AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CANDLESTICKS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Gray, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN CANDLESTICKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
February 1855.
I, FREDERICK GRAY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CANDLESTICKS" to be as follows: —
My Invention relates to such candlesticks as are provided with a lift for
raising the candle, and consists in securing the said lift in its place without the
use of a spring. Instead of making the slot, through which the thumb plate
outside the candlestick communicates with the lift within, as the said slot is
ordinarily made, I make the said slot of a zig-zag figure; or I make it like the
ordinary slot, but with lateral slots opening into it, so that when the thumb
plate is raised to the requisite height it is moved to the right or left, and made
to enter one of the lateral slots, whereby it becomes fixed, or prevented from
descending. When the slot is made of a zig-zag figure, portions of the same
at regular intervals are made horizontal or nearly so, so that when the thumb
plate is made to enter the said portions it has no tendency to fall.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
GRAY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, sond
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Gray, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederick Gray, 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 IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN CANDLESTICKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Frederick Gray, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Frederick Gray, 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 thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to such candlesticks as are provided with a lift for
raising the candle, the said lift being connected with a thumb plate or stud
outside the candlestick. The said lift and thumb plate or stud are connected
through a slot in the candlestick. The lift is usually retained in its place by
means of a spring, and my improvement consists in a method or methods of
securing the said lift in its place without the use of a spring.
Figure 1 represents in elevation (partly in section) a candlestick constructed
according to my Invention; and Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the
same. Instead of making the slot a, through which the thumb plate 6 com-
municates with the lift c, straight, and with parallel sides, I make the said slot
as represented in Figure 1; that is to say, I make two or more lateral slots or

page_text: openings d, e, the said slots opening into the vertical slot a. After raising the
candle to such a height that the neck of the stud 6 is opposite either of the
slots d, e, on turning the stud 6 to the right, and loosing hold of it, the neck of
the said stud engages in the side slot, as represented in Figure 1. Although
in practice I have found two side slots d, e, sufficient for ordinary purposes, yet
any desirable number of the side slots may be made in the candlestick; and
instead of putting both or all of the side slots on the same side of the vertical
slot, the said side slots may be made alternately on the right and left hand side
of the said vertical slot.
I sometimes carry my Invention into effect in the manner illustrated in
Figure 3; that is to say, I make a slot f in the candlestick g of a zig-zag figure,
those portions of the said slots marked h being made in a nearly horizontal
direction, so that when the neck of the stud or thumb plate i is made to enter
one of the said portions h, h, it will be retained there until, being slightly raised,
it is made to enter one of the nearly vertical portions of the slot; the lift may
either have a spike, as shewn at k, in Figure 3, or three spring clips, as shewn
at 1, in Figure 2, for holding the candle.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention, making the slots in candlesticks which are furnished with a lift of
such a form that the lift may be retained at certain points of the slot on being
raised to the said points and dropped into the lateral slot or portion of the slot
situated at the said points.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
0 Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
FREDERICK GRAY. (L.S.)