AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPRING HINGES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
SPRING HINGES. A communication from abroad by George Bowen
Pierson of the City of New York.
Sealed the 23rd April 1861, and dated the 20th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th November 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
SPRING HINGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of increasing or diminishing, and of
reversing, and even of neutralizing, the action of the springs of hinges, parti-
cularly those known as butt hinges. The object sought to be obtained is
effected by holding the, helical spring, which lies within the barrel of the
hinge, at more or less tension, or leaving it perfectly slack, so that it shall not
act. To this end the extremities of the coiled spring are inserted in caps
which close respectively the upper and lower ends of the barrel. The lower
is locked to the lower half of the barrel, and the upper cap is locked to
the leaf of the upper part of the hinge, either by means of a ring with a
cap

page_text: polygonal inner periphery taking on to a corresponding surface of the cap, and
such ring being. provided with a fork or clip to embrace the wing of the upper
half of the hinge barrel, or by the cap being secured to that part of the hinge
by a wedge, removeable pin, or other locking attachment. The pintle passes
through the axis of the hinge and through the caps to secure the two parts of
the hinge together. By giving the upper cap, when raised from its seat, an
axial movement after the end of the spring has been applied thereto, and then
locking it to the hinge, the spring may be slackened, or its power increased, as
thought desirable. The disengagement of the spring from the adjustable cap
will prevent the spring from acting. The inner face of each cap is fitted with
a projection for sustaining the ends of the spring and removing all tendency
of the spring to collapse.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office, on
the 20th May 1861.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County.
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF SPRING HINGES," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
änd 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby,
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this. Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, is to obtain a simple and convenient means for changing the action
of the spring in spring hinges, particularly those which are used for doors,
shutters, and known under the name of "spring butt hinges." By thus pro-
viding a means for changing the action of the spring, or reversing the action
of the spring in the hinge, the doors, shutters, &c. to which they are attached
may either be held open or closed at pleasure. Besides this advantage
attending the improved spring hinge there is another of equal importance, and
that is, that the spring in the hinge may be strengthened and made to operate
with greater or less force, as may be found desirable, without inconvenience or
much loss of time.
The Invention consists in a novel manner of attaching the ends of the
helical spring, which is encased in the eye of the hinge to the upper or lower
ends of the two leaves which form the body of the hinge, whereby the two
leaves will be properly held together, and the spring may be made to act upon
the leaves so as to open or close them with greater or less force, as will be
herein-after more fully explained.
17
The Invention also consists in employing a lug in combination with each
cap, to which the ends of the helical spring are attached for the purpose of
stiffening the spring by preventing it from operating more at one point than
at another, as will be herein-after described.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 is a view of the improved spring
binge, showing, in a diametrical section through the eye of the hinge, the
attachment of the upper end of the spring to one leaf of the hinge; Figure?
is a top view of Figure 1; Figures 3, 4, and 5, are perspective views of the
parts of Figures 1 and 2 in detail; Figures 6 and 7 represent a modification
of Figure 1; Figures 8 and 9 represent another modification of Figure 1;
Figures 10 and 11 represent another modification of Figure 1; Figures 12, 13,
and 14, represent detail views of a modification of Figure 1; Figures 15 and 16
represent still another modification of Figure 1. Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
In Figure 1 of the Drawings A is the upper leaf, and A¹ is the lower leaf
of the hinge; B, B', are the tubular eyes of the same, which are made quite
large in diameter for the purpose of receiving a suitably strong helical spring C,

