IMPROVEMENTS IN FITTINGS TO DOOR HANDLES AND SPINDLES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Parsons, of Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, Carpenter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FITTINGS TO
DOOR HANDLES AND SPINDLES."
Sealed the 22nd December 1857, and dated the 26th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th June 1857.
I, WILLIAM PARSONS, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Carpenter, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FITTINGS
TO DOOR HANDLES AND SPINDLES," to be as follows:--
My Invention consists in certain improved fittings to the handles and
spindles, whereby they may be readily adjusted to suit the thickness of the
door to which they are to be fitted, are securely fixed, and admit of ready
removal when requisite.
The fittings at each end of the spindle are different. In the door handle
or knob for one end of the spindle, I insert a metal mounting, tapped with a
female thread, and in the shoulder of the mounting there is formed a square,
actagonal, or other than circular recess, for receiving a square or corre-
spondingly shaped stop. The spindle is square, but has a male thread to
correspond with the female thread in the mounting cut on the edges thereof.
The square stop fits the square of the spindle, and it will be understood that

page_text: when the stop is in the recess in the shoulder of the handle mounting, the
spindle cannot be rotated, and consequently cannot be screwed into or out
therefrom; but on removing the stop from the recess, the spindle may be
driven into or drawn out of the mounting. In order to prevent the stop from
coming out of the recess when not required there is a nut upon the spindle
threaded on the inside, which is screwed down upon the stop. Instead of a
square nut fitting into a corresponding recess in the shoulder of the handle
mounting, any other analagous arrangement may be adopted, which will effect
the object of preventing the spindle being rotated and driven into or drawn
from the mounting in the handle, while the stop or arrangement is fixed or
in the particular position for preventing such rotation, but which, upon being
moved or made to assume a different position, admits of the spindle being
driven into or withdrawn from the handle mounting. The arrangements just
<lescribed, are those whereby the adjustment of the distance between the
handles is secured. The opposite end of the spindle may terminate in a screw,
over which the mounting in the remaining handle may be screwed, and held
or fixed by a pin or screw passed through a hole made in the neck of the
handle, and in, or in and through a corresponding hole cut in or through the
spindle; or a mounting may be screwed into that end of the spindle now
being alluded to, the outer end of this mounting being in the form of a screw;
the handle is screwed on this mounting until its shoulder comes against a
collar formed thereon, where it is retained by a tapering pin passed through
corresponding apertures in the handle or handle mounting, and the collar or
the handle may be fixed by a screw or other like arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 2
by the said William Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARSONS, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Carpenter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first 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 I, the said 8
William Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time

page_text: 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
FITTINGS TO DOOR HANDLES AND SPINDLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Parsons, 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 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, tho said William Parsons, do hereby declaro
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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:-
My Invention consists in certain improved fittings to the handles and
spindles, whereby they may be readily adjusted to suit the thickness of the
door to which they are to be fitted, are securely fixed, and admit of ready
removal when requisite.
The fittings at each end of the spindle are different. In the door handle or
knob for one end of the spindle, I insert a metal mounting tapped with a
female thread, and in the shoulder of the mounting there is formed a square,
octagonal, or other than circular recess, for receiving a square or corre-
spondingly shaped stop. The spindle is square, but has a male thread to
correspond with the female thread in the mounting cut on the edges thereof.
The square stop fits the square of the spindle, and it will be understood, that
when the stop is in the recess in the shoulder of the handle mounting, the
spindle cannot be rotated, and consequently cannot be screwed into or out
therefrom; but on removing the stop from the recess, the spindle may be
driven into or drawn out of the mounting. In order to prevent the stop from
coming out of the recess when not required, there is a nut upon the spindle,
threaded on the inside, which is screwed down upon the stop. Instead of a
square nut fitting into a corresponding recess in the shoulder of the handle
mounting, any other analagous arrangement may be adopted, which will effect
the object of preventing the spindle being rotated, and driven into or drawn
from the mounting in the handle, while the stop or arrangement is fixed or in
tho particular position for preventing such rotation, but which, upon being
moved or made to assume a different position, admits of the spindle being

