IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TAKING OR OBTAIN- ING LIKENESSES AND REPRESENTATIONS OF NATURE AND OF DRAWINGS, AND OTHER OBJECTS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
BEARD, of Egremont Place, New Road, in the County of Middlesex, Gen-
tleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,. by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirteenth day of June, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Beard, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and autho
rity, that I, the said Richard Beard, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Richard Beard, my exors, admors, 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, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TAKING OR OBTAIN-
ING LIKENESSES AND REPRESENTATIONS OF NATURE AND OF DRAWINGS, AND OTHER
OBJECTS," communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard
Beard, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the Invention,"
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months next and
immediately after the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Beard, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):-
The Invention relates, first, to a mode of taking likenesses and representations
of nature, and of drawings by reflecting images on to suitably prepared surfaces
by concave reflectors, in place of causing such images to be transmitted through
lenses, as heretofore practised, when using properly prepared surfaces by the
aid of the camera; secondly, the Invention relates to a mode of preparing
silver surfaces by pressing them face to face between hardened rollers, when
they are to receive images; and, thirdly, the Invention relates to a mode of
treating or preparing the silver surfaces used to receive images thereon, by
submitting them to the action of iodine and bromine or bromic acid combined,
in place of using only iodine, and also by combining therewith acid, by which
means the silver surfaces are rendered more sensitive, and the operation of
obtaining an image thereon quickened, whether performed by a reflecting
apparatus, as hercin-after described, or by a camera obscura; and in order
that-the-Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect,
I will proceed to describe a reflecting apparatus, constructed-according to the
Invention, and will then describe the means of preparing silver surfaces, when
they are to be prepared according to the other parts of the Invention; I would,
however, here remark that although I prefer to use silver surfaces for receiv-
ing images to be fixed thereon, and prepared-according to the second and third
parts of the Invention, the first part of the Invention does not relate nor is
it confined to any particular mode of preparing surfaces for receiving images,
but, as above mentioned, consists of an apparatus by which images may be
received on.a concave reflector, and reflected back on to a prepared surface
suitable to receive and retain the image so reflected thereon, when properly
treated, to fix the same or prevent the surface after having received the image
from changing.
DESCRIPTION OF THE REFLECTING APPARATUS.
The Drawing shews various views of the apparatus, the nature of which is
written on the Drawing, and the same parts are referred to by the same letters
of reference. a is a rectangular box, inside of which, and at the end thereof,
there is fixed a concave reflector, which may be of glass or metal, as is well
understood in making reflectors for telescopes. This reflector is placed with
the reflecting surface facing the athan and of thì bạn kinh

page_text: d to a piece of wood or other material e, with which it slides on the bottom of
the box in a direction to and from the face of the reflector and lengthwise of
the box. This frame is intended to carry the prepared material on which the
impression is to be made by the reflected image; the material may be retained
in the proper position against the frame by a small spring pressing against
the material. On the back and between the spring and the frame c, the
prepared surface is slid. A small door is made on the top of the box for the
purpose of observing the focal image, and the frame is slided till properly
adjusted to the focus. The box a should be placed on a table cr other support
at such height that the centre of the reflector may be about as high as that
part of the person which is intended to be in the middle of the picture. When
the reflecting apparatus is to be used, the person whose likeness is to be taken
should be placed in a chair, to which some suitable support for the head is
attached to enable him to remain perfectly still, and the reflecting apparatus
should then be placed with the open end immediately opposite to the person.
A trial surface is then to be put against the frame to receive the reflected
image, by which means its correct placing will readily be judged of by looking
through the hole in the box a, and the focus will be adjusted by sliding the
picce e; the trial surface is then to be removed, and the prepared surface is to
be placed in the frame and allowed to remain as long as required to form the
image, and a little practice will readily enable the operator to judge when the
required effect is obtained. The size of the reflecting apparatus I use, as
follows:-The box a, inside fifteen inches long, eight and a half inches high,
and cight inches wide, and the interior is black; reflector, seven inches clear
diameter, and twelve inches focus; the prepared surface on to which the
picture is to be formed is two and a half inches long by two inches wide, but
these dimensions may be varied. In using the apparatus above described,
when the daylight is very bright, I prefer that the inclined glass roof A of the
room should be glazed with blue glass, or otherwise, to soften the bright rays
of light, in order that the person sitting to have a likeness taken may be as near
as possible to the glass roof, but when there is a bright sunshine I use a large
looking-glass or reflector; I prefer to use a large concave reflector to collect
the rays of light from the sun and throw it on the person sitting, and I place
the reflecting apparatus out of the centre of the large reflector B, generally
behind the large reflector, by having a hole through such large reflector
towards the outer edge thereof; and in making such large reflector B, I find
that it may be done by forming a frame to the figure or shape required, and
then cover the surface with small squares of looking-glass of five or six inches
square. This is a cheap and convenient way of making such a reflector on a

