IMPROVEMENTS IN TONGS OR FORCEPS FOR GRASPING ARTICLES OUT OF REACH OF THE HAND
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Baylis, Joiner, of Hulme, in the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and Thomas Henry Hopwood,
Hosier and Engineer, of the same Place, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Baylis and
Thomas Henry Hopwood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,.
with their Petition, on the 14th February 1863.
We, WILLIAM BAYLIS, Joiner, of Hulme, in the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, and THOMAS HENRY HOPWOOD, Hosier and Engineer,
of the same Place, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TONGS OR FORCEPS FOR GRASPING ARTICLES OUT OF REACH OF
THE HAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention is intended for facilitating the grasping and releasing of any
objects or articles at a distance, or otherwise out of reach of the hand, and
the improved tongs or forceps may be used for placing and adjusting articles
in shop windows, and removing the same therefrom, or from shelves, pegs, or
other places; also on a smaller scale for various surgical purposes, and when
made of iron may be used by smiths for placing and removing articles in and
from furnaces where the heat is too great to approach closely, and for a variety
of analogous purposes. The instrument is constructed in the following
manner-To one end of a bar or rod of wood, metal, or other suitable

page_text: material of any convenient length, a short piece of the same material is
attached by a hinge joint or pin in such a manner as that the end of the rod
forms the fixed jaw and the short piece the moveable jaw of the tongs or
forceps, the ends of both being bevilled off on the outside. At the other or
handle end of the instrument is hinged or jointed a similar moveable piece,
but rounded off at the end like the handle, and to each of these moveable
pieces is attached a small lever or trigger working on a pin, and passing
through a slot in the rod, one of the levers being cranked, so that a wire
passing from one to the other, and connecting their two ends, shall cross the
rod at about the middle of its length, the consequence of which arrangement
is that the closing of one end necessarily closes the other, and vice versa.
The jaws are kept open by a spiral or other spring placed either between the
jaws or between the handle, and its moveable piece, so that when at rest the
jaws are always open, and the upper or moveable handle is elevated an inch
or more above the rod. The instrument is held lightly in the hand, and the
jaws are closed by tightening the grasp on the handle so as to bring the
moveable piece close to the rod, the wire transmitting the same motion to
the jaws at the other end. On loosening the grasp the jaws will be opened
by the spring.
For grasping delicate or fragile articles the jaws may be lined with india-
rubber, or other soft material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Baylis and Thomas Henry Hopwood in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BAYLIS, Joiner,. of Hulme, in the City of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, and THOMAS HENRY HOPWOOD, Hosier and Engineer, