IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR CLOSING AND SECURING BOXES, BAGS, AND OTHER PACKAGES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Alexander Lyttle at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th March 1868.
I, WILLIAM ALEXANDER LYTTLE, of the General Post Office, London,
in the County of Middlesex, Member of Society of Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR CLOSING AND SECURING BOXES, BAGS, AND OTHER
PACKAGES," to be as follows:-
I close the necks of bags by means of a strap, one end of which
is permanently attached to the following peculiar form of seal buckle,
by means of which the strap when drawn tightly round the neck of
the bag is secured. This buckle consists of a seal pan at one extremity
for the reception of a seal or adhesive label, and projecting from this
there is a stem to which the end of the strap is permanently attached.
The part of this stem to which the strap is attached is reduced in
depth measuring from the upper or seal surface edge so far as to admit
within this reduction two thicknesses of the strap. The end of the
strap is passed round this part and sewn or otherwise fastened at the
under edge of the stem. A pin or tongue fixed rigidly projects per

page_text: pendicularly through a hole in the strap on the upper edge at this
point, and the strap when drawn tightly round the neck of a bag is
made fast by placing it transversely across this part of the stem, and
allowing the tongue or pin to pass through one of the eyelet holes
with a row of which the strap should be furnished. In order to secure
the strap in this position there is a lid which like the blade of a pair
of shears is slid round across the point of the tongue or pin on a
riveted axle. This lid is moveable only through the quadrant of a
circle or thereabouts, the plane of which is the upper face of the stem
and parallel to the upper surface of the strap when placed on the
tongue. The lid is made to stop when it covers the tongue and upper
face of the stem, and its play back out of this position is only far
enough to enable the strap to be lifted conveniently off the tongue.
The axis or rivet on which this lid moves is fixed between the strap
end of the stem and the seal pan, and at the end which when shut
is nearest the latter there is a hinge with a knife blade moving in
a plane at right angles to the plane of the seal and seal pan. This
knife when the lid is closed over the strap is thrown back across the
seal pan and falls edgeways into a slot across the face of the latter,
the upper edge of the knife not projecting above the face of the pan,
and its back being stayed and protected by the bottom of the slot
which lies in a rib running from the stem along the back of the pan
like the keel of a boat. A seal or label is now placed on the face
of the pan, and it is quite evident that the strap cannot be removed
from the tongue without first raising the knife out of the slot in order
to rotate the lid. This raising of the knife involves the rupture of
the seal and is effected by pressing against either its end, if that is
exposed for the purpose, or its back edge at a point where a transverse
cut may be made in the rib underneath the seal pan. When the
strap does not play the part of a "drawing string" for contracting the
mouth of the bag the latter must be furnished in the "hemming" of
the mouth with a "piping" cord thick enough to prevent the folds being
slid down through the closed strap and opened.
. In the case of portmanteaus, boxes, or other packages the leather strap
may be replaced if desired by a plate of metal attached to the lid of
the box by a hinge in the same manner as the "hasp" of a common,
trunk lock. The seal pan and stem are screwed or otherwise secured
to the body of the box in such a position that when the lid is shut

page_text: down the tongue or pin (which takes the place of a "staple") may easily
pass through the above mentioned plate.
In other respects the details are similar, but it is not absolutely
necessary in the latter modification that the stem of the seal pan should
be placed at right angles to the direction of the strap or plate attached
to the box lid. Both may be in one vertical line the seal pan being
at the bottom. This arrangement may also be combined with a common
lock, on the face of which it is attached, and the bolt of the lock may
be made to shoot through a hole in the blade which intersects the
seal pan.