Year: 1897

page_text: I, JOHN MEIGGS EWEN, of No. 1129 The Rookery, Chicago, County of Cook,
State of Illinois, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to systems of lighting and has for its object to provide a
new and improved system for this purpose.
My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein
Figure 1 is a section through a room lighted by my system;
Figures 2 and 3 are sections through a room showing modified forms of my
device.
Like letters refer to like parts throughout the several figures.
In the use of ordinary prismatic glass in lighting apartments and the like,
the prisms are placed in the openings through which the light is admitted and
change the direction of the light so as to project it toward the rear of the room.
This system of lighting has several objectionable features. For example, the
light coming from the window is obstructed by any object between the window
and the rear of the room. Another objection is that when an observer is in the
rear of the room, objects between him and the window are only seen in outline,
because of the insufficient diffusion of the light throughout the room. The object
of my present invention is to obviate all such objectionable features. "A's
illustrated in the drawing, I provide the window through which the light is
admitted, with glass having projecting ribs or prisms A. I also provide a re
flecting surface on the ceiling of the room and construct the prisms A so that the
light is directed toward this reflecting surface and is diffused throughout, the
room.
As illustrated in Figure 1, this reflecting surface on the ceiling is composed of
a series of surfaces B B, which may be of any suitable description as mirrors
or the like, such surfaces being placed at such an angle as to direct the light
toward the floor of the room.
In Figure 2 I use a plain reflecting surface C. The light from the prisms
strikes such reflecting surface and is diffused throughout the room.
In Figure 3 the reflecting surface consists of a series of prisms D D, the light
from the window being projected so as to strike said prisms, the direction being
thereby changed so that the light is thrown toward the floor and diffused
throughout the room.
It is, of course, evident, that these prisms may be made of any suitable con-
struction. I have shown in the drawings several means of accomplishing my
result in order that my invention may be readily understood, but it is of course,
evident that other means than those herein shown may be used without in any
manner affecting the result desired, and I therefore do not wish to be limited
to the constructions shown.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
A system of lighting for an apartment comprising a vertically arranged prism
window with a horizontally arranged prism reflector on the ceiling of the apart-
ment and above the window, the whole shaped and constructed and arranged,
substantially as shown.
Dated this 13th day of July 1897.
For the Applicant,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.