A CERTAIN NEW IMPROVE-
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Low (Engineer), of Union Street, Woolwich,
in the County of Kent, and William Press, of Stepney Causeway, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A CERTAIN NEW IMPROVE-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Low and William
Press at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 27th May 1857.
We, ROBERT LOW (Engineer), of Union Street, Woolwich, in the County
of Kent, and WILLIAM PRESS, of Stepney Causeway, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A CERTAIN
NEW IMPROVEMENT OR NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VICES," to be
as follows, that is to say:-
It is an Invention for causing the jaws of vices to open in a paralel direc-
tion. We accomplish this object by means of one, two, or more rods or bars
attached to each side of the stems, legs, or jaws, or parts of the vice about or
under the screw, in joint-like manner, either in the centre or outside the
stems, legs, or jaws, or parts of the vice which form its continuation from
the jaws downwards, and which two or more rods or bars are connected
together in joint-like fashion in the centre, and by one, two, or more similar
rods or bars connected in the like joint-like manner at their ends and centres
lower down on the stems, legs, or parts of the vice, so as to form two, three,

page_text: four, or other numbers of joints or centres of action; and these four or any
other numbers of bars or rods are joined in action together by means of one,
two, or other numbers of connecting rods or bars attached from one to the
other or others in the centre of the stems, legs, or jaws, or parts of the vice
between or from about the screw to the bottom, so as to cause all the joints
to move together, and thus to cause the paralel opening of the jaws. We also
use a guide rod fastened to the front leg and going through the back leg as
attached to this kind of vice, so as to cause a parraled action sideways; or we
use two guide rods attached to the outsides of the legs by slots or otherwise,
to act in slide-like manner for the same purpose. The legs, stems, jaws, and
all other parts of the vice may be made in any usual fashion as is already
known, and in respect of which we claim no Invention, only of such alteration
as may be needfull for inserting or attaching the mechanism we claim as our
Invention, and which (our) mechanism may also be attached to old or existing
vices, so as to convert them into paralel opening vices.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Low and William Press in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
Low, of Union Street, Woolwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, and I,
WILLIAM PRESS, of Stepney Causeway, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Robert Low and William Press, Her special licence that we,
the said Robert Low and William Press, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Low and William Press,
our 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 "A CERTAIN NEW IMPROVEMENT OR
NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VICES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Robert Low and William Press, our executors or

page_text: administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Robert Low and William Press, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
Our Invention relates to vices opening in a parallel direction, and also to
other kinds of vices which may be converted into parallel opening vices, by
the application thereto of parallel acting rods or bars, as herein-after
described, and which, by referring to the Drawings accompanying this Speci-
fication, will most fully appear. The solid grasp which vices should be
capable of making in order to be effectual in their operation is well provided
for by the methods or appliances we use or make in their construction, and
which will be most fully understood by our description and Drawings, they
being thus made capable of a large amount of strength and durability. We
construct or manage the parallel opening and shutting of the jaws of vices by
means of a parallel action composed of jointed rods or bars of the same or of
a similar kind to those herein and in the annexed Drawings fully described;
and by means of one or more auxiliary guide rod or rods, or other guiding
contrivances which may be used with benefit along with the parallel acting
rods or bars, to steady their action and render the vices more capable of
bearing any hammering or weight to which they may be subjected; where,
however, guide rods or bars are or may be as parts of any vices to which a
greater certainty of strength and parallel action may be desirable, to such as
these we add or apply the parallel acting rods or bars herein described,
as being a great improvement in vices constructed with guide rods only. We
accomplish the objects herein named by means of two, as in Figure 1; three,
as in Figure 3; four or any other numbers of rods or bars, as shewn marked
in the Drawings, and which may be attached on the outsides of the front and
back stems of vices, as shewn in Drawings marked a, they being the same on
5 each side of each stem, so as to form pairs; and there may be two, three, four,
or any other numbers of such pairs; two, however, of such pairs in the front
and back stems is sufficient to cause parallel action, and are cheaper than any
greater numbers. They may be attached to the stems by pins, bolts, rivets,
or any other convenient method, being free in their movements as joints; and

page_text: these two or more pairs of joints we connect in the centres of the stems by
means of one, two, or other numbers of bars or rods, and marked b, and also
by means of pins, bolts, rivets, or any other well-known methods of making
and connecting joints; or the above-named rods or bars may be inserted in
the front and back stems of vices, as shewn in Drawings marked Fig. 2, and
in joint fashion in slots or other fastenings provided for that
purpose, the
parallel principle being the same, and similarly jointed in the centres by any
convenient method.
We do not confine ourselves to any particular form in the before-named
rods or bars, as they may be only plain bars for the sake of cheapness, or they
may be more elaborately worked with bosses or otherwise for the sake of
beauty; neither do we confine ourselves to any particular method or place of
fastening or attaching such rods or bars, as the method or place of attach-
ment may be varied a little without departing from the principle of the
parallel action. We also use an auxilary aid to the parallel acting rods or
bars already referred to, one or more guide rod or rods, as shewn in Drawings
marked c, and which we find by experiments to be most conveniently placed,
as shewn in the Drawings. The place of fixing may, however, be varied a
little without detriment to their usefulness; we find them best to be rivetted
or otherwise fixed in the front stem of vices, and working freely through the
back stems, but still being made a good fit. We do not confine ourselves to
any particular form or shape of such guide rods or bars, as they may be of
various forms with nearly equal good results, so long as our evident intention
is carried out as an auxiliary combination with the parallel acting rods or bars
before referred to, to steady their action and bear up the weight of the front jaws,
or any hammering to which it or they may be subjected. We use a collar on
the screws of vices inside the front jaws, to bring about the opening without a
spring; not, however, claiming that as a part of our Invention. We wish it to
be distinctly understood that we claim no Invention in the making of vices,
nor in the Invention of parallel opening vices, such being already known, but
only as effecting that object by means of the mechanism we here describe.
We do not claim to be the Inventors of the parallel acting rods or bars herein
described, such being known and applied to other purposes, but not as appli-
ances to parallel opening vices, nor in and as a part of combination with guide
rods or bars as we use and apply them and construct vices with such combina-
tion, either as new vices or as appliances, and to make up this combination in
or with other kinds of vices. We do not claim to be the Inventors of guide
rods as applied to vices, such being known, but not as or in part combined
with parallel acting appliances, such as we describe and use; our claim is,—

page_text: First, the application to vices and use of parallel acting rods or bars such
or similar to those herein described.
Secondly, we claim the application to vices and use of parallel acting rods
or bars, similar to those herein described, in combination with guide rods or
bars or similar auxiliary aid.
Thirdly, we claim the application and use of the before-named parallel
acting rods or bars to any other kinds of vices now made or which may be
made without them, and which by the addition of such parallel acting rods or
bars may be made into good parallel opening vices.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Low and William Press, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-seventh day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
ROBERT LOW.
(L.B.)
WILLIAM PRESS. (L.S.)
ROBERT LOW.
(L.B.)
WILLIAM PRESS. (L.S.)