Year: 1885

page_text: We THOMAS GARDNER of 121 Boundary Road, Glass Designer, and WILLIAM
JOHN HALL of 27 Market Street, Architect, both of Saint Helens in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to affix names, letters, tablets, designs; and such
like, to round oval, flat angular or other shaped surfaces, in an easy cheap and
expeditious manner, and is particularly suitable for attaching transparent names
letters, tablets, designs, and such like, to railway station and street lamps.
According to this invention each letter of a name or parts of a tablet or other
design may be engraved or painted on, or burnt in a separate piece or pieces of
glass or other suitable material and carried in a frame of flexible material, preferably
lead like in stained glass windows which will readily admit of the name or other
design, being bent round a spherical object, or to any angle, and is easily fastened
to such object by suitable cement, dust and dirt being excluded from coming
between by cementing up the edges in any suitable manner.
To further suit
attaching to certain angles, the letters or design may be transversely divided and
the pieces retained by additional suitable flexible piece attached to or forming part,
of main frame,

page_text: We THOMAS GARDNER, of 121 Boundary Road, Glass designer, and WILLIAM
JOHN HALL, of 27 Market Street, Architect, both in St. Helens, in the County of
Lancaster do hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
Our invention relates to tablets which are chiefly designed for displaying the
names of railway-stations, streets or other buildings or places.
The main object of our said invention is to provide simple means whereby a
tablet displaying any desired name or other indication, consisting of letters or
other characters or symbols, may be expeditiously and cheaply constructed of
separate parts or sections kept ready in stock, and may be repaired with great
facility (should any portion thereof be damaged) simply by removing the injured
part and supplying a corresponding new part in its place.
It is an important feature of our said invention that our improved tablets can be
readily applied to any suitable surface, whether flat, angular or curved, without
having to be made specially of any pre-arranged configuration, that is to say, the
manner in which our tablets are constructed permits them to be bent to almost
any required shape after the separate sections or parts have been put together;
therefore the same tablet is capable of being affixed, for example, to a flat wall or
other surface, or to a rounded lamp-globe such as those used in railway-stations
and other places.
Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,
Figure 1 is a front view of one of our improved tablets.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line x, x, Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a rear view of part of the said tablet.
Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line a³, a¹, Figure 1.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures of the drawing.
A is a frame which is made preferably of lead or other metal capable of being
readily bent or curved without breaking. This frame has a shallow groove B
(Figures 2 and 4). extending entirely around its inner edge. a, a are the parts or
sections which bear upon their front surface the letters or other characters or
symbols, and which are fitted within the groove B.
•
b, b are blank or plain sections which are also fitted in the groove B at the ends
of the frame A. Any desired number of these plain sections may be used, or the
tablet may be made without plain sections.
At the rear of the tablet, the upper and lower edges of the frame A are united
at intervals by transverse connecting pieces C, as shown in Figure 3, If the
sections a, b are of transparent or semi-transparent material, these connecting
pieces are preferably made of thin wire, and so arranged that they are coincident
with the divisions between the different sections, and, therefore, do not cross the
letters, and are only indistinctly visible from the front of the tablet. The said
connecting pieces are soldered to the frame at their ends as shown.
We prefer to make the lead framing A in lengths or pieces somewhat longer
than the longest tablet ordinarily required, so that whatever may be the length of
the tablet to be made, the said framing can be cut to the exact dimensions, after
the sections a, required to make up the word or words, and any desired number of
plain sections 6 have been inserted therein. For this purpose, we make the lengths
or pieces of framing A open at one end and provide separate end-pieces, one of

page_text: which is soldered to the open end of a length or piece of framing after the latter
has been cut to the required length and the sections a, b have been inserted therein.
Although the ends of the tablet shown in the drawing are rounded, it is obvious
that they may be square or of any other desired configuration.
The sections a, upon which the letters, figures or other characters are painted or
otherwise produced, and the blank or plain sections 6 may be of any suitable
material, either transparent or opaque, for example, they may be of glass, porcelain,
or metal, and it is one of the advantages of our invention that a person desiring to
make a tablet of this kind can select the material most suitable for any particular
circumstances and can change the same immediately, should some different effect
be desired.
It will be seen that, by our invention, a workman provided with a supply of the
frame-lengths A and of the sections a, b is enabled at once to make up a tablet by
selecting from amongst the said sections those having upon them the necessary
letters to form the desired word or words (together with any blank or plain
sections that may be requisite), sliding the same within one of the said frame-
lengths, and then cutting off any superfluity in the latter and attaching a suitable
end-piece as above explained. It is, moreover, obvious that, by reason of the
flexibility of the frame and of the fact that the glass, porcelain, or other material
upon which the letters are formed is divided into separate pieces, our improved
tablet can be bent into an arc of almost any desired radius, or can be used flat, as
may be necessary in any particular case.
Should either of the letter-sections a or blank sections b be broken or otherwise
injured, it can be readily removed upon slightly turning over one edge of the lead
framing adjacent to the particular section; and a new section can then be inserted
and the said edge turned back again.
It is obvious that various modifications of our invention may be adopted without
departing from the nature thereof; for instance, instead of providing a continuous
groove in the frame, the sections a, b may be held by clips, screws, or otherwise,
and, in some cases, the framing may be made of rigid material especially for flat
tablets. Each section a may, in some cases, bear more than one letter or other
character; and, for attachment to certain angles, they may be transversely divided
and secured to the frame by additional pieces.
The tablets made as above described may be attached to the desired surface by
cement or in any other suitable manner, and the front edges of the frame may be
cemented or otherwise treated to exclude dust. We consider, however, that the
tablets made as above described and as shown in the drawing represent the most
useful and practical means of carrying out our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we wish it understood
that we claim :-
First. The above described improvements relating to tablets for the purposes
above specified, whereby we provide for expeditiously making up a tablet having
thereon any desired name or other indication, substantially as set forth.
Second. The improved tablet consisting of the frame of flexible metal having the
sections or pieces fitted therein, substantially as described with reference to the
accompanying drawing for the purposes specified.
Dah: ocul
2
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicanta.