages, or channels may be made wholly or partially
of or be in contact with heat-conducting material for the purpose of extracting or
carrying off'
any heat.
-
In carrying out my Invention I obtain the required intense light by means of
an electric lamp or other suitable source of light, and by means of a reflector
or reflectors I cause as many as possible of the rays from such lamp or other
source of light to enter the end of a pipe or channel, which I call the "main
conductor," and which may be constructed of any suitable material, such as wood;
metal, earthenware, or otherwise lined or glazed on the inside with some suitable
reflecting material, such as polished metal, silvered glass, or glass otherwise rendered
non-absorbent of light or other enamelled or glazed materials.
When the rays which are made to traverse the main conductor are parallel rays,
and the conductor laid in a straight line, the non-absorbent lining of the interior
is not so essential, but in cases where the conductor is curved or bent, it is necessary
to line the conductor or channel with a good material for reflecting light, and when
the sectional area is of a circular form, and the conductor bent or curved, the
reflecting surfaces should be smooth and polished, but when the sectional area is of
a square forin, the curves may be made up of a series of cants or inclined reflectors,
or I make that portion of the conductor or channel straight as far as the required
bend, and place at the bend a plain reflector inclined at the required angle necessary
for transmitting the rays of light along a second straight conductor, and in cases
where more than one bend occurs I reflect the rays in a similar manner at each.
bend.
In order to utilize light for ordinary lighting purposes, I construct pipes or
channels composed of any of the aforesaid suitable materials, but of smaller area,
which divide and lead off the quantity of light that may be required for use in any
desired locality and transmit it to such place or places where it is required to be
used for illuminating purposes; these small channels I call "branch conductors,"
and in order to perform the operation I place a small reflector in the main conductor,
which arrests a certain number of the rays of light, and reflects them into and
through the branch conductor. These small reflectors may be plain, convex, or
concave, and made of polished metal or silvered glass, or glass prisms, as the case,
requires.
The branch conductors should be lined with a non-absorbent material for light
such as described for lining the main conductors, and any bends that may occur
should be similarly arranged as herein-before described.
I do not bind myself to any given length of conductors or number of branches.
as the limit depends on the quality of the light employed and the quantity required
in any given place or places.

page_text: When a pencil or a number of rays of light issues from the end of any channel,
pipe, or branch conductor, I utilize it in various ways by means of dispersers or
diffusers.
The diffusers are formed of convex or plain angular reflectors or prisms, upon
which the rays of light impinge, and are reflected from the surface in various
directions according to the angle or angles of the diffusers.
The diffused rays may be further diffused by means of ground, opal, or colored
globes or glasses, or may radiate into space as the case requires.
When the materials used in the construction of the channels or conductors are of
an inflammable or brittle nature, I surround the same with a heat-absorbing
material, at or near the source of light, such material being iron or other metal
filings, or a like absorbent or conductor of heat.
Fig. I. of the accompanying Drawings is a sectional plan of what I have described
as the main conductor.
A represents the electric spark or other source of light; B, the reflector for
gathering and reflecting the rays along the main conductor in the direction of the
arrows; C shews various forms that the conductor may take in order to bend the
rays from a straight to any other required direction.
Fig. II. is another part plan of a main conductor shewing at D and E various
methods of dividing the light and transmitting it or portions of it into various
channels or directions.
F is a small reflector placed in any suitable part of the main conductor, and at
the requisite angle for reflecting such rays as strike it into and along the small
branch G.
Fig. III. is a longitudinal section of a channel or main conductor shewing various
methods of taking off some of the rays of light and the manner of utilizing the same
for illuminating purposes.
Fig. IV. illustrates the application of my Invention to street lighting.
H is a small plain reflector which reflects the light vertically through the centre
of a suitable lamp-post, the interior of which is formed of a reflecting material as
berein-before described; the rays are again reflected in various directions by means
of the diffuser I, and further diffused or not by the globe K.
Fig. V. shews another mode of illuminating suitable for interiors of buildings or
otherwise, where 2 or more diffusers are required, and in this instance I have
shewn how the rays may be reflected by using the internal reflection of a glass
prism instead of a plain reflector.
Fig. VI. illustrates a method of greatly diffusing the rays by means of convex
reflectors at L and M, and which may be suitable for lighting large areas. In like
nanner the light may be concentrated by means of concave reflectors to suit
other purposes, or reflected as a pencil of parallel rays in any direction.
Fig. VII. shews a mode of dispersing the light by means of a lens N, which
throws the rays into a glass globe, ground or otherwise, for diffusing the light, and
in this illustration I have shewn a bent tube o of circular area made of silvered
glass or otherwise.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I wish it to be understood that
I do not claim to have invented any new reflecting material or form of reflector, but
what I claim is,―
1. The method of transmitting the electric or other powerful light for illuminating
purposes by pipes or channels furnished with reflectors or non-absorbers of light,
substantially as herein-before described.
2. Transmitting electric or other powerful light from the lamp or point of
emission to a number of distinct points or places at which it may be required for
illuminating purposes by the arrangement in combination of main conductors or
pipes, branch conductors or pipes, and reflectors, substantially as herein-before
described.
3. Arranging apparatus for transmitting electric or other powerful light for

page_text: illuminating purposes, substantially as shewn in and described with reference to
Figs. I., II., III, IV., V., VI., and VII. respectively of the accompanying Drawings.
!
In witness whereof, I, the said Melville Thomson Neale, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
MELVILLE THOMSON NEALE. (L.S.)