AN IMPROVED LEVER FASTENING FOR SLEEVE LINKS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR BROOCHES, CLASPS, SOLITAIRES, STUDS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Parsons, of the Firm of William Parsons
and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Jeweller, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED LEVER FASTENING FOR SLEEVE LINKS, APPLICABLE
ALSO FOR BROOCHES, CLASPS, SOLITAIRES, STUDS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF
JEWELLERY."
Sealed the 23rd September 1864, and dated the 13th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Parsons at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1864.
I, WILLIAM PARSONS, of the Firm of William Parsons and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Jeweller, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED LEVER FASTENING FOR SLEEVE
LINKS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR BROOCHES, CLASPS, SOLITAIRES, STUDS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct such a fastening for sleeve links
and other articles of jewellery to which the same may be applicable as shall
be simple in its action, and effective in its operation.
In order to distinguish my Invention from others now in use with which I
am acquainted, I call mine a lever fastening, the Invention consisting of an
application of the lever principle in manner following:-Upon one side of a disc
or flat plate of metal a catch is hinged in the usual manner, and as is well under-
stood, the said catch being so bent over that its free end falls upon the plate

page_text: of metal to which it is hinged. The spring, by which the necessary action is
given, consists of a piece of flat metal (by preference a piece of blued watch
steel) which is secured by affixing the centre of the said flat piece of metal to
the disc in such manner that the two ends may be free to be acted upon by the
two levers herein-after described.
The first of these levers consists of a projection in the catch near to the end
where it is hinged to the disc of metal; the effect of this one being to cause
the catch to fly open when it is released from its fastening.
The second of these levers consists of a metal thumb piece which is hinged
upon the disc exactly opposite to that part where the catch is hinged; this
thumb piece is fitted with a slot or groove, and the free end of the catch
having a corresponding projection takes therein upon being pressed, and the
fastening is complete. The thumb piece has a projection upon which the
second lever acts, the tendency of the lever being to press the projection
upwards. When it is desired to release the catch, the thumb piece is pressed
in an opposite direction, when the free end of the catch is at once released from
the slot or groove into which it had taken, and the first lever (as herein-before
described) causes the catch to fly open.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Parsons, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARSONS, of the Firm of Wiliam Parsons and Company, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Jeweller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Parsons, Her special licence that I, the said William Parsons,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said
William Parsons, 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 "AN IMPROVED LEVER
FASTENING FOR SLEEVE LINKS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR BROOCHES, CLASPS, SOLITAIRES,

page_text: STUDS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Parsons, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Parsons, 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 state-
ment (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to construct such a fastening for sleeve links
and other articles of jewellery to which the same may be applicable as shall
be simple in its action and effective in its operation.
In order to distinguish my Invention from others now in use with which I
am acquainted I call mine a lever fastening, the Invention consisting of an
application of the lever principle in manner following. Upon one side of a
disc or flat plate of metal a catch is hinged in the usual manner, and as is well
understood, the said catch being so bent over that its free end falls upon the
plate of metal to which it is hinged. The spring by which the necessary action
is given consists of a piece of flat metal (by preference a piece of blued watch
steel), which is secured by affixing the centre of the said flat piece of metal to
the disc in such a manner that the two ends may be free to be acted upon by
the two levers herein-after described.
The first of these levers consists of a projection in the catch near to the end
where it is hinged to the disc of metal, the effect of this one being to cause the
catch to fly open when it is released from its fastening.
The second of these levers consists of a metal thumb piece, which is hiuged
upon the disc exactly opposite to that part where the catch is hinged; this thumb
piece is fitted with a slot or groove, and the free end of the catch having a
corresponding projection, takes therein upon being pressed, and the fastening
is complete. The thumb piece has a projection upon which the second lever
acts, the tendency of the lever being to press the projection upwards. When
it is desired to release the catch, the thumb piece is pressed in an opposite
direction, when the free end of the catch is at once released from the slot or
groove into which it had taken, and the first lever (as herein-before described)
causes the catch to fly open..
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is or may be performed, I desire it to be understood that (without

page_text: limiting myself to the precise details herein-before described), I claim as the
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
the "Improved Lever Fastening for Sleeve Links, applicable also for
Brooches, Clasps, Solitaires, Studs, and other Articles of Jewellery," as
herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parsons, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
WILLIAM PARSONS. (L.S.)