LETTERS PATENT to Henry Dircks, of Blackheath,
in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer, and John Henry
Pepper, of No. 309, Regent Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, and Honorary Director
of the Polytechnic Institution, for the Invention
of “IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE
EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE PERFORMANCES.”
Sealed the 25th September 1863, in pursuance of an Order of
the Lord Chancellor, and dated the 5th February 1863.
* * * * *
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry
Dircks and John Henry Pepper at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the
5th February 1863.
We, HENRY DIRCKS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer,
and JOHN HENRY PEPPER, of No. 309, Regent Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, and Honorary Director of the
Polytechnic Institution, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for “IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC
AND OTHER LIKE PERFORMANCES,” to be as follows:—
The object of our said Invention is by a peculiar arrangement of
apparatus to associate on the same stage a phantom or phantoms with a
living actor or actors, so that the two may act in concert, but which
is only an optical illusion as respects the one or more phantoms so
introduced.
The arrangement of the theatre requires in addition to the ordinary
stage a second stage at a lower level than the ordinary one, hidden
from the audience as far as direct vision is concerned; this hidden
stage is to be strongly illuminated by artificial light, and is capable
of being rendered dark instantaneously whilst the ordinary stage and
the theatre remain illuminated by ordinary lighting. A large glass
screen is placed on the ordinary stage and in front of the hidden one.
The spectators will not observe the glass screen, but will see the
actors on the ordinary stage through it as if it were not there;
nevertheless the glass will serve to reflect to them an image of the
actors on the hidden stage when these are illuminated, but this image
will be made immediately to disappear by darkening the hidden stage.
The glass screen is set in a frame so that it can readily be moved to
the place required, and it is to be set at an inclination to enable
the spectators, whether in the pit, boxes, or gallery, to see the
reflected image.
The glass is adjustable and it is readily adjusted to the proper
inclination, by having a person in the pit and another in the gallery
to inform the party who is adjusting the glass when they see the image
correctly.
* * * * *
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions
of the Letters Patent, and of an Order of the Lord
Chancellor, by the said Henry Dircks and John Henry
Pepper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31ˢᵗ
October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY DIRCKS, of
Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer, and JOHN HENRY
PEPPER, of No. 309, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Professor of Chemistry, and Honorary Director of the Polytechnic
Institution, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing Date the Fifth Day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper, Her
special licence that we, the said Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED
IN THE EXHIBITION OF DRAMATIC AND OTHER LIKE PERFORMANCES,” upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Dircks and John
Henry Pepper, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office on or before the Third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Pepper, on behalf of myself
and the said Henry Dircks, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:—
The nature and object of our said Invention is by a peculiar
arrangement of apparatus to associate on the same stage a phantom or
phantoms with a living actor or actors, so that the two may act in
concert, but which is only an optical illusion as respects the one or
more phantoms so introduced.
The arrangement of the theatre requires in addition to the ordinary
stage a second stage at a lower level than the ordinary one, hidden
from the audience as far as direct vision is concerned; this hidden
stage is to be strongly illuminated by artificial light, and is capable
of being rendered dark instantaneously whilst the ordinary stage and
the theatre remain illuminated by ordinary lighting. A large glass
screen is placed on the ordinary stage and in front of the hidden
one. The spectators will not observe the glass screen, but will see
the actors on the ordinary stage through it as if it were not there;
nevertheless the glass will serve to reflect to them an image of the
actors on the hidden stage when these are illuminated, but this image
will be made immediately to disappear by darkening the hidden stage.
The glass screen is set in a frame so that it can readily be moved to
the place required, and it is to be set at an inclination to enable the
spectators, whether in the pit, boxes, or gallery, to see the reflected
image. The glass is adjustable and it is readily adjusted to the proper
inclination by having a person in the pit, and another in the gallery,
to inform the party who is adjusting the glass when they see the image
correctly.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
* * * * *
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.—Fig. 1. (_Frontispiece_).
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings illustrates the arrangement of a
theatre for carrying our Invention into effect; the Figure shows a
section taken through the stage, the orchestra, the pit, and gallery.
