IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REFLECTING LIGHT INTO ROOMS AND OTHER PARTS OF BUILDINGS AND PLACES
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HESKETH, of Wimpole Street, Saint Marylebone, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Third day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Hesketh, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Robert Hesketh, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Hesketh,
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, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REFLECTING LIGHT INTO ROOMS AND OTHER PARTS
OF BUILDINGS AND PLACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Robert Hesketh, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of 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, to be

page_text: eurolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of 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
Robert Hesketh, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
The object is to obtain or increase light in dark or insufficiently lighted
places, in cases which include the following three conditions,-
First, a place where light or additional light is desired to be thrown.
Second, a source of light available; though not in a direct manner, yet by
reflection.
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Third, a plane or surface of position on which the combination can be
arranged, with a certain thickness of arrangement, with due regard to con-
venience and appearanco, and of which plane or surface, either (first) one
face, must be exposed both to the place where light is desired, and to the
source of light, or (second) one face must be exposed to the place where light
is desired, and the other face to the source of light. In speaking of two
faces of a plane or surface I suppose each plane or surface to be (not as
the superficies of a solid) but a plane or surface without thickness, having
a face towards either opposite direction. For the materials of the reflectors
I prefer glass silvered by the ordinary amalgam of mercury and tin foil,
or by a chemical deposit of metallic silver on one side so as to form a
reflecting surface. But I do not claim any peculiar process for silvering,
nor do I limit myself to the use of such silvered glass, but claim the use
of glass or other reflecting surfaces in the combination described, but not
otherwise. I do not claim the use of reflectors used singly, but of combina-
tions of reflectors used under the above three conditions for any of the
following purposes :—
First, in many cases, if a single reflector were used, and placed so as to
reflect the light from the source of light to the place where light is desired, it
would be obstructive, projecting inconveniently or unsightly. The combina-
tion, however, according to my Invention, could be arranged on any given
plane or surface, and within such thickness as might be allowed to the combi-
nation without inconvenience or dissight. This would be one purpose of the
combination.

page_text: Second, a single plane reflector would not concentrate or disperse the
rays of light if one or other were desired. The combination could be made to
do one or the other by arranging the separate reflectors of the combination
accordingly, This is a second purpose of the combination.
Third, the combination may be moved by lever bars (as in the manner
usually applied to moveable louvre boards) or otherwise, so as to regulate the
direction of the reflected rays of light in an easier and quicker manner than a
single reflector. This is a third purpose of the combination.
Fourth, the combination may be arranged in an opening (as the window of
a room), each reflector of the combination having a wrought iron or other
suitable back, so that by one movement the opening may be closed, the backs
of the reflectors forming fireproof or burglary-proof shutters; and by another
movement the reflectors may be opened, and form a combination for reflecting
light into the room. This is a fourth purpose of the combination.
The arrangement of the reflectors of any combination will be on the
following method:-The plane or surface of arrangement being given, as well
as the thickness of the combination, which may, with due regard to conve-
nience and appearance, be allowed, then the reflectors will be arranged on
such plane or surface, of such widths only as shall not exceed the given
thickness, and so that, first, each reflector shall be at the proper angle to
reflect the light from the source of light to the place where light is desired;
and, secondly, the reflectors shall be, seriatim, so far apart that one do not
materially obstruct another, either in respect of the light derived from the
source of light, or of the light reflected towards the place where it is desired.
There are two heads under which all cases of application may be arranged;
one is, the "transvertent system," of the combination of which an instance is
given in Figure 1. Here the source of light is on one side of the combina-
tion, and the place where light is desired on the other side of the combination.
The other is the "revertent system," of which an instance is given in Figure 2.
Here the source of light is on the same side of the combination as the place
where light is desired.
The following is given as an application of the "transvertent system":-
The Diagram, Figure 1, which represents the section through a window
seven feet high, giving light to a room which opens into an alley supposed
to be six feet wide, and to have the opposite buildings eighteen feet high
above the window sill. The limit of the direct light which enters is
shown by the line A, B, so that it falls on the floor only to the extent
of about four feet. Now suppose a reflector placed within the reveal five

page_text: inches in width, and as long as the opening is wide, as at e, b, then the
ray a, b, from the top of the opposite building will be reflected in the direc-
tion b, c, and the ray d, e, will be reflected in the direction e, f. b, c, and e, f,
show, therefore, the extent of the reflected light from the reflector e, b. If
three other reflectors, as shown at g, h, i, are placed under e, b, then they will
reflect the light as represented by the other diverging lines. The reflected
light from all four reflectors will traverse the whole room, whatever may be
the distance of the back wall from the window. If the back wall were thirty
feet from the window, the light would cover the upper eight feet of the wall,
and the ceiling to seven feet from that wall. If the reflectors are moved so as
to be nearer the horizontal position, the light will be thrown more upon the
ceiling; if they are turned to be nearer the vertical position, the light will be
lowered towards the floor. It will be easily seen that if the reflectors are,
instead of being parallel planes, placed so that their transverse sections are at
different angles with the horizon, the reflected light may either be diffused to
a greater extent, or be more concentrated, as may be desired. In some
instances an oblique arrangement of the axes of the reflectors will be most.
suitable.
The following is given as an application of the "revertent system:"-
Figure 2 is a section showing a combination H, K, fixed on a wall under a
skylight A, B, to reflect the rays into the part under C, D, which may
continue to a considerable distance. A, G, shows the direct ray, which enters
furthest under C, D; but the reflected light from the combination penetrates
under C, D, to any distance up to the furthest wall. The ray falling from A
on the top reflector a, b, is reflected to d; that from B is reflected to c, so that
the reflected light from the reflector a, b, is bounded by the lines a, c,
and b, d. The direction of the rays from the other reflectors of the combina-
tion are shown by the other diverging lines. The reflectors of such a com-
bination may (as in the first-described system) be disposed so as either to
diffuse the light more, or to concentrate it, as may be desired. A similar
combination arranged vertically is used to reflect the light, as of a window,
sideways. This would be shown by supposing Figure 3 to be a plan instead
of a section, and the skylight to be a window. I do not, however, limit
myself to these, which are only particular applications of my Invention, which
must have various methods of application in each case adapted to the various
circumstances under which the first-mentioned three conditions may appear.
I claim also the use of glass formed into zigzag or corrugated sections, or
having embossments thereon, see Figure 3, every alternate face being silvered