TESTED AND DOHRER ACTION SWING DOORS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Watson Savage, of Saint James Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Door Spring Manufacturer, for the
TESTED AND DOHRER ACTION SWING DOORS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Watson Savage at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th June 1855.
I, ROBERT WATSON SAVAGE, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SINGLE AND DOUBLE ACTION SWING DOORS" to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists in the adoption of an inclined plane or wedge piece
(which should be carried round, forming, as it were, a double wedge, as thus
D); or a spring acting as a wedge might be used, placed underneath the
door close to the edge nearest the hinges, or turning on the ordinary pivot, the
top of the door being cut away at the edge near the hinges to allow of
the opening of the door; this being necessary, as the door rises on its hinges, as
it is by the opening of the door pushed up the inclined plane or wedge.;._this.
part cut away may be covered by a plate or sheath, in which is a spring, which
allows it to give to the opening of the door. Instead of the wedge piece
being underneath the door, it might in some cases be above the door. the
whole arrangements being then reversed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Watson Savage in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WATSON SAVAGE, of Saint James Square, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Door Spring Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Watson Savage, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Watson
Savage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Watson Savage, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SINGLE AND DOUBLE ACTION SWING DOORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Watson Savage, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Robert Watson Savage, 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:-
(I.) The nature of my said Invention, which has already been intimated
generally by the Provisional Specification, filed on application for the said
Letters Patent, is hereby, in compliance with the aforesaid condition in the
said Letters Patent contained, fully and particularly described and ascertained,
as follows:-Close to the edge of the door, nearest its turning point, and
secured underneath the same so as to allow the door to travel on it, I have an
inclined plane or wedge piece, the surface whereof must be such as to compass.
the curved course taken by the opening, shutting, or swinging of the door,
and which inclined plane or wedge piece must be secured in such position"
underneath the door that the curve might be described thereon, and so that-
the door on being opened shall press first upon the lower part or thin end of

page_text: the inclined plane or wedge, and then travel on to the highest or thick part
thereof. The superficies of this inclined plane or wedge may be of any
suitable form or figure; and instead of its being secured underneath the door,
it may be fixed above the door; also, instead of the said inclined plane or
wedge being a solid piece, it might in some cases be a flat piece, placed at an
angle, and supported at the highest part of the incline by a spring or springs,
giving an upright action. Single-action swing doors, which shut and open
only, but do not swing backwards and forwards, must be hung upon lifting
hinges, as the door rises up the inclined plane in opening, and runs down it
in shutting in all cases the doors should be provided with rollers to travel
over the surface of the incline. And it will be necessary to cut away (to the
same extent as the wedge rises,) the top or bottom (as the case may be) of the
door at the edge nearest the turning point, to allow the same to rise with
the action of the wedge...
(II.) Having thus particularly described the nature of the said Invention,
I now proceed to particularly describe and ascertain in what manner the same
is to be performed or put in practice..
The form and manner which I prefer to adopt for effectuating this is as
follows: For a single-action door I make a box without a lid of iron or
other suitable metal, by casting or forming the same of the figure of a
segment of two-thirds of a circle. In this box I provide upright steadying
pins, and these pass through orifices in the inclined plane or wedge (also of
iron or suitable metal), which is placed in the said box in order to firmly
secure it therein, the surface of which is of the same form as the box afore-
said. At the top of the incline I have a non-inclined level surface, which is
for the purpose, if necessary, of keeping the door open when thrown open. The
box and contents aforesaid in use is to be countersunk, or let in flush with the
flooring, wood work, stone, or place underneath the door, and for this purpose
it may be provided with flange pieces with screw holes therein. The door is
provided with a centre pin, which fits in a socket hole, provided in the wedge
piece near the straight edge thereof, in such position that it would be in the
centre of the circle, supposing the segment to be prolonged into a circle. Loosely
attached to the centre pin is a disc or. cover, with an opening therein at the
extreme edge for the antifriction roller, with which it travels, attached-to-the-
bottom of the door to act on the inclined plane. The door must be provided
with lifting hinges, as the action is this:-The door upon being pushed open
moves up the inclined plane, and rises upon the centres of the hinges, and
being opened can be kept open by allowing it to rest on the level part at top
of the incline; and to be closed again it is to be pushed back, when the door

page_text: passes down the inclined plane and is closed. For double-action doors the
place of the hinges is supplied by two lifting bolts, which form the centres, and
allow the door to be hung and unhung when requisite); these bolts are similar
to ordinary flush bolts, but more cranked-in the bolt, so that the bolt may be
carried farther from the edge of the door; and in this double-action door
the circumference of the box and inclined plane is preferred to be circular,
and a concaved notch or dip is provided midway in the lower part of the
inclined plane, where the door will be retained when closed until opened. In
the door itself, whether single or double action, and at or near the edge nearest
the turning point, is inserted a tube, within which (free to turn) is a small rod
with a washer at top, which rests (free to move) upon the top of the tube. To
this rod a roller is attached in the usual way by a centre pin in slots at the
end of the rod, and protrudes beyond the top edge of the door, and travels
on the inclined plane underneath the disc or cover, before mentioned.
(III). Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would
add, that although I have above set forth and described (II.) the details of the
mechanical arrangements I prefer to adopt, yet I do not confine or restrict
myself thereto, as the same might be varied without departing from the nature
of my Invention, as set forth in the outset (I.) of this my Specification.
Also that I do not claim an annular inclined plane or wedge unless when
springs are used in its construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Watson Savage, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
ROBERT WATSON SAVAGE... (LS.).
Signed and sealed in my presence,..
F. W. CAMPIN, Patent. Agent,
156, Strand.