Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Advertising Purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Dec., 1896
Complete Specification Left 10th Sent 1897-Accented 16th Oct. 1897
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Advertising Purposes.
I, GUY CAREY FRICKER, of 149 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Electrical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to improved means for advertising in an attrac-
tive manner articles of various kinds such for examples as tinned goods, fruits,
tablets of soap, books, etc. For this purpose I employ models which in external
appearances are facsimiles of the articles it is desired to advertise, but which
are made hollow and of translucent material, or which are provided with trans-
lucent labels or facias, and are provided internally with illuminating devices,
such for examples as electric lamps or gas burners, and in connection with such
devices I provide controlling means such as a commutator or switch, whereby
the models can be illuminated either continuously or by flashes of light produced
in any desired order or sequence. The models so prepared may be arranged in
a shop window or elsewhere together with a number of the real articles so as
to appear by day as an ordinary portion of such display; whilst at night they
can be illuminated and extinguished in any desired manner. In one arrange-
ment the commutator switch or other controlling device is automatically operated
as by clockwork or by a suitable form of electric or other motor. The arrange-
ment may be such that when the clockwork or other driving mechanism has
operated for a predetermined time, it will stop and simultaneously cut off the
supply of electricity or gas.
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12
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1000
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Advertising Purposes.
I, GUY CAREY FRICKER, of 149 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Electrical
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 reference to improved means for advertising in an attrac-
tive manner articles of various kinds such, for examples, as tinned goods,
fruits, tablets of soap, and books. For this purpose I employ models which in
external appearance are facsimiles of the articles that it is desired to advertise,

page_text: but which are made hollow and of translucent material, or are provided with
translucent labels or facias, and which are provided internally with illuminating
devices, such, for examples, as electric lamps or gas burners, and in connection
with such devices I provide controlling means, such as a commutator or switch,
whereby the models can be illuminated either continuously or by flashes of light
produced in any desired order or sequence. In the case of tinned goods, the
models may be made from tins such as ordinarily employed for containing the
goods, by removing their front walls and substituting therefor plates of glass
or mica, and then covering the latter with ordinary paper labels; in other cases
the models may be made of celluloid or even paper. The models so prepared
may be arranged in a shop window or elsewhere together with a number of the
real articles so as to appear by day as an ordinary portion of such display;
whilst at night they can be illuminated and extinguished in any desired manner.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a diagrammatic view representing a
number of models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 according to this invention containing
electric incandescent lamps and connected with a commutator (shown in side
elevation in Fig. 1 and in end elevation in Fig. adapted to put the lamps
into circuit in succession and extinguish then simultaneously. The commutator
comprises a base-plate 7 of suitable insulating material, such as slate, on which
is mounted to rotate in bearings in standards 8 and 9 secured to the base-plate 7,
a metal cylinder 10, which has a portion cut away so as to form a series of
steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6" (corresponding in number to the lamps to be con-
trolled by the commutator) and a rectilinear edge 11 parallel to the axis of the
cylinder. To arms 8" projecting horizontally from the standards 8 and 9 is
secured a bar 12 of suitable insulating material such as slate, which is provided
with a number of clamping devices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5b, and 6b that secure a number
of spring contact-pieces 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6e arranged opposite to the steps
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6" and adapted to bear against the parts of the cylinder 10
corresponding thereto. 13 is another contact-spring, which bears continuously
against the cylinder 10 during the rotation of the latter. The lamps of the
models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are connected by one terminal in each case, to the
clamping-devices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively. The other terminals of
the lamps are connected by a common return A to one pole of a source of electric
supply B the other pole of which is connected to the clamping-device 13" of
the contact spring 13. The cylinder 10 may be rotated by clockwork or other-
wise. In the example shown its shaft 10" is driven by an electric motor 14
through worm-gear 15 and spur-gear 16. If, as shown, the contact-
springs 1, 2, ... 6° be out of contact with the cylinder 10, and the cylinder be
rotated in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, the contact-
springs 1, 2, 3, 4º, 5º, and 6° will come into contact with the cylinder 10 in
the order named and will consequently switch into the circuit the lamps of the
models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in succession; the lamps will remain switched in
until, in consequence of the further rotation of the cylinder 10, the straight
edge 11 slide from under the contact-springs, whereupon the lamps of the models
will be simultaneously put out. This will complete a cycle of operations, which
may be repeated indefinitely by continuing the rotation of the cylinder 10 and
the supply of current to the lamps. It is obvious that instead of making the
cylinder with a straight edge 11 so as to extinguish the whole of the lamps
simultaneously, the cylinder may be made with a stepped line for terminating
its contact with the springs 1°.....6%, so as to cause the lamps to be
extinguished successively.
Figs. 3 and 4 are elevations taken at right angles to each other of a switch
adapted for illuminating the models by flashes of light. It comprises a plate 17
of wood or other suitable insulating material, which is fixed to a metal
standard 18 secured on a base-plate 7 and has attached to it peripheral contact-
pieces 1, 2, 3, 4, 5d, and 6d provided with clamping-screws 1°, 2º, 3, 4, 5
and 6° respectively, and a central annular contact-piece 19 fixed, by screws

