AN IMPROVEMENT IN LIGHTING HALLS, THEATRES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Enoch Bassett Keeling, of Gray's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Architect, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
LIGHTING HALLS, THEATRES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 30th June 1863, and dated the 5th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Enoch Bassett Keeling
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th January 1863.
I, ENOCH BASSETT KEELING, of Gray's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN LIGHTING HALLS, THEATRES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention is intended to be applied in all cases of overhead lighting,
and relates to the diffusion of intense light and to the prevention of shadows.
I take an electric light, a lime light, or other source of intense light, and
place it in a roof or in some elevated spot above the space to be lighted;
then, under this light I fit a plain or colored curtain, and again, under this
curtain I place a screen or ceiling of glass or other transparent medium. By
means of my Invention I render the electric, lime, and other intense lights
applicable to the proper lighting of buildings and apartments.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Enoch Bassett Keeling in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ENOCH
BASSETT KEELING, of Gray's Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Architect, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Enoch Bassett Keeling, Her special licence that I, the said Enoch Bassett
Keeling, my-executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Enoch Bassett Keeling, my 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN LIGHTING HALLS, THEATRES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Enoch Bassett Keeling, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 Enoch Bassett Keeling, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention is intended to be applied to the lighting of halls, theatres,
and other buildings, and relates to the diffusion of intense light and to the
prevention of shadows. I take an electric light, a lime light, or other source
of intense light, and place it in some elevated spot above the space to be
lighted. Under or before, or part under and part before, this light I suspend
or fit a plain white, tinted, or colored curtain or screen, and again, in some
instances I place under or before, or part under and part before, a ceiling of
glass or other transparent medium. By these means I remove the obstacles
that have hitherto prevented the successful application of the electric, lime, or

page_text: other intense lights to the lighting of the interiors of large rooms and public.
edifices, and that also have all but confined these sources of light to the
position of mere scientific curiosities. It is well known that the chief obstacles
have been the intense brilliancy of the lights, their unpleasant white or ghastly
hue, and the dense black shadows thrown by them. The first, however, gives
us so far a margin that the medium of the curtain absolutely utilizes the
objection by the sacrifice of brilliancy, but by the complete diffusion of the
rays. The second obstacle is overcome by the tint or color of the curtain or
screen giving any hue most desirable to assimilate with any of the lights now
usually employed, whether it be that of gas, of any description of oil lamp, of
that of any wax or other candles. The relative use of the curtain or screen
to the source of light is the same as that of the clouds to the sun.
On a day
of bright sunshine the radiating action of a centralized source of light casts
shadows of a depth and darkness proportionate to the brilliancy and intensity
of the light; whereas on a lay without direct sunshine, that is, with a clouded
sky, there is a pervading, an even, and a diffused light, and an almost total
absence of shadow. The clouds in this instance cause a diffusion of the direct
rays of the sun, which, in our case, is met by the employment of the curtain,
blind, or screen combining imperviousness of glare with softness of light. The.
following are among some of the advantages derived from the employment of
this Invention in its application to public and private buildings:-Great excel-
lence in the diffusion and softness of light, economy in cost, absence of all
damage or detriment to the decorations of the apartment, and prevention of
the risk of fire, as would be consequent upon the use of ordinary gas; at the
same time I am enabled so to assimilate the hue of light in the illumination
of the main body of a building with those used in remote portions, or in
communicating apartments, that no difference would be perceptible, and am
also enabled to supplement this light by the employment of gas in remote
positions.
To illustrate the carrying of my Invention into effect, we will suppose that
it is required to light a hall. In a chamber constructed immediately above
the ceiling I place one or more lime lights, being guided in number by the
extent and cubical contents of the apartment and the proportion of light
required, and at a distance below, only to be regulated by circumstances,
I suspend across the chamber, by rings or cords, or in any other most suitable
manner, a curtain or screen, by preference of oiled silk, of a colour or tint to
give the most desirable hue to the light, and I find that the softest and most
pleasing light is produced by an oil silk curtain or screen of a light pink tint.
(The screen may either hang loosely or be drawn tightly across.) The ceiling

page_text: of the hall below the chamber I construct in the ordinary manner of a ceiling,
light, and of figured or ground glass. The intense rays of the light are, as
before shewn, diffused in passing through the curtain. or screen, and the hall is
pleasantly and effectually illuminated, and devoid of deep shadows. In some
cases, for large halls and other apartments, I should prefer to have two or
more chambers above the ceiling, each with its own light or lights and curtains
or screens arranged as before specified. The results attained would be a
more shadowless and equal distribution of the light in the apartment below.
Where the character or construction of the building would not allow of a
chamber being constructed above the ceiling, the same end would be obtained
by constructing the chamber below the ceiling in the form of an inverted dome
in the centre or at one or both ends, or as, by preference, at each angle of the
apartment; in the former case the curtain or screen would be under and
around the light, as also would the glass screen, and in. the latter cases under
and before the light. The glass screens may, in certain instances, be entirely
omitted.
And having now described the nature of my.said.Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not confine myself to
the precise details herein contained,, as the same may be varied in many ways
without departing from my Invention, but that I claim, the complete diffusion
of bright and intense artificial lights by the medium of the curtain or screen,
and the manner of adapting the same to the lighting of halls, theatres, and
other buildings, as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Enoch Bassett Keeling, .have hereunto
set my hand and seal; this Third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three..
E. BASSETT KEELING. (L:8.)