Improvements in Advertising or Signalling, and in Means therefor
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Jan., 1895
Complete Specification, Left,,22nd, Oct., 1895-Accepted, 23rd Nov., 1895
FEROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Advertising or Signalling, and in Means therefor
I, SAMUEL TOPLEY, of 57 Granville Park, Lewisham, in the County of Kent,
Managing Director of a Company, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements:in advertising or signälling, and in means
5 therefor; whereby various advertisements, or the like, may be displayed temporarily
and altered rapidly when required; the main object being to facilitate the exhibition
of short announcements where rapid publicity is a matter of importance.
To this end, I provides a suitable frame, as hereinafter described, on which
the letters and numerals, signs, or emblems, composing the announcements can he
rapidly built up or formed so as to be effectively.displayed. Such a frame may be
fitted, on the roof, of a house, on a shop. front, or, in any other..conspicuous
position.
By this means, I am able to, avoid the objection to large permanent advertise-
ments,which, owing to their announcements being difficult, to change, soon cease
to attract, attention, and so become.useless .for the purpose for which they are
¡intended.
According to one, arrangement, I; construct the frame of bars or wires intersecting
each other at right angles, or otherwise, and on these I hang, or otherwise apply,
detachable pieces of metal, or other material, either coloured or not, in, such a
panner, as to form the required letters or.numerals, or signs or emblems, and which
pieces, may, or may not, overlap each other after the manner of scales. To facilitate
such forming, building up, or plotting out of the letters or numerals, signs, or
emblems, I provide a set of key letters.or,numerals corresponding in size to those
to be formed, so that all one has to do, when desiring to exhibit an announcement,
is to place the key letters one by one..behind the frame, and then to attach the
pieces of metal, or other, material to the bars or wires. of the frame in front
of them.
:
In some cases, instead of using detachable pieces, I may use small lamps, whilst
still employing the key letters, to facilitate the forming or building up of the words
composing the announcement or, advertisement, and these lamps, if coloured, would
form an, advertisement effective both.by-day and by night.
In other cases, the bars, of the frame may be formed of gas piping having a large
number of jets, means being provided to allow, such of the jets to be lighted as..will
combine to produce the outline of the letters required.
Or the frame may be divided into compartments or spaces, in each of which may
he arranged a number of short gas pipes interlacing and crossing each other, so as
to combine together the outline, of every letter in the alphabet, or figures, signs, or
emblems; likely to be required;.,the jets of those portions of piping being lighted
which will contribute. to form, the, letters, or the like, composing the words..or
levices of the announcement.
Or I may place the key letters.in position, thereby. at once showing them,by day,
nd, at night I may make them, visible.by a row of gas or other lights-or illuminants
laced under them.
Instead of using gas jets, electric lamps, either coloured or plain, may be used in
similar way, and for the same purpose, or any other system of j·lighting or
luminating may be employed:

page_text: The invention may be applied to signalling purposes, for announcing election
results &c., or for naval and military purposes.
Dated this 22nd day of January 1895.
ERNEST DE PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and 6, Victoria Street, Nottingham,
Agent for the Applicant.
Improvements in Advertising or Signalling, and in Means therefor.
I, SAMUEL TOPLEY, of 57 Granville Park, Lewisham, in the County of Kent,
Managing Director of a Company, 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, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
This invention relates to improvements in advertising or signalling, and in means
therefor, whereby various advertisements, or the like, may be displayed temporarily,
and altered rapidly when required, the main object being to facilitate the exhibition
of bold announcements where rapid publicity is a matter of importance.
To this end, I provide a suitable frame, as hereinafter described, on which the
letters and numerals, signs, or emblems, for composing the announcements, can be
rapidly built up or formed, so as to be effectively displayed. Such a frame may
be fitted on the roof of a house, on a shop front, or in any other conspicuous
position.
By this invention I am able to avoid the objection to large permanent advertise-
ments which, owing to their announcements being difficult to change, soon cease to
attract attention and so become useless for the purpose for which they are
intended.
The accompanying drawings show various ways of carrying out my invention.
According to the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, I construct the frame
of bars or wires a, intersecting each other at right angles, and on these I hang
detachable pieces b, shown to a larger scale in Fig. 3, of metal or other material,
either coloured or not, by means of hooks c, in such a manner as to form the letters
and numerals, signs, or emblems, composing the advertisement or announcement.
Prior however, to building up the letters, or the like, and to facilitate the rapid
forming thereof, I provide a set of key letters or devices, corresponding in size
to those composing the word, or words, to be formed, so that all one has to do
when 'desiring to exhibit an announcement is to place the key letters one by one
behind the frame, as shown in Fig. 1, and then to attach the pieces in front of
them, afterwards removing the key letters, when the desired announcement will be
left as in Fig. 2.
Instead of the bars or wires a intersecting each other at right angles, they may
be arranged diagonally, or otherwise, as may be convenient, and the detachable
pieces bmay be secured by clips, or otherwise, instead of by hooks, and may be
arranged to overlap each other after the manner of scales, so as to present, when
viewed from a distance, a practically continuous surface.
In some cases, instead of using detachable pieces 6 for forming or building up
the letters, or other devices, I use small lamps and attach them to the bars or
wires a in any convenient manner, whilst still employing the key letters to facilitate
the forming or building up of the words composing the announcement or advertise-
ment, and these lamps form an advertisement effective both by day and by night,
especially if coloured.

