An Improved Method of Embellishing Photographs.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 18th June, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 11th July, 1891-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of Embellishing Photographs.
FRANK STERNBERG Artist and Engraver Hillside Cottage Bushey Herts. do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
An improved method of photographically embellishing photographs with
ornamental or pictorial borders or partial borders or with any ornamental or
pictorial or heraldic device or with facsimilie autographs or inscriptions. The
photograph and its embellishment being produced on one and the same piece of
material. To produce these embellished photographs a negative of the principal
subject and a negative or negatives of the embellishment are used as well as
shields specially prepared so as to exclude the light where a plain surface is
required or where the principal subject or its embellishment are to be in the
resulting embellished photograph.
The negatives of the principal subject and its embellishment are so arranged
or prepared that when placed in contact with the sensitised material to be printed
upon the principal subject and its embellishment are printed in their proper relative
positions. A sensitised material is then photographically printed upon through
these negatives in turn, care being taken during each separate printing operation
to exclude the light from the sensitised material, by means of the specially prepared
shields, from that part which has already been printed upon or which is to be
printed upon afterwards or which is to be a plain space.
A negative is then made
of the complete embellished photograph and from this negative any number of
embellished photographs can be printed in the usual way. I obtain the same
result in the camera. By the combination of the principal subject and the
embellishment a happy association of ideas may be brought about such as a portrait
and a favourite place or flower..
Dated this 18th dow of Iun 1901
FRANK STERNBERG.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of Embellishing Photographs.
FRANK STERNBERG Artist and Engraver Hillside Cottage Bushey Herts. do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
An improved method of photographically embellishing photographs with
ornamental or pictorial borders or partial borders or with any ornamental or
pictorial or heraldic device or with facsimilie autographs or inscriptions. The
photograph and its embellishment being produced on one and the same piece of
material.
To produce these embellished photographs a negative of the principal subject
and a negative or negatives of the embellishment are used as well as shields
specially prepared so as to exclude the light where a plain space is required or
from those parts corresponding to the position to be occupied by the principal
subject or its embellishment in the resulting embellished photograph. Or positives
may be used instead of the negatives just mentioned.
The negatives or positives are so prepared or arranged, that, when placed in
contact with the sensitised material to be printed upon through them, the principal
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page_text: .
subject and its embellishment will be printed in their proper relative positions. A
sensitised material is then photographically printed upon through these negatives
or positives in turn, care be taken, during each separate printing operation, that the
light is excluded from the sensitised material by means of the specially prepared
shields, in that part which has already been printed upon through another negative
or positive or which is subsequently to be printed upon through another negative or
positive or which is to be a plain space. "A negative or positive may then be
obtained from the sensitised material which has thus been printed upon through the
negatives or positives of the principal subject and its embellishment. The light
excluding shields may be used in the camera whilst the negatives or positives are
being made, so that, when positives are taken thus, the light excluding shields
reserve a plain, blank or opaque space on that part of the photograph corresponding
to the position to be occupied by the other photograph., A negative may be made
from these positives on one piece of sensitised material either by printing from them
in turn by transmitted light or by taking or cutting away the plain space in one
photograph (the plain space defining the part to be cut away) and making a
negative from it in contact with the other photograph by reflected light.
when negatives are taken of the principal subject and its embellishment by using
light excluding shields in the camera both negatives thus produced may be printed
Or,
simultaneously by transmitted light upon one piece of sensitised material.
instead of using light excluding shields in the camera the principal subject or its
embellishment or each may be arranged with a substance that reflects actinic light
or a substance which does not reflect actinic light so that when a negative or
positive is made of each arrangement a plain transparent or opaque space is
reserved or made in that part of each positive or negative corresponding to the
part to be occupied by the image in the other positive or negative. And then a
negative or positive can be made, on one piece of sensitised material, from these
positives or negatives as if they had been produced by using shields in the camera,
as just described above.
And
One part of a sensitised substance may be exposed, in the camera or printing
frame, to the principal subject, and the other part of the sensitised substance may
be exposed, in the camera or printing frame, to the embellishment.
The principal subject or its embellishment or 'öne of them may be transferred,
by any of the usual methods, to the same substance or to the substance bearing
one of them.
A negative or positive of the principal subject may be made upon an ordinary
gelatine film on glass, or upon any other sensitised substance, and the gelatine
film or other sensitised substance cut away or removed in that part corre-
sponding to the position to be occupied by the embellishment, and, likewise, a
negative or positive of the embellishment upon an ordinary gelatine film on
glass, or upon any other sensitised substance, having the gelatine film or other
sensitised substance cut away or removed in that part corresponding to the position
to be occupied by the principal subject or the gelatine film or other sensitised
substance may be cut away or removed in one negative or positive only if that one
be on or is used in connection with a light excluding shield: no' cutting away may
'be necessary if one negative or positive be smaller than the other negative or
positive and if it be on or be used in connection' with a light excluding shield; a
negative or positive may then be made from these negatives or positives together
or separately.
"The sensitised substance may be cut or prepared in'any shape or 'in corresponding
"shapes before being photographed upon.
Semi-transparent shields may be used to weaken or generalise the tone of the
embellishment or shields bearing a texture may 'be'used to give a different quality
to the principal subject or its embellishment.
The principal subject or its embellishment may be blended together at their
edges in any part or the edges of either 'may be thade indistinct or lost.
Sensitised or other substances may be prepared of the usual sizes of photographic

page_text: plates or films bearing negative or positive embellishments, either cut out or not
to be sold for the purpose of embellishing photographs.
The light excluding shields may be produced photographically or in any other
suitable way, such as by painting, stencilling, stamping or printing with an opaque
or suitable coloured substance or they may be cut out of an opaque or suitable
coloured substance and they may form parts of the photographs or substances on
which the photographs are taken or they may be on separate substances.
In all or any of the methods mentioned above the principal subject or its
embellishment may consist of a print or drawing or painting and may be used
instead of a photograph of the same except in the complete embellished
photograph.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
To have invented the use of all or any of the above mentioned methods, or any
combination of the above mentioned methods at any stage, for photographically
producing embellished photographs, whether applied to the reproductive processes
or not, and for whatever purposes they may be used.
The embellishment being used purely as an embellishment, as distinguished from
the principal subject; and the embellished photograph consisting of a photograph
of the principal subject and a photograph of an ornamental border or partial
border or any ornamental or pictorial or heraldic device or facsimilie autograph
or inscription or monogram. The photograph of the principal subject and the
photograph of the embellishment being produced on one and the same piece of
material.
Dated this 10th dox of July 1801
FRANK STERNBERG.