AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE BOWLS OR ROLLERS OF CASTORS FOR FURNITURE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James West, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Brassfounder, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
Sealed the 4th December 1860, and dated the 15th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James West at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1860.
I, JAMES WEST, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brassfounder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE BOWLS OR ROLLERS OF CASTORS FOR FURNITURE," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists in manufacturing the bowls or rollers of castors
for furniture of vegetable ivory. The said vegetable ivory is well known in
commerce as corozo or corrusco nuts. I take the said corozo or corrusco nuts
or vegetable ivory, and turn or fashion the same into bowls or rollers by the
means commonly used for turning or fashioning wood or other material.
After the said bowls or rollers have been fashioned into the required shape, I
insert into the sides and concentric with the axis of the bowls metal discs or
washers, the said discs or washers being fixed by plugging. The said discs or
washers serve as bearings for the rod or axis upon which the bowl or roller
turns. The said rod or axis passes through the bowl, and is carried by the
horns of the castor in the ordinary manner.
The vegetable ivory of which the bowls or rollers are made may be left in

page_text: the natural state, that is, colorless, or be colored, stained, or dyed, of the
required color by any suitable means.
Bowls or rollers made, according to my Invention are very durable, and have
an elegant and ornamental appearance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James West in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WEST, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brassfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James West, Her special licence that I, the said James West, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James West, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE BOWLS
OR ROLLERS OF CASTORS FOR FURNITURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James West, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James West, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in manufacturing the bowls or rollers of castors
for furniture of vegetable ivory, as herein-after described, and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing. The said vegetable ivory is well known in
commerce as corozo or corrusco nuts.

page_text: Figure 1 of the Drawing represents, in side elevation, a socket castor
provided with a bowl or roller made according to my Invention; Figure 2
represents a front elevation of the same; and Figure 3 represents a vertical
section (partly in elevation) of the same. The other Figures represent
separate views of a bowl or roller and parts of the same, as herein-after
explained. The same letters indicate the same parts in the various Figures.
a is the bowl or roller of the castor, made of vegetable ivory. The said bowl
or roller works between the horns b, b, in the ordinary manner. In making
the said bowl or roller a, I take the vegetable ivory or corozo, or corrusco
nuts, after the same have been. stripped of their outer shell, and turn or fashion
the said vegetable ivory into bowls or rollers by the machinery and means
commonly employed for turning or fashioning wood or other material. It
sometimes happens that the vegetable ivory, or corozo or corrusco nuts are
split, cracked, or unsound in their interior, in which case I remove the said
split or unsound portion, and insert into the axis of the bowl or roller, after it
has been made from the vegetable ivory, a hard wood or other plug c, as best
seen in Figure 4, which said Figure 4 represents a vertical section of a bowl
or roller in an unfinished state. The said plug e is made tightly to fit the
hole made in the bowl, and is fixed therein by glue or other cement.
said plug c has a hole d in its axis, in which hole I fix a metal tube e, as
represented in Figure 3, and in the separate view of a finished bowl, repre-
sented in Figure 5. The tube e is shown separately in elevation and section
in Figure 6. After the tube e has been placed in the bowl I insert into the
sides of the bowl, and concentric with its axis, metal discs or washers f, f, the
said dises or washers being fixed in their places by plugging, or by the rivetted
or expanded ends of the tube e bearing upon the said washers, as best seen in
the section, Figure 5. One of the discs or washers f, f, is shown separately
in Figure 7. The rod or axis g, upon which the bowl or roller turns, is passed
through the tube e, and rivetted to the horns b, b, of the castor in the usual
manner. The said tube e serves as a bearing for the said rod or axis g of the
bowl or roller a.
The
When the vegetable ivory or corozo or corrusco nuts from which the bowls
or rollers are made are sound or solid throughout, I sometimes dispense with
the wooden or other plug c and metal tube e, and use only the discs or
washers f, f, at the sides of the bowl, the said discs or washers in that case
serving as bearings for the rod or axis, which passes through the bowl, and
upon which the said bowl turns.
The vegetable ivory of which the bowls or rollers are made may be left in
its natural state, that is, colorless, or be painted, colored, stained, or dyed, or

page_text: otherwise ornamented by suitable dyes or pigments in the manner ordinarily
employed for painting, dyeing, staining, coloring, or ornamenting wood and
other materials.
Bowls or rollers made according to my Invention are very durable, and have
an elegant and ornamental appearance.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein-before described, as the same may be
varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention the improvement in the bowls or rollers of castors for furniture
herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, making the said bowls or rollers wholly or mainly of the material
known in commerce as vegetable ivory, or corozo or corrusco nuts, whether
the said bowls or rollers of vegetable ivory, or corozo or corrusco nuts be left
in an uncolored state, or be painted, stained, dyed, or otherwise ornamented.
In witness whereof, I, the said James West, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JAMES WEST. (L.S.)