A New or Improved Sash Fastener.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Sash Fastener.
I WILLIAM HENRY TONKS, Managing Director of Tonks Limited, of Moseley
Street, Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, 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 consists of the new or improved sash fastener hereinafter described
and iliustrated in the accompanying drawing.
My new or improved sash fastener has for its principal object to prevent the
rattling of the sashes of the windows during windy weather and the noise
consequent on the said rattling. The said new or improved sash fastener also
enables the sashes of the window to be securely fixed in a partly open position
for ventilating purposes as well as in their closed position. Further when the
sashes of the window are closed and fastened by my new or improved fastener the
meeting bars of the said sashes are pressed so closely together and the said sashes
are pressed so closely against the window frame as to effectually exclude dust and
draught.
My new or improved sash fastener is simple in construction and efficient in
action.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing represent in front and side elevation
respectively my new or improved sash fastener in connection with a portion of a
closed window the said sash fastener being in its advanced or acting position.
Figure 3 represents the same view as Figure 2 the sashes of the window being
unfastened and the fastener being partly in section ;
Figure 4 represents the same view as Figure 2 except that the sashes of the
window are represented fastened in a partly open position for the purpose of
ventilation;
Figure 5 represents partly in side elevation and partly in section the sash
fastener detached, the said Figure being drawn to a larger scale than the other
figures of the drawing.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the
drawing.
My new or improved sash fastener consists of a screw a working in a screw
box secured to the side of the window frame, the said screw box being situated
preferably at a distance of from six to nine inches below the meeting rails of
the two sashes when the sashes are in their closed position. The outer end of the
said screw a is provided with a milled head c to facilitate the rotation of the
screw a in its screw box b. The inner end of the said screw a carries a disc like
pressing plate & the said plate d being capable of a rotary motion on the end of the
The acting
said screw, but the said plate d may be fixed on the end of the screw.
face of the pressing plate d is preferably provided with a washer e of leather or
other yielding material the said leather washer e being in the form of a ring held
in a concentric annular depression in the face of the pressing plate d by the over-
hanging sides of the said depression. The said leather or other yielding washer e
prevents injury to the wood of the sash when the plate d is forcibly pressed
against the said sash as hereinafter described.
The action of the sash fastener is as follows ;-
When it is desired to fasten the window, the screw a is rotated by its milled
head c in the direction proper to advance the leather faced pressing plate d
against the frame of the lower sash; the further motion of the screw a forces the
said plate, without rotation, against the said lower sash, the end of the screw
rotating in the now fixed pressing plate. The meeting rail of the lower sash is

page_text: thereby pressed against the meeting rail of the upper sash and the two sashes are
forced against the sides of the grooves in the window frame in which they work
and the sashes of the window are securely fastened in their closed position as
represented in Figures 1 and 2.
By the forcing of the window sashes against the sides of the grooves in the
window frame in addition to binding the sashes together at their meeting rails, the
rattling of the sashes in their grooves and the noise consequent on the said rattling
is prevented and the exclusion of wind and dust is secured.
In order to unfasten the window and if desired to re-fasten the sashes in a partly
open position it is only necessary to turn the milled head c of the screw a in an
opposite direction to that required to fasten the window, one or two turns generally
sufficing to unlock the sashes from one another and from the window frame; the
sashes may now be opened and by advancing the screw a in its screw box 6 the
sashes are refastened in a partly open position as represented in Figure 4.
Although I have described my new or improved sash fastener as applied to one
side only of the window frame 1 prefer to use it at both sides of the window frame
and it may be applied to windows having the ordinary quadrant or other sash
fastener on the meeting rails of the said sashes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that I claim
as my invention ;-
The new or improved sash fastener herein before described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawing; the said sash fastener consisting of a screw working in a
screw box fixed on the side of the window frame, the outer end of the screw
having a milled head for turning it and the inner end having a disc like pressing
plate, preferably made capable of rotation on the said screw, the advance of the
said screw causing the said pressing plate to force the said sashes together and
against the window frame substantially as and for the purposes described.
Dated this 25th day of October 1893.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.