US1025338A - Method and apparatus for theatrical purposes. - Google Patents

Description

I). W. TROY. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THEATRIGAL PURPOSES. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14, 1911.

1,025,338, 1 Patented May 7,1912.

2 SHEBTSSHEET 1.

HUT-1311255125 1 n-u-En-tmd:

M W v i -D. W. TROY. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THEATBIGAL PURPOSES.

APIPLIUATIOH FILED JAN 14, 1911.

Patentd ma 7, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR WI TN E 88E 8:

mtr nsTnTn-sPATEnTO nanrnnw, racy, or. monreoanpnx, argnaiqag marnon am) arranarus ronmnmrmonnrunrosnsl j Specification of Letters Intent, q Application filed January 14, 1911., Serial no, 6Q2,,'l5.

' Patented Mayf, 19i2.

To all whom it may, concern;

Be it known that I, DANIEL W. TROY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of Montgomery, State,

of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus for Theatrical Purposes, of which this is a specification, referencebeing had 29 escent material'so' as to bevisible through non-fiuorescentmaterial, and Fig. 9 shows a modified use of fluorescentmaterial.

In general the invention is carried'into efi'cct by providing theatrical costumes, scenery, stage effects, and the like, composed wholly or in part of fluorescent material,

and then exciting such material by a source of substantially ultra-violet light, suchas an arc lamp screened by dark blue or" violet cobalt glass or an equlvalent medium substantially opaque to visible light but sub? stantially transparent to ultra-violet light.

The invention is further carried into eflect by intermittently illuminating the costumes, etc., by ordinary and by substantially ultraviolet light; and also by illuminating fluorescent material, on the persons or costumes of performers, for example, covered by semitransparent .or translucent non-fluorescent material such as lace, gauze, or other more or less openwork textile fabric, thus obtaining a strikin luminous body vlsible through a partly opaque covering.

In applying the fluorescent material I may treat fabrics by immersion in a fluorescent solution, such as thatof fluorescein, or of uranin, or of other substances of like qualities. When dried such fabrics are bril- In the drawing Figure 1 shows a general.

and novel effect of a,

liantly luminous under strong ultraviolet varnish or thelike. Efficient results can be had by employing uranium glass in the form i of beads,-spangle s, and other ornaments, and

W'hile avail attached as by sewing to fabrics etc. there exist a considerable number of able fluorescent materials I prefer to employ.

one of the hydrocarbons .such" as .fluore'scein or uranin for treatingfabric, owing to its simplicity of application and cheapness, and to use uranium glass for spangles orornaments, although the uranium sulfate in its ordinary commercial form is liantly fluorescent and there are many other materials obtainable in the form of crystals or powders, among them calciumtungstate, which are, perhaps, as desirable asuranium glass. I y

In Fig. 1, the source of illumination. is shown as a spotlight pro'ector, or. are lamp 1, providedwltli a re ector, (parily broken away in the figure) and I norma ly screened by such a medium as.deeply.,colored..

cobalt glass or other materialsubstantially transparent to ultra-violet li ht butsubstantially opa'ue to ordinary, light. A. deeply colored co alt. glass is effective in practice but a combination of cobalt glass ,and some other material canbeemployed to, advantage if the light transmitted-is desired-more completely ultra-violet.in character. In the figure such a screen is shownat 2 as a hinged front orcover to theprojector. The source or sources of ultra-violet excitation may be disposed as in a balcony orgallery 3, .or elsewhere. At is a performer, standingon a stage 5, 6 and 6' being parts offsc'enery, and 7 a back drop.- Obv1ously,-the,fluorescent material may be a pliedftq anyor allof the objects illuminate by the projector. or projectors empl0ycd. As an example of the practical operation of: the invention, the

clothing of the performermay. be assumed] to'be treatedas described. An illumination with the unscreened projector discloses nothquite 'as bril against a practically dark-background, par

ticularlyif the sole illumination of the sta e is that afforded by the projector. It shou d be understood, however, that the fluores-f cence, especially under strong ultra-violet excitation, is sufiicientlybrilliant. to afford ,morelthan passable efl'ects even if the stage is at the same time illuminated by incandescent lampsfalthough the fluorwcent' material is, of course, more effective when it constitutes practically the sole source of stage illumination. Thisis especially true of the less brilliantly fluorescent materials many of which are very inexpensive an give-off fluorescent light of great beauty though less strongly than such substances as .uramum glass, calcium tungstate, etc,

' vided with an eye 11', for attachment to fabric or other material.

