A NEW INSTRUMENT, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN WELL-KNOWN INSTRUMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE ORGAN OF SIGHT
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
ALLARD DE LA COURT, of Great Winchester Street, in the City of London,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of May, in the seventh year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Allard De la Court, His especial licence that I, the said Alexander
Allard De la Court, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alexander Allard De la Court, my exors, adñiors, 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, my Invention of "A NEW INSTRUMENT, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN
WELL-KNOWN INSTRUMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE ORGAN OF SIGHT;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Alexander Allard
De la Court, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large annear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Allard De la Court, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention to consist, first, in fixing small mirrors or other reflecting media in
bowes, similar to the bowes of spectacles, but in such a position with respect
to the eyes when placed on the head as to furnish to the wearer the means of
seeing objects which are behind him, or at any oblique angle with his face,
without turning his head for the purpose; and, secondly, in applying such
mirrors for the purposes aforesaid to ordinary spectacles or other bandages for
the head. And in further complianco with the said proviso, I, the said Alex-
ander Allard De la Court, do hereby describe the manner in which my said
Invention is to be performed by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing annexed, and the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
Fig. 1 represents a bow in the nature of an ordinary spectacle bow, A being
the bridge for the nose; but instead of glasses placed at B and C, I merely
carry out the arms f, f, curved, so as not to impede the sight forwards, and at
the end of each of these arms I fix a mirror D, D, turning on the joints or
axes E, E. Fig. 2 is one of the side parts of the said bow, and is to be fixed
to one of the joints e at the part marked r, while the mirror turns into or out
of the rim or ring G at any angle with the front part of the bow that may be
required, and this of course will reflect objects which are behind or at one side.
of the wearer in such manner as to be visible to him, or directing his eye to
the mirror without turning his head; and this apparatus I term my instrument.
Fig. 3 merely represents another mode of attaching the mirrors to the head
without the bridge over the nose. This, made on a plan something similar to
it, is also known to and practised by spectacle makers; but as its application
to the purpose of mirrors is entirely original, I feel bound to explain this also.
The parts marked H, I, J, K, and L, represent a bow to pass round the back
part of the head H, being a double slide, shewn more particularly at Fig. 4,
which is a plan of the said slide, and which slide is only for the purpose of
adjusting the bow to the size of the head on which it is to be worn. Wlien
this sort of bow is to be adopted I fix my mirrors at the ends e, e, of the arms
K and L, on any kind of universal joint or double axes.
The one here repre-
sented is perhaps as simple as any, and requires no farther explanation than a
reference to the Drawing will suggest. Fig. 5 is a detached front view of the
mirror; and Fig. 6 is a side view of the same.
I will now proceed to describe what I call my improvements on a certain well-
known instrument applicable to the organ of sight; by this I mean the improve-
ments of adding to ordinary spectacles my said mirrors, and which I perform

page_text: as shewn in Fig. 7, which Figure represents an ordinary front of a pair of
spectacles, to which my mirrors marked D, D, are added, and to accommodate
which it will be seen that the additional circular rim N is added to the side
bows of these spectacles, as shewn at Figure 8.
Now, whereas it is evident that when a hat, cap, or other bandage be
worn round the head, many means may be resorted to of fixing the mirrors
in their required position without the use of bowes at all, except the rim
for the mirror frame, and some sort of arm extending from it; but, whereas,
I claim as my Invention the application of mirrors or other reflecting
media to any frame or bandage to be worn on or round the head, in such
manner that the position of the said mirrors with respect to the eyes when
placed on the head shall furnish to the wearer the means of seeing objects
which are behind him, or at any oblique-angle with his face, without turning
his head for that purpose; and such,my said Invention being to the best of my
knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used in that part of His
said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called-England,
His Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of my said Invention, and that I do verily believe
this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve
or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whercof, I, the said Alexander Allard De la Court, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year