CERTAIN NEW HINGES
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
WELLS, of the Parish of St. Giles, in the County of Middlesex, late of the
Parish of St. Mary, Lambeth, in the County of Surry, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Third day of April, in
the forty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Stephen
Wells, His especial licence that I, the said Stephen Wells, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN NEW HINGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Stephen Wells, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Stephen Wells, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following (that is to say) :-
In the annexed Drawing a variety of forms of hinges are shewn by their
sections or plans; and the general character of all the said hinges is, that

page_text: either by a proper bend or configuration of the strap or straps, and the
addition of a saddle piece between the joints, or by both the said contri-
vances, the hinge is made proper and fit to.be fixed or let into any door, door-
post, lid, or other part of furniture, structure, or other thing whatsoever to
which it is usual or necessary to apply hinges, in such a manner as that the
said hinge, when shut, shall be entirely concealed within the wood or material
to which it is affixed, and consequently that it shall not be liable to the great
and obvious mischiefs and disadvantages to which other hinges are exposed by
being cut, or by the pin being driven out, by which means desks and other
places of great importance, closed with common hinges, are rendered accessible
to robbery.
In all the Drawings the part shaded with Indian ink may be considered
as stationary, and the part or parts shaded with yellow denote those parts
which are closed or shut, but are also represented as open by the unshaded
outline.
Figure 1 represents a hinge with two joints intended for portable writing
desks, copying machines, and the like; the dotted parts represent the outline of
the wood into which the hinge is let and fixed. a represents the fixed part, and
b and c are the shut parts, but when the same are opened they take the
positions b, b, and c, c.
Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are stop hinges with two joints, so constructed as to open
but half way. The situations when shut and opened are distinguished as in
No. 1.
No. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are stop hinges with one joint, the application and use
of which are shewn in Fig. 5, and is sufficiently obvious with regard to the
others.
No. 10 is a hinge for bureaus and other similar constructions.
No. 11, 12, 13 are hinges of the same description for doors and such other
No. 11 shuts into a
constructions which open by a compleat half-turn.
compleat box.
No. 12 has no box; and No. 13 is intermediate in this
respect between-Nos.-11-and 12. The dotted lines about No. 11 shew the
relative situations of the wood when open and when shut.
And I do further declare, that the said hinges, constructed according
to this my said new Invention, inay be adapted to all possible varieties
of situation and use by altering the dimensions of their several parts,
and more particularly by changing the direction of the straps; and that
the materials and workmanship must be adapted to the several intended
purposes as usual; and that it is unnecessary for me to describe any
of the particulars relating thereunto, because the same are well known to

page_text: every competent workman, and I have no claim to any privilege with regard
to objects of such general practice.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Wells, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand aight hundred and two
Inrolled the same First day of May, in the year above written.