Fig. 5 shows a detail of a' net work, or

bead work, fluorescent beads, 9, 9, etc., being shown strung on cords or threads 10, 10.

Fig. 6 shows a plurality of spangles, 11, 11, etc., attached to a fabric 12.

Fig. 7 shows a detail of a fringe of relatively long beads orcylinders, 9', 9', attached to cords 10, 10.

Various other methods of attachment of fluorescent material are entirely obvious and need no description. a. i

In Fig. 8 the application of the invention to the illumination of fluorescent material partly screened by non-fluorescent material is illustrated generally. On a stage or platform 14, is a performer 15, having a portion of her fluorescent costume, 16, covered by some such translucent materlal as the gauze or lace skirt and sleeves, 17, 17, 17. One

spot-light projector is shown at 18, screened by a readily removable light-filter such as described with reference to Fig. 1. Beneath the stage may be another source. of illumination,'such as the projector 18, and a mirror for directing the light upward through the stage (which in this case must be provided either with a glass covered opening such as indicated in sectional view, or an open-work grating). The operation of the apparatus is obvious. In practice I have obtained efl'ective results by illuminating the fluorescent material through the overlying non-fluorescent material, although in this case the degree of excitation is not the highest as a sub stantial portion of the ultra-violet light is stopped by theoverlying material. The best results are to be had by an organization such as shown where as much as possible the ultraviolet excitation is bad by unscreened illumination of the fluorescent material. Any fabric not materially denser than an average silk handkerchief allows sufficient ultra-vio-' let light to pass tovery eflectively excite such a material as uranium glass or uraniu sulfate, if the are employed is approximately egual in candlepower to that usually emp oyed in moving picture apparatus, and the fluorescent light is quite brilliant enough to plainly show through the non-fluorescent covering.

It will be understood that a performer, or a plurality of performers, attired as described, may be first exhibited under the normal illumination,- when the fluorescent phenomena will not be apparent, and then exhibited under the substantially ultra violet excitation; or the different illuminations can be alternated at will. The effects which may be had are sufficiently obvious.

In Fig. 9 I have shown a detail of the application of fluorescent material in the representation of a fire-fly, 19, which may be formed of uranium glass (or any other suitable substance) and attached to the clothing of performers, or exhibited as flying through the air .(in such case sus nded by a nonfluorescent support) or ot erwise.

It will be understood that while the de scription has been principally directed to the treatment of costumes the invention is equall applicable to practically all stage parap ernalia.. It will also be understood that the invention is not limited in application to objects displayed on a stage, since it maybe employed in connection with outdoor representations such as parades, pageants, and the like.

Obviously the invention can be carried into eflect with other sources of ultra-violet light than those described; among these, the various uviol lam s recently employed in producing substantia ly ultra-violet light for germicidal purposes; but for ordinary theatrical pur oses I prefer to employ the ordinary arc amps generally used and screen them with cobalt glass or some other suitable medium. 1 1

It is to be noted that while the invention employs the ultra-violet light as the exciting agent an illumination or excitation substantially ultra-violet is quite efiicient and is very easlly had. a

' Having described the invention, what I claim is 1. The method described, consisting in success'vely directing upon fluorescent material over aid in part by non-fluorescent material and carried by a performer, lights, one substantially ultra-violet in character and the other substantially visible in character, whereby first one and then the other of said materials is rendered principally visible, substantially as set forth.

2. The method described, consisting in successively directing, upon a costume com-- posed in'part of fluorescent material and in part of non-fluorescent material and carried by a performer, lights, one the greater porconsists of visible rays, whereby first one and then the other of said materials may be rendered principally visible, substantially as I set forth.

3. Apparatus of-the class described, consisting of a theatrical costume composed in part of fluorescent material and in part of non-fluorescent material, a source of light, and means for successively directing agalnst said costume substantially visible and substantially ultra-Violet light.

4:. As means for theatrical display, a costume composed in part of fluorescent mate rial and a source of subtantially ultra-violet light'arranged to excite such material, substantially as set forth.

5.As means for theatrical display, a costume comprising an .inner garment composed in part offluorescent material, and an outer garment of non-fluorescent material and of open Work texture, and a source of substantially ultra-violet light arranged to excite such fluorescent material, substantially as set forth.

Witnessmy hand this 11th day of January

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