NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS OF ADVERTISING
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James. Smith, of the Firm of Francis and James
Smith, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Cabinet Manufacturer, for the Invention of "NEW OR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1875.
.
I, JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Francis and James, Smith, of..the.
City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Cabinet
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
**NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS OF ADVERTISING," to be as follows:→
This said Invention has reference to or consists in advertising on or
by new or improved articles of furniture, namely, sideboards, chiffoniers,
bookcases, mirrors, hat and umbrella stands, and "buffets" suitable for
use in houses, shops, warehouses, public houses, restaurants, refreshment
rooms, hotels, steamboats, railway carriages, and other places, and-in

page_text: the public halls or the entrance to the apartments of such places, which
will give improved and greater display of advertisements than has here-
tofore been obtained by other articles of furniture.
And the nature, novelty, and mode of performing this said Invention
consists in forming the back or vertical frames above the horizontal ¿
projecting umbrella guard, leaf, platform, or shelf, part or parts for
laying articles on, and it may be also the back part of the frame
supporting the said leaf or shelf parts, or it might be the front doors or
ends of the lower and upper parts of these articles of furniture when
these parts are closed in, as in sideboards and bookcases, with rectangular 1
or ornamental openings or pannels for the easy insertion of advertising
trade or show cards, bills, tablets, or other equivalents used for
advertising purposes, preferably in rows over each other, of some
uniformity of sizes and shapes, preferably with glass doors in front for
the easy insertion or changing of advertising cards or timetables, as for 1
those of railways and steamboats; and generally for halls with a mirror
in the centre, and hat and cap pegs at convenient parts in the frame
between, or at the sides of the rows of advertisement pannels so as to
leave these and the general ornamental design or contour open to view.
The size and design of these new or improved articles of furniture
for advertising may be varied to suit circumstances, this being easily
managed in various ways as at present, and by adding to the number of
vertical rows of advertising pannel frames.
These new or improved articles of furniture, or the frame of their
vertical pannelled sides for containing the advertising bills, cards, or :
tablets, may
be formed in either wood or iron, or a combination of these
or other materials susceptible of being ornamented, such as those used for
making picture and mirror frames by carvers and guilders, and embossed
sheet metal work decorated in bronze, lacquer, japan, and varnished
paints; and the advertising tablets might also be executed in these ways
or in enamel when not covered with glass; or otherwise these tablets or
the whole of the new or improved vertical advertising back and front sides
of these said new or improved articles of furniture might be made in glass
ornamented in any of the various ways adopted for other purposes
(either opaque or transparent) by glass stainers and decorators and
painters; and when made transparent they might be illuminated in the
evenings by gas or other lights placed behind them when desired.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMITH, of the Firm of Francis and James Smith, of the City of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Cabinet Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Smith, Her
special licence that I, the said James Smith, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Smith, 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
“NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS OF ADVERTISING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Smith, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under 'my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 James Smith, 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 in writing, reference being had to the several
figures and reference letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
that is to say:-
My said Invention has reference to or consists generally-in advertising
on or by new or improved articles of furniture, namely, sideboards,
chiffoniers, bookcases, mirrors, hat and umbrella stands, and "buffets"

page_text: 、
suitable for use in houses, shops, warehouses, public houses, restaurants,
refreshment rooms, hotels, steamboats, railway carriages, and other
places, and in the public halls or other entrance to the apartments of
such places which will give improved or better and greater display of
advertisements than has been obtained by other articles of furniture or
means heretofore used for that purpose.
* And the nature, novelty, and mode of performing my said Invention
consist in forming the back or vertical frames above the horizontal
projecting umbrella guard, leaf, platform, or shelf, part or parts for laying
"articles on, and it may be also the back part of the frame supporting
the said leaf or shelf parts, or of the front doors or ends of the lower and
upper parts of the said articles of furniture when these parts are closed
in, as in sideboards and bookcases, with rectangular or ornamental
openings or pannels for the easy insertion and showing of advertise-
ments, such as trade or show cards, bills, tablets, or other equivalents
used for advertising purposes, preferably in rows over each other, of
"some uniformity of sizes and shapes, preferably with glass doors -in
front for the easy insertion or changing of advertising cards or other
advertisements or timetables, such as those of railways and steamboats;
and generally when for halls with a mirror in the centre, and hat and
coat pegs at convenient parts in the frame between or at the sides of
the rows of improved advertisment pannels applied to such like articles,,
so as to leave these and the general ornamental design or contour open
to view.
_ The size and design of these new or improved articles of furniture
for advertising may be varied to to suit circumstances as at present, this.
being easily managed in various ways to suit the construction and
advertising purposes by adding to the number of vertical rows of
advertising pannel frames.
These new or improved advertising articles of funiture, or the frames
of their new or improved vertical pannelled sides for containing the
advertising bills, cards, or tablets, may be formed in either wood or iron,
or a combination of these or other metals or materials susceptible of
being ornamented, such as those used for making picture and mirror
frames by carvers and gilders, and embossed sheet metal work decorated
in bronze, lacquer, japan, and varnished paints; and the advertising 8
tablets might also be executed in these ways, or in enamel when not
covered with glass; or otherwise these tablets or the whole of the new
-

