IMPROVEMENTS IN TOY MENAGERIES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TOY MENAGERIES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Charles M. Crandall, of Montrose,
Pennsylvania United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition and
Declaration, on the 1st June 1875, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TOY MENAGERIES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for

page_text: the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has been com-
municated to me from abroad by Charles M. Crandall, of Montrose,
Pennsylvania, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming a
part of this Specification.
This Invention relates to improvements in children's toy menageries,
and consists in making the beasts and birds in sections, the said sections
being tongued and grooved so that the several parts of the different
beasts and birds may be interchangeably fitted together irrespective of
form, size, or kind.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents a cameleopard;
Figure 2, a zebra; Figure 3, an elephant; Figure 4, a camel; Figure 5,
a toucan.
•
Figures 6, 7, and 8, illustrate the manner of combining the several
parts of different animals, irrespective of the kind, so that a camel's body
may have a zebra's head and zebra's legs for arms, a toucan's tail and a 1
cameleopard's legs, as shown in Figure 6, or a camel's body, elephant's
head, and arms legs, and tail formed from parts of other animals, as
shown in Figure 8, and so on, the several parts when interchanged
making grotesque and amusing figures. To effect this interchanging so
that the several parts will remain in any desired position, the edges of
the several blocks are formed into a series of parallel grooves a, as shown
in Figure 9. By means of these grooves when one section is fitted to
another the tongues 6 will enter into the grooves of the respective
sections and retain them in position, as shewn in Figure 10, and since
the grooves in the sections of all the beasts and birds are of exactly
the same dimensions, it is obvious that the several sections will unite as
soon as the grooves are fitted to each other, and in this manner not only
may the animals have their proper parts and proportions placed in their
natural positions, but an endless variety of grotesque and nondescript
counterfeit representations of birds and beasts may be produced,
combining therefore in the same set of blocks easy lessons in natural
history, teaching a child to become familiar with the form, proportions,

page_text: and color of various animals as they exist in nature, and also compelling.
the child to exercise its inventive faculties and ingenuity by forming
nondescript animals which have no existence beyond its imagination.
The animals as they are formed are caused to assume a fixed upright
position by inserting their legs or supports into foundations B. These
foundations are strips or blocks of wood with tongues and grooves
formed in their surfaces, which tongues and grooves correspond with the
tongues and grooves in the several sections.
From the foregoing description it is obvious that all the well known
animals may be divided into sections and grooved in the manner before
described, and by the interchange of parts almost an infinite variety of
amusing combinations may be produced, the combinations with a large
number of divided block animals being almost without limit. -
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim, a toy menagerie wherein the
animals are divided into sections and constructed with tongued and
grooved edges and ends, whereby the several sections may be inter-
changeably fitted and retained in any required position.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this First day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
HY. JA. NOONE.
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)