IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF MECHANISM FOR EXPANDING TABLES AND OTHER EXPANDING FURNITURE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Fitter, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF MECHANISM FOR EXPANDING TABLES AND
OTHER EXPANDING FURNITURE."
Sealed the 4th February 1868, and dated the 30th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Fitter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his .Petition, on the
30th November 1867.
I, JOSEPH FITTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION. AND MANUFACTURE OF MECHANISM FOR EXPANDING TABLES AND
OTHER EXPANDING FURNITURE," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the mechanism, consisting essentially by a series of
hollow telescopic screws, capable of screwing into and out of one another,
usually employed for lengthening and shortening dining tables and other
expanding furniture; and my said Invention consists, firstly, in fixing a second

page_text: or supplementary sliding barrel on the ordinary barrel of the said mechanism.
The said secondary or sliding barrel has for its object the lengthening of the
ordinary barrel so as to make the said barrel completely cover the screws.
The said sliding barrel may be fixed at the required position on the ordinary
barrel by means of set screws.
My said Invention consists, secondly, of the improvement in making
the screw boxes or nuts in which the screws work. The said screw boxes
or nuts are ordinarily made separate from the screws, and are placed in
the ends of the screws and fixed therein by pinning or otherwise. In
making the said screw boxes or nuts according to my Invention I support
in a vertical position the larger screw in the end of which the screw box
or nut is to be made, and I also support in a vertical position the other
or smaller screw which is to work in the screw box or nut. The lower
end of the smaller screw is supported in the upper end of the larger
screw and concentric therewith. I temporarily plug up the larger screw to the
required height, and then pour the melted metal or alloy of which the screw
box or nut is to be made into the space between the ends of the two screws.
The said métal or alloy when solidified constitutes a screw box or nut fixed
in the end of the larger screw, in which screw box or nut the smaller screw
readily works. The temporary plug is after the casting process removed
"from the larger screw. The several screw boxes or nuts are made in the
manner described.·
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Fitter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FITTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the year of..our
Lord One thousand eight, hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
<of Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said. Joseph Fitter,. Her special licence that, I, the said Joseph
Fitter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or. such. others' as I, the
said Joseph Fitter, 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
"

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF MECHANISM FOR EXPANDING
TABLES AND OTHER EXPANDING FURNITURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Joseph Fitter, my executors or administrators, by a al instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the sanie 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 Joseph Fitter, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to the mechanism, consisting of a series of hollow
telescopic screws, capable of screwing into and out of one another, usually
employed for lengthening and shortening dining tables and other expanding
furniture; and my said Invention consists, firstly, in fixing a second or sup-
plementary sliding barrel on the ordinary barrel of the said mechanism. The.
said secondary or sliding barrel has for its object the lengthening of the
ordinary barrel so as to make the said barrel completely cover the screws.
The said sliding barrel may be fixed at the required position on the ordinary
barrel by means of set screws.
My said Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvement in
making the screw boxes or nuts in which the screws work. The said screw
boxes or nuts are ordinarily made separate from the screws, and are placed.in
the ends of the screws and fixed therein by pinning or otherwise. In making
the said screw boxes or nuts according to my Invention I support in a
vertical position the larger screw in the end of which the screw box or nut is
to be made, and I also support in a vertical position the other or smaller
screw which is to work in the screw box or nut. The lower end of the
smaller screw is supported in the upper end of the larger screw and concentric
therewith. I temporarily plug up the larger screw to the required height, and
then pour the melted metal or alloy of which the screw box or nut is to be
-made into the space between the ends of the two screws. The said metal or
alloy when soldified constitutes a screw box or nut fixed in the end of the
larger screw, in which screw box or nut the smaller screw readily works.
The temporary plug is after the casting process removed from the larger
screw. The several screw boxes or- nuts are made in the manner described. .