page_text: driven into or withdrawn from the handle mounting. The arrangements just
described, are those whereby the adjustment of the distance between tho
handles is secured. The opposite end of the spindle may terminate in a
screw, over which the mounting in the remaining handle may be screwed, and
held or fixed by a pin or screw passed through a hole made in the neck of tho
handle, and in, or in and through a corresponding hole cut in or through the
spindle; or a mounting may be screwed on to that end of the spindle now
being alluded to, the outer end of this mounting being in the form of a screw;
the handle is screwed on this mounting until its shoulder comes against a
collar formed thereon, where it is retained by a tapering pin passed through
corresponding apertures in the handle or handle mounting and the collar, or
the handle may be fixed by a screw, or other like arrangement.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same, with reference to the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 is a side view of a set of door handles and spindle, with my
fittings complete; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same; Figure 3 is
a side view of the spindle; and Figure 4, a plan of Figure 3; Figures 5
and 6 are detached views of the handles, in section; Figures 7 and 8 are end
views of the same. A and B are the handles; C is the spindle, which is
square, with the exception of the portion a; D is a mounting fitted to the
handle A and E is a somewhat similar mounting fitted to the handle B.
The holo in the mounting D at b, for the reception of one end of the spindle C,
is round, and has a female screw formed in it, tho spindlo is square, but has
corresponding threads formed at or on its angles or corners, so as to render it
capable of being screwed into the female screw. The hole is enlarged at c,
and is of a square form, or it may be a figure having any number of sides; in
this enlarged hole or recess, a stop d of corresponding shape to the recess is
fitted. An end view of this stop is seen in Figure 9, and in section at Figure
10. The outer surface of tho stop is sufficiently tapered, so that it may not
get locked into, but may be easily withdrawn from the recess. The hole in
the stop & is square, to correspond to the spindle C, over which it is slipped.
When the spindle is screwed sufficiently far into the mounting D in the
handle A, the stop d is slipped on the spindle C, and inserted in the recess c,
which it fits exactly. When inserted therein, the spindle and handle are thus
prevented from being rotated, independently of each other. A nut e, screwed
on the spindle C, is screwed firmly up against the back of the stop d, to jam it
in the recess c, and so keep it securely in its place. Figure 11 is a face view
of the nut e; Figuro 12 is a side view, and Figure 13 is a section of the same.

page_text: In the mounting E, which is fitted to the handle B, a hole is formed and
tapped, so that it may take on to or be screwed on the round portion a of the
spindle C, until it gets jammed against the shoulder f; in this position it
is kept by a pin g, which is inserted in a hole h, drilled or otherwise formed
through the mounting E and spindle C; F and G are the mountings which
are commonly used with ordinary door handles. To alter the distance between
the faces of these mountings to fit any thickness of door, I unscrew the nut e,
and bring it in the position shewn by the dotted lines i ; the stop d is withdrawn
from the recess, and is kept clear of the face of the mounting D; the handle is
then screwed on or off the desired distance; the stop d is then inserted in the
recess c, and the nut e screwed up to its back to secure it in the recess; the
spindle C is passed through the mounting F, then through the door and lock;
the mounting G is slipped on, and the handle B screwed on the portion a of
the spindle C, until it jambs against the shoulder f. The pin g is inserted and
forced into the hole h to prevent the handle B from being unscrewed, and thus
the handles and mountings are completely fixed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in fittings to door handles and spindles,―
First, the forming of a square or other than circular recess in the shoulder
of the mounting in one of the door handles, and the employment of a square
or other than circular stop upon the spindle, to correspond with and fit into
the recess for the purpose of fixing the handle upon one end of the spindle at
the point required, whatever may be the means employed for fixing the other
handle upon the opposite end of the spindle.
Second, the employment in combination with such stop of a screwed nut
upon the spindle, for the purpose of retaining the stop in the recess, or of
allowing it to be removed therefrom, as herein-before described.
And, third, the particular construction and combination of fittings, berein-
before described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parsons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM PARSONS. (L.s.)