IMPROVE- MENTS IN A DARATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Dircks, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer, and John Henry Pepper, of No. 309, Regent Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, and Honorary
Director of the Polytechnic Institution, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN A DARATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Dircks and John
Henry Pepper at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 5th February 1863.
We, HENRY DIRCKS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer,
and JOHN HENRY. PEPPER, of No. 309, Regent Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, and Honorary Director of the Polytechnic
Institution, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-:
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE.
PERFORMANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of our said Invention is by a peculiar arrangement of apparatus
to associate on the same stage a phantom or phantoms with a living actor or

page_text: actors, so that the two may act in concert, but which is only an optical illusion
as respects the one or more phantoms so introduced.
The arrangement of the theatre requires in addition to the ordinary stage
a second stage at a lower level than the ordinary one, hidden from the audience
as far as direct vision is concerned; this hidden stage is to be strongly illumi-
nated by artificial light, and is capable of being rendered dark instantaneously
whilst the ordinary stage and the theatre remains illuminated by ordinary
lighting. A large glass screen is placed on the ordinary stage and in front of
the hidden one.
The spectators will not observe the glass screen, but will see the actors on
the ordinary stage through it as if it were not there; nevertheless the glass
will serve to reflect to them an image of the actors on the hidden stage when
these are illuminated, but this image will be made immediately to disappear
by darkening the hidden stage. The glass screen is set in a frame so that it
can readily be moved to the place required, and it is to be set at an inclination
to enable the spectators, whether in the pit, boxes, or gallery, to see the reflected
image.
"The glass is adjustable, and it is readily adjusted to the proper inclination
by having a person in the pit and another in the gallery to inform the party
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Henry Dircks and
John Henry Pepper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st October
1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
DIRCKS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer, and JOHN
HENRY PEPPER, of No. 309, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Professor of Chemistry, and Honorary Director of the Polytechnic Insti-
tution, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her.
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper, Her special licence that we, the
said Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper,
our executors, administrators, and assigns; should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE
USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE PERFORMANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Dircks and John Henry
Pepper, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
should 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 on or before the Third day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Pepper, on behalf of myself
and the said Henry Dircks, 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 :-
The nature and object of our said Invention is by a peculiar arrangement
of apparatus to associate on the same stage a phantom or phantoms with a
living actor or actors, so that the two may act in concert, but which is only an
optical illusion as respects the one or more phantoms so introduced.
The arrangement of the theatre requires in addition to the ordinary stage
a second stage at a lower level than the ordinary one, hidden from the audience
as far as direct vision is concerned; this hidden stage is to be strongly
illuminated by artificial light, and is capable of being rendered dark instan-
taneously whilst the ordinary stage and the theatre remain illuminated by
ordinary lighting. A large glass screen is placed on the ordinary stage and in
front of the hidden one. The spectators will not observe the glass screen, but
will see the actors on the ordinary stage through it as if it were not there;
nevertheless the glass will serve to reflect to them an image of the actors on
the hidden stage when these are illuminated, but this image will be made
immediately to disappear by darkening the hidden stage. The glass screen is
set in a frame so that it can readily be moved to the place required, and it is
to be set at an inclination to enable the spectators, whether in the pit, boxes,"
or gallery, to see the reflected image. The glass is adjustable and it is readily
adjusted to the proper inclination by having a person in the pit and another
in the gallery to inform the party who is adjusting the glass when they see
the image correctly.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings illustrates the arrangement of a theatre
for carrying our Invention into effect; the Figure shows a section taken
through the stage, the orchestra, the pit, and gallery.
a, a, is an opening which is formed in the ordinary stage. In the front
part of the stage, but at a lower level, is the hidden stage. b. The opening a
is capable of being closed at the top by trap doors, a plan of which is shewn
at Figure 2. When the trap doors are closed, actors on the ordinary or
visible stage can pass freely to and fro above the lower or.hidden stage. The
ordinary stage and trap doors are covered with green baize or other dark
material, so that when the trap doors are opened, the audience, even those in
the gallery, will not readily be able to perceive the opening. The actors or
objects corresponding with the phantom images, which it is desired to repre-
sent to the audience, are on the lower or hidden stage b, and are strongly
illuminated by the lime light or the electric light, or other powerful illuminating
means may be employed. This light must accompany the actor in any
movement he has to make. The hidden stage b, and the lanterns c, may be
mounted on a carriage on rails plan of which is shewn at Figure 3), so
that when it is necessary for the phantom actor or object on the lower stage
to be moved, the lanterns may be caused to move also, or the lanterns may
remain stationary whilst the actor moves, provided the whole space through
which he moves is sufficiently illuminated. The lanterns are to be provided
with means for instantaneously extinguishing or masking the light, and for
reproducing it so that the phantom may be made to disappear and reappear at
pleasure, whilst the audience and the ordinary stage will be more or less
lighted in the ordinary manner according to the effects desired to be obtained.
For this purpose a board 6¹ is employed, which is capable of being raised into
the position shewn by dotted lines, so as entirely to cut off the light from the
hidden stage when desired, or an ordinary opaque shade attached to each
lantern may be used for the purpose, or when using the lime light the desired
effects are caused by gradually or instantaneously (as the case may require) cutting
off the supply of gases, and the phantom image may by any of these means
be caused gradually or instantaneously to fade away. When the trap doors
over the hidden stage are open, the part d thereof assists in hiding the lanterns
and the opening from the audience. The part e is raised into the position
shown in the Drawing and acts (together with the part d) to screen the
lanterns from the audience, and also to insure that any actor or object on the
bidden stage shall not accidently appear above the level of the visible stage.

