IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA- RATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE PER- FORMANCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Silvester, of Clapham Road, in the County
of Surrey, Photographer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE PER-
FORMANCES."
Sealed the 1st December 1863, and dated the 30th June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Silvester at the
Office of the Commissioners of. Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th.
June 1868.
I, ALFRED SILVESTER, of Clapham Road, in the County of Surrey, Photo-
grapher, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE PER-
FORMANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be used in
the exhibition of dramatic and other like performances.
Heretofore, when apparatus has been used, combined according to an In-
vention described in the Provisional Specification of Henry Dircks and John
Henry Pepper, dated 5th February 1863 (N° 326), for exhibiting phantom
images with living actors on a stage or floor suitably arranged for the purpose,
the phantom images have not been so erect and perfect as may be desired.
Now my improvements consist in combining with the apparatus heretofore
employed an inclined looking glass, by the use of which the phantom figure,

page_text: produced in other respects as heretofore, or by means of an unsilvered reflect-
ing glass and a strong artificial light thrown on the object of which a spectre
is to be represented, will be rendered more erect and perfect than has hitherto
been the case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, tiled
by the said Alfred Silvester, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
SILVESTER, of Clapham Road, in the County of Surrey, Photographer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Silvester, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Silvester,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Silvester, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER
LIKE PERFORMANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Silvester, my executors or administrators, by an instrument - in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Alfred Silvester, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be used in
the exhibition of dramatic and other like performances. Heretofore, when
apparatus has been used, combined according to an Invention described in the

page_text: Provisional Specification of Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper,. dated
5th February 1863 (No. 826), for exhibiting phantom images with living
actors on a stage or floor suitably arranged for the purpose, the phantom
images have not been so erect and perfect as may be desired. Now my im-
provements consist in combining with the apparatus heretofore-employed, an
inclined looking-glass, by the use of which the phantom figure, produced in
other respects as heretofore, by means of an unsilvered reflecting glass and a
strong artificial light thrown on the object of which a spectre is to be repre-
sented, will be rendered more erect and perfect than has hitherto been
the case.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will proceed more fully to
describe the manner of performing the same.
It is preferred that the looking-glass, that is, a silvered glass or -mirror,
should be of a length equal to the width..of the front of the stage, but such
great length of mirror is not absolutely essential, particularly in case the
mirror or silvered glass should be placed on a moving platform with the actors
on the lower stage. Or in cases where the images reflected from the lower
stage are at all times to be confined to a particular part of the upper or ordi-
nary stage. The lower edge of the silvered glass comes on a level with the
lower stage on which the actors or other objects for producing images on the
upper or ordinary stage are situated. The silvered glass is to be arranged in
such manner as to be readily adjusted to a like inclination to that at which
the plate of unsilvered glass, situated on the upper stage, is placed, so that the
surfaces or planes of the silvered and unsilvered plates of glass may be parallel
to each other. The proper adjustment for the unsilvered plate of glass on the
upper stage having been obtained as described in the Specification of the said
Dircks and Pepper's patent; the position and inclination of the mirror or sil-
vered glass is then to be adjusted to the inclined unsilvered plate of glass. In
front of the mirror or silvered glass is placed a dark sceen, or it may be a
curtain; black cotton velvet being, I believe, the best material for this pur-
pose. Between this screen or curtain and the silvered glass the actors or other
image-producing objects are situated, and they are to be strongly lighted by
artificial light, which I accomplish by placing a suitable lantern in a recess
below the mirror, or at the right or left hand end of such mirror, or such
means of lighting may be combined, or other arrangements for lighting may
be resorted to. Masking boards or screens are to be used as described in the
Specification or Dirck's and Pepper's said patent, in order to prevent ob-
servers in the gallery or other parts of the house seeing into the lower stage.
By thus combining a silvered glass with an inclined unsilvered plate of glass,

page_text: and by using therewith a strong artificial light, the living actors on the lower
stage are enabled to act with more freedom, than heretofore, and images of
them will be better represented on the upper stage by reason of the actors not
being constrained to incline. their bodies to the inclination of the inclined un-
silvered glass. The lower stage is marked with chalk or other material to
enable the actors on the lower stage to judge within what range they may
move without producing double images, and the upper stage is also marked, or
suitable indications are placed. thereon, in order that the actors on the upper
or ordinary stage may act in concert with the actors and other image pro-
ducing objects situated on the lower stage. In addition to the advantages
obtained by the combined use of a mirror or looking glass with an inclined
unsilvered glass, in respect to the freedom of living actors on the lower stage,
this use of a mirror more fully admits of the employment on the lower stage
of a great variety of image producing objects than could formerly be done,
such as objects or images produced by a magic lantern or other optical appa-
ratus; scenes or plants may be also received on to the mirror, and be by it
reflected to the inclined plate of unsilvered glass, and be thereby presented to
the audience or observers in the house on the ordinary stage. Electrical
effects as well as artificial or real pyrotechnic objects on the lower stage may
also be reflected by the mirror to the inclined plate of unsilvered glass.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Silvester, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.