IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVEABLE SPANNERS OR SCREW WRENCHES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wilson, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVEABLE
SPANNERS OR SCREW WRENCHES."
Sealed the 19th April 1861, and dated the 29th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
October 1860.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do bereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MOVEABLE SPANNERS OR SCREW WRENCHES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in making the jaws of screw wrenches oblique
to the body or bar of the wrench so that the inner sides of the said jaws may
form an obtuse angle with the body or bar instead of a right angle as in screw
wrenches of the ordinary construction. I prefer so to place the jaws that
their inner faces make, with the body or bar of the wrench, an angle of about
one hundred and twenty degrees, but I do not limit myself to this angle. By
this method of constructing screw wrenches they are made to possess nearly
the same advantages as open-ended and non-moveable wrenches.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the following method of constructing
screw wrenches:-I make the body or bar of the screw wrench flat, and of a

page_text: thickness to give the requisite strength, and I make screw threads or teeth on
the edges of the said body or bar. The moveable jaw slides freely on the
body, and the trunk or socket of the said moveable jaw is elongated towards
the handle of the wrench. The end of the said trunk or socket carries a
collar or nut screwed internally which engages with the screw on the edge of
the body or bar of the wrench. The said screwed collar or nut passes through
openings cut at opposite sides of the trunk or socket, and thereby takes into
the teeth on the edge of the body of the wrench. By turning the screw nut in
one or other direction the moveable jaw may be made to approach to or recede
from the fixed jaw to the required distance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I THOMAS
WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, 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
Thomas Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Wilson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Wilson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVEABLE
SPANNERS OR SCREW WRENCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
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 Thomas Wilson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: '
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thercof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, firstly, in making the jaws of moveable spanners or
screw wrenches oblique to the body or bar of the moveable spanner or screw
wrench so that the inner sides of the said jaws may form an obtuse angle
with the body or bar of the wrench instead of a right angle as in moveable
screw wrenches of the ordinary construction. I prefer so to place the jaws that
the inner face of each of the jaws makes with the body or bar of the wrench
an' obtuse angle of about one hundred, and twenty degrees, but I do not limit
myself to that particular angle.
This part of my Invention as well as the second part of my Invention
herein-after described are represented in the accompanying Drawing, both
parts of my said Invention being included in the same wrench.
The first part of my Invention is best seen in Figure 1 of the accompanying
Drawing, which represents in side elevation a moveable spanner or screw
wrench, the jaws of which are constructed according to this part of my Inven-
tion. In the said Figure 1 the 'fixed and moveable jaws are marked respec-
tively a and b. The inclined inner face a², 62, of each of the jaws a, b, makes
with the body or bar c of the wrench an angle of about one hundred and
twenty degrees. The oblique direction of the faces of the jaws represented in
the Drawing is that which I prefer to use, but other inclinations of the said
jaws may be employed. By this method of constructing the jaws of moveable
spanners or screw wrenches they are made to possess in addition to their
ordinary advantages the same advantages in awkward situations as open-ended
wrenches..
My. Invention consists, secondly, in the method herein-after described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing of constructing screw wrenches.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation a wrench made according to my
Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the upper edge of the same; Figure 3 is a
plan of the lower edge of the same, partly in longitudinal section; and
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the same taken through the line d,
Figure 1; Figure 5 is a plan of the upper side of the moveable jaw of the
wrench separately. The body or bar c of the wrench, on one end of which the
fixed jaw a is situated, is made nearly flat and in one piece with the handle c²,
the said body and handle having the thickness represented. On the edges of
the said body or bar c I make screw threads or teeth e, f. The moveable
jaw b slides freely on the bar c, and the trunk or socket g of
is elongated towards the handle of the wrench as represented.
trunk or socket 9. carries projecting or side pieces h, i, which
the said jaw b
The end of the
may either be

page_text: made separately and attached to the socket 9, or be made in one piece with
the said socket. When made separately the said side pieces h, i, have pro-
jections ², 2, on their inner ends, which said projections engage in holes
formed on either side of the socket g, as represented in Figures 1 and 3.
k is a collar or nut at the end of the socket g, screwed internally with a con-
cave screw, which said screw, collar, or nut engages with the screw threads or
teeth e, f, on the edges of the bar or body of the wrench c. The said screw
collar works between the face of the socket 9 and the ends of the side
pieces h, i, as best seen in the section, Figure 3, and the said screw collar
engages with the screw threads or teeth e, f, in the manner which will be
readily understood by an examination of Figure 4. By turning the screw collar
or nut k in one or other direction the said collar screws along the bar c, and
the moveable jaw b is made to approach to or recede from the fixed jaw a to
the required distance. When the side pieces h, i, are made in one pièce
with the socket g the screw collar or nut k is put in its place on the said side
pieces in the following manner, that is to say, the ends of the said side
pieces h, i, are sprung towards each other, and the screw collar k pushed over
them. The said side pieces h, i, are then opened out again. When the side
pieces h, i, are formed separately from the body of the socket g, they are first
put in their respective places in the collar k, their ends being engaged in the
holes in the socket g. The moveable jaw b with the socket g and parts h, i, and k
attached thereto are passed on to the body or bar of the wrench, and prevented
from being withdrawn by means of the stop or pin l.
Although I have represented the first and second parts of my Invention
combined in one wrench, yet the said parts may be used separately, that is to
say, the inclination of the jaws a, b, may be used with wrenches having various
kinds of action, and wrenches having the action constituting the second part
of Invention may
my
have their jaws placed at right angles to the body of the
wrench.
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 described and illustrated as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention, but I claim as
my Invention,
Firstly, making the jaws of moveable spanners or screw wrenches oblique to
the body or bar of the wrench so that the inner faces of the said jaws shall
make with the body or bar an obtuse angle instead of a right angle as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, the improved arrangement or combination of parts of moveable

page_text: spanners or screw wrenches herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making a screw collar or nut engage
with screw threads on the opposite edges of the bar or body of the wrench,
which said screw collar or nut works upon side pieces connected to or formed
in one piece with the socket on the moveable jaw, and which said screw collar
when turned carries the moveable jaw in one or other direction, and adjusts
or nut the distance between it and the fixed jaw.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS WILSON. (L.B.)