_a_, _a_, is an opening which is formed in the ordinary stage. In the
front part of the stage, but at a lower level, is the hidden stage
_b_. The opening _a_ is capable of being closed at the top by trap
doors, a plan of which is shewn at Figure 2. When the trap doors are
closed, actors on the ordinary or visible stage can pass freely to and
fro above the lower or hidden stage. The ordinary stage and trap doors
are covered with green baize or other dark material, so that when the
trap doors are opened, the audience, even those in the gallery, will
not readily be able to perceive the opening. The actors or objects
corresponding with the phantom images, which it is desired to represent
to the audience, are on the lower or hidden stage _b_, and are strongly
illuminated by the lime light or the electric light, or other powerful
illuminating means may be employed. This light must accompany the actor
in any movement he has to make. The hidden stage _b_, and the lanterns
_c_, may be mounted on a carriage on rails (a plan of which is shown
at Figure 3), so that when it is necessary for the phantom actor or
object on the lower stage to be moved, the lanterns may be caused to
move also, or the lanterns may remain stationary whilst the actor
moves, provided the whole space through which he moves is sufficiently
illuminated. The lanterns are to be provided with means for
instantaneously extinguishing or masking the light, and for reproducing
it so that the phantom may be made to disappear and reappear at
pleasure, whilst the audience and the ordinary stage will be more or
less lighted in the ordinary manner according to the effects desired
to be obtained. For this purpose a board _b_¹ is employed, which is
capable of being raised into the position shewn by dotted lines so as
entirely to cut off the light from the hidden stage when desired, or
an ordinary opaque shade attached to each lantern may be used for the
purpose, or when using the lime light the desired effects are caused
by gradually or instantaneously (as the case may require) cutting off
the supply of gases, and the phantom image may by any of these means be
caused gradually or instantaneously to fade away. When the trap doors
over the hidden stage are open, the part _d_ thereof assists in hiding
the lanterns and the opening from the audience. The part _e_ is raised
into the position shown in the Drawing and acts (together with the part
_d_) to screen the lanterns from the audience, and also to insure that
any actor or object on the hidden stage shall not accidentally appear
above the level of the visible stage. The phantom actor, when standing
on the stage _b_, leans against the screen _k_, which is inclined so
as to be parallel with the glass screen, and is covered with black
velvet or other dark material, as is also the stage _b_, in order that
no image of either the screen _k_ or the stage _b_ may be seen in the
reflection. _f_ (the glass screen) is a large sheet of plate glass on
the ordinary stage, of sufficient size to reflect the full length of
the actors or objects on the hidden stage to the audience in the pit,
boxes, and galleries of the theatre. The hidden stage is between the
glass and the audience. The glass may be mounted in a swing frame so
that it may be adjusted to the angle required, or it may readily be
done by screws or ropes and pulleys, or otherwise. The glass screen
is to be set at such an inclination as to bring the reflected image
to the level of the visible or ordinary stage. This will enable the
spectators, whether in pit, boxes, or gallery, to see the reflected
image without any obstruction to the view above the foot-lights, and
it will be visible from all parts of the house except those extreme
positions which cannot command a view through the glass of that part of
the stage where the image is reflected.
The proper angle of inclination of the glass is ascertained
experimentally by having persons in the different parts of the house
to say when the image is shewn to them correctly. The scenery is so
disposed as to conceal the frame of the glass, and we prefer that the
glass should be able to descend into an opening or box _g_ beneath the
stage, in which case we counterbalance the glass and frame so that
they may easily be raised into the position desired by means of a
rope _h_, by which, aided by the bolts _i_, the glass is supported in
the required position. The glass may either be adjusted when screened
from the audience, and remain in position during the scene, or (the
proper angle of inclination having been previously ascertained by
experiment) the glass may be raised on to the ordinary or visible
stage, and placed in position whilst the scene is before the eyes of
the audience under a subdued light without the movement being observed,
for which latter purpose the top bar of the frame of the glass should
be made very light or be omitted altogether. This arrangement admits
of an actor on the visible stage passing across the space which the
glass is to occupy, and this he can do just before the appearance of
the phantom, and then immediately the glass is run up, the trap doors
are opened, the actor or image on the hidden stage is illuminated and
the phantom appears. This arrangement will render it less likely that
the audience should imagine that there is anything interposed between
them and the actors than if the glass plate remained permanently in
position during the scene. The hidden or lower stage may be provided
with a well or hole up which an actor can rise; he will then appear as
a spectre rising out of the visible stage. The lanterns may be provided
with coloured glasses in order to heighten the effect. As the actors
on the visible stage do not themselves see the spectral images, marks
should be placed on the stage or other indications made in order that
they may know the position which the spectres appearing to the audience
are to occupy. In order to appear upright upon the visible stage the
actor or object on the hidden stage should be inclined so as to be as
nearly as practicable parallel with the surface of the glass screen. In
effecting this assistance is afforded by the screen _k_ of the hidden
stage. Several sheets of glass may be similarly employed at the same
time if one is not of sufficient width to cover the different parts of
the stage at which it is desired that the spectre should appear, the
interval or junction being concealed by the introduction of a tree or
column or some other piece of scenery.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim
to any of the parts separately, but what we claim is the combined
arrangement as herein described of a glass inclined forwards towards
the audience, and two stages, one the ordinary visible stage, and the
other a hidden stage at a lower level than the ordinary visible stage
and illuminated with a much stronger light than either the ordinary
visible stage or the body of the house, and which light is capable of
being instantaneously, or, if so required, gradually withdrawn and
restored.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Pepper, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day
of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
J. H. PEPPER. (L.S.)
Returning to the author’s narrative:—The Ghost illusion was first shown
in what was called the small theatre of the Royal Polytechnic, but
as the audience increased so rapidly it was removed by the following
Easter and shown on a grander scale in the large theatre of the
Institution, and where the dissolving views were usually exhibited.
The late Mr. O’Connor, of the Haymarket, painted the first scene used,
representing the laboratory of “The Haunted Man,” which Christmas story
the late Charles Dickens, by his special written permission, allowed
me to use for the illustration of the Ghost illusion. This ghost scene
ran for fifteen months, and helped to realise, in a very short time,
the sum of twelve thousand pounds, not counting what I received for
granting licences to use the Ghost, and also the sums realised during
many successive years as new ghost stories were brought out.
Sylvester now patented the use of looking-glass in the performance of
the Ghost, which I thought very good, and bought of him—he could only
infringe my patent by attempting to use it, and therefore his patent
was useless to anybody else but myself.
Mr. King, of Bath, brought out what he termed a “New Patent Ghost”; but
my solicitors, Messrs. Hughes, Masterman, and Hughes, very soon quashed
the alleged patent by appearing against Mr. King, when he tried to get
his patent passed before the Solicitor-General, the result of which is
thus described by
THE
London New Music Hall Journal.