CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF PROTECTING VALUABLE ARTICLES EXHIBITED IN SHOP FRONTS AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Harry Emanuel at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
December 1863.
I, HARRY EMANUEL, of Brook Street, Hanover Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Diamond Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF PROTECTING VALUABLE
ARTICLES EXHIBITED IN SHOP FRONTS AND OTHER PLACES," to be as follows:-
of
A practice of thieves consists in breaking shop or other windows and
abstracting valuable articles through the opening so formed. Now the object
my Invention is to prevent this description of robbery. To avoid repetition
I use the word "show surface" to denote the case, shelf, platform, or other
surface or support on which the articles to be exhibited are arranged.
According to my Invention, I effect the above object of protecting valuable
articles by supporting the show surface on contrivances which retain it in.
suitable position for exhibiting the articles thereon or therein, but which, by
the action of breaking, striking, or pushing the window or front, cause or
allow the show surface to be depressed or removed out of reach of a person
without or in front. And instead of or in addition to this method I fit and
arrange a moveable shield, guard, shutter, or fence in such position and by
such contrivances that when the window or front be broken or forcibly struck,
such contrivances shall be acted on and force the shield, guard, shutter, or
fence to move in front of the show surface and so interpose itself between the
same and a person in front.
Various modes may be adopted for carring this into effect. For example,

page_text: in one arrangement, in which the show surface is moveable, the shop front
may consist of a moveable or sliding frame held in position in a fixed frame
by stops, so that when a blow or push be applied against the window the
sliding frame will be driven backward and will drive the show surface back-
ward with it, or will drive it over an opening through which it will descend,
moving in either case out of reach of the person in front; or the shop front
may be a fixture, and between it and the show surface springs may be fitted
and compressed by studs abutting against the front, which springs, on a blow
or push being applied to the front, will be released and will drive the show
surface back or over an opening through which it will descend; or instead of
the show surface being moveable a shutter may be suspended by a cord or the
like connected with a counterweight, such shutter dropping in a recess, so as
not to conceal the articles to be exhibited, and the weight resting on a support
connected with stops abutting against the window; on a blow or push being
applied to the latter the support will be removed from the weight, which will
drop and the shutter will rise in front of the show surface to fence it from a
person in front, or the shutter may be contrived to fall instead of rising.
Levers and other contrivances or arrangements may be used for performing
the Invention, that is to say, the show surface may be supported on or moved
by levers or jointed arms, links, rods, or bars, the opposite ends of which
terminate in stops or studs abutting against the window or the moveable
frame, so that on a blow or push being applied to the window or frame the
ends of the levers or jointed arms, rods, or bars, will move outward or down-
ward and push the show surface over the opening, through which it will
descend; or where a shield or fence is used, the ends of the lever or jointed
arms, rods, or bars, when actuated as described, will move the supports which
hold the weight and so release it and work the shield or fence. The show
surface may be moved or depressed, or the shutter or guard raised, lowered,
or moved by similar contrivances worked from within if desirable.