AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE OR APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING MEMORANDA, NOTES, OR OTHER MANUSCRIPT COMMUNI- CATIONS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Jacob Cohen, of the City of Hamburg,
Dentist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE OR APPARATUS
FOR RECEIVING MEMORANDA, NOTES, OR OTHER MANUSCRIPT COMMUNI-
CATIONS."
Scaled the 5th February 1869, and dated the 25th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on.
the 25th August 1868.
I, BENJAMIN JACOB COHEN, of the City of Hamburg, Dentist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
APPLIANCE OR APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING MEMORANDA, NOTES, OR OTHER MANU-
SCRIPT COMMUNICATIONS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct an appliance or apparatus
containing a slate tablet or sheet on which one or more persons may,
in the absence of the owner of the appliance, write memoranda, notes, or
other communications for the information or inspection of the owner;.
the memorandum or other communication written by each person being

page_text: concealed from the view of all other persons except of that one or those
furnished with a key to the appliance.
The appliance consists of a slate tablet or sheet fitted in a case or box,
one end of the case being open to allow passage to the slate and one of
the sides being formed internally with ratchet. teeth or notches; this
side can be moved outwards when required on a hinge or pin, but is
held in place by a lock operated by a key. The side of the slate or
tablet is fitted with a spring or paul to take into the ratchet teeth.
The mode of using the appliance is as follows:-The owner unfastens
the lock, moves out the side of the case, and then draws out the slate
at the end of the case, he next returns the side of the case to position
and secures it by the lock. A stop may be used to prevent the slate
being entirely drawn out. The first person desiring to write a
memorandum does so near the inner end of the slate and then pushes
in the slate until the writing is out of sight, the slate cannot be again
pulled out to expose the writing until the lock is released by a key
because the spring or paul takes into the ratchet teeth. The next
person writes in the same manner and then likewise pushes in the slate,
and so on for any number of persons until the slate is full, no person
being able to see any writing except his own.
In some cases I make the notches or teeth in the side frame of the
slate and employ a paul in the outer case to take into the teeth, the
paul being lifted by the key when the owner requires to draw out the
slate. Or any other convenient arrangement may be adopted which
will allow slate to be pushed in but prevent it being pulled out except
when released by a key. If desired two or more slates, tablets, or
sheets may be fitted in the same case.
SPECIFICATION in, pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
JACOB COHEN, of the City of Hamburg, Dentist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the
year
3

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen, Her special licence
that I, the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen, 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 "AN IMPROVED
APPLIANCE OR APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING MEMORANDA, NOTES, OR OTHER
MANUSCRIPT COMMUNICATIONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to construct an appliance or apparatus
containing a slate tablet or sheet on which one or more persons may in
the absence of the owner of the appliance write memoranda, notes, or
other communications for the information or inspection of the owner;
the memorandum or other communication written by cach person being
concealed from the view of all other persons except of that one or those
furnished with a key to the appliance.
The appliance consists of a slate tablet or sheet fitted in a case or box,
one end of the case being open to allow passage to the slate and one of
the sides being formed internally with ratchet teeth or notches, this side
can be moved outwards when required on a hinge or pin, but is held in
place by a lock operated by a key. The side of the slate or tablet is
fitted with a spring or paul to take into the ratchet teeth.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front view of an
appliance or apparatus constructed according to my Invention, and
showing the slate partly drawn out; Figure 2 is a side view of the
appliance, and Figure 3 an end view.
a is the case or box, the lower end of which is open to allow of the
insertion of the slate b, shown separately in Figure 4. One of the sides c
of the case a is formed internally with ratchet teeth or notches d, and
this side can when required be moved outwards as seen at c¹ on a hinge
or pin e, but is held in place by a lock or catch f operated by a key.
g
is a spring or paul on the side of the slate b to take into the teeth d.
A spring may be employed to push the side c partly out when the lock
is unfastened, or instead of this spring a button s¹ may be used.
The mode of using the appliance is as follows:-The owner unfastens
the lock f, moves out the side c of the case as seen at c¹, and then draws
the slate 6 outwards at the end of the case by means of the loop h, he
next returns the side c of the case to position and secures it by the lock.
A stop may be used to prevent the slate being entirely drawn out, but
the lowest ratchet tooth d will itself form a stop until the side c of the
case is moved into about the position shown at c². The first person
desiring to write a memorandum does so near the inner end of the
slate and then pushes in the slate until the writing is out of sight, the
slate cannot be again pulled out to expose the writing until the lock f
is released by a key, because the spring or paul g takes into the ratchet
teeth. The next person writes in the same manner and then likewise
pushes in the slate, and so on for any number of persons until the slate
is full, no person being able to see any writing except his own.
In some cases I make the notches or teeth d in the side frame of the
slate, as seen in Figure 5, and employ a spring paul g in the outer
case to take into the teeth, the paul being moved clear of the teeth by
the key when the owner requires to draw out the slate. Or any other
convenient arrangement may be adopted which will allow the slate to be
pushed in but prevent it being pulled out except when released by a
key. i, in Figure 5, is a spring at the opposite side of the slate to the
ratchet teeth, this spring produces friction against the side of the case
and thereby compensates for the friction produced by the paul g so that
the slate can easily be pushed in evenly. When the slate is drawn
nearly out the spring i enters a recess k and acts as a stop, but by
pressing the button inwards the spring i is released and the slate can

page_text: be completely withdrawn. m is a spring to move out the button / when
pressure is removed therefrom. If desired two or more slates, tablets, or
sheets may be fitted in the same case. Figure 6 shows in cross section
a box or case constructed to receive two slates.
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 the
appliance or apparatus constructed and acting substantially as herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings for
receiving memoranda, notes, or other manuscript communications.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Jacob Cohen, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
BENJAMIN JACOB COHEN. (L.S.)