IMPROVEMENTS IN VICES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, of Aldridge Road.
Villas, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VICES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Henry Gustavus
Ehrhardt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd July 1865.
I, LOUIS HENRY GUSTAVUS EHRHARDT, of Aldridge Road Villas, Bayswater,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VICES":
This Invention relates to bench and band vices used by engineers and
others, and consists in constructing the same as follows:-As regards a bench
vice I propose to affix to the front jaw thereof a long rack, the teeth whereof
are at the under side of the same, and to the other jaw of the vice I connect
a worm, the thread whereof takes into the teeth of the aforesaid rack; there
is also an opening formed through the lower part of the back jaw of the vice,
through which the aforesaid rack slides, and is held in position thereby.
Upon the outer end of the axis of the worm aforesaid I fix a handle formed
with a hinged joint and slide for lengthening and shortening the said handle.
Upon imparting rotatory motion to this haudle, either in a backward or
forward direction, the jaws of the vice may either be separated or brought
together, and I form a flange at each side of the back jaw of the bench vice

page_text: for fixing the same to a bench; or for portability I form a screwed hole in
the under side of the said flanged piece, and insert a screw therein, by which
I can securely fix the vice to the bed of a lathe when desired, or in any other
temporary position, and this mode of constructing "bench" vices applies also
to "hand" vices used by watch and clock makers, and others.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
HENRY GUSTAVUS EHRHARDT, of Aldridge Road Villas, Bayswater, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, Her special licence that I, the said Louis
Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VICES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, 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 Iuven-
tion, 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 Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, 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 :-
This Invention relates to bench and hand vices used by engineers and
others, and consists in constructing the same as follows:-As regards a
bench vice I propose to affix to the front jaw thereof a long rack, the teeth

page_text: whereof are at the under side of the same, and to the other jaw of the vice
I connect a worm, the thread whereof takes into the teeth of the aforesaid
rack; there is also an opening formed through the lower part of the ..back
jaw of the vice, through which the aforesaid rack slides, and. is held in
position thereby. Upon the outer end of the axis of the worm aforesaid I
fix a handle formed with a hinged joint and slide for lengthening and
shortening the said handle; upon imparting. rotatory motion to this handle,
either in a backward or forward direction, the jaws of the vice may either be
separated or brought together, and I form a flange. at each side of the back
jaw of the bench vice for fixing the same to a bench ; or for portability.I
form a screwed hole in the under side of said flanged piece, and insert a
screw therein, by which I can securely fix the vice to the bed of a lathe when
desired, or in any other temporary position, and this mode. of constructing
"bench" vices applies also to "hand" vices used by watch and clock makers,
and others.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing
accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of
reference marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bench vice constructed according to my said
Invention; Figure 2, an end view thereof at Z (Figure 1); Figures 3, 4, 5,
views of detached parts, herein-after particularly described and referred to.
At each of the foregoing Figures I employ similar letters of reference to
denote corresponding parts in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at
each of such said Figures respectively.
A is the front jaw and B the back jaw of the vice; C, the position of the
bench to which the back jaw of the vice is to be affixed; D is a toothed
rack fixed into the jaw A; this rack passes through a slot formed in the
jaw B; E, an opening formed in the jaw B; G, a left-handed worm or screw
gearing into the teeth of the rack D; this worm may be supported in proper
position, either by a short spindle being passed through the same, and the
screw G fixed thereto by a pin or otherwise, the ends of the aforesaid short
spindle working in holes formed in the parts a, a, of the jaw B, and a square
formed on the outer end of the said short spindle, on which the socket of a
winch handle may fit for imparting rotatory motion to the worm G, which
operating on the teeth of the rack D will either tighten the jaws together or

page_text: separate them according to the direction in which the winch handle and worm
are turned; or the winch handle H may be made to pass through the hole in
the worm G, which may be fixed thereon by a pin or screw, and in this case
the handle will revolve in the holes at a, a..
It will appear obvious to any practical vice maker that the above method
of constructing vices can with very little trouble be applied to the con-
struction of all kinds of "hand" as well as "bench" vices, of whatever size
they may be required.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "Improvements in Vices," together with the best means I am
acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark in
conclusion, that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim the
combination of a worm wheel and rack with the jaws of a vice for opening
and closing the same, as above described with reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
1. П. . ЕПКНАКОІ. (48.)
G.