page_text: Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
-
Figures 1 and 2 represent in plan mechanism for expanding tables and
other expanding furniture constructed according to the first part of my
Invention.
.a, b, are the telescopic screws, the smaller one a being capable of. screwing
into and out of the larger one b, and the said larger screw. b being capable of
screwing into and out of the ordinary barrel c; d is the secondary or supple-
mentary barrel constructed according to my Invention for lengthening the
ordinary barrel c. The end plate a³ in which the end of the screw a turns is
fixed to one of the end rails of the table or article, and the plate d² on the
end of the secondary barrel d is fixed to the opposite end rail of the table or
article. The barrel c is fixed by the loose clip or bracket e to the cross rail
of the table or article. The said bracket e is capable of sliding upon the
barrel.c so as to suit the position of the cross rail to which it is to be fixed,
the said bracket being secured on the barrel by driving home the screws. f.
The secondary barrel: & fits upon the outside of the ordinary. barrel c,
and can be fixed, in any required. position on the said barrel c by means
of the screws d³. In Figure 1 the secondary or sliding barrel dis
represented fixed on the extreme outer end of the ordinary barrel c, and
in Figure 2 the said bariel d is represented fixed at about the middle of
the ordinary barrel c. By adjusting the secondary or sliding barrel d upon
the ordinary barrel c the said barrel o may be lengthened so as to make the
said barrel completely cover the screws used with the expanding mechanism.
By this means screws of different lengths may be used with and completely
covered by the compound barrel c, d.
Figure 3 represents in horizontal section (partly in plan) and Figure 4
in plan my improvements in making the screw boxes or. nuts in which the
screws of mechanism for expanding tables and other expanding furniture
work. In the said Figures 3 and 4 a, b, are the screws, and c the ordinary
barrel. In the end. of the larger screw 6 is a screw box or nut 9 in which
the screw a works, and in the end of the barrel c is a screw box or
nut in which the larger screw b works. I make the said screw boxes.or
nuts g, h, and fix them in their places in the following manner :-I drill
in the upper end of the screw 6 where the screw box is to be made a
series of holes, and I support the two screws a, b, in a vertical position,
the lower end of the screw a being supported in the upper end of
the larger screw b and concentric therewith, as represented in Figure 3.

page_text: "
Having arranged the screws in the manner described I temporarily plug.up
the screw 6 by means of a cock or other plug to the required height, and I
also cover the holès made in the end of the, screw,b; an annular space.is
thereby left, between the interior of the large screw 6 and the exterior of the
small screw a; 1 pour melted metal or alloy; in the open top of the screw b,
and fill up the annular space therewith. When the metal or alloy has
solidified it constitutes: a screw box or nut 9 fixed in the end of the large
screw b, in which screw box 9 the small screw a readily works; the metal or
alloy cast into the annular space between the screws runs into and- fills up the
holes in the screw b, and thereby fixes the screw box or nut very securely in
its place. The pins formed by the filling up of the holes described are
marked. The screw box or nut h in which the screw 6 works is cast and
fixed in the end of the barrel c in a similar way, the fixing pins cast with the
screw box being marked i, i.. The several screw boxes or nuts, where more
than two screws are used, are made in the manner described. In order to
prevent the screws a, b, being wholly withdrawn from the screw boxes g, h,
the said screws are provided with stop pins k, l, as represented. These stop
pins are fixed in the ends of the screws in the following manner :-The
screw 6 being detached from the barrel c the screw a is screwed into the
screw'b until its end comes opposite the hole at k in the said screw b; a
screwed hole is tapped through the said hole at k into the end of the screw a,
into which the stop pin is screwed, as represented. After 'the stop pin 7 has
been fixed in its place the screw b is screwed into the barrel c until the hole
at comes opposite the hole m made in the said barrel c; the pink is then
passed through the hole m and screwed into the screw b, as represented.
Although I have only represented mechanism for expanding tables or other
expanding furniture with two screws, yet any number of screws may be
employed, and the screws may be made to work from one or both ends.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention of improvements in the construction and manu-
facture of mechanism for expanding tables and other expanding furniture,―
Firstly. The construction and addition to the said mechanism of a secondary
or supplementary sliding barrel for lengthening the ordinary barrel so as to
make the said ordinary barrel completely cover the screws, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly. Making and fixing the screw boxes or nuts in which the screws

page_text: of the said mechanism work by casting them in the ends of the screws or
barrels of the said mechanism, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Dwing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Fitter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOSEPH FITTER. (L.S.)