Various photographers later followed in the footsteps of Henry Van der Weyde to equip their studios to extend their opening hours or alleviate dull weather. One such person was London photographer James Arthur Langton (1856 – 1945), who later traded as A. J. Langton, or Arthur J. Langton.
He had several studios, however c.1890 the printing on the back of one of his carte de visite stated that “At the Edgware Road Studios Portraits are taken at NIGHT or in any Weather by His Patent “PHOTOLUX” Apparatus, results equal to the best Sunlight Portraits.”
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who can provide me with information about this patent electric lighting system, was it really "His"? Thank you.
Comments
The full set of United Kingdom patents, directories and indexes is held by the British Library, which took over the Patent Office records two decades ago. They have never licensed or digitized the material, and modern digital portals (DEPATISnet, Espacenet, others) have relied primarily on large holdings of British patents at the Birmingham Free Library, which although extensive is an incomplete set. So researchers working on historical British patents must recognize the very incomplete results obtained through digital searches. There is no alternative source to the material at the British Library.
It's always seemed odd that they have never been digitised, especially when the US and many European patent sets have been. I guess the interest is mainly historians so perhaps less commercial.
Whilst Depatisnet, Escapenet and Patentscope all have Langton's 1903 patent, that appears to be the only one of his that they have details of. On each site a search for "Photolux" produced no matches.
Rob - Below is the patent abridgment. You can order the full patent from the IPO in Cardiff. They were always very good value, but that may have changed. I suspect they supply digitally thgese days.
Thanks Michael, much appreciated, Deac very kindly emailed me a copy of this patent last night.
However I don’t think that this is ‘his’ Photolux patent, but something much later. The CDV which I showed part of earlier related to equipment used at his Edgware Road studio which he only had from c.1884 – 1887, before his move to Buckingham Palace Road, where he remained until 1910.
My scepticism of Photolux being ‘his’ patent, is compounded by the fact that virtually all of the uses of the term, when I searched on British Newspaper Archive, were repetitive adverts from December 1885, mainly 1886 or 1887 by a Scottish photographer, John Kelly of Coatbridge, who was also using the same lighting rig.
See Arthur James Langton (of 35 Buckingham Palace Road, Westminster, photographer), UK patent 22,300 of 1903, An Improved Apparatus for Suporting, Directing, Distributing & Diffusing Artificial Light, for Illuminating Persons or Things to be Photographed, without the Aid of Daylight.
Thanks for the lead Deac. I found an abstract of it on Ancestry:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62216/records/4993019...
however Gov.uk patent search does not recognise the reference number shown there - GB190322300A. Any suggestions? Thanks Regards, Rob
Don't know about Gov.uk patent search. The patent can be found on depatis.net, which is an EU collective patents portal. Alternatively, the British Library now has all of the UK patents, and the directories, formerly at the Patents Office. On this specific UK patent, I have a copy here if you need it directly from me. Just send me an email address.
Hi Rob. Not come across Photolux but I did cover electric studio lighting in a paper in 2023. References 12 and 14 may help.
Thanks Alan, I'll follow them up. Regards, Rob