IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OPENING THE COVERS OF JUGS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William H. Ridgway, of East View Place, Hanley,
Staffordshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OPENING
THE COVERS OF JUGS."
Sealed the 15th October 1858, and dated the 19th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William H. Ridgway at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th April 1858.
I, WILLIAM H. RIDGWAY, of East View Place, Hanley, Staffordshire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
OPENING THE COVERS OF JUGS," to be as follows:-
The moveable cover of the jug is made with a short arm or prolongation in
the direction of the handle, so as to form a lever, whose fulcrum is the hinge
Behind the hinge and over the end of the short arm the fixed
part of the cover is fitted with a socket holding a plug or pin bearing upon the
end of the short arm. This plug is within easy reach of the thumb of the
hand which holds the jug, and when any of the liquid contained in the jug is
to be poured out, the plug and the end of the short arm upon which it rests
are depressed, and the cover thereby raised. Instead of having the short arm
in one piece with or attached to the moveable cover, as above described, a
detached lever may be used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
the said William H. Ridgway in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
H. Ridgway, of East View Place, Hanley, Staffordshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William H. Ridgway, Her special licence that I, the said
William H. Ridgway, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as the said William H. Ridgway, 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 "IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR OPENING THE COVERS OF JUGS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William H. Ridgway, 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 William H. Ridgway, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
:-
My improved apparatus for opening the covers of jugs consists in fitting the
lid with an arm or lever projecting towards the handle, and having the hinge
of the cover as its fulcrum. A pin or plug passing through a socket, and
being placed within easy reach of the thumb of the hand which holds the jug,
bears upon the arm or lever. By depressing this plug when any of the liquid
contained in the jug is to be poured out the lid is raised; and as the plug is
made of non-conducting material, the temperature of the contents of the jug
will not affect the thumb.
In the annexed Sheet of Drawing, A represents the arm or lever, which is
in this instance made of one piece with the cover. The plug B passes

page_text: through the socket C, and is prevented from falling out of its place by the
pin D.
In witness whereof, I, the said William H. Ridgway, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILLIAM HENRY RIDGWAY. (L.S.)