Improvements in Plates or Tablets of Celluloid, Gelatine, or similar Material, for Use as Blotting Pad Covers, Finger Plates, Letter Boxes, Advertising Plaques, and other articles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Mar., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 16th Dec., 1897-Accepted, 19th Feb., 1898
Improvements in Plates or Tablets of Celluloid, Gelatine, or similar
Material, for Use as Blotting Pad Covers, Finger Plates, Letter
Boxes, Advertising Plaques, and other articles.
I, WILLIAM RIGHTER COMINGS, Mechanical Engineer, of Wandlemere, Riverside
Road, Summers Town, London, S.W., in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My improvements are applicable to all tablets or plates upon which it is desirable
to obtain an ornamental surface or clear and permanent designs either of a useful or
will describe its application to
ornamental character. To illustrate my invention,
a blotting pad.
I first cut a piece of transparent sheet celluloid, gelatine, or similar material, to a
size slightly larger each way than the finished size of the pad, say " larger, the four
edges are then turned up to about a right angle, thus forming it into a shallow lid or
tray. I next cut a piece of cardboard or other suitable backing material to fit loosely
within the celluloid or other lid, the edges of this lid are then turned over the
backing so as to securely hold them together while allowing one to slide on the other.
Any ornamental or useful design can be printed on the top surface of this backing
piece so as to show through the transparent lid part, or an extra piece of printed or
fancy sheet material may be placed between the lid and backing when they are put
together.
This lid or tray when thus fixed to its backing piece, I call the top plate of the
blotting pad or other article. Next I make a blotting pad slightly smaller each way
than the top plate and fix it to the backing piece of the top plate by suitable glue or
metal fastening. As the blotting pad is smaller than the top plate, the latter by its
turned over sides gives a smooth projecting edge, which forms a very convenient
ruler either for pen or pencil use. To increase the utility of this ruler, I print on one
or more of the top edges of the backing piece, a scale of inches or other desired
standard of measurement and thus form a blotting pad and ruler combined.
It will be evident that by simply modifying the proportions of such a blotting pad,
and making it long and narrow, a very useful and convenient measuring and non-
blotting ruler will be obtained.
Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in facing tablets or plates with sheet
celluloid, on account of its wonderful shrinking properties, which cause it to wrinkle
and warp when applied to other materials, but by turning the edges over a backing
plate as above, it is kept flat, and in shrinking is free to slide upon its back plate
without warping or distorting the designs arranged to show through it.
It is also evident that instead of fastening the top plates as described above to
blotting pads or rulers, they can be applied to a large number of other uses, such as
For door
finger plates, letter boxes, advertising placques and many other purposes.
plates and similar purposes, instead of transparent material for the top lids, opaque

page_text: material would generally be used so as to make the plates resemble ivory, tortoise
shell, turquoise, &c.
In some cases, I prefer to take up the shrinkage of the top lid by using corrugated
material for the backing of the top plate.
Improvements in Plates or Tablets of Celluloid, Gelatine, or similar
Material, for Use as Blotting Pad Covers, Finger Plates, Letter
Boxes, Advertising Plaques, and other articles.
I, WILLIAM RIGHTER_COMINGS, Mechanical Engineer, of Wandlemere, Riverside
Road, Summers Town, London, S.W., in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My improvements are applicable to all tablets or plates upon which it is desirable
to obtain an ornamental surface or clear and permanent designs either of a useful or
ornamental character. To illustrate my invention, will describe its application to
a blotting pad.
I first cut a piece of transparent sheet celluloid, gelatine, or similar material to a
size slightly larger each way than the finished size of the pad, say "larger, the
four edges are then turned up to about a right angle, thus forming it into a shallow
lid or tray. I next cut a piece of cardboard or other suitable backing material to fit
loosely within the celluloid or other lid, the edges of this lid are then turned over
the backing so as to securely hold them together while allowing one to slide on the
other. Any ornamental or useful design can be printed on the top surface of this
backing piece so as to show through the transparent lid part, or an extra piece of
printed or fancy sheet material may be placed between the lid and backing when
they are put together.
This lid or tray when thus fixed to its backing piece, I call the top plate of the
blotting pad or other article. Next I make a blotting pad slightly smaller each way
than the top plate and fix it to the backing piece of the top plate by suitable glue
or metal fastening. As the blotting pad is smaller than the top plate, the latter by
its turned over sides gives a smooth projecting edge, which forms a very convenient
ruler either for pen or pencil use. To increase the utility of this ruler, I print on
one or more of the top edges of the backing piece, a scale of inches or other desired
standard of measurement and thus form a blotting pad and ruler combined.
It will be evident that by simply modifying the proportions of such a blotting pad
and making it long and narrow, a very useful and convenient measuring and non-
blotting ruler will be obtained.
Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in facing tablets or plates with
sheet celluloid, on account of its wonderful shrinking properties, which cause it to
wrinkle and warp when applied to other materials, but by turning the edges over a
backing plate as above, it is kept flat, and in shrinking is free to slide upon its back
plate without warping or distorting the designs arranged to show through it.
For
It is also evident that instead of fastening the top plates as described above to
blotting pads or rulers, they can be applied to a large number of other uses, such as
finger plates, letter boxes, advertising placques and many other purposes.
door plates and similar purposes, instead of transparent material for the top lids,
opaque material would generally be used so as to make the plates resemble ivory,
tortoise shell, turquoise &c. In some cases, I prefer to take up the shrinkage of
the top lid by using corrugated material for the backing of the top plate.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The improvements in plates or tablets substantially as hereinbefore described.