AN IMPROVED BUCKLE OR FASTENING."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Beckett and Richard Levers, both of
Wandsworth, in the County of Surrey, Saddlers, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED BUCKLE OR FASTENING."
of "AN IMPROVED BUCKLE OR FASTENING.'
"
Sealed the 10th September 1870, and dated the 15th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Beckett and
Richard Levers at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th March 1870.
We, JOHN BECKETT and RICHARD LEVERS, both of Wandsworth, in
the County of Surrey, Saddlers, do hereby declare the nature of the
'said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BUCKLE OR FASTENING," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates to an improved buckle or fastening for uniting
harness and other straps, which permits of their being more readily
attached or disconnected than when the ordinary buckle is employed.

page_text: The buckle or fastening consists of an open frame of metal to be
permanently secured to a strap end in the usual manner. The strap to
be attached is received in an opening made in the thickness of the end
of said metal frame, through which it passes, and is secured therein by
a transverse pin passing through both. The strap end being thus con-
nected to the buckle in a straight line is not so liable to undue wear at
the point of connection as hitherto. The pin for securing the strap end
to the buckle passes, as before mentioned, transversely through both
thicknesses of the end of the frame and through a hole in the strap
placed between, and is there retained by a nib formed on said pin, which
on the pin being partially rotated (by means of a head formed thereon)
engages with a corresponding groove formed in the metal frame or
buckle. A spring tongue taking into a notch in the head of the pin
serves to retain the latter in the locked position.
To disconnect the strap end from the buckle the spring is first
depressed and the pin rotated to disengage it from the groove and permit
of its being withdrawn from the frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuanco of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Beckett and Richard Levers in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
BECKETT and RICHARD LEVERS, both of Wandsworth, in the County of
Surrey, Saddlers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said John Beckett and Richard Levers, Her
special licence that we, the said John Beckett and Richard Levers,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the a
said John Beckett and Richard Levers, 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,

page_text: 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 BUCKLE OR FASTENING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Beckett
and Richard Levers, our exccutors or 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 Scal Patent Offico within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Beckett and Richard Levers,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
Our Invention relates to an improved buckle or fastening for uniting
harness and other straps, which permits of their being more readily
attached or disconnected than when the ordinary buckle is employed.
The buckle or fastening consists of an open frame of metal to be
permanently secured to a strap end in the usual manner. The strap to
be attached is received in an opening made in the thickness of the end
of said metal frame through which it passes, and is secured therein by a
transverse pin passing through both. The strap end being thus con-
nected to the buckle in a straight line is not so liable to under wear at
the point of connection as hitherto. The pin for securing the strap end
to the buckle passes, as before mentioned, transversely through both
thicknesses of the end of the frame and through a hole in the strap
placed between, and is there retained by a nib formed on the said pin,
which on the pin being partially rotated (by means of a head formed
thereon) engages with a corresponding groove formed in the metal frame
or buckle. A spring tongue taking into a notch in the head of the pin
serves to retain the latter in the locked position.
To disconnect the strap end from the buckle the spring is first
17

page_text: .
The accompanying Drawings illustrate the forms of buckle (constructed
according to our Invention) which we prefer to use.
Fig. 1 is a section; and Fig. 2 a plan.
a is the frame of buckle, to which a strap 6 is fixed in the usual
manner; the loose end (c) (or the end of another strap) is passed
through an opening d in the frame, and is secured by a pin e passing
through it. This pin is held in this position by a spring catch f which
engages in a recess in the pin e.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the strap is shewn secured by the buckle. When
it is desired to release the strap the catch fis pulled back and
disengaged from the recess, so that the pin may be drawn back, and the
strap is free to be withdrawn, as shewn in Fig. 3. The pin e is grooved
throughout a part of its length to prevent it from turning when the
catch is disengaged, and so that the catch may always be brought into
the recess when necessary. We also provide a recess at the other end
of the pin e for the catch to engage in when the pin is drawn back and
to retain it in that position.
Figs. 4 and 5 shew another form of fastening constructed according to
our Invention. Fig. 4 is a plan of that portion of the frame of the
buckle through which the pin passes, and Fig. 5 is a section of the same.
In Fig. 4 the head of the pin is shewn by dotted lines.
a is the transverse pin which passes through the end of the buckle
and the strap; b is a nib which engages in a groove in the frame (this
groove is cut in a projection c); d is a spring catch or tongue fastened
to the frame of the buckle, which takes into a recess or notch in the
head of the pin and prevents it from turning and disengaging from the
groove. When the strap is to be freed the spring is depressed so as to
allow the pin to be turned, the nib disengaged from the groove, and the
pin drawn back so as to free the strap.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed and
carried out in practice, we hereby declare that we claim, the Invention
of "An Improved Buckle or Fastening" herein described, it being
understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise proportions and

page_text: details described and illustrated, nor do we claim the mere constituent
details per se and apart from the purposes of our Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Beckett and Richard Levers,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.