AN IMPROVED FRICTION JOINT OR BEARING FOR TOILET CLASSES AND OTHER SWING FRAMES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Weybridge Ferris, of Portland. Terrace, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
FRICTION JOINT OR BEARING FOR TOILET CLASSES AND OTHER SWING
FRAMES."
Sealed the 29th January 1878, and dated the 31st July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Weybridge Ferris
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st July 1877.
HENRY WEYBRIDGE FERRIS, of Portland Terrace, Regent's Park, in the County
of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED FRICTION JOINT OR BEARING FOR TOILET GLASSES
AND OTHER SWING FRAMES."
The object of my Invention is to provide toilet glasses and other swing frames
with a simple means of retaining them in any desired position. For this purpose I
fix in each of the standards or supports of the swing frame a block or piece of
vulcanized india-rubber, and in this block or piece I make a circular aperture so
that it may form a bearing for the axis of the swing frame. To the swing frame on
each side I attach a wooden spindle or journal, which fits the aperture in the corre-
sponding block of vulcanized india-rubber. The frictional resistance or bite"
between the spindles and their india-rubber bearings is sufficient to retain the
swing frame in any desired position while permitting it to be readily adjusted. The
spindles may be sufficiently long to extend through the standards, and knobs or
rosettes may be fitted to their outer ends.
#f
Instead of vulcanized india-rubber any other material which will produce the
necessary "bite" or friction may be employed, such, for instance, as gutta percha;
and instead of making the spindles of wood they may be made of any other suitable
hard material.

page_text: In some cases I reverse the positions of the india-rubber and the wood, that is to
say, I make the bearings of wood and the spindles or journals of india-rubber, or of
a hard core covered with india-rubber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Weybridge Ferris in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st
January 1878.
HENRY WEYBRIDGE FERRIS, of Portland Terrace, Regent's Park, in the County
of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED FRICTION JOINT OR BEARING FOR TOILET GLASSES
AND OTHER SWING FRAMES."
The object of my Invention is to provide toilet glasses and other swing frames
with a simple means of retaining them in any desired position. For this purpose I
fix in each of the standards or supports of the swing frame a block or piece of
vulcanized india-rubber, and in this block or piece I make a circular aperture so
that it may form a bearing for the axis of the swing frame. To the swing frame, on
each side, I attach a wooden spindle or journal which fits the aperture in the corre-
sponding block of vulcanized india-rubber. The frictional resistance or "bite"
between the spindles and their india-rubber bearings is sufficient to retain the
swing frame in any desired position while permitting it to be readily adjusted, and
as the wood spindles will not cut into the india-rubber bearings the axis of the
swing frame will always remain horizontal and true.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate my Invention :-
Figures 1 and 2 represent one modification, Figure 1 being a front view, partly
in section, of a portion of a swing frame and of one of the standards which support
it, and Figure 2 a section through the line x, x, of Figure 1. A is the standard, and
B the swing frame. In the standard I form a circular recess or mortise C in which
I fit a ring or washer D of vulcanized india-rubber; this ring or washer may be
fixed by any suitable cement. To the side of the swing frame I secure by screws E, E,
a wooden spindle F which fits the ring or washer D, as shewn. The other side of
the swing frame and the other standard are of course similarly provided respectively
with a wooden spindle and a vulcanized rubber ring. The centre of the mortise C
is cut deeper than the outer portion, as shewn in the Figure, this deeper portion
being of rather larger diameter than the spindle F, so that there is an annular
space H round the inner end of the spindle. In the modification shewn in Figure 3
the spindle F has a flange G through which the screws E, E, for fixing it to the
frame B are passed; shorter screws can thus be used than those required by the
modification represented in Figures 1 and 2. If desired the flange G may be let into
the frame B instead of being outside, as shown. Figure 4 shews a modification in
which the screws are dispensed with, the spindle F being formed with a square F¹
which fits into a corresponding recess or mortise in the frame B. Although I have
shewn the vulcanized rubber D in the form of a ring or washer, its outer configu-
ration may be square or of other form, the recess C in the standard being of corre-
sponding form.
Instead of making the spindles of wood they may be made of any other suitable
hard material.

page_text: In some cases I reverse the positions of the india-rubber and the wood, that is to
say, I make the bearings D of wood, and the spindles or journals F of india-rubber,
or of a hard core covered with india-rubber.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing the friction joints
or bearings of toilet glasses and other swing frames, substantially as herein-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Weybridge Ferris, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-eight.
HENRY W. FERRIS. (L. s.)