Improvements in or appertaining to Sign-boards, Announcement- boards, Shop Ticket Appliances, and the like.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 20th Dec., 1895-Accepted, 25th Jan., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to Sign-boards, Announcement-
boards, Shop Ticket Appliances, and the like.
I, FRANK GRIST PIERPOINT of the Raglan Hotel, St. Martin's-le-Grand in
the City of London, Licensed Victualler, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object a method of forming signboards, show cards,
and the like whereby the owner of the shop can at very short notice alter his sign,
showcard or announcement by substituting other lettering.
The invention consists essentially in forming the background on which the letters
are placed, and the backs of the letters, or either of them, with such frictional
or other adherence that the letters shall not easily fall out of position when once
placed there, and yet can be at any time removed or transposed at the pleasure
of the shopkeeper or owner.
In my experimental device I have used a background of black velvet, and have
glued velvet to the backs of the letters. The two velvet surfaces interlock in
such a manner that the letters strongly adhere to the background when pressed
against it, and when the whole is covered by plate glass and frame, it looks as if
the letters were painted on, or affixed to a polished glass surface. The letters can
be of paper, card, glass, metal, or other material, and of any colour, and the back-
ground can be of velvet or of any other material, to which the letters will
sufficiently adhere for the purpose without being stuck to it. In place of velvet
being at the back of the letters I may have wire card, metallic points, or the like,
and in some instances, in place of a background of velvet, I may have smoother
material and form the background immediately below this material of an iron or
steel plate having a powerful magnet behind. If now the bodies of the letters are
formed of iron they adhere firmly to the background when placed in position.
I do not however recommend this magnetic arrangement except on special occasions,
it may be useful however where it is desired to have a temporary advertisement
which is to suddenly come to an end. In that case, I use an electro magnet and
soft iron plate and soft iron letters. In such case the cessation of the electric
current causes the instant fall of the entire advertisement.
Doted this 20th day of March 1895.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
31, High Holborn, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or appertaining to Sign-boards, Announcement-
boards, Shop Ticket Appliances, and the like.
I, FRANK GRIST PIERPOINT, of the Raglan Hotel, St. Martin's-le-Grand,
in the City of London, Licensed Victualler, 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 a method of forming signs or advertisement

page_text: placards or tablets and the like which admit of the notice or announcement
thereon displayed being altered wholly or partially at any time with the greatest
facility.
The invention consists essentially in forming the background on which the letters,
characters or other component parts of the sign or announcement and likewise the
backs of said characters or signs with such frictional or other adherence that the
same shall not easily fall out of position when once arranged notwithstanding that
the sign or placard be placed in a vertical or other position, whilst remaining easily
transposable at any time as may be desired. The letters or signs can be of any
suitable material such as paper, card, glass, metal, celluloid or the like and can be
suitably coloured or varied as best adapted for the purpose to which they are to
be applied. The background may be made of any suitable material having a
sufficiently rough surface to cause the letters or signs to adhere firmly thereto when
the apparatus is fixed in position.
It is obvious that the principle of my invention may be carried into effect in
many ways, but the form in which I prefer to carry it out is as follows when
applied to ordinary advertising tablets suitable for displaying upon walls in shops
and other similar places.
I provide a glazed frame similar to an ordinary picture frame, at the back of
this frame I arrange clips or fasteners of any convenient form which are capable of
being readily moved aside when it is desired to alter the advertisement contained
in the frame. The back of the frame is formed of a plate of any suitable material
fitting inside the frame. I have found experimentally that the most convenient
backing plate consists of a sheet of glass, but obviously any other backing plate
of wood, metal, or otherwise not liable to warp would be applicable. This backing
plate is covered on the side facing the glass of the frame with a suitable rough
material preferably velvet which is secured to the backing plate by any suitable
cement. The back part of the backing plate has two rounded strips of wood
cemented to it which serve as supports to the backing plate when laid upon the
table and add to the convenience of manipulation. The characters or signs to be
displayed in the frame are conveniently made of stout cardboard of
colour and have also velvet or other rough material cemented to the backs. The
any desired
backing plate having been taken out of the frame the characters are then arranged
upon the velvet surface in any manner desired. The plate is then replaced in the
frame so as to display the advertisement through the glass front of the same, the
backing plate being secured in its place by the clips aforesaid.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The apparatus for advertising boards, show cards, direction boards, and the
like substantially as herein before described.
2. In apparatus such as claimed in the foregoing claim, the use of movable
letters, signs or other characters provided with a rough backing adapted to retain
them in place on the rough surface of the backing board or plate, substantially as
and for the purpose above described.
Dated this 17th d
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
31, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.