Improvements in or Connected with Advertising Apparatus.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Aug., 1889-Accepted, 23rd Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Connected with Advertising Apparatus.
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, of Norfolk House, Victoria Embankment, London, W.C.,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the Complete Specification filed in pursuance of my Application for Letters
Patent dated 8th September 1887 and numbered 12,183 I specify certain improve-
ments in or connected with advertising apparatus. My present invention is similar
to the invention specified in the said former specification except that instead of
employing an electrical self winding mechanism for winding up the mechanical clock
mechanism I wind up the said mechanical clock mechanism by hand.
Dated this 22nd day of November 1888
J. G. LORRAIN.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Connected with Advertising Apparatus.
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, of Norfolk House, Norfolk Street, London, W.C.,
Consulting Engineer, 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:-
A well known type of advertising apparatus is one having a series of advertisements
which are displayed in succession. There are many forms of this type of advertising
apparatus, the advertisements being usually mounted on or attached to an endless
band or cylinder or disc or the like which is caused to revolve at intervals or to move
by successive and intermittent steps or by partial revolutions in such manner as to
bring the said advertisements successively into view as for example by bringing them
before a window in the case containing the advertising apparatus so causing the said
advertisements to be displayed. Some forms of this type of advertising apparatus are
driven by wound up springs or weights, others by animal power and so on-the
wound up spring or weight or the animal, as the case may be, doing the work of
presenting, changing, displacing or otherwise actuating the advertisements.
This
In my invention I do this work directly by means of an electromotor.
electromotor may be of any convenient known type. For example I may employ a
rotary or a step by step or a vibratory or a reciprocating electromotor. The type of
electromotor to be selected for use will depend mainly on the form of advertising
mechanism which it is to drive, and any one conversant with the Art will have no
difficulty in selecting the best form of electromotor. In nine cases out of ten a rotary
electromotor is what is wanted and this, as is generally known, can best take the
form known as a Froment motor when the work is light and that of the modern
continuous current dynamo when the work is heavy. I cause the electromotor to
drive the advertising mechanism, that is to say the roller, drum, disc, endless band or
the like, with its necessary parts or adjuncts such as bearings for example, to which
the advertisements are attached, by means of any convenient known trnsmitting
mechanism such for example as a driving chain or a train of wheels or a worm and
worm-wheel or a ratchet and pawl or the like. Any ordinary mechanic will know the
best form of transinitting mechanism to employ under the circumstances presented to
him. To feed the electromotor I employ any convenient source or reservoir of
electrical energy. With small apparatus I prefer a Leclanché battery, and for heavier
work a secondary battery charged in the usual well known manner. To call the
electromotor into action when required to present or change the advertisements I
employ an ordinary clock, preferably one constructed to go for as long a period as

page_text: possible without rewinding. This clock I cause to operate a circuit closing device or
any convenient known form. The function of this circuit closing device is to close the
electric circuit and so allow a current to pass through the electromotor at intervals as
required.
A is the advertising
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents diagrammatically the several
necessary parts constituting my advertising apparatus.
mechanism. B is the electromotor which serves when an electric current is passing
through it to drive or actuate the advertising mechanism. C is the actuating contact
or circuit closing device which completes the circuit at intervals through the electro-
motor. D is the ordinary mechanical clock which actuates the circuit closing
device C. E is the source or reservoir of electrical energy which supplies the current
to drive the electromotor whenever the circuit is completed by the circuit closing
device C. I generally mount this circuit closing device on an arbor by itself this
arbor being driven by the clock mechanism just as if it formed a part of the clock and
in the usual manner its rate of motion being determined by the rapidity with which
the advertisements are to be changed.
Figure 2 diagrammatically illustrates a typical case where the advertisements are
pasted upon an endless band G passing over two rollers H H. In this case the
endless band G G with its rollers, bearings and supports constitutes the advertising
mechanism, the advertisements being displayed through the window F. The electro-
motor diagrammatically represented by 1 actuates or drives the advertising mechanism
in any suitable manner as for example by being mounted on the same axis as one of
the rollers or by transmitting rotation thereto as for example by means of a driving
chain or by gearing as in the figure. J represents the clock on an arbor of which is
mounted the circuit closing device which serves to periodically close the circuit from
the battery K through the electromotor I as required. In the case illustrated by this
figure it is assumed that there are only two advertisements one pasted printed or
pictorially displayed upon that part of the endless band which is next the window and
the other on the part behind it and so hidden from view. Let us assume now for the
purpose of describing the action of the apparatus (though as this form of advertising
mechanism is a well known one such description is scarcely necessary) that these two
advertisements are to be alternately displayed at the window each for the space of a
minute. The contact or circuit closing device is so arranged as to complete the
circuit through the electromotor every minute. Let us suppose now that contact is
made. A current will now flow through the electromotor which will commence to
rotate and drive round the top roller in the direction of the arrow until that part of
the endless band which was formerly in the front and next to the window will be at
the back and hidden from view whilst that part of the band which was formerly
invisible will now be opposite and next to the window so that its advertisement will
be displayed. Contact being now broken the parts will remain at rest till at the end
of a minute contact will be again made and the same cycle of operations will again be
gone through. By reducing the size of the window and of the advertisements it is
obvious that without altering the other parts the number of advertisements can be
increased. The duration of contact in this latter case would of course be lessened in
proportion, the speed of driving remaining the same.
I do not however find it always safe to rely upon duration of contact alone to
determine the amount of movement of the advertising mechanism when a rotary
electromotor is employed. I therefore employ in addition to the actuating contact or
circuit closing device herein before mentioned a second or auxiliary" contact-whose
function is to maintain the circuit through the electromotor closed as long as the
advertising mechanism is moving from one position of rest to another thus ensuring
that under ordinary conditions neither more nor less than the required amount of
movement shall take place. The action of the auxiliary contact is fully described in
the Complete Specification accompanying my Letters Patent No. 12,183 of the year
1887 and need not be further referred to here.
In order still further to ensure that only the proper amount of movement shall take
place and prevent the liability of the momentum of the moving parts causing a greater

