Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 14th May, 1888
Complete Accepted, 15th June, 1888
I THOMAS WALKER of Brook Street Works St. Paul's Birmingham in the County
of Warwick Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as
follows:-
My invention has reference to buckles for braces garters belts and bands having
spring hooks and my said invention consists principally in the method hereinafter
described of making and connecting the spring tongue or spring guard to the body of
the buckle.
My invention is applicable to buckles in which the web belt or band is fixed to
the buckle frame either by prongs or by a lever or other gripping mechanism.
I will describe my invention,as applied to a brace buckle to which it is particularly
applicable.
I take a strip of sheet metal somewhat longer than the length of the spring tongue
or spring guard of the hook to be made and I bend inwards the lower end of the said
strip or that end which in the finished spring hook engages inside the top end of the
beak or nose of the hook. The other end of the strip which is to be fixed to the
body of the buckle tapers to about half the breadth of the widest part of
the strip. In order to fix the strip described to the buckle frame to form the spring
tongue or guard of the spring hook the top edge of the lower bar of the buckle frame
is notched and below the notched edge two parallel piercings are made at a short
distance apart the lengths of the said piercings corresponding with the breadth of the
tapering end of the strip which is to be fixed to the buckle frame. The top piercing
is wider than the bottom piercing.
In attaching the strip to form the spring tongue or guard of the hook to the
buckle frame the tapering end of the said strip is threaded through the piercings
described in the following manner. The tapering end of the strip is first bent over
the notched edge of the buckle bar to the back of the said bar the said bent end
taking into and filling the said notch. It is then passed from the back of the bar
through the top piercing to the front of the bar and then through the bottom
piercing to the back of the bar and the extreme end clinched or riveted on the
back of the bar. By thus threading or bending the tapering end of the strip

page_text: backwards and forwards through the piercings in the buckle bar the spring tongue
or spring guard is very firmly attached to the buckle frame the bent part of the
strip at the front of the bar between the two piercings forming a curved abutment
against which the upper end of the spring tongue or spring guard bears. The action
of the spring tongue or spring guard of the spring hook for retaining the ring of
the brace tabs in the hook is the same as that of the ordinary spring hook.
Instead of attaching the tabs to the ring as described the ring may form part of
the frame of the buckle and the spring hook with the spring tongue or spring guard
be connected to the tabs.
Dated this Fifth day of October 1887
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Buckles for Braces, Garters, Belts, and Bands.
I THOMAS WALKER of Brook Street Works, St. Paul's Birmingham in the
County of Warwick Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention has reference to buckles for braces, garters, belts and bands having
spring hooks and my said invention consists principally in the method hereinafter
described of making and connecting the spring tongue or spring guard to the body of
the buckle.
My invention is applicable to buckles in which the web, belt or band is fixed to the
buckle frame either by prongs or by a lever or other gripping mechanism.
I will describe my invention as applied to a brace buckle to which it is particularly
applicable.
I take a strip of sheet metal somewhat longer than the length of the spring tongue
-or-spring-guard of the hook to be made and I bend inwards the lower end of the said
strip or that end which in the finished spring hook engages inside the top end of the
beak or nose of the hook. The other end of the strip which is to be fixed to the body of
the buckle tapers to about half the breadth of the widest part of the strip. In order
to fix the strip described to the buckle frame to form the spring tongue or guard of
the spring hook the top edge of the lower bar of the buckle frame is notched and
below the notched edge two parallel piercings are made at a short distance apart, the
lengths of the said piercings corresponding with the breadth of the tapering end of
the strip which is to be fixed to the buckle frame. The top piercing is wider than the
bottom piercing.
In attaching the strip to form the spring tongue or guard of the hook to the

