IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNICATING INTELLIGENCE
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I PROSPER
DURAND, of Rue Mazagrand, Paris, France, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing dato at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Prosper
Durand, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Prosper Durand, my exors, adññors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Prosper Durand, my exors, adñors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNICATING INTELLIGENCE;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Prosper
Durand, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Prosper Durand, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures therein contained, that is to say:
The object of my Invention is to facilitate and increase the means of afford-
ing publicity to advertisements, and it is founded upon an entirely novel
combination of parts to effect this end. It consists of a curtain either of
calico, linen, cloth, or other flexible material, upon which is painted or other-
wise represented the subjects or articles to be advertised. This curtain, which
may be of any convenient length and width, is fastened at each extremity
upon a cylinder (shewn in accompanying Drawing as vertical), and upon one of
these it is rolled round several times. The cylinders stand upon the same
plane and turn freely upon their axes.
Now it is evident the curtain be
rolled upon one cylinder as described, and rotatory motion be given to the other,
that it will be drawn from one to the other, and in its passage will admit to
view all that may be depicted or described upon its surface. This motion is
communicated to the cylinders by means of a crank pinion and cog wheels, as
shewn in the Drawings and herein-after described, the same letters having
reference to the same parts in the several Figures.
In Fig. 1 A, A, A, A, represent the framework for supporting apparatus, it,
in common with other parts of the apparatus, may be made of iron. B, B',
are the standards between which the cylinders revolve; C, C', represent the
cylinders to which the curtain is attached and round which it revolves;
D represents an endless chain passing from a toothed wheel at each extremity
of the cylinder round a similar toothed wheel at each extremity of the other
cylinder, so that the two cylinders may have an identical motion; R
represents the curtain unrolling from the cylinder C, and passing in the
direction of the arrow to be wrapped up on the cylinder C'; L, L, are
reflecting lamps for the purpose of lighting up the curtain by night; M is a
winch, by turning which a rotatory motion will be given to the cylinders C, C',
by means of the cog wheels and gearing shewn upon an enlarged scale in
Fig. 3 and hercin-after described. Fig. 2 represents an end view of the
apparatus, B, B, being the standards; C, the cylinder, with a toothed wheel at
each extremity round which pass the endless chains; and H and G, the gearing
for giving motion to the cylinders. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the cylinder
and wheelwork attached thereto. C is the cylinder, on each extremity of
which is a toothed wheel F, round which work endless chains D; a, a,
represent the axis of the cylinder, at the extremity of which is a pinion E,
working on the toothed wheel G, which receives motion from the wheel H
upon turning the handle M affixed thereto. Such being the description of the
apparatus, it is easily understood that when the wheel H, Fig. 3, is turned the

page_text: cylinders C, C', move uniformly, since they are connected by means of the
endless chain D. Now if a curtain, 100 ft. long and 3 ft. wide be wrapped
round one cylinder C and the other extremity be fastened to the opposite
cylinder C', it is evident that upon rotatory motion being given to the cylinders
the curtain will pass from side to side, that is from C to C', displaying in its
passage a surface of 300 square feet, upon which may be depicted or
otherwise announced the subjects or articles to be advertised. The curtain
above mentioned is made in such a way that it is easy to change one or more
parts of it without changing the whole, so that one or more of the
advertisements which may be upon its surface can be suppressed or others
added as may be required. To effect this the curtain is composed of several
pieces united by means of a seam or other convenient means, so that each
part can be taken out, and thereby any advertisement upon that part can be
suppressed, and in lieu thereof another piece may be substituted. The most
suitable places for the erection of these advertising frames, which I propose to
call "Dioramic Advertisers," are those of public resort, where legal permission
may be obtained to that effect.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before described. The
curtain may be either horizontal, vertical, or placed at an angle to the horizon;
it may be composed of any flexible material and of any size, and the required
motion may be communicated by various means. But what I claim as my In-
vention is, a combination of parts to produce an apparatus on which a moveable
curtain of indefinite length and width is used, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Prosper Durand, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
Taken and acknowledged by Prosper
Durand (party hereto) at the office of
Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at
Paris, the 16th day of December,
PROSPER (L.S.) DURAND.

page_text: Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainmoreau, of No. 4, South Street,
Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Agent for Patent for Inventions,
maketh oath and saith that he is acquainted with the manner and character of
the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at
Paris, in the Republic of France. And this Deponent further saith that the
signature of Thomas Pickford, set, subscribed, or written at the side of the
Specification hereunto annexed marked A, and dated the 16 Sixteenth day of
December instant, and purporting to be executed by Prosper Durand of Paris,
Merchant, whereby it is stated that the said Specification was acknowledged
by him the said Prosper Durand before the said Thomas Pickford on the said
Sixteen day of December at Paris aforesaid, is of the proper handwriting of
the said Thomas Pickford.