IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, ALSO IN SCISSORS AND OTHER LIKE CUTTING INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
WEISS, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Surgical Instrument
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day
of November (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fifteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Frederick Weiss, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Frederick Weiss, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick Weiss, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in the Island of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and
in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, ALSO IN SCISSORS AND OTHER
LIKE CUTTING INSTRUMENTS," communicated to me from abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Frederick Weiss, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Weiss, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention consists of improvements in forceps and similar surgical
instruments, and in scissors and other such like cutting instruments, and
wherein the parts or limbs move on axes.
And in order that the Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews a plan of part of a pair of forceps or such like surgical
instruments, or of scissors or such like cutting instrument, composed of two
parts or limbs moving on an axis. The parts shewn are on a magnified scale,
in order that the manner of forming the axis, and also the opening through
the moveable limb, may more clearly be shewn and more readily understood.
On one limb is fixed a stud or axis, with a large or projecting head, which is
so formed, that in the act of shutting it causes the limbs to be drawn or come
towards each other, and the head is so formed in respect to the hole or
passage through the other limb, that it will pass through when the limbs cross
each other at an angle. By this arrangement not only is there the advantage
of the drawing or coming together of the limbs and the cutting edges to
such an extent that in scissors the edges will cut as effectually when used by
the left hand as with the right hand, the arrangement also admits of a ready
separation to cleanse the parts. The stud or axis a is fixed to one of the
limbs, and passes through the opening of the other limb, when the same is
laid across at or near at right angles (or it may be made at another angle),
and as the parts or blades c, c, close, they are drawn towards each other by
the incline on the under surfaces of the head of the axis, aided by the form of
the opening as shewn.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
mode herein described of combining the limbs of surgical instruments, also
scissors and such like cutting instruments.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Weiss, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Frederick Weiss came before our
o said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.