page_text: b
The phantom actor, when standing on the stage 6, leans against the screen k,
which is inclined so as to be parallel with the glass screen, and is covered
with black velvet or other dark material, as is also the stage 6, in order that
no image of either the screen k or the stage 6 may be seen in the reflection.
5f (the glass screen) is a large sheet of plate glass on the ordinary stage, of
sufficient size to reflect the full length of the actors or objects on the hidden
stage to the audience in the pit, boxes, and galleries of the theatre. The
hidden stage is between the glass and the audience. The glass may be mounted
in a swing frame so that it may be adjusted to the angle required, or it may
O readily be done by screws or ropes and pulleys, or otherwise. The glass
screen is to be set at such an inclination as to bring the reflected image
to the level of the visible or ordinary stage. This will enable the spectators,
whether in pit, boxes, or gallery, to see the reflected image without:
any obstruction to the view above the foot lights, and it will be visible
5 from all parts of the house except those extreme positions which cannot
command a view through the glass of that part of the stage where the image
is reflected.
The proper angle of inclination of the glass is ascertained experimentally.
by having persons in the different parts of the house to say when the image is
shewn to them correctly. The scenery is so disposed as to conceal the frame
of the glass, and we prefer that the glass should be able to descend into an
opening or box 9 beneath the stage, in which case we counterbalance the
glass and frame so that they may easily be raised into the position desired by
means of a rope by which, aided by the bolts i, the glass is supported in the
required position. The glass may either be adjusted when screened from the
audience, and remain in position during the scene, or (the proper angle of
inclination having been previously ascertained by experiment) the glass may
be raised on to the ordinary or visible stage, and placed in position whilst the
scene is before the eyes of the the audience under a subdued light without the
movement being observed, for which latter purpose the top bar of the frame
of the glass should be made very light or be omitted altogether. This arrange-
ment admits of an actor on the visible stage passing across the space which
the glass is to occupy, and this he can do just before the appearance of the
phantom, and then immediately the glass is run up the trap doors are opened,
the actor or image on the hidden stage is illuminated, and the phantom appears.
This arrangement will render it less likely that the audience should imagine
that there is anything interposed between them and the actors than if the glass
plate remained permanently in position. during the scene. The hidden or
lower stage may be provided with a well or hole up which an actor can rise;

page_text: he will then appear as a spectre rising out of the visible stage. The lanterns
may be provided with colored glasses in order to heighten the effect. As the
actors on the visible stage do not themselves see the spectral images, marks
should be placed on the stage or other indications made in order that they
may know the position which the spectres appearing to the audience are to
occupy. In order to appear upright upon the visible stage the actor or object
on the hidden stage should be inclined so as to be as nearly as practicable
parallel with the surface of the glass screen. In effecting this assistance is
afforded by the screen k of the hidden stage. Several sheets of glass may
be similarly employed at the same time if one is not of sufficient width to
cover the different parts of the stage at which it is desired that the spectre
should appear, the interval or junction being concealed by the introduction of
a tree or column or some other piece of scenery.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and. the manner of per-
forming the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim to any
of the parts separately, but what we claim is the combined arrangement as
herein described of a glass inclined forwards towards the audience, and two
stages, one the ordinary visible stage, and the other a hidden stage at a lower
level than the ordinary visible stage and illuminated with a much stronger
light than either the ordinary visible stage or the body of the house, and
which light is capable of being instantaneously, or, if so required, gradually
withdrawn and restored.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Pepper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first, day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
J. H. PEPPER.
(L.S.)