page_text: or improved vertical advertising back and front sides of these said new
or improved articles of furniture might be made in glass ornamented in
any of the various ways adopted for other purposes (either opaque or
transparent) by glass stainers, decorators, and painters; and when made
3 transparent they might be illuminated in the evenings by gas or other
lights placed behind them when desired.
And in order that the nature and mode of performing my said
Invention may be properly understood, I will now describe the Figures
on the Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended for the
purpose of showing the best or simplest modes and means I am at
present aware of for performing or putting my said Invention into
effect or practice, the same reference letters indicating the same or like
parts in all the Figures where shown..
Figures 1 and 2 are a front and side or edge elevation respectively of
a portable hat and umbrella stand A, B, C, D, and hall table combined
with a letter box A¹ and mirror A' in the centre, constructed in.
accordance with and illustrative of one modification of my said Inven-
tion, being an application thereof with the new or improved advertising
pannels D formed in two main rows vertically, one on each side of a
central mirror A' and back of the table A close up to the wall, and of
a uniform rectangular shape D, and such as would be suitable for hotels, .
clubs, restaurants, and other public places of residence or resort, for
exhibiting advertisements in a new and better manner than heretofore.
Figure 3 is a front perspective view of a large sized portable hat and
umbrella stand A, B, C, D, E, to a small scale with two vertical rows of
the advertising pannels D. formed in the back frame C on each side of
the central back and mirror A³, but having the central space made in -
the form of a small sideboard E closed in below with folding or hinged
doors E', and with an umbrella stand B on each side below.and in front
of the double row: of the new advertising pannels D, but in other respects
very similar to that shown in the large scale views, Figures 1.and 2, and
suitable for the same or like places and advertising purposes. .
"
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, A is the table part with a letter box. A¹
on it, and shelf A" a little under it, and a lattice or sparred plat-..
form. A near the ground for conveniently laying things on temporarily,
and with an umbrella stand B on each side, all supported on an.open
frame with ornamental pannels B'. behind, and all so far. much of an.

page_text: ordinary construction, but having the back or hat frame or stand
part C (above the table and umbrella stand A, B,) formed with
rectangular open frames or pannels D, preferably in vertical rows and of
nearly uniform size with checks d like picture frames to hold a glass d¹
in front with the printed or painted advertising sheets, cards, or other t
equivalent du behind, and a portable retaining board or pannel d'behind
all; secured at the back by swivelling or other snecks d³ for the easy
removal and replacement of advertisements when required, as shown
particularly to a large scale in the front and side sections of one of
these pannels, Figures 1D and 2D; or otherwise to save the trouble of 1
drawing the whole piece of furniture or its back frame C out from the
wall to remove or insert the advertisments, the front part d of each
square or rectangular frame D with the front glass in it might be fitted
on hinges or made portable with proper fixtures for ease of opening
each in front to thus remove or replace the advertisements, in which 1
case the backs of all might be fixed or made of plain flat boards.
When the middle part of the back frame C is made high above the
mirror A³, it can be formed into wide or large rectangular or other
shaped frames or open pannels D' (otherwise similar to those D) to be
used for large or important advertisements, as those connected with the
proprietor of the new furniture or of the hotel or establishment in which
it is placed, or the timetables of local railways. The hat pegs or
brackets C¹ would be secured or screwed in or to corner parts of the
frame O between the pannels D, so as to be symmetrical and obstruct
the reading of the advertisements as little as possible with the hats,
scarfs, coats, or other articles hung on them.
Referring to Figure 3, the back frame C in this case being larger two
rows of the improved advertising pannels or framed spaces D are formed
in it on each side of the mirror A², and the part below the table or
board A is made in the form of an ordinary closed in sideboard A, E, &
with doors E¹ giving the use and convenience peculiar to such pieces of
furniture with greater advertising facilities and spaces than in the
former Figures 1 and 2.
Although not shown in these Figures, 1 to 3, it will be understood
that the lower back pannels B³, and those of the doors E¹ closing in such 8
sideboards, as A, E, might also be made with or in the form of the
advertising card pannels D before described, and also the pannels of the
doors and the ends of close presses and bookcases when these are formed

page_text: above the middle part or board A of such pieces of furniture. And rows
of such advertising pannels or spaces might be formed round the frames
of the mirrors for public halls, lobbies, or rooms where mirrors are used
and where advertisements would be useful and seen by many persons.
Having now describe the nature and mode of performing my said
Invention, I would observe in conclusion that I do. not restrict myself to
the precise details or forms and shapes of the pieces of furniture or the
advertising pannels; neither on the other hand do I desire to claim the
use of such pannels by themselves, or in writing tables or other articles
of furniture than those stated; but what I consider novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the making or forming of pannels or
spaces for advertisements and advertising purposes in the back frames
of sideboards, chiffoniers, bookcases, mirrors, hat and umbrella stands,
and buffets, or in their front doors or sides when made with presses, all
substantially as herein described, and shown in the accompanying
Drawings or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Ava
Witness,
JOHN BROWN,
Patent Office,
96, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
JAMES SMITH. (L.S.)