A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ILLUSORY EXHIBITIONS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL
Thomas William Tobin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 26th January 1865.
We, the said JOHN HENRY PEPPER, of 61, Boundary Road, St. John's
Wood, Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, and THOMAS WILLIAM TOBIN, of
No. 36, North Street. Pentonville, Middlesex. Architect, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
ILLUSORY EXHIBITIONS," to be as follows:-
We construct a box or chamber of a form and of dimensions adapted for
and capable of containing the objects and subjects of representation and
illusory exhibition. This box or chamber may be ornamented' internally and
externally with designs suited to the particular representation or illusion.
The interior of the box or chamber is constructed or provided with partitions,
moveable doors, slides, and flaps, and with reflecting and refracting surfaces.

page_text: The box or chamber is lighted and ventilated, and may be fitted with
embossings or mouldings, and covered at the bottom with a mat. skin, or
carpeting, according to the fancy of the operator and the object or subject of
SPECIFICATION
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, hled
by the said John Henry Pepper and Thomas William Tobin in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
JENRY PEPPER, of 61. Boundary Road. St. John's Wood, Middlesex. Pro-
fessor of Chemistry, and THOMAS WILLIAM TOBIN. of 36. North Street,
Pentonville, Middlesex. Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did. for Herself, Her heirs and successors. give and grant
unto us, the said John Henry Pepper and Thomas William Tobin, Her
special license that we, the said John Henry Pepper and Thomas William
Tobin, our executors. administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said John Henry Pepper and Thomas William Tobin. our executors. adminis-
trators, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ILLUSORY EXHIBITIONS."
upon the conditions (amongst others) that we. the said John Henry Pepper
and Thomas William Tobin. by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of either of us, 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 Palent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Henry Pepper and Thomas
William Tobin, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
We construct a box or chamber of a form and of dimensions adapted for

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 is an exterior, and Figure 2 an
interior view. and Figure 3an horizontal section of the box or chamber above
referred to. The sides may be made of wood or papier mache or sheet iron,
but we prefer the former.
a. a, are two doors hung at the angles of the box, and capable of closing on
the post d or of lying back in a recess in the sides, as shewn on the right-hand
side of the box. These doors a. a. have glass mirrors on the sides f. f. f. f. and
a fresco or design at the upper part of the box or chamber. suitable for the
illusion to be represented. The post set at the junction of the lines
bisecting the angles of the back and sides. The box or chamber. as shewn,
is
is rectangular. If for convenience or for the purpose of any particular repre-
sentation the box or chamber is desired to be wider at the front than at the
back, the post will still be placed at the junction of the two lines bisecting the
angles made by the back and two sides, but any considerable departure from
the rectangular form would be found inconvenient.
b is a door of clear thick
plate glass: c is the external door. A lamp is hung at the top of the post d
to light and assist in ventilating the box by promoting an upward current, and
a mat or rug is placed at the bottom of the box or chamber.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we hereby declare that we claim as the
Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent, a box or chamber
constructed and arranged with mirrors as above described for the purpose of
illusory exhibitions.
In witness whereof. I, the said Thomas William Tobin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
THOMAS WILLIAM TOBIN. (L.S.)