Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Hearth Curbs, and in Fenders or Parts thereof.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 21st Feb., 1894-Accepted, 24th Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Hearth Curbs, and
in Fenders or Parts thereof.
We, GEORGE SMART, and JAMES SHAKESPEARE PARKER, trading as Smart
and Parker of Cheapside, in the City of Birmingham, Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates in one part, to improvements in the mouldings of curbs,
fenders and other like articles; in the second part, to improvements in the manu-
facture or production of the said mouldings, and in the third part, to the production
of accessory fittings or parts of fenders.
According to the first part of our invention, a drawn or rolled moulding of thin
sheet metal is internally supported by some solid substance such as wood or com-
position, hence the making of the said mouldings solid, and not liable to become
dented under ordinary conditions.
Ordinary sheet metal mouldings, which are alike unto hollow shells, have to be
made of stout metal, and even then the same are liable to become indented, or to
twist or bend when picked up, in consequence of the same being insufficiently rigid
by having no internal support.
By our invention, the said mouldings, when made, are quite rigid and thereby
are not liable to twist, or to become distorted in figure.
Moreover, the greatest care has to be exercised in the making of ordinary
mouldings, in order to get them to lie perfectly flat, whereas no such drawback
occurs in the mouldings made according to our improvements.
According to the second part of our invention, thin sheet metal is drawn over a
wood interior or solid core, hence a solid curb surrounded, partly surrounded or
covered with a casing of thin sheet metal.
According to the third part of our invention, we make the rod or rail fittings of
fenders from wood, wholly encased or invested with a covering of thin sheet metal.
These railings, alike unto the mouldings, are made practically solid, hence immunity
from denting.
The appearance of the said parts is that of solid metal, whilst the finish given to
the surface, and the sharpness to the edges is unattainable in other mouldings, even
where made of cast metal, and dressed or surfaced by machine processes.
In carrying out the manufacture or production of a curb, according to our
invention, we take a wood moulding of any desired cross section, and we encase or
partly encase the same with a covering or part covering of thin sheet metal,
preferably by the drawing process, although the same may be applied by rolling or
by other means.
We preferably encase or surround the said wood interior upon all sides other
than the base or underside, which is left naked except at the turned over edges.
By leaving the wood naked at the said part, any additional fitting may be secured
to the same by ordinary wood screws.
This said metal-cased solid moulding is then cut into lengths, to form the front
and returned ends, and the parts which are to meet are mitred, and a portion
of the wood adjacent to the joints removed, to adinit of the same being soldered.
Thus, we take the necessary lengths to form the front and ends of the curb, with

page_text: the wood within a short distance of the meeting parts removed, so as to make the
joints accessible for soldering, and when soldered, the interstices or clearance spaces
are then filled up either with plaster of Paris alone, or other suitable plastic
materials in combination with wood or other closures.
The joints or mitres may be secured by other means than soldering. Thus, for
example, angle plates may be attachedly connected to the adjacent wood parts by
screws or otherwise. Or the said parts may be united together by passing screws
or other like devices diagonally through the one part into the other part.
In this case, we cover the corners with caps, which conceal the joints, and the
means employed in connecting together the said sectional parts, or the corner-caps
or junctions themselves may constitute the means of connecting together the said
side and front segments.
Instead of uniting the said sections together by the means as described, the
meeting parts of the mitred ends may be dovetailed, or they may be grooved and
tongued respectively.
Or the said meeting ends may be fixed together by dowels, or by rabating the
parts.
To prevent the transmission of heat from the metal, the wood interiors may be
painted with asbestos, or the surfaces applied with asbestos or other non-conducting
material, but for ordinary uses, no such means is necessary, as the heat transmitted
by radiation is of little moment.
It may be observed that the act of drawing the metal casing upon the solid
interior, compresses the same.
Instead of entirely encasing the wood interior, we may only partly envelop the
same, thus leaving a portion of the same naked, so as to make the curb en-suite
with the furniture or decorations of the room.
In this case, we encase only the top and bottom parts of the curb by separate
strips of metal, and in order to give solidity of appearance to the boundary edges
of the metal parts, we propose to terminate the said parts by stand-out running
beadings or the like.
In applying our invention to the curbs of fenders, we proceed exactly in the same
way as described with respect to curbs, and we affix to the undersides of the same,
the bottoms of the fenders, by wood screws or other means.
We also attach to the underside of the fender, by wood screws, feet, knobs or
rests, and we further attach to the top of the fender by wood screws taking into the
metal and through the wood, the metallic or other fittings, such as spindles.
In connecting the fittings to the curb, we may if necessary, let within the wood,
nuts or plates, with screw holes through them, and through which, screws carried
by the said fittings, take.
The fenders may be fitted with ordinary rods, or they may be fitted with rods or
rails having solid interiors constructed according to the third part of our invention.
Both the mouldings and rods may be of any desired cross section, and the solid
interiors may be made of any wood, such as oak, teak, deal or the like, or the wood
may be surfaced with plaster-of-Paris, or the said interiors may be made of
compressed paper, papier-mache or composition.
In making a curved curb, we make up the solid interior from a length of wood,
either bent into the desired figure, or made up of sectional parts cut out from the
solid and in casing the curved interior with thin sheet metal, we fit the same upon
a suitable table or carrier which makes the necessary radius, and by such means,
the metal is closed or drawn around the said curved interior by the passing of the
same through the die.
We wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the shapes of the
curbs and fenders, nor to the number of junctions or mitres employed.
In curving the bases or curbs, the wood or composition interior may be softened
through the action of steam or other means prior to the binding.
Or the metal casing may be bent first, and the cores or solid interiors introduced
afterwards.

page_text: By making curbs and fenders by our method, the cost of production of the same
is greatly reduced.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1893.
GEORGE SMART,
JAMES SHAKESPEARE PARKER,
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Hearth Curbs, and in
Fenders or parts thereof.
We, GEORGE SMART and JAMES SHAKESPEARE PARKER, trading as Smart
and Parker of Cheapside, in the City of Birmingham, Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of this 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 in one part, to improvements in the mouldings of curbs,
fenders, and other like articles; in the second part, to improvements in the manu-
facture or production of the said mouldings, and in the third part, to the production
of accessory fittings or parts of fenders.
According to the first part of our invention, a drawn or rolled moulding of thin
sheet metal is internally supported by some solid substance such as wood or
composition such as papier-mache hence the making of the said mouldings solid, and
not liable to become dented under ordinary conditions.
Ordinary sheet metal mouldings, which are alike unto hollow shells, have to be
made of stout metal, and even then the same are liable to become indented, or to
twist or bend when picked up, in consequence of the same being insufficiently rigid
by having no internal support.
By our invention, the said mouldings, when made are quite rigid and thereby are
not liable to twist, or to become distorted in figure.
Moreover, the greatest care has to be exercised in the making of ordinary
mouldings, in order to get them to lie perfectly flat, whereas no such drawback
occurs in the mouldings made according to our improvements.
According to the second part of our invention, thin sheet metal is drawn over a
wood interior or solid core, hence a solid curb surrounded, partly surrounded or
covered with a casing of thin sheet metal.
According to the third part of our invention, we make the rod or rail fittings of
fenders from wood, wholly encased or invested with a covering of thin sheet metal.
These railings, alike unto the mouldings, are made practically solid, hence immunity
from denting.
The appearance of the said parts is that of solid metal whilst the finish given to
the surface, and the sharpness to the edges is unattainable in other mouldings, even
where made of cast metal, and dressed or surfaced by machine processes.
In carrying out the manufacture or production of a curb, according to our
invention, we take a wood moulding of any desired cross section, and we encase or
partly encase the same with a covering or part covering of thin sheet metal,
preferably by the drawing process, although the same may be applied by rolling or
by other means.
We preferably encase or surround the said wood interior upon all sides other than
the base or underside, which is left naked except at the turned over edges. By
leaving the wood naked at the said part, any additional fitting may be secured to the
same by ordinary wood screws.