page_text: In the arrangement shown in Fig. 4, I employ removable, gas jets, instead of
lamps such as above referred to. In this case, the gas jets d are attached to the
bars or wires a of the frame, by clamps or other suitable fastenings, and are
connected with a gas supply pipe e by flexible pipes f, of which only a few are
shown, although it is to be understood that each gas jet has its own flexible pipe.
The attachment of these jets in their proper positions is effected by the use of
removable key letters, as in Fig. 1.
.
Or the frame may be divided into compartments or spaces, in each of which may
be arranged a number of short gas pipes interlacing and crossing each other, so as
to combine together. the outlines of a number of different letters, numerals, or
devices. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 5, wherein each interlacing section
or length of pipe is provided with a suitable tap or valve (not shown) so that it
can be lighted independently of the other sections. Thus, by lighting different
sections of the pipe, different letters, numerals or devices can be formed or built up.
For instance with this arrangement, any of the letters B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, K,
L, M. N, O, P, R, T, U, X, Y, Z, can be readily formed by lighting the corre-
sponding sections of pipe, and it will be evident that, by the addition of a few more
sections, any letters of the alphabet could be obtained.
In other cases, the bars of the frame may be formed of gas piping having a
large number of jets, and means may be provided to allow such of the jets
to be lighted as will combine together to produce the outline of the letters
required.
In some cases, I may place and secure the key letters in position on the frame,
thereby at once obtaining the announcements in a form visible and legible by day,
and so that they can be rendered visible at night by a row of gas or other lights,
or illuminants, placed under them.
Or I may use large removable letters by which any required words may be
quickly obtained, and may be rapidly altered to form other words, as desired.
Such letters may be printed in black on a white ground, and may be fitted in
frames with movable backs, so that the sheets on which are the letters may be
removed and others be substituted for them. These sheets may be of paper, or
formed of washable zinc plates, the front showing one letter or figure and the
back a different letter or figure. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 6, in which
the removable letter E is enclosed in a glazed frame g having a removable back,
secured by catches, or otherwise, so that the letter E can be removed and any
other letter substituted for it. The frame g may, if desired, be provided with
hooks h, or with other means, for attaching it to a bar or wire of the frame, or for
otherwise keeping it in position. In the arrangement shown, the letter is printed
on a sheet of paper, but obviously it may be printed on linen, or any other suitable
material.
Instead of using gas jets, electric lamps, either coloured or plain, may be used in
a similar way and for the same purpose, or any other system of lighting or
illuminating may be used.
The invention may be applied in like manner, to signalling purposes, or for
announcing election results, and so forth.
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
claim is :-
1. My improvements in advertising or signalling, consisting in building up, as
required, easily alterable letters, signs, emblems, or other characters constituting
the advertisement, or signal, on a suitable frame to which a set of removable key
letters, signs, emblems or other characters have been temporarily applied to
facilitate such building up, substantially as set forth.
2. The means for building up, displaying temporarily, and rapidly altering
advertisements or the like, substantially as described, and as shown in Figs. 1
and 2; in Fig. 4; and in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

page_text: '
3." The modified means for building up, displaying' temporarily, and rapidly
altering advertisements, or the like, in which each letter or character is enclosed
in a separate frame, substantially as described with reference to Fig. 6 of the
*drawings.
Dated this 22nd de, of Okl
1007
ERNEST DE: PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and 54, Market Street, Nottingham,
Agent for the Applicant.