AN IMPROVED FRAME FOR HOLDING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the '
County of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED FRAME FOR HOLDING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES."-A com-'
munication from abroad by Mr. Gustave Jeanne Julien, of 29, Boulevaṛt
St Martin Paris Professor of Singing
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
June 1862.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED FRAME FOR HOLDING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of frames of various sizes for
containing all kinds of photographic pictures, which I form of a series of
rectangular bars sliding one on the other. A frame may be thus formed for
bolding a greater or less number of pictures arranged side by side, or one
above the other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd December 1862.
1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Clark, 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
"AN IMPROVED FRAME FOR HOLDING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES," a communication to
me from abroad by Mr. Gustave Jeanne Julien, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin,
Paris, Professor of Singing, upon the condition (amongst others), that J,
the said William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
--
The universal dissemination of photographic pictures and portraits bas
created a taste in most families for collecting said objects, and ingenuity has
applied itself in many ways for satisfying this desire.
1st, by means of frames mounted on feet or by screens of a more or less,
ornamental character, enabling one or several photographs to be exposed on a
chimney piece or article of furniture.

page_text: 2ndly, or glazed frames or cases for containing a greater or less number of
pictures or figures of similar or of various dimensions.
3rdly, by means of photograph albums, which are very much. used, not-
withstanding the inconvenience they possess of not exhibiting their contents
at a glance.
4thly, there are the small cases for holding single pictures, which, from
their low price, have become a considerable article of commerce; there are
few, however, who have not remarked how rarely it has been possible: to
combine several of these small frames in a single one of large-diameter, so as
to be symmetrically arranged parallel to each other, and with a regularity
that ensures an agreeable result to the eye, without offending the taste of the
most exacting.
:
This Invention has for its object to. obviate the disadvantages of these
various methods of exhibiting private collections of photographs. By means
of what I term a "portable sliding frame," I am enabled to combine in
one frame of variable dimensions, which may be of any desired form or orna-
mentation any number of photographic pictures.
When the frame is of the form represented at Fig. 1 of the annexed
Drawing, which is the simplest arrangement, it will contain three pictures;
Fig. 2 shows a frame for holding five pictures; the frame shown at Fig. 3 is
intended to hold a greater number, while by varying the position of the
parts, I may make it suitable for holding 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or more
pictures.
The facility for producing these combinations consists in the arrangement of
parallel bars forming the frame or holder, which may be made of greater or
less length, and placed at various distances apart in any number of rows in
such manner that the whole shall present an artistic appearance.
The Invention thus consists not in the use of grooved bars for picture
frames, as such is usual, but in applying them so as to slide in such manner
as to hold a row of pictures. By referring to the Drawing, it will be seen
that the two bars a, b, the first of which is grooved on the under side, and the
other on the top, will form a frame in which the pictures c, d, e, are held, and
will slide easily. The horizontal bars a, b, above described, are connected
together by vertical bars f placed behind, which have perforations g in their
upper ends, or they may be furnished at these ends with screw rings or
hooks to facilitate their suspension in any desired position. Lastly, in cases
where all the pictures may not be of the same size, the bars are furnished
with a thumb screw and nut h, sliding in a slot in bars f (see Fig. 5,)
whereby pictures may be fixed in any desired position.

page_text: The bars, both vertical and horizontal, may be made of any kind of wood
or other suitable material, such as brass or gilt mouldings, and be variously
painted or ornamented. Fig. 4 shows an edge view of the improved
frame.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per- 5
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be pro-
tected by the berein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is the manufacture
of the improved frames herein described, consisting of grooved bars in which
the pictures slide, and are held in position, as described..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my 10
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
W. G. E. SWINNOCK,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)