Improvements in Message or Notice Holders.
Year: 1896

page_text: Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 26th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Message or Notice Holders.
RALPH HINDLE BAKER 19 Water Street Liverpool Shipbroker do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This inventioned is designed not only to display, but to protect a message or notice
from interference. It consists of a small frame screwed or fastened onto the
extreme edge of a door, so that when the door is shut one side of the frame comes
flush against the doorpost. In the frame is securely fitted a piece of glass, & at
that side of the frame which comes next to the doorpost a narrow aperture is left,
through which to insert a message or notice for display under the glass. The
message can be written on paper, parchment, card or other flexible material, &
allowed to protrude in the shape of a tab beyond the edge of the door, & so
become shut in between the door & the doorpost when the door is closed, or
the message may be of a more permanent nature & contained on a slip of wood,
tin or other such substance exact size of frame in which case said slip would be
fitted with a nail hole & a corresponding space left in frame to allow withdrawal
when door is open. It is possible the same result might be attained in a some-
what different manner, but I claim to be the inventor of the principle by which
the closing of the door secures the message or notice from withdrawal or outside
interference.
Dated this 23rd day of March 1896
Improvements in Message or Notice Holders.
I, RALPH HINDLE BAKER of 19 Water Street, Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Shipbroker, 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 device for displaying messages or notices on
doors and windows drawers, etcetera, and for protecting the same from interference.
The invention is specially useful for persons occupying single offices, rooms,
chambers or flats, who when they go out, have to lock their door, and intimate to
subsequent callers the time of their return or some other desired message.
Hitherto such notices have generally been written on a piece of paper fastened
to the door by gum and it frequently happened that they were removed by
mischievous persons passing. The present invention is arranged so that the
message cannot be interfered with from the outside, as the act of closing the door
also prevents the message being tampered with, as it can only be withdrawn when
the door is opened.

page_text: It will be understood from the following description, reference being had to the
accompanying drawing, in which,
Figure 1 is a front view of the device;
Figure 2, a cross section; and
Figure 3, a general view showing the device applied to a door.
It comprises a rigid frame A fitted with a panel of glass B or other transparent
material. This frame A is secured to the door C in close proximity to the jambs D
of the door. Said rigid frame with the glass panel fitted therein, is secured to
the door by nails, screws or otherwise, leaving a slit or aperture behind the glass
at the end next the door jamb through which a piece of paper, parchment or other
flexible material can be passed into the frame behind the glass, this piece being
longer than the frame, so that the end projects like a tab outside.
The mode of using the device is as follows:-
When the occupant leaves the office, and desires to leave some message to
expected callers, he writes the message on a blank slip of paper cut to the size
required. This he slips endways into the frame behind the glass leaving the end
projecting. He then closes the door, and the projecting end of the paper becomes
shut in or clipped between the door and the door post, when the door is closed, the
tab being thus out of sight, and the message prevented from being tampered with,
as the glass front forms a protection thereto. Should the message require to be
of a more permanent nature, it may be contained on a strip of wood, tin or other
such substances the exact size of the frame, in which case the slip might be fitted
with a nail hole and a corresponding space left in the frame to allow withdrawal.
when the door is opened.
The frames may be constructed of a four-sided open holder a recessed at back
to receive the pane of glass, and prevent it coming out in front, the back of the
glass lying substantially flush with the back of the bolder. The holder is secured
by screws after the glass has been inserted to an open backing a having three
sides, the fourth side being omitted to form the slit through which the slip or
tablet is passed behind the glass. The backing is fastened to the door by screws,
and it together with the holder keep the glass in position, the thickness of a' being
equivalent to the depth of the slit. This is merely an example of construction
and I do not confine myself thereto.
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. As an improved article of manufacture, a device for displaying the messages
on doors, windows, drawers or other structures, comprising a rigid frame secured to
the door or other structure with a panel of glass or other transparent material, said
frame being secured to the door or other part by nails, screws or the like in close
proximity to the post or abutment against which the door or other structure closes,
and having a slit at the end behind the glass adjacent to the post or abutment,
through which a piece of paper or a tablet bearing the required notice or message
on its face can he slipped, whereby when the door or other structure is closed the
message will be locked within the frame, and cannot be removed until the door is
opened, substantially as described.
2. The improvement in devices for displaying messages or notices, which consists
in forming them of a rigid frame secured to the door or other structure in close
proximity to the jamb or post, and fitted with a pane of glass or other transparent
material having a slit behind the glass at that end which is adjacent to the post or
abutment, in combination with a piece of paper, parchment, or other flexible
material, adapted to be slipped endways through the slit into the frame behind the
glass, and on which a message can be written, said piece being of such length as to
project somewhat outside the slit at the end of the frame, whereby when the door
is closed this projecting end becomes shut in between the door and the frame
substantially as and for the purpose described.

page_text: 3. The special construction of the device for displaying messages or notices and
protecting the same from interference substantially as set forth.
Dated this 25th day of November 1896.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, Patent Agents.