Improvements in connection with Projecting Lanterns.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 25th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in connection with Projecting Lanterns.
I, WILLIAM CHARLES HUGHES, of Brewster House, Mortimer Road, Kingsland,
in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturing Optician 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 :-
The improvements in connection with projecting or dissolving view lanterns
constituting my present invention, consists of the application to such lanterns
of a sliding screen or shutter, for preventing the bright ray of light given off from
the oxyhydrogen, electric or other luminary employed from being projected through
the back opening of the lantern, to the detriment of the entertainment, and incon-
venience of the operator, and to obviate which it has hitherto been customary to
employ a curtain or curtains hung upon or around the back of the lantern, and this
or these, in practice, has or have always been more or less a source of inconvenience
to the free movements of the operator, and a bar to the necessary ventilation of the
lantern, and to overcome or prevent these inconveniences is the object and purpose
of my invention.
For the purpose of rendering my invention, and the manner of its operation
perfectly clear, I have appended hereunto a sheet of drawings, in which I have
chosen to illustrate its application in connection with an oxyhydrogen gas jet.
Fig. 1 is an elevational back view of my improved screen or shutter and its
carrier, shewn detached from each other.
Fig. 2 is an edge or side view of said screen, and a plan view of the carrier.
Fig. 3 is an elevation of a similar screen mounted upon its carrier, and illustrating
the manner in which I prefer the latter shall engage with the tubes of the gas jet,
the said tubes being shewn in section.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of an ordinary oxyhydrogen gas jet with the said
screen and carrier mounted thereon, which in this and the following view are drawn
to a slightly reduced scale relatively to the previous views.
Fig. 5 is a plan view of Fig. 4 from which the said screen has been removed.
I carry my invention into effect by constructing of any suitable hard material,
preferably metal, a screen carrier A, of a width corresponding to the combined
width of the two parallel tubes B C, of an ordinary oxyhydrogen gas jet, or
thereabouts, when such be used, or any suitable equivalent therefor as a running
guide for the said carrier when other means of illuminating the lantern is employed.
The said carrier may be retained upon, and in sliding contact with B and C, or their
equivalents, by any suitable means, but for the purpose of more readily adapting
the said carrier to B C of any jet, I prefer to provide upon the sides of A a pair
of wings or projections D D', which may be of very thin metal, such as brass, zinc
or lead, or other pliable substance, and attached to A by solder, rivets or screws,
and in some cases integrally therewith, the pliability of D D' permitting these to
be bent or curled as shewn by the dotted circular lines in Fig. 1, so that these may
conveniently surround and grasp lightly the tubes B C, or their equivalents, as
shewn by Figs. 4 and 5, and more particularly by the sectional view Fig. 3. The
upper surface of A may be provided with a vertical tube A', or any suitable
equivalent therefor, in which a preferably rectangular socket E may be formed,
this being for the reception of the foot or stem of the screen or shutter. Whatever
means I may employ for retaining A upon B C or their equivalents, the former
must always be capable of sliding easily upon the latter, so that A may be placed
nearer to or farther from the light at the will of the operator.
'The screen or shutter F I construct of very thin metal, mica, asbestos cloth
or other light and non-combustible substance or material, and which may be of any

page_text: shape desired approximating to that of Figs. 1 or 3, and of any dimensions capable
of being moved freely within the lantern, but not less than that of the back opening
thereof. The said screen F if of metal or mica, may have screwed rivetted or
otherwise connected thereto a central stay G, the lower end of which H, serves as
a foct or stem, and shaped so as to fit into the socket E in A¹ of the carrier A, so
that F may be moved about therewith, but if the screen F be of asbestos or other
non combustible material not in itself sufficiently rigid to always remain fully
extended to the limits of its dimensions, I may extend the stay G so that this
forms a frame G', as shewn by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 3, and to this F may be
attached by the aid of rivets, screws, pins, clips or any other convenient and
suitable means. Whatever material I may employ in the construction of F, I
prefer that the whole of this at both sides, and G, (and G¹ if this be used) shall be
coated with some dark flat color, preferably black, in order that no rays of light
may be reflected thereby.
The lower portion of F at each side, and clear of B C, or their equivalents, may
extend in a downward direction as far as the construction of the lantern may permit,
as shewn by ¹ and F" in Figs. 1 and 3, in order to shut off any rays of light that
might possibly be reflected in that direction, and if necessary, in order to prevent
such or other rays from passing beneath A and between B and C or their
equivalents, I may swivel upon, or otherwise connect to the depending
portions F For that portion of the frame G', a pair of wings or shutters J and J,
tbese being so formed as to be folded back upon F and F as at Fig. 1 to permit F
to be mounted upon A, when these may be brought together beneath A, as at
Fig. 3.
In order to accommodate the presence of the usual horizontal rod or rods K
provided upon such jets for manipulating the lime cylinder, I form in the screen F
a vertical aperture or apertures L, which, if F be of asbestos or other equally
flexible material, need only be slits as at Fig. 1, but if F be of metal, mica or other
non-resilient material, this or these would be of such dimensions as to allow a free
pasage for the rod or rods K, as at Fig. 3, and in some cases or where convenient
I may provide flaps of asbestos to cover such portions of L as would permit the
passage of light below the rod or rods K, but of course if the illuminant be other
than that of oxyhydrogen, the rod or rods K would probably not exist, when such
aperture or apertures L would not be needed.
From the foregoing description and by reference to Figs. 4 and 5 it will be
understood, that the position of A. and consequently F, upon the rods B C or their
equivalents, may be anywhere desired between the lime cylinder carrier M, and the
standard N common to such jets, which in most cases would permit F to be brought
nearly close up to the back opening of the lantern if required, thereby entirely
preventing the light from passing therethrough, without obstructing the free
ventilation of the lantern afforded by the said opening, or in any way inconveniencing
the free movements of the operator.
In the case of an illuminant other than oxyhydrogen being employed, wherein
the tubes BC would not be present, a rod or rods or any suitable substitute for B
and C may be provided upon which the carrier A may be arranged to slide.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is.
1st. In combination with any form of projecting lantern, the employment there-
with of a sliding screen or shutter, interposed between the point from which the
light proceeds and the back opening of the lantern substantially as and for the
purposes herein set forth, and shewn by the accompanying drawings.
2nd. In combination with any type of projecting lantern, the construction and use
of a screen or shutter F, F, F, of metal, mica, asbestos or other non combustible
substance or material, mounted upon a frame G¹, or stay G, provided with a foot
or stem H, capable of fitting into a socket E, forming part of a carrier A, arranged

page_text: to slide upon the tubes B, C of an oxyhydrogen gas jet, or any suitable substitute
therefor, and attached thereto by any convenient means, such as that of wings or
projections D D' upon A, bent around B C or their equivalents as at Fig. 3, the
whole connected and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and shewn by the accompanying drawings.
3rd. In combination with a projecting lantern, the employment therewith of a
screen or shutter F, as set forth in the preceding claim, having pivotally or other-
wise attached to the depending portions F F thereof, supplementary wings,
screens or shutters J J', substantially as and for the purposes herein described and
shewn by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 19th day of October 1893.
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
4, Moorfields, Fore Street, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.