NEW OPTICAL INSTRUMENT CALLED THE KALEIDOSCOPE FOR EXHIBITING AND TREATING BEAUTIFUL FORMS AND PATTERNS, OF GREAT USE IN ALL THE ORNAMENTAL ARTS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
BREWSTER, of Edinburgh, Doctor of Laws, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Third
did, by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day
of July, in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said David Brewster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said David
Brewster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
my "NEW OPTICAL INSTRUMENT CALLED THE KALEIDOSCOPE FOR EXHIBITING AND
TREATING BEAUTIFUL FORMS AND PATTERNS, OF GREAT USE IN ALL THE ORNAMENTAL
ARTS," within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such
manner as to me, the said David Brewster, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should in our discretion seem meet; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that if I, the said David Brewster, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the said recited Letters Patent, relation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Brewster, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in manner following (that is to say):-
The kaleidoscope (from xxos beautiful; as, a form; and exome to see)
is an instrument for creating and exhibiting an infinite variety of beautiful
forms, and is constructed in such a manner as either to please the eye by an
ever-varying succession of splendid tints and symmetrical forms, or to enable
the observer to render permanent such as may appear most appropriate for any
of the numerous branches of the ornamental arts. This instrument in its most
common form consists of two reflecting surfaces inclined to each other at any
angle, but more properly at an angle which is an aliquot part of 360°. The re-
flecting surfaces may be two plates of glass plain or quicksilvered, or two metallic
surfaces, or the two inner surfaces of a solid prism of glass or rock chrystal,
from which the light suffers total reflection. The plates should vary in length
according to the focal distance of the eye; 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 inches will in
general be most convenient; or they may be made only 1, 2, 3, or 4 inches
long, provided distinct vision is obtained at one end by placing at the other
end an eye glass whose focal length is equal to the length of the reflecting
planes. The inclination of the reflectors that is in general most pleasing is
18°, 20°, or 22°, or the 20th, 18th, and 16th part of a circle; but the planes
may be set at any required angle either by a metallic, a paper, or cloth joint,
or any other simple contrivance. When the two planes are put together with
their straightest and smoothest edges in contact, they will have the form
shown in Figure 1 where ABC

page_text: space seen thro' the instrument will be a figure produced by the arrangement
of 20 of these apertures round C as a centre, in consequence of the successive
reflexions between the polished surfaces. Hence, it follows, that if any object,
however ugly or irregular in itself, is placed before the aperture A, B, C, the
part of it that can be seen through the aperture will be seen also in every
sector, and every image of the object will coalesce into a form mathematically
symmetrical and highly pleasing to the eye. If the object is put in motion,
the combination of images will likewise be put in motion, and new forms,
perfectly different but equally symmetrical, will successively present themselves,
sometimes vanishing in the centre, sometimes emerging from it, and sometimes
playing around in double and opposite oscillations. When the object is tinged
with different colours, the most beautiful tints are developed in succession, and
the whole figure delights the eye by the perfection of its forms and the
brillancy of its colouring. The motion of the object may be effected either by
the hand or by a simple piece of mechanism, or the same effect may be
produced by the motion of the instrument over the object or round its own
axis. In the form of the kaleidoscope now described the object should bo
held close to the aperture A, B, C, and the eye should be placed as nearly as
possible in the line C, D, for the figure loses its symmetry in proportion as the
object recedes from A, B, C, and as the eye rises above D. The instrument
is therefore limited in its present form to the use of objects which can be
held close to the aperture. In order to remove the limitation, the tube
which contains the reflectors should slide in another tube of nearly the same
length, and having a convex lens at its further extremity; the focal length of
the lens should be always less than its greatest distance from the aperture
A, B, C. In general it should be about or of that distance, but it will be
adviseable to have two or even three lenses of different focal lengths to fit into
the end of the outer tube, and to be used as circumstances may require, or a
variation of focal length may be produced by the separation or approach of two
lenses. When the instrument is thus fitted up it may be applied to objects at
all distances, and these objects, whose images are formed in an inverted
position at the aperture A, B, C, may be introduced into the symmetrical
picture in the very same manner as if they were brought close to the instru-
ment. Hence, we can introduce trees, flowers, statues, and living animals,
and any object which is too large to be comprehended by the aperture
A, B, C, may be removed to such a distance that its image is sufficiently
reduced. The kaleidoscope is also constructed with three or more reflecting
planes, which may be arranged in various ways. The tints placed before the