page_text: the lower end of which is attached to the fixed end portion D, and its upper
end to a cap E, the modifications of which cap are represented in Figures 3,
6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16; G is the pintle which passes through the
axis of the hinge, and through the two portions D and E, and confines the
two parts of the hinge together, and also the two portions D and E to the ends
of the hinge. The eyes B, B', of the hinge are fitted together by a male and
female joint which keeps the eyes in their proper place, when the two parts of
the hinge are secured together by the pintle G, as above described, and as
represented in Figure 1 of the Drawing. The lower portion D interlocks
with the eye of the hinge part A¹, so as not to be allowed to turn, but the
cap E is allowed to rotate on its axis, i. c.; the pintle G which passes through
it. The ends of the helical spring C are attached respectively to the cap E
and fixed portion D, by simply inserting them in their respective holes in the
portions D, E, as shown in Figure 1. The two portions A, A¹, of the hinge
being thus secured together by the pintle G, they will open and close in a
similar manner to any ordinary hinge, and the hinge may be used as such.
The cap E of Figure 1, to which the upper end of the spring C is attached, has
an octagonal portion a formed on it, above which is a cylindrical portion a¹
having a number of perforations made transversely through it. The lower end
of this cap E fits into the end of the eye B, so that the cap will be thus held
in place but allowed to rotate; H is a ring, shown clearly in Figure 4, with
a lip c projecting from its periphery, which lip has a V-groove cut into its
edge, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, corresponding to a V-tenon c' which projects
from the upper end, and near the eye of the leaf A. The inside surface of this
ring H has an octagonal surface corresponding to the octagonal portion a on
the cap E. The ring H has also a tubular portion d'below the octagonal
surface, for fitting over the end of the eye B when the ring is down in its place,
as shown in Figure 1. This peculiarly shaped ring H is used to connect the
cap E with the upper portion A of the hinge; and this is done by slipping the
'ring over the cap E. and the V-groove in the portion c on the tenon c¹, and
rotating the cap E with a piece of wire which is passed through the perforations
in the head of the cap E, so as to serve as a lever until the cap E will fit down
closely in its place, as represented in Figures 1 and 2. If the leaves A, A¹,
of the hinge be closed when the cap is thus put on, the action of the spring
which is connected with the cap E, will tend to keep the leaves in this closed
state, and vice versa if the leaves of the hinge be open when the cap E is
applied. To increase the action of the spring G upon the leaves of the hinge
to close them the cap is rotated and the spring is wound up, and while the
cap is held the ring is slipped down into its place, and the closing action of

page_text: the spring will be transmitted through the ring to the leaf A. By reversing
the rotation of the cap E (the ring H being raised for this purpose), the opening
action can be applied.
. From this description it will be seen that by removing the ring piece II, or
by detaching it from the leaf A, the hinge will move freely and operate like
any ordinary hinge, the bearings being upon the middle ends of the eyes B, B'.
Now, by introducing a piece of strong wire into one of the perforations in the
cylindrical portion of the cap E to serve as a lever, this cap may be rotated as
many times as may be desired, thus winding up the spring C. While the
spring. C is held in this state by dropping the ring H over the octagonal
portion a, and passing the tenon c¹ into the V-groove c; a lock will be formed
between the cap and the swinging leaf A of the hinge; and the spring C.may
thus be made to act directly on this leaf to close the door, gate, or shutter to
which the hinges may be applied; then by raising the ring H from the nut'
portion a of the cap E, reversing the rotation of the cap E, and again dropping
the ring H in place, the spring C will operate to keep the door in an open
Or by disengaging the V-groove from its tenon c, it will be seen that
the door will swing open or shut as freely as: with an ordinary butt hinge.
The top end of the eye B.is made to receive a portion of the ring H, so that
the ring will rest snugly and keep in its place when in use. The portion a' on
the cap E-is octagonal, and the inside of the ring His made to fit over this
angular portion; thus at every eighth turn of the cap E the ring may be set in
place, giving a gradually increasing force to the spring C, and enabling any
person to increase or diminish this force at pleasure while the hinges are in
use and applied to a door, gate, shutter, &c. J, J, are lugs which project
respectively from the inner ends of the portions D, E, a suitable distance into
the barrel of the spring C, to give increased stiffness to the entire spring by
preventing the ends of the barrel from collapsing, and by distributing the
applied power over its whole length.
state.
In Figure 7 the upper end of the spring C is attached to a cap F which
has perforations formed around its periphery (see Fig. 6,) for receiving a
small handle, and this cap F is attached to a flange e which projects out from
the end of the eye B by a pin g, which is passed through a vertical hole in
the cap F, and into a hole in the flange e; this flange is furnished with a
5 number of holes for receiving the pin g.
Figure 9 is another modification of Figure 1, in which the end of the eye B
is made octagonal, and the cap E is used with its octagonal portion a. A
ring H', shown in Figure 8, is used in this case to connect the cap with the
eye B.

page_text: In Figures, 10 and 11 the cap K. is. furnished with notches f, f, around its
edge, and a sliding pin h, which is attached to the leaf A, is used to connect
this cap with the leaf.
In Figure 13. the cap K¹ is notched, as shown best in the detached view,
Fig. 12, and a key pin h¹ is used to attach the leaf A to this cap K³
In Figure 16 the cap L fits over the end of the eye B, and a pink is passed
through perforations in the side of the cap L, and into a hole or holes made
transversely through the shell of the eye B.
'In all of these modifications the hinge differs merely in the manner of
attaching a cap; to which the upper end of the spring C is connected, to the
eye B or leaf A of the hinge. It will be seen that all these modifications of
the сар,
and its attachment to the. hinge, admit of the several adjustments
before mentioned for changing, increasing, or diminishing the action of-the
spring upon the leaves.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improvement in
the Construction of Spring Hinges," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent,
I claim, the arrangement of parts constituting a spring hinge, substantially in
the manner and for the purposes herein specified..
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, 'this Twentieth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)