page_text: amount of movement than is desirable taking place when the current is strong and
there is little friction on the moving parts I generally employ a brake as described in
the Complete Specification accompanying my Letters Patent No. 12,183 of the year
1887..
In order to economise battery materials and diminish the wear and tear on the
electromotor and advertising mechanism, these parts may be allowed to rest at night.
1 therefore find it convenient in most cases to make use of a "dormant" contact
connected up in series with the actuating contact. The function and arrangement of
this dormant contact is fully set forth in the Complete Specification accompanying
my Letters Patent No. 12,183 of the year 1887 and therefore need not be further
described here.
In figure 2 the endless band is shown as passing tightly over the two rollers.
When however the number of advertisements is large a much longer band may be
employed as described with reference to figure 4 of my above cited previous
Specification No. 12,183 of the year 1887.
I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to any particular form of
electromotor as by means of suitable intermediate transmitting mechanism any form
of electromotor can be made to work, though as before mentioned the most suitable
form will at once suggest itself to the practical mind. I will only further remark
that when the said electromotor takes the form of the Froment motor I profer to have
as large a number of soft iron pieces on the armature wheel as is convenient and
when it takes the form of the modern dynamo I prefer to have a largish number of
armature coils and commutator segments so as to ensure ready and easy starting
under all circumstances.
It is not necessary for the dormant contact to be separate and distinct from the
actuating contact as a single contact may fulfil the functions of both. Thus assuming
that the working period is to be sixteen hours out of the twenty four if we make a
contact of the forin shown in figure 3 of the above mentioned previous specification
with no conducting segments throughout one third of the periphery and as many
conducting segments on the remaining two thirds of the periphery as there are to be
contacts made during the working period the device would act but except under
exceptional circumstances this would be objectionable on account of the large size and
cost of the contact.
Nor do I limit myself to any particular form of actuating contact or of auxiliary
contact or of dormant contact. I prefer to have these separate and distinct; and with
advertising mechanism of the type shown in figure 2 I prefer to employ as an
actuating contact the form illustrated in figures 14 and 15 of the drawings forming
part of the Complete Specification accompanying my Letters Patent No. 10,785 of
the year 1887, as an auxiliary contact the form illustrated in figures 5 and 6 of the
drawings forming part of the Complete Specification accompanying my Letters
Patent No. 12,183 of the year 1887, and as a dormant contact the form illustrated in
figure 3 of the drawings forming part of the Complete Specification accompanying
my Letters Patent No. 12,183 of the year 1887. For other forms of advertising
mechanism these contacts may be slightly modified as will be readily understood by
any practical person.
Nor do I confine myself to any particular form of brake though I prefer the form
herein before referred to when employing such a type of advertising mechanism as I
have illustrated.
The advertising machines or apparatus which I have hitherto referred to in this
Specification may be termed self-contained advertising machines inasmuch as each
machine contains the necessary parts for successful operation in accordance with my
invention but in some cases for example where a number of advertising machines are
set up in proximity I may employ what I may conveniently term system advertising
machines inasmuch as each of such advertising machines forms one of a system.
These differ from the self contained advertising machines only in that the whole of
the essential parts or elements necessary to make up a self contained machine in
accordance with my invention are not present in each. Thus for example the

page_text: machines constituting my present invention could be arranged in a manner analogous
to the machines represented in sheet No. 6 of the drawings forming part of the
Complete Specification accompanying my Letters Patent No. 12,183 of the year
1887. In this case I find it convenient to have the source or reservoir of electrical
energy the clock and the dormant and actuating contacts in the master machine only,
each system or secondary machine having in addition to the advertising mechanism,
the electromotor and an auxiliary contact and brake. The method of connecting up
electrically will be apparent to any electrician.
Self-contained advertising machines and master machines need not necessarily
contain sources or reservoirs of electrical energy in their containing cases or frames.
An electrical connection with a source or reservoir of electrical energy will suffice.
I prefer to enclose my apparatus in iron cases to shield the electrical devices from
external inductive effects.
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.
1. A self-contained advertising machine substantially as set forth.
2. A system or secondary advertising machine substantially as set forth.
3. The combination of an advertising mechanism an electromotor an actuating
contact, a source or reservoir of electrical energy and an ordinary mechanical clock
substantially as set forth, and either with or without an auxiliary contact, a dormant
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Dated this 23rd day of August 1889.
J. G. LORRAIN,
Per C. H. T.