page_text: aperture may be the complementary colors produced by transmitting polarised
light thro' regularly chrystallised bodies or pieces of glass that have received
the polarising structure. The partial polarisation of the light by successive
reflexions occasions a partial analysis of the transmitted light; but in order to
develope the tints with brilliancy, the analysis of the light must precede its
admission into the aperture. Instead of looking thro' the extremity D of the
tube, the effects which have been described may be exhibited to many persons
at once, upon the principle of the solar microscope or magic lanthorn, and in
this way, or by the application of the camera lucida, the figures may be
accurately delineated. It would be an endless task to point out the various
purposes in the ornamental arts to which the kaleidoscope is applicable. It
may be sufficient to state, that it will be of great use or architects, ornamental
painters, plasterers, jewellers, carvers and gilders, cabinet makers, wiro
workers, bookbinders, calico printers, carpet manufacturers, manufacturers of
pottery, and every other profession in which ornamental patterns are required.
The painter may introduce the very colours which he is to use; the jeweller,
the jewels which he is to arrange; and in general, the artist may apply to the
instrument the materials which he is to embody, and thus form the most
correct opinion of their effect when combined into an ornamental pattern.
When the instrument. is thus applied, an infinity of patterns are created, and
the artist can select such as he considers most suitable to his work. When a
knowledge of the nature and powers of the instrument has been acquired by a
little practice, he will be able to give any character to the pattern that he
chooses, and he may even create a series of different patterns, all rising out of
one another and returning by similar gradations to the first pattern of the series.
In all these cases the pattern is perfectly symmetrical round a centre, or all the
images of the aperture A, B, C, arc exactly alike; but this symmetry may be
altered, for after the pattern is drawn it may be reduced into a square, a
triangular, an elliptical, or any other form that we please. The
instrument will give annular patterns by keeping the reflectors A
separate as at A, B, Fig. 4, and it will give rectilineal ones by
placing the reflectors parallel to each other, as in Fig. 5. The
kaleidoscope is also proposed as an instrument of amusement to
please the eye by the creation and exhibition of beautiful forms
in the same manner as the ear is delighted by the combination
of musical sounds. When Custillon proposed the construction of an ocular
harpsichord, he was mistaken in supposing that any combination of harmonic
colors could afford pleasure to the person who viewed them, for it is
FIG. 4.

page_text: only when these colors are connected with regular and beautiful forms that
the
eye is gratified by the combination. The kaleidoscope, therefore, seems
to realise the idea of an ocular harpsichord.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Brewster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
Signed and sealed by the within-named
David Brewster (being first duly
stamped) in the presence of us,
DAVID (L.S.) BREWSTER.
Parish of Newlands, and County of Peebles.
ROB MONTGOMERY,
Of Lincoln's Inn,
Barrister at Law.
Robert Montgomery, of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law, maketh oath and
saith that he was present and did see David Brewster, of Edinburgh, Doctor
of Laws, sign, seal, and as his act and deed acknowledge and deliver, a certain
Deed Poll or Instrument in writing, hereunto annexed, bearing date the
Twenty-seventh day of August instant, purporting to be a Specification
describing and ascertaining the nature of the said David Brewster's Invention
of a New Optical Instrument called The Kaleidoscope; and this Deponent
further maketh oath and saith, that the name or character David Brewster,
set at the foot of the said Deed Poll, as the party executing the same, is of the
proper handwriting of the said David Brewster, and that the names or
characters Archibald Montgomery and Robert Montgomery, indorsed on the
said Deed Poll as Witnesses to the signing and sealing thereof, are of the
respective haudswriting of the said Archibald and Robert Montgomery.
Sworn at Stobo Castle, the 27th day of
August, 1817, before Sir James
Montgomery, Baronet, one of the

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Robert Montgomery,
the Instrument aforesaid was inrolled word for word as above written.
And also the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His Majesty King George
the Third
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
seventeen.