page_text: large size for the purpose, but I do not confine myself thereto, the object
being to obtain a large reflector to collect the light, and direct it strongly on a
person or other object from which it is desired to obtain a likeness or image
on to a prepared surface. In preparing plates with silver surfaces to render them
more suitable for receiving impressions or images thereon, and then have the
surface protected from change, I take sheets of copper with a surface of silver,
such as is now. commonly used according to the process known as daguerreo-
type, and place two such plates together, with their silver surfaces touching;
those surfaces baving been carefully wiped clean with cotton and aided, if
necessary, with dilute sulphuric acid, and I pass such two plates five or six
times between a pair of smooth hardened rollers; I then anneal the plates by
heating them to a low red heat and permit them to cool. Then I again subject
them to the acid process, and then I pass them silver face to face between the
rollers, the rollers being set slightly closes together, as the plates will have
become somewhat thinner, and I repeat such rolling and annealing till I find
the silver surfaces are highly polished, and equal in appearance all over the
silver surfaces; they will then be ready for the next process, which consists in
taking a small-bunch-or-tuft-of cotton and dipping it into dilute nitric acid,
and then into tripoli, and very lightly rub the silver surface of a plate, then
In these
quickly and carefully rub off the acid and tripoli with dry cotton.
rubbings a circular motion is to be observed; I then take a surface of velvet,
having dusted on it some impalpable powder of charcoal from a muslin bag,
and rub the silver surface of the plate in a direction transversely of the-length
of plate, when the required surface will be obtained, and is ready to undergo
the iodine process, as is well understood; but I prefer that the iodine should
not be used separately, but that it should be combined with nitric acid and
water, or with bromine, or with both, or with bromic acid, and I perform this
operation in the following manner :-I place a square glass vessel somewhat
larger than the plate to be operated on in a box made of wood, with
a cover, with an opening at each end to allow of a plate of glass to slide
closely across, so as to permit of as little escape of vapour as possible; the
plate glass slide being somewhat more than twice the length of the box, and
in one part thereof towards one end an opening is formed through the glass
large enough to receive the metal plate, and yet not allow it to drop through;
by this means the slide can bring the plate of metal directly over the box, in
order that the vapours as they arise may come in contact with the silver
surface, which is placed downwards, and in a few seconds it will be ready to
be put into the reflecting apparatus to receive an impression, or it may be
put into a suitable dark case for holding several such plates ready for use.

page_text: .
In combining iodine- with nitric acid and water, I put equal parts of iodine,
nitric acid, and of water, and in combining bromine therewith, I combine an
equal part with each of the other three, or I omit to use nitric acid and use
sulphuric acid and water, or I omit the use of acid and simply combine iodine
and bromine in the box above mentioned, and the required vapours will quickly
operate in the metal plate, the other portion of the glass slide closing the box
when no plate is being operated on. And I have only further to remark, that
when the impression has been obtained the plate is to be operated on by the
mercury, and the fixing and washing processes, in like manner to the treatment
well understood when treating plates which have, according to the process of
Daguerre, received an impression or image by the aid of a camera, all which
is well known and in use, and forms no part of the Invention. In taking
impressions or obtaining images by the aid of. the apparatus above described,
it is desirable to use a screen behind the person sitting to have a likeness
taken, and for this purpose a plate of ground plate-glass, or other semi-trans-
parent surface, through which the shadow of the person may pass, and at the
back of such screen I have a frame capable of being set nearer to or further
from the back of the screen; and in this frame I have a white surface capable"
of receiving the shadow so passed through the semi-transparent screen, and by
causing such white surface to coine nearer to or further from the screen, I
obtain varying effects of light and shade in the picture produced. And I find it
of advantage sometimes to use a brown, blue, or black back surface, particularly
when taking images of plaster busts or other white objects; for it will be
evident that, although I have thus far confined the description to the taking
likenesses from human beings, any other objects having the apparatus placed
suitably in front of it will be received on the reflector, and reflected to the
prepared surface in like manner to that of a person. And I would also remark
that in using a large concave reflector to collect the light, as above explained,
I find it desirable to stretch across the front thereof a surface of tissue paper
varnished with boiled oil, such as is used for tracing paper, as it has the effect
of scattering the light and producing a better effect in the picture.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the best manner I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,-
First, the mode of taking likenesses and representations of nature and
drawings by reflecting images on to prepared surfaces, by means of concave
reflectors, as herein described.
Secondly, I claim tho mode of preparing plates with silver surfaces for

page_text: receiving images thereon, by pressing such plates face to face between smooth
and hardened rollers, as described.
And, thirdly, I claim the mode of preparing plates with silver surfaces, by
combining iodine and nitric acid and water, or combining iodine with bromine
or bromic acid, and by preference with acid and water, in order that plates
may receive the joint vapours therefrom for the purpose of quickening the
process of obtaining images thereon, as above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Beard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and forty.