SELF-ACTING PADS FOR DOORS, SHUTTERS, WINDOWS, OR OTHER SIMILAR SHUTTINGS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to François Philippe Cappon, Watchmaker, of Marans
(France), for the Invention of "SELF-ACTING PADS FOR DOORS, SHUTTERS,
WINDOWS, OR OTHER SIMILAR SHUTTINGS."
Sealed the 6th July 1858, and dated the 7th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said François Philippe Cappon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th January 1858.
I, FRANÇOIS PHILIPPE CAPPON, Watchmaker, of Marans, France, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "SELF-ACTING PADS FOR DOORS,.
SHUTTERS, WINDOWS, OR OTHER SIMILAR SHUTTINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to pads for covering the fissures existing between
doors, shutters, windows, and other shuttings, and the floor or. the sides,
and consists in having the said pads fixed to a lath or rod, moved by an
excentricum bell-crank lever or other arrangement fixed to the door. or other
shutting, which excentricum a bell-crank lever is connected with and acted,
upon by another rod, the other end of which turns in a screw ring fixed in
the post of the door or other shutting, thus causing this latter on. opening to
remove the pad from the fissure, and on closing to apply the same again
against it, and thus make the pad what may be called self-acting.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said François Philippe Cappon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANÇOIS
PHILIPPE CAPPON, Watchmaker, of Marans, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said François Philippe Cappon, Her special licence that I, the said François
Philippe Cappon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said François Philippe Cappon, 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
"SELF-ACTING PADS FOR DOORS, SHUTTERS, WINDOWS, OR OTHER SIMILAR SHUTTINGS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said François Philippe
Cappon, 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, the said François Philippe Cappon, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This Invention relates to pads, or what are commonly called sand bags,
for covering or closing the apertures or fissures left between the floor or sill; or
the side posts or uprights of doors, shutters, or windows, and these shuttings
themselves, those aperturés or fissures giving rise to draughts in the rooms.
Hitherto these bags or pads were either nailed or in any other suitable manner
firmly secured to the door or window or to the door posts, or the same were
entirely moveable and laid down against the fissure after the door or window
had been shut; the first arrangement, that is, with the pads secured to the
door or window, often made the opening and shutting of these latter very diffi-
cult, and particularly for doors, sometimes entirely impracticable, the pad often

page_text: :
inserting itself.so tightly between the under side of the door and the sill, or the
floor or carpet, as altogether prevent the opening or closing of the door. To
have the pads entirely moveable, that is to say, in the manner as sand bags are
generally made use of, prevents applying the same to the apertures existing
between the posts and the vertical sides of the doors or windows. The object
of the present Invention is to do away with the difficulties of the above-
mentioned pads or sand bags, and have them arranged in such manner as to
be self-acting, that is, to remain fixed to the door or window, and to apply
themselves to the fissures only when the door or window is shut, whereas on
opening these latter the pad leaves the fissure, receding as much as is required
for not interfering with the proper motion of the door or window.
In order to make the nature of the Invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed at once understood, I will describe an arrangement
for applying a pad to the fissure existing between the under side of a door and
the sill or floor, referring thereby to the annexed Drawings, in which Fig. 1
shows an elevation view of a door provided with my arrangement, whereas the
Figs. 2 and 3 show enlarged views of detached parts; corresponding parts
being indicated in the various Figures by the same letters of reference.
2
A represents the inner surface of a door turning on proper hinges B, con-
necting the door with. the post or uprights C; a pad b, formed of and stuffed
with any suitable material, is provided in the interior with a rod a extending
through the entire length of the pad. Three vertical rods c, c², and e are con-
nected by ringlets.to the rod a; the two small rods c and c glide in suitable
screw rings d, properly fixed to the door, so as to cause the rods c and c¹ not to
deviate from the vertical during their up and down motion; the third rod e
serves for causing the pad. 6 to rise when the door is opened and to fall down
when the door is closed. For this purpose the upper end of the rod e is con-
nected with a pin f secured in a plate g, which latter may turn round a screw
pin h fixed into the door; one end of another rod k is connected to a pin b,
fixed also in the plate 9, the other end of which rod k forms a hook inserted
into one or two screw rings m, secured to the door post. Fig. 2 shows a side
view of the plate 9 and the door, and Fig. 3 a view of the back part of the
plate g. The manner of working of this arrangement will be readily understood;
in Fig. 1, the door A is represented as being shut, the pad is shown in its
lowest position, that is to say, touching the ground, and covering consequently
entirely the aperture or fissure left between the under side of the door and the
floor. On opening the door the rod k will turn in m, and thereby causes the
plate g to perform a part of a revolution. round the pin or fulcrum h, thereby
forcing the rode and consequently the pad b to rise to the required height

page_text: above the floor; as soon as the door begins again to close itself, the rod k
causes the plate g to turn in the opposite direction of that in which it turned
on opening the door, the rod e and with it the pad is thereby gradually
lowered, till the door being entirely closed, the pad is resting on the ground
and fully covers the fissure that might exist between the lower end of the door
and the floor or the carpet. The position which the pad and further parts
assume when the door is fully opened is shown in dotted lines. It will be
readily understood that the plate g might, if required, be replaced by a bell-
crank lever, having its fulcrum in h, and have the rods e and k fixed to the
ends of its arms; the arrangement may further be modified in any suitable
way, retaining the principle of having the pad self-acting, that is to say,
cause the same to remove from the fissure, and by the action of the door or
window itself whenever these latter are moved for opening or shutting.
In the above description I have shown the apparatus applied to the aper-
ture existing between the lower part of a door and the sill or floor, that the
same may be applied with slight modification to the fissures existing between
the door and its posts or the upper sleeper; in the first case, the pads have to
advance or recede in the vertical position, and in the latter case in the contrary
way of the arrangement above described.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would observe that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein-before described, as they may be modified without
departing from the principle of the Invention; but I claim the application to
and the closing of the fissures or apertures existing between doors, shutters,
windows, or other shuttings and the floor or door posts of self-acting pads or
bags, that is to say, such which by the motion of the door or other shutting
are withdrawn from the fissures, whereas they lay firmly against these latter
when the door or other shutting is in the closed state.
In witness whereof, I, the said François Philippe Cappon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
A. GAROS.
F. PH. CAPPON. (L.S.)