page_text: This said metal-cased solid moulding is then cut into lengths to form the front and
returned ends, and the parts which are to meet are mitred, and a portion of the wood
adjacent to the joints removed, to admit of the same being soldered.
Thus, we take the necessary lengths to form the front and ends of the curb, with
the wood within a short distance of the meeting parts removed, so as to make the
joints accessible for soldering, and when soldered, the interstices or clearance spaces
are then filled up either with plaster of Paris alone, or other suitable plastic materials
in combination with wood or other closures.
The joints or mitres may be secured by other means than soldering. Thus, for
example, angle plates may be attachedly connected to the adjacent wood parts by
screws or otherwise. Or the said parts may be united together by passing
screws or other like devices diagonally through the one part into the other part.
In this case, we cover the corners with caps, which conceal the joints, and the
means employed in connecting together the said sectional parts, or the corner-caps
or junctions themselves may constitute the means of connecting together the said
side and front segments.
Instead of uniting the said sections together by the means as described, the
meeting parts of the mitred ends may be dovetailed, or they may be grooved and
tongued respectively.
Or the said meeting ends may be fixed together by dowels or by rabating the
parts.
To prevent the transmission of heat from the metal, the wood interiors may be
painted with asbestos, or the surfaces applied with asbestos or other non-conducting
material, but for ordinary uses, no such means is necessary, as the heat transmitted
by radiation is of little moment.
It may be observed that the act of drawing the metal casing upon the solid
interior, compresses the same.
Instead of entirely encasing the wood interior, we may only partly envelop the
same, thus leaving a portion of the same naked so as to make the curb en-suite with
the furniture or decorations of the room.
In this case, we encase only the top and bottom parts of the curb by separate strips
of metal, and in order to give solidity of appearance to the boundary edges of the
metal parts, we propose to terminate the said parts by standing-out running beadings
or the like.
In applying our invention to the curbs of fenders, we proceed exactly in the same
way as described with respect to curbs, and we affix to the undersides of the same,
the bottoms of the fenders, by wood screws or other means.
We also attach to the underside of the fender, by wood screws, feet, knobs or
rests, and we further attach to the top of the fender by wood screws taking
into the metal and through the wood, the metallic or other fittings, such as spindles.
In connecting the fittings to the curb, we may if necessary, let within the wood,
nuts or plates, with screw holes through them, and through which, screws carried
by the said fittings, take.
The fenders may be fitted with ordinary rods, or they may be fitted with rods
or rails having solid interiors constructed according to the third part of our
invention.
Both the mouldings and rods may be of any desired cross section, and the solid
interiors may be made of any wood, such as oak, teak, deal or the like, or the said
interiors may be made of compressed paper, papier-mache or composition.
In making a curved curb, we make up the solid interior from a length of wood,
either bent into the desired figure or made up of sectional parts cut out from the
solid and in casing the curved interior with thin sheet metal, we fit the same upon
a suitable table or carrier which makes the necessary radius, and by such means,
the metal is closed or drawn around the said curved interior by the passing of the
same through the die.
We wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the shapes of the
curbs and fenders, nor to the number of junctions or mitres employed.

page_text: In curving, the bases or curbs, the wood or composition interior may be softened
through the action of steam or other means prior to the bending.
Or the metal casing may be bent first, and the cores or solid interiors introduced
afterwards.
By making curbs and fenders by our method, the cost of production of the same
is greatly reduced.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a curb made or provided with
improvements according to our invention.
Figure 2 represents a strip or piece of thin sheet metal which is to form the
casing of a solid interior Figure 3.
Figure 4 represents a topside plan of a wood moulding invested with a thin sheet
metal casing rolled or drawn upon the solid interior, which forms a loading to the
said casing and guards the same from injury by indentation.
Figure 5 represents a cross section of the length of composite moulding Figure 4
upon the dotted lines A B.
Figure 6 represents a topside plan of two lengths of encased or loaded moulding
with the adjacent ends mitred.
Figure 7 represents an underside plan of the loaded lengths Figure 6.