page_text: The
extending through the plate 17, to the standard 18, which is provided with a
clamping-screw 19. When in use, the contact-pieces 1ª 6 are connected,
like the contact-springs 1°. . . 1d (Fig. 1), to one set of the terminals of the
lamps contained in the models 1. 6, the other terminals being connected
by a common return to one pole of the source of current whose other pole is
connected with the standard 18 by means of the clamping-screw 19*.
shaft 20 of the commutator is rotated by any suitable means such as the electric
motor 14, as in the case of the shaft 10" in the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2,
and carries a brush 21, which at one end is constantly in contact with the contact-
piece 19 and comes into contact, at its other end, at intervals and successively,
with the contact-pieces 1, 2, 3, 4d, 5d, and 6d and thereby causes the lamps in
the models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to flash with light in the order named.
It is obvious that in each case the order in which the various models will be
illuminated can be varied as desired by suitably changing the contact-pieces to
which the several lamps are connected."
In lieu of electric lamps, it is obvious that in some cases gas burners may
be employed. Each of the burners will then be placed on a separate branch-
pipe leading to a main gas pipe near which will be provided a controlling-device
that may be similar to the commutator shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there being
substituted for the contact-springs 1°.. 6 levers mounted to rotate about
horizontal axes, and each arranged to bear at one end on the cylinder 10, to
open fully, when so bearing, a cock of the corresponding branch-pipe, and to be
acted upon by a spring having a constant tendency to turn it into a position in
which it will almost close the cock of the branch-pipe, being prevented from
completely closing it by a suitably arranged stop. Such a device is shown
diagrammatically in Fig. 5, where 10 represents the cylinder, 22 one of the
levers, 22" its axis, 23 its spring, 24 a bar to which the springs are fastened,
and 25 the arm of the corresponding cock, which has a pin-and-slot connexion
at 26 with the lever 22; 27 is the stop of the lever 22. Flash-illumination may
be produced by employing a cylinder 10 in which there are made a number of
successive slots for each lever 22 instead of a single step as in the cylinder
shown in Fig. 1.
The apparatus may be provided with means such that when the clockwork or
other driving mechanism has operated for a predetermined time, it will cut off
the supply of electricity or gas. For this purpose, in the case of an electric
motor, the driving mechanism may be provided with worm-gear arranged either,
as the case may be, to operate a switch to cut off the current both to the lamps
and to the motor, or in addition to operating a switch to cut off the supply of
current to the motor, to operate a cock so as to cut off the supply of gas to the
branch-pipes, after a predetermined time; or there may be provided an ordinary
alarum-clock the winding-spindle of whose alarum-spring will be provided with
suitable means either for cutting off the supply of current both to the lamps
and to the motor, or both for interrupting the circuit of the motor and for
operating a cock so as to cut off the supply of gas to the branch-pipes, when the
alarum movement runs down; for breaking either of the circuits the winding
spindle may have attached to it an insulating cord carrying at its lower end a
stirrup-shaped piece of metal whose two limbs normally dip into two mercury
cups and so completes the circuit, but which, when the alarum-movement runs
down, is raised out of the inercury by the cord, which is then wound upon the
spindle A similar device may be employed for operating the gas-cock.
the case of clockwork driving-mechanism, it may be combined with such an
alarum-clock.
In
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
clai: is:

page_text: a facsimile of the articles to be advertized but which is made hollow and of
translucent material, or is provided with a translucent label or facia, and which
is furnished internally with an illuminating device, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. The combination with models of the kind referred to in the preceding
claim, of a controlling-device whereby the models can be illuminated either
continuously or by flashes of light, in any desired order or sequence, substantially
as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 10th day of September 1897.
For the Applicant,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.