Improvements in the Construction of Signs, Medallions, Shields, Escutcheons, and the like for Advertising and other Purposes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 17th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 6th May, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Signs, Medallions, Shields,
Escutcheons, and the like for Advertising and other Purposes.
A. communication by CAMILLE DE BORMAN and CHARLES ALKER, both of
15, Rue Royale, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Inventors.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S. M.I.M.E. of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors 6, Lord Street, Liverpool & 6, Bank Street
Manchester both in the County of Lancaster & 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the construction of a new kind of letters,
so called signs, trade names, coats of arms, medallions, shields, escutcheons,
and the like, figures, marks, etc., usually serving, when placed against the façade
of, or at a distance from, houses, hotels, or other buildings, to make advertisements,
announcements, to form a sign etc., or to afford the public indications of other,
kinds, and which, whilst having the form and appearance, if it be so desired, during
the day, of the letters, figures, trade names, marks, etc., hitherto employed for these
various purposes, may further be rendered luminous if desired, in such a way that
the said signs, notices, advertisements, or other indications formed by the letters,"
figures, marks or the like, by this invention may be seen even at a distance, during
the night.
The letters, figures, trade names, marks etc. are arranged according to this
invention in such a way as to form, to some extent, as many separate lanterns as
there are characters in a word, or figures, or as there are marks employed to
produce the indications which it is desired to have noticed by the public.
The transparent letter- or figure-lanterns, which may be called by the general
name of lighthouse letters (illuminated letters) may be placed singly, independent
of one another, or connected together in such a way as to form, if necessary, one
or more tableaux or groups, representing words, or numbers or any other notification
of interest, opaque, if desired, during the day, but capable of being rendered luminous
as soon as that is of use.
Each figure, letter or other article herein before enumerated is formed of any
suitable sheet, cast or electroplated metal, pierced or perforated, or of glass, mica,
or any other suitable transparent material, coloured or otherwise, or of a combination
of these various materials.
It may be painted, varnished, gilded, or silvered, etc., externally like any other
letter, figure, sign, or the like, but if desired it may remain of the natural colour
of the material, or materials used in its construction. It has in its interior
throughout its width, length or height a suitable illuminating apparatus, arranged
and combined, according to circumstances, the form of the articles, and the greater
or less effect that they are intended to produce, capable of being, if necessary,
automatically lighted, and capable of being rendered luminous by a light produced
by means of mineral essences, or gas from petroleum, or coal gas, or electricity in
the open air or in vacuum, or by electric discharges through a vapour, or highly
rarefied gas, in the manner of Geisler's tubes-or by phosphorescence, or by any
other suitable physical or chemical combination capable of producing light.
This invention consists therefore in the novel application which is made of any
known kind of lighting, for illuminating as may be desired by transparency the
letters of signs, trade names, figures, or marks, affixed to the façades of, or at a
distance from, houses, hotels, or other edifices, serving, singly, or in groups, to form
words or numbers, or to impart to the public a given notification, the attention of

page_text: the public being more particularly drawn to such notification by it being possible
to render it luminous if so desired.
It further consists in the idea of transforming into an actual lantern illuminated
by any suitable light, or into an electric lamp, or Geisler tube, etcetera, a letter of
a sign, a figure, a trade name, or any other mark, commercial or otherwise,
allowing the said letter, figure, trade name, mark, etcetera, to be made luminous
when necessary, more particularly to render it visible even from a distance during
the night.
Dated this 10th 1. of Ontahan 1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Signs, Medallions, Shields,
Escutcheons, and the like for Advertising and other Purposes.
A communication by CAMILLE DE BORMAN and CHARLES ALKER, both of
15, Rue Royale, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Inventors.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil 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 :-
This invention has for its object the construction of a new kind of letters, so
called signs, trade names, coats of arms, medallions, shields, escutcheons, and the
like, figures, marks etcetera, usually serving, when placed against the façade of, or
at a distance from, houses, hotels, or other buildings, to make advertisements,
announcements, to form a sign etcetera, or to afford the public indications of other
kinds, and which, whilst having the form and appearance, if it be so desired, during
the day, of the letters, figures, trade names, marks, etc., hitherto employed for
these various purposes, may further be rendered luminous if desired, in such a way
that the said signs, notices, advertisements, or other indications formed by the
letters, figures, marks or the like, by this invention may be seen even at a distance,
during the night.
The letters, figures, trade names, marks etcetera, are arranged according to this
invention in such a way as to form, to some extent, as many separate lanterns
as there are characters in a word, or figures, or as there are marks employed to
produce the indications which it is desired to have noticed by the public.
The transparent letter- or figure-lanterns, which may be called by the general
name of lighthouse letters (illuminated letters) may be placed singly, independent
of one another, or connected together in such a way as to form, if necessary,
one or more tableaux or groups, representing words, or numbers or any other
notification of interest, opaque, if desired, during the day, but capable of being
rendered luminous as soon as that is of use.
Each figure, letter or other article hereinbefore enumerated is formed of any
suitable sheet, cast or electro-plated metal, pierced or perforated, or of glass, mica,
or any other suitable transparent material, coloured or otherwise, or of a combination
of these various materials.
It may be painted, varnished, gilded, or silvered, etcetera, externally like any other
letter, figure, sign, or the like, but if desired it may remain of the natural colour of
the material, or materials used in its construction. It has in its interior throughout
its width, length or height a suitable illuminating apparatus, arranged and combined,
according to circumstances, the form of the articles, and the greater or less effect
that they are intended to produce, capable of being, if necessary, automatically
lighted, and capable of being rendered luminous by a light produced by means of