Figure 8 represents an underside plan of the corner of a fender, showing how
portions of the wood loading have been cut away in order to gain access to the
mitred part of the metal case so as to admit of soldering.
Figure 9 represents an end elevation of a corner of a curb made according to our
invention.
Figure 10 represents an underside plan of the same.
Figure 11 is a modification.
Figure 12 is a cross section of Figure 11 upon the dotted lines C D.
Figure 13 is a further modification, whilst Figures 14 and 15 show still further
modifications.
In the curbs or part curbs Figures 1, 8, 9 and 10, a is a wood loading or solid
base, invested or nearly enveloped with a covering or casing of thin sheet metal b.
Each of the curbs are made up of lengths d, d', d², with their meeting ends
mitred at d. The metal for the soldering of the mitred ends is got at from the
interior by removing the wood at a', thus leaving bare the mitred edges of the
lengths of moulding to be soldered. The removed or cut away part is then filled up
with plaster of Paris, cement or composition or a filling-in e, composed of sawdust
and glue.
e is a bearing sleeve, see Figures 8 and 9 through which the affixing
screw pin f, for connecting the pillar g, of the rail h, to the curb, passes.
Instead of the joint being soldered or united from the inside of the corner, it may
be brazed or soldered from the outside with like effect and without removing the
wood of the loading adjacent to the joint.
The junction of the united parts may be stayed by longitudinal strips i, running
the whole length of the undersides of the front and sides or they may be bonded or
tied together by a let-in angle piece shown by the chain dotted lines and marked 12,
in Figure 10. Both the lengths of sheet iron i, i, and also the angle pieces i³,
bonding together the corners may be secured to the body by wood screws j, j
It will be seen that the wood of the sheet-metal-invested mouldings of which the
curbs are made up is left bare upon the underside a³, and which may be left bare as
in Figure 8, or may be covered up by plates i, as in Figures 9 and 10.
Instead of the whole of the underside of the curb being enclosed by metal plates
as in Figures 9 and 10, each of the undersides of the corners may be fitted with
stay angle plates, affixed in position by small screws.
In making up a curb, we take a length of sheet-metal-invested wood moulding,
which has been produced by taking a thin strip as in Figure 2 and drawing or
rolling and the same time compressing the said strip upon the wood moulding or
body length Figure 3 and then cutting the said moulding up mitre-wise into
suitable lengths as in Figures 6 and 7 and joining the same together by soldering

page_text: or brazing as in Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12, or by wood screws as in Figure 13, or
by dowelling as in Figure 14 or by dovetailing as in Figure 15.
The rail h, is made of wood h¹, and is invested with a sheet metal casing h³,
drawn upon it.
Figure 16 represents a section of a partly encased curb made according to another
form of our invention and Figure 17 is a front elevation of the same.
a is a wood interior, b, bare sheet metal part casings, with rolled or beaded
terminations 64, and 62 is an open space between them.
In applying our invention to fenders, it is only necessary to apply to the curbs a
sheet metal bottom instead of the strips or angle pieces ³, in Figures 9, 10, 11
and 12.
2
It will be seen that in the Figures 13, 14 and 15, that the corners are covered
with caps k.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
First. Making curbs and the curb parts of fenders of or from united-together
lengths of thin-sheet-metal-encased wood moulding.
Secondly. In curbs and the curb parts of fenders composed of united-together
lengths of thin-sheet-metal-encased wood moulding, making the joints by the means
and in the ways substantially as described and set forth.
Thirdly. In curbs and the curb parts of fenders composed of united-together
lengths of thin-sheet-metal-encased wood moulding, uniting the said lengths together
at their corners by bonding plates or angle ties, secured by wood screws or equiva-
lents substantially as described and set forth in Figures 9, 10 and 11.
Fourthly. In curbs and the curb parts of fenders composed of united-together
lengths of thin-sheet-metal-encased wood moulding, the combination with the same,
of the accessory fittings, substantially as described and set forth.
Dated this 20th day of February 1894.
GEORGE SMART,
JAMES SHAKESPEARE PARKER,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.