page_text: buckle frame the tapering end of the said strip is threaded through the piercings
described in the following manner. The tapering end of the strip is first bent over
the notched edge of the buckle bar to the back of the said bar the said bent end
taking into and filling the said notch. It is then passed from the back of the bar
through the top piercing to the front of the bar and then through the bottom piercing
to the back of the bar and the extreme end clinched or rivetted on the back of the
bar. By thus threading or bending the tapering end of the strip backwards and
forwards through the piercings in the buckle bar the spring tongue or spring guard
is very firmly attached to the buckle frame, the bent part of the strip at the front of
the bar between the two piercings forming a curved abutment against which the upper
end of the spring tongue or spring guard bears.
The action of the spring tongue or spring guard of the spring hook for retaining
the ring of the brace tabs in the hook is the same as that of the ordinary spring
hook.
Instead of attaching the tabs to the ring as described the ring may form part of
the frame of the buckle and the spring hook with the spring tongue or spring guard
be connected to the tabs.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in front and side elevation,
drawn to a large scale, a brace buckle (or other buckle) provided with a spring hook,
the spring tongue or spring guard of the said hook being made and attached
according to my invention.
a is the buckle frame and the hook made from a prolongation of the bottom
bar of the said buckle frame: è is the spring tongue or spring guard of the hook
made from a separate strip of sheet metal and attached to the bottom bar of the
buckle frame according to my invention and as hereinafter described is the loop or
loop plate carrying the tab of the brace or the end of the garter, belt or band to be
connected to the buckle, the said loop or plate d being sprung upon the hook b and
returned in its place by the spring tongue or spring guard e as is well understood.
Figure 2 represents the sheet metal blank or strip from which the spring tongue or
spring guard c is made and Figure 3 represents the spring tongue or spring guard
made from the blank Figure 2 ready to be connected to the buckle frame (or tab
loop or frame). It will be seen that the stepped end e of the blank Figure 2 is bent
into a double curve at f, Figure 3, to permit of the said ond being engaged with or
threaded through the piercings in the buckle frame.
Figure 4 represents the blank from which the buckle frame a and the hook b
are made, the spring tongue or guard c being attached by its double bend at f to the
bottom bar of the buckle frame. The hook is made from the prolonged part 2 of
the buckle frame in the ordinary way. In the bottom bar of the buckle frame a two
parallel piercings g, h (see Figure 4) of different lengths are made, the said piercings
corresponding with the breadths of the double bent parts at f of the spring guard or
tongue c. The top edge of the bar of the buckle frame is notched at i for receiving
the widest part of the tongue or guard c.
In attaching the spring tongue or guard e Figure 3 to the buckle frame, the double
bend at of the said tongue or guard is threaded through or engaged with the
piercings g, h in the buckle frame bar in the manner represented in Figure 5; that is
to say the narrow portion of the bent end at is passed through the longer piercing g
from the back to the front of the buckle frame and from the front through the
shorter piercing the broad bent part at fat the same time passing into the longer
piercing g and the broadest part of the tongue taking into and filling the notch i. The
spring tongue or guard c is next bent inwards so as to bring it, closer to the front of
the buckle frame in the manner represented in Figure 1. By this bending inwards
of the spring tongue or guard c it is retained in its place the lower fixing bend
of the said tongue or guard forming an abutment against which the upper end of
the said tongue or guard bears as represented in the Drawing. The prolonged
part 6 of the buckle frame is next bent into the hook b the beak or nose of the said
hook passing over and bearing against the free end of the spring tongue or guard c
in the manner represented in the drawing.

page_text: Figure 6 represents in front and side elevation a brace buckle in which the
hook is made from the tab plate or loop and the separate spring tongue or guard
of the hook is attached to the tab plate or loop; k is the tab plate or loop is the
hook made from the tab plate or loop and m is the spring tongue or guard of the
hook made and attached to the tab plate or loop in the manner herein before
described with respect to a buckle frame. In this modification the spring hook / is
engaged with the ring n on the buckle frame a.
Instead of bending the stepped end e Figure 2 of the tongue blank or strip into
the figure represented at f before engaging it with the piercings in the buckle frame
or tab plate the unbent stepped end e may be threaded or passed through the
piercings and bent into the figure shown in the Drawing.
The arrangement represented in Figure 6 in which the tab plate or loop, carries
the spring hook may be used with garters belts and bands as well as with braces, one
end of the garter brace or belt being attached to the plate or loop k which in this
case has by preference a rectangular figure.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as
my invention of Improvements in buckles for braces garters belts and bands having
spring hooks :-
The method hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing of
'making the spring tongue or guard of the spring hook from a separate strip of sheet
metal and connecting the separate spring tongue or guard to the body of the buckle
or to the tab plate or loop of the brace or other plate or loop to which one end of
the garter belt or band is attached substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this Fourteenth day of May 1888.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.