IMPROVEMENTS IN REFLECTORS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for tho
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFLECTORS."-A communication from
abroad by Pierre Thibault, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empiro
of France.
Sealed the 9th June 1863, and dated the 3rd February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
3rd February 1863.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFLECTORS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in reflectors relates to that description of
reflector which is employed for catching the rays of light from above and
throwing them in a horizontal or any other required direction.
Instead of employing metallic plates, as heretofore, I construct glass plates,
with their surface cut or formed in prisms, arranged in such a manner that
the rays of descending light will strike on one face of the prism and be

page_text: reflected in a horizontal or oblique direction. To this end the prisms on the
plates are arranged in two sets, one set of prisms is arranged with the
inclined faces pointing downwards, and the other with the inclined faces
pointing upwards. Between these two sets there is a curved or convex
surface or lens, and the whole plate is grooved vertically, so as to form other
refracting and reflecting surfaces. These prismatic plates may be made
either curved or straight according to the purpose for which they are intended
to be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third 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
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the
said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors,
administrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFLECTORS," being a
communication from abroad by Pierre Thibault, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris,
in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The peculiar feature of this Invention consists in the employment of a
system of glass plates, which serve to conduct or direct the rays of light.
These plates, which may be called refractors or projectors, which is a more
technical term than reflectors, are placed vertically above a light, and present
on the one hand a row of prisms superposed with horizontal bases, and on
the other hand a row of prisms or flutings in a vertical direction. The light
which passes through this plate, therefore, undergoes two changes of direction,
occasioned the refractions produced by the inclined faces of the glass.
The Figures in the accompanying Drawing represent different views of a
plate constructed according to this Invention, and also a view shewing an
example of its application.
.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the plate at the side of the vertical prisms; Fig. 2 is
a horizontal section of the same taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a
transverse section in the line 3, 4, of the same Figure; and Fig. 4 is a section
taken in the line 5, 6, of the same Figure. In all these Figures a represents
the prisms, with horizontal bases, set over each other, and 6 the vertical
prisms. The light at its entrance on the horizontal side is thrown down and
projected towards the ground by the refraction produced by the inclined lines
of the horizontal based prisms a, and at its exit it is directed in a vertical
direction from left to right or from right to left by the refraction produced by
the lines of the flutings or vertical prisms b. From the above explanation the
use of the fluted plates and their operation in directing the light will be
readily understood.
The reflector plate shewn in the Drawings is intended to receive the light
from the top of a gas burner, as shewn at Fig. 5, which represents one mode
of applying the Invention. The prismatic reflector in Fig. 5 will throw the
light on to the ground in parallel lines, and thus prevent it from being uselessly
diffused where it is not wanted.
Having now described this Invention as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to confine myself
to the dimensions of the reflector plates above shewn and described, as these
may be varied without departing from the nature and object of the present
Invention; but that which I desire to claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid, is, the manufacture and employment for lighting
purposes, either public or private, of a plate of glass having on one side a row

page_text: of prisms with horizontal bases, and on the other a row of prisms or flutes in
a vertical direction, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.s.)