CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN EXHIBITING ARTISTICAL, NATURAL, OR OTHER OBJECTS ON A LARGE SCALE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, of 13A, Cannon
Row, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN EXHIBITING
ARTISTICAL, NATURAL, OR OTHER OBJECTS ON A LARGE SCALE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Augustus De
Reginald Hely at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition on the 31st March 1854.
I, ALFRED AUGUSTUS DE REGINALD HELY, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN EXHIBITING
ARTISTICAL, NATURAL, OR OTHER OBJECTS ON A LARGE SCALE" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in obtaining enlarged representations of natural,
artistical, or other objects, by whatsoever process they may be depicted or dis-
played, but more especially by the photographic art, so that to the eye minute
objects may be magnified, miniatures enlarged to life or nature size, and full
sized objects raised to colossal proportions.
These results are obtained by the reflection (at a proper angle) of the object
upon an accurate speculum or concave mirror, united to the frame or case in
which such object may be placed. If in a case, the said speculum is fitted in
the lid part thereof, which is attached to the body part of the case by hinges,
admitting of the two parts being instantly separated or combined, yet folding

page_text: up as one part. If in a frame, the said speculum is made to slide in and out
grooves at the back part thereof, so as to be ready to hand and yet out of
the way.
of
Some of the results aforesaid are likewise to be obtained by refraction
through proper lenses in the photographic camera of the object upon an
accurate and accurately prepared concave plate of glass, metal, or other
suitable material, in lieu of the plain plate of such glass, metal, or other
suitable material now used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
AUGUSTUS DE REGINALD HELY, of No. 13A, Cannon Row, Westminster, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, Her special licence that I, the said
Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN EXHIBITING
ARTISTICAL, NATURAL, OR OTHER OBJECTS ON A LARGE SCALE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, 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 Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-

page_text: The nature of the said Invention, as heretofore described in the Provisional
Specification, is hereby further and particularly described and ascertained, as
also in what manner the same is to be performed, as required by the aforesaid
condition of the said Letters Patent, as follows:-
My Invention consists in exhibiting enlarged representations of any natural,
artistical, or other objects (but more especially daguerreotype and photographic
pictures), so that to the eye minute objects may be magnified, miniatures
enlarged to life or natural size, and full sized objects raised to colossal pro-
portions.
These results are obtained by the reflection of the object at a proper distance
and angle upon an accurate speculum or concave mirror of metal, glass, or
other suitable material, of a degree of power calculated, according to optical
laws, to the relative proportions of the object to be reflected and those which it
is desired said object should attain; such mirror or speculum being in combi-
nation with the case or frame in which such object may be placed. If in a
case, such as is commonly used for daguerreotype or photographic portraits,
the said speculum is inserted in the lid part, which is attached to the body part
of the case by simple hinges, admitting of the two parts being instantly sepa-
rated or united, and yet folding up as one part. The speculum may, however,
be fitted in the body part of the case, and the portrait, picture, or object in the
lid part, if preferable. If fitted in a frame, the said speculum is made to slide
in and out of simple grooves at the back thereof, so as to be always at hand
and yet out of the way. I further employ accurately wrought concave plates
of metal chemically silvered in the usual way for the daguerreotype process,
and accurately wrought concave plates of glass carefully silvered in the ordinary
way for the photographic process, instead of the plane surfaces of metal or
glass now used for receiving impressions upon in the camera.
In exhibiting an artistical object, such as a photographic portrait or a water
colour landscape, for instance, I first separate the two parts of the case, or with-.
draw the speculum from behind the picture, and hold the speculum at a proper
distance and angle, placing the portrait or landscape immediately beneath the
eyes, then looking directly into the speculum I behold the said artistical object
faithfully exhibited in its life or natural size.
I claim as my Invention the exhibiting of natural, artistical, or other objects
upon an enlarged scale by means of a suitable speculum or mirror, whatsoever
its material or degree of power, in combination with the case or frame in which
such object may be placed, without reference to the particular mode of combi-
nation, although I have above directed the adoption of hinges for a case and
grooves for a frame as being the most simple and convenient.

page_text: And I also claim the use of concave plates of metal, or glass, or other suit-
able material chemically prepared or silvered, instead of the plane plates of
metal or glass now used in the camera.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Augustus De Reginald Hely, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Signed and sealed in my presence,
F. W. CAMPIN,
ALFRED A. DE R. HELY. (L.S.)
Patent Office,
156, Strand.