A NEW OR IMPROVED CASTOR FOR FURNITURE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Collins, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Brass Founder, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
CASTOR FOR FURNITURE."
Sealed the 8th December 1854, and dated the 16th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Collins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th September 1854.
I, SAMUEL COLLINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brass
Founder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED CASTOR FOR FURNITURE" to be as follows:-
Figure 1 represents in vertical section a castor constructed according to my
Invention; and Figure 2 represents in plan the upper side of a portion of
the same. a is a plate, attached to the furniture by screws passing through the
holes b, b; c is an axis, attached by rivetting or otherwise to the plate a; the
said axis c has the form represented. d is the second plate, having a hole in
its centre, through which said holo the axis c passes, as represented. e is the
horn of the castor, carrying the wheel f; the horn e bears against the plate d

page_text: the edge d' of the said plate d entering the groove g in the horn e. The
plate d and horn e are secured on the axis c, by the lower end of the said
axis being rivetted. Although I have represented my Invention in the form
of a plate castor, yet my said Invention may also be carried into effect in
the form of a socket castor. Figure 2 represents in plan the upper side of the
plate d. The holes in the said plate d are for the purpose of permitting the
passage of the screws and screw-driver, by which the plate a is fastened to
the article of furniture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Collins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
COLLINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brass Founder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Collins, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Collins, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho said Samuel
Collins, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED CASTOR FOR
FURNITURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Collins, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Samuel Collins, du hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manuer the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :—

page_text: My Invention consists of a new or improved castor for furniture, constructed
according to the method or methods herein-after particularly described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of a plate castor constructed according
to my Invention. a is a plate of metal, attached to the furniture by screws
passing through holes therein, one of which is shewn at b. c is an axis
attached by rivetting or otherwise to the plate a. d is a second plate, having
a hole in its centre, through which said hole the axis c passes, as represented.
e is the horn of the castor, carrying the wheel f; the said horn e turns upon
the axis c, and bears against the plate d, the edge g of the plate d entering a
groove h in the horn e.
The plate d and horns are secured. on the axis c,
by the lower end of the said axis being rivetted, or in any other convenient
manner.
When the castor is in use the pressure upon the horn is mainly transferred
to the plate d, and since the horn e can turn upon the plate d, and the plate d
upon the axis c, there is great facility of motion and little liability of the horn
becoming fixed; I sometimes make the plate which receives the pressure from
the horn of a less size than is represented in Figure 1.
Figure 2 represents a vertical section of a plate castor, in which the plate d
is less than in Figure 1. As the several parts in Figure 2 are marked with
the same letters as the corresponding parts in Figure 1, the description herein-
before given with respect to Figure I will sufficiently apply to Figure 2.
Figures 3 and 4 represent in vertical section socket castors constructed
according to my Invention. The same letters indicate the same parts in
Figures 3 and 4. is the socket, fastened to the leg of the furniture in the
ordinary manner; k is the axis; 1, the horn; m, the wheel; n is the plate
situated upon the axis k, and turning thereon, and against which said plate the
horn bears. That part of the horn l through which the axis & passes may be
so constructed as to bear on one side only against the plate n, as represented
in Figure 4, or it may be constructed so as to bear against the said plate n all
round, as represented in Figure 3.
Having now described the nature of my said 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, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim, the
method or methods herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, of constructing castors for furniture, that is to say, placing a
plate upon the axis of the castor, between the horn and the bottom of the

page_text: castor, the said horn being made to bear against the edge of the said plate,
and both horn and plate having motion upon the axis of the castor.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Collins, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.