CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CABINET FURNITURE AND FIXTURES ATTACHED THERETO
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Slater, of the Parish and Town of Kettering,
in the County of Northampton, Cabinet Maker, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CABINET FURNITURE AND FIXTURES ATTACHED
THERETO."
Sealed the 30th August 1864, and dated the 4th March 1864.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Daniel Slater at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 4th March 1864, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
SLATER, of the Parish and Town of Kettering, in the County of Northampton,
Cabinet Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN CABINET FURNITURE AND FIXTURES ATTACHED THERETO," and have petitioned
Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration
that I am the first and true Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Daniel Slater, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement :-
These improvements relate to the adaptation and application of certain new
and useful contrivances for the closing of sewing machine cabinets, for the
saving of room by means of peculiarly constructed slat doors or slides passing
and guided through grooves for that purpose. Also in rendering all drawers
in such recesses or cupboards of cabinets flush with the doors inside, and
having flush handles on such drawers of a form novel in their construction
and more convenient for opening and closing them. Other improvements
consist in constructing, backing up, or lining the ornamental fretwork used in
cabinet doors and cabinet furniture with colored glass.
Other improvements in cabinet furniture is in using metallic tubular rails
for napkin horses instead of wood, such metallic rails to be covered with a
vitrous compound; or I cover rails of wood with suitable enamel to render
their surfaces impervious to moisture; or I use rails of porcelain or glass;
these improved rods also being applicable to towel horses, linen horses,
towel and napkin rails, and any other purpose wherein such rods may be
required.
Chapter 1. The method of forming these sliding shutters, as particularly
applicable to sewing machine cabinets, is shewn on accompanying Drawings in
Figures 4 and 5, A, A', the right and left handed sliding shutters which are
formed of "slats" or "beads" fastened at the back by hinges, strips of wire
gauze, strips of thin flexable metal, or cemented on cloth in any way so as to
attach them in one continuous sheet. These shutters recede from the centre
to the left and right hand of the cabinet, and pass back into a groove or
grooves parallel to the sides, and are there concealed, not coming in any way
with the knees of the person working the sewing machine. These slat doors
meet in the centre and are locked by one bolt projecting down into the two
central slats.
•
Another method of making sliding doors for cabinets is shewn in Fig. 5,
where the front slats are backed up by the back slats, and the small metallic
strips or cloth are put between then. B, B, the front slats; C, C, corre-
sponding back slats; D, D, small metallic plates placed between them. This
method would be preferred where the openings are large and require greater
strength and security.
Chapter 2. My new forms of flush handles for drawers for such cabinets

page_text: are shewn in accompanying Drawings, Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 is a section of a
drawer front, which is turned out in a concave form, at the back of which is a
hole a of a diameter sufficient to receive the front of the knob b, b; these knobs
may be made of wood, metal, ivory, porcelain, or any suitable material, and
having a collar c, c, at the back, and can be glued or screwed on at pleasure.
By this method a flush handle can be made sufficiently strong to pull out
large drawers. I also construct this same form of handle, and at its back run
down a small wood or metal bolt d, as in Fig. 2, which is attached to the
knob, and which projects down below the drawer front and through the
hottomf, so that by elongating the hole g where the collar of the knob goes
through, say th of an inch, the bolt will catch in a slot h in the drawn
partition, fastening the drawer and preventing it from falling out. This is
particularly adapted to sewing machine cabinets where the drawers are in the
upper covers.
Another convenient form of flush handle is represented in Fig. 3, which is
formed of a metallic concave disc i, i, across which is a partition handle j
perforated with any ornamental device, so that the finger and thumb may take
hold of the upper and lower edge of the partition to pull out the drawer.
Chapter 3. In cabinet furniture whore we require rails or rods to hang
napkins, towels, and linen upon, which are now made of wood, which wood
either extracts the moisture from the napkins, towels, and linen, or stains
delicate fabrics by their being hung on them for any length of time. To
obviate this I take thin metallic tubing and cover it with an enamelled vitrious
coating composed of any of the well-known enamel compounds, and which will
5 melt at a low heat, when we obtain a perfectly clean rod for hanging fabrics
on. These rods I also make of porcelain, glass, or enamelled wood, but
prefer the former method, all of which are applicable to cabinet furniture or
napkin and towel horses.
0
What I claim as new and of my Invention is,-
Firstly, the construction of sewing machine cabinets with sliding slat doors
and fastenings, as fully set forth and shewn on the Drawing annexed.
Secondly, the manner of constructing doors of cabinets with fretwork
panels backed up with glass panels of any color, as fully described.
Thirdly, the manner of forming flush handles for drawers or doors, and the
5 manner of securing such, as described and shewn in Figs. 1 and 2; also the
formation of metallic flush handles for doors or drawers, as shewn in Fig. 8,
and described in the Specification.
Fourthly, the application of rods either of porcelain, glass, enamelled wood,

page_text: or of metallic hollow tubing covered with a vitrious compound for the purposes
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Slater, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
DAN SLATER. (L.S.)