page_text: mineral essences, or gas from petroleum, or coal gas, or electricity in the open air
or in vacuum, or by electric discharges through a vapour, or highly rarefied gas-
in the manner of Geisler's tubes-or by phosphorescence, or by any other suitable
physical or chemical combination capable of producing light.
METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING THE LETTERS.
The accompanying sheet of drawings illustrates a letter of the alphabet, T,
constructed according to this invention. The letter is composed of three essential
parts; the visible external part which forms the letter proper, the support, and the
lighting apparatus. In the example shown on the accompanying drawing, the
lighting medium employed is supposed to be gas.
Figures 1 and 2 show front and side views of the external visible part of the
letter;
Figures 3 and 4 also show front and side views of the frame or back part which
supports both the illuminating apparatus, and the outer covering;
Figures 5 and 6 show the piping of the lighting apparatus, and
Figure 7 shows a side view of the three parts fastened together to form a letter.
As may be seen on the drawing, each of the component parts has the form of
the letter which it is intended to produce, in this case the form of the letter T.
The casing A is composed of a sheet of metal, for instance, bent or folded in
the shape of the letter which it is desired to produce. It is perforated with a
great number of slits or smal! openings o, symmetrically arranged for receiving
crystals of white or coloured glass, which are inserted therein. Under these con-
ditions the casing presents in the day time a semi-metallic, semi-vitreous
appearance, which has a very decorative effect; whilst at night the same casing
forms an uni-coloured or multi-coloured surface transparent to the light, and
having a very rich luminous effect.
But it is of course evident that any other suitable arrangement may be employed
for forming the external casing A. The latter might, for instance, be formed
like a sort of stained glass window curved or bent round, the spaces between the
frames being filled with very small squares of different coloured glass. The
external casing A is attached to the support B by means of small hooks C attached
to the support B and which fit pins D on the casing.
It may also be noted that the casing A has at its base a small door or flap E
which, in certain cases, may serve for lighting up by for instance.
The support B consists of a metal plate having, as before stated, also the form
of the intended letter and is the part which is fixed to the façade, balcony, etcetera,
or on the building generally which it is desired to distinguish, or to which
attention is to be attracted. In order to avoid the direct contact of the sign, or
the part of the same which is more or less heated, with the building, the support B
of each letter has a certain number of longer or shorter projections F at its back
which are directly attached to the building. A current of air enters the letter
by its lower part at a, and passes out at the top at b. The support B is
perforated with a number of holes G through which the tubes or burners I,
Figures 5 and 6, of the gas lighting apparatus pass. Above each hole G in the
vertical part there is a sort of small cover or shade H for covering or shading
each little flame, and thus insuring its steadiness by interrupting the too strong
current of air which passes through the letter.
The lighting apparatus proper, Figures 5 and 6, is composed of two essential
parts; the illuminating arrangement and the device for lighting it. The first
comprises a gas tube K of the same shape as the letter, and of variable diameter
according to the size of the letter itself; it has a larger or smaller number of
short tubes or jets I, the number of them varying with the luminous effect which
it is desired to produce. It is connected with a second tube L L', which, in its
turn, is connected with a pipe M, which forms a sort of main, supplying all the
letters in one device, and which is composed of a series of tube ends M, the length

page_text: of which depends on the size of the letters. The tube L' has a regulating tap N
which will be hereinafter described. The arrangement for lighting the apparatus
comprises a constantly burning jet P on a little independent tube of small diameter
which fits into a curved part of the tube K. Like the other burners I I I, the
jet P passes through an opening G of the support. It may also be noted that the
support B is connected with the apparatus K by means of movable hooks R which
are bent down over the horizontal tube M, in the same way as the casing A is
connected with the support B by the hooks C. Figure 7 shows in their entirety
the whole of the three parts thus connected. When a sign has been thus formed
of a series of letters placed one beside the other, and connected by means of the
tubes M, the rail formed by these tubes is connected with a vertical tube ending
at the gas main and which has a tap at a suitably accessible place. This being
so, the tap N of each letter is adjusted once for all, and the jet P burns con-
tinuously. In order to light up the whole arrangement, that is to say, the sign,
advertisement, etcetera, it then suffices to open the tap to which reference has just
been made, and which is placed at some suitable point in the building. The gas
flows into the series of pipes M L L K, and all the jets I, I, I, become
successively lighted from the constantly burning jet P.
Although in the preceding arrangement reference has only been made to lighting
by means of gas, yet the same arrangements somewhat modified may also be
employed for lighting with electricity. In such cases, the tubes M L K are
replaced by an electric conductor supplying each a certain number of small incan-
descent lamps. Of course in this case the metallic supports are replaced by
non-conducting supports made of suitable material, and the constantly burning jet
is replaced by some suitable electric contrivance. It may easily be seen that the
details of construction may be modified indefinitely.
This invention consists therefore in the novel application which is made of any
known kind of lighting, for illuminating as may be desired by transparency the
letters of signs, trade names, figures, or marks, affixed to the façades of or at a
distance from houses, hotels or other edifices, serving, singly, or in groups, to form
words or numbers, or to impart to the public a given notification, the attention of
the public being more particularly drawn to such notification by it being possible
to render it luminous if so desired.
It further consists in the idea of transforming into an actual lantern illuminated
by any suitable light, or into an electric lamp, or Geisler tube, etcetera, a letter of
a sign, a figure, a trade name, or any other mark, commercial or otherwise,
allowing the said letter, figure, trade name, mark, etcetera, to be made luminous
when necessary, more particularly to render it visible even from a distance during
the night.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is-
The improvements in the construction of signs, medallions, shields, escutcheons
and the like for advertising and other purposes substantially as herein before
described and set forth, and more especially so in the paragraphs, commencing
"This invention consists and "It further consists," of the Specification.
"
CT
1002
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.