United States Letters Patent No. 54,416, granted to T.E. Sexton of Wilmington, Delaware, for "Improvements in Photographic Printing-Frames," issued May 1, 1866, signed by the Secretary of the Interior and countersigned by the Commissioner of Patents. The accompanying patent specification, printed by the American Photo-Lithographic Co., N.Y. (Osborne's Process), runs three pages of text and one sheet of technical drawings, with witnesses C.B. Price and Charles E. Foster, and the inventor's attorney identified as J. Norris.

The patent drawing sheet illustrates five figures: a plan view of the improved frame (Fig. 1), the same with parts removed (Fig. 2), a cross-section (Fig. 3), an inverted plan view (Fig. 4), and an enlarged detail section (Fig. 5). The frame consists of an oblong wooden frame (A) fitted with a glass negative plate (B), two hinged and padded boards (C, C'), spring-plates (D), an adjustable wooden strip (F), set-screws (G, G'), a metal plate (H) with thumb-nut bolts (I, J), and a ground-glass plate (Z) used for vignette printing.

Sexton's specification describes the central problem his invention solved: existing printing frames made it impossible to return the sensitized plate to its exact position after examination, causing prints to be either too dark or too light. His spring-plate and adjustable strip mechanism allowed the plate to be removed and precisely repositioned as many times as needed during solar printing, enabling consistent tonal depth without loss of sharpness. The single claim covers the adjustable strip F as applied to a standard photographic printing frame.

The patent grant document measures approximately 20 by 16 inches, with an engraved vignette of the Patent Office building, red ribbon, and gold embossed seal affixed at lower left. The patent number "No. 54,416" is inscribed in ink at the upper left corner of the grant. The drawing sheet is signed "T.E. Sexton, Inventor" with witness signatures of John Parker and S.H. Stowe Godwin.