IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS AND METAL PLATES AND FRAMES FOR INDICATINO, ADVERTISING, AND EXHIBITING; AND IN THE MANNER OF DISPLAYING THE SAME.
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Augustus Hely at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th October 1882.
ALFRED AUGUSTUS HELY [of N° C, Lansdowne Gardens, South Lambeth, in
the County of Surrey, Gentleman] IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS AND METAL
PLATES AND FRAMES FOR INDICATINO, ADVERTISING, AND EXHIBITING; AND IN
THE MANNER OF DISPLAYING THE SAME.
The Plates to which my Improvements refer may be composed either wholly of
Glass, or Metal, or of a combination of both. When of Glass, the effects may be
either transparent, translucent, or opaque ; but, when of Metal, they must necessarily
be opaque. The transparent or translucent effects in question are obtained through
the medium of refracted, and the opaque through that of reflected light, whether
natural or artificial.
I. With reference to the first, I take a plate of glass, of the size and shape
required, and I produce upon, or against, one of its surfaces by any process of
painting, staining, printing, stencilling, transferring, applying or otherwise-the
indication, advertisement, or exhibit, which I desire to display, and this glass I
distinguish as the "Face-Plate." I next take a similar glass, which I term the
"Back-Plate,” and by means of a particular kind of cement, (transparent,
translucent, or opaque, as the case may require, but always proof alike against any
extremes of temperature, stress of weather, damp, and gaseous exhalations,) I
unite the two plates securely together, and these united glasses I call a "Twin-
Plate." If the glass I employ be sheet glass, Sheet or Cylinder Glass is naturally
more or less curved; care must, therefore, be taken to produce the subject-matter,
or design, on the concave surface of the "face-plate," and to place it against the
concave surface of the "back plate;" and also, in cementing the two plates
together, to leave a small aperture, somewhere in the edges of the "Twin-Plate"
through which the air contained between the two concave surfaces may escape,
when the said "Twin-Plate" is exposed, for a few minutes, to the rarifying action
of heat, which prevents any subsequent condensation or clouding inside the
glasses; after which the said aperture is cemented up, and the plate completed,
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page_text: II. In dealing with a Plate of Metal, or other naturally opaque substance, or
material, or with a Plate of Glass rendered artificially opaque, I first produce
upon, or apply to, one of its surfaces-by means of any of the processes herein-
before mentioned-the indication, advertisement, or exhibit, I desire to display.
I then cover the said surface with one or more coats of the cementing medium
before referred to, but transparent in character, and applied cold, which, when
thoroughly set, affords the subject-matter, or design, underneath, the protection,
as well as the appearance, of a hard, clear, and brilliant enamel. This opaque
sheet of metal, or glass, thus treated, I term an "Unit-Plate."
III. My Invention further consists in cheaply producing, by mechanical means,
for the purposes of metallic Labels and Tablets, for Indicating and Advertising,
readable effects similar to those now obtained by expensive hand labor for the
purposes of Door-Plates. These plates are made chiefly of sheet brass or zinc, and
the letters, figures, or devices, composing the indications, or advertisements, which
they are designed to display, are first engraved upon, or chiselled out of, the
surface to the depth required, (and hence, sunk in, not perforated through,) and
then the engraved or chiselled parts are filled in with a colored composition of
shell-lac, (like red or black sealing wax) applied hot, or semifluid, to set hard
when cold.
By my new process I first produce the desired indications, or advertisements,
upon dies, or moulds, and, therewith, stamp, or press, out the subject-matter upon
plates of brass, zinc, or other metal. I then nail, screw, or otherwise fix the plate
thus perforated upon a backing, or against a background, of any suitable matter,..
substance, or material, of a natural color, or colored artifically, to contrast with the
.color of the metal plate, and thereby obtain, through the linear or curved perforations,
composing the subject-matter therein, a readable and practically indestructible
Label or Tablet, for indicating and advertising purposes. Instead of perforating
the plate with straight or curved lines, I sometimes form the letters, figures, and
devices with perforated points or holes; and instead of using one plate only, I use
two plates; the upper or "face-plate," displaying the subject-matter in perforation,
and the under, or "back plate," the backing, by means of which, through the
contrasting perforations, the said subject-matter is rendered readable. Although
the label or tablet, perforated and backed as herein before described, is perfectly
.legible, it does not follow that every letter or figure it may contain should be
perfectly formed; because, certain letters, or figures, such, for instance as the letter
.or figure O, must be "tied" (as it is techanically termed) to the body of the metal,
or else its perfect form would be destroyed in the stamping or pressing out. In
some cases this "tying" would not prove any drawback, but, in others, the "ties"
would have to be "taken out," in order that the letters or figures might appear
perfectly formed and distinct. This "taking out" of, or providing against, the
"ties" I accomplish by the use of a second or under plate, which I perforate in
such wise as to restore, when brought into close fitting contact with the first or
upper plate, the mutilations of the subject-matter, incurred in the process of
.stamping or pressing it out.
1
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IV. With respect to my Improvements in Frames, whether of metal, or wood, I
employ them merely as supports for the "Twin" and "Unit" plates aforesaid;
and 1 make them with hinges, by preference, on the bolt and socket principle, so
as to join two or more plates together, and separate them again when necessary.
By this means I am enabled to extend my displaying surface at will, whether the
plates thus framed be attached to, or project from, perpendicular plane surfaces,
such as walls, or attached to, or depend froin, such isolated erections as pillars and
posts. If "twin-plates" be used, displaying transparent or translucent effects,
1 prefer to incline them at an angle, upwards, but, if "Unit Plates," then at an
angle downwards, thus rendering the designs or subject-matters, produced upon
buth such plates, perfectly visible and legible by any light.
V, and Lastly, As regards my improved inethod of displaying a plurality or

page_text: "
combination of indications, or advertisements, upon either a "Twin" or an Unit
plate, I arrange the subject-matters in parallel, or curved lines, devoting a separate
line to each subject, and a different color to each line. The effect of these various
colors so arranged give the plate the appearance of a miniature Rainbow, when
viewed in either natural or artificial light, and is strikingly attractive for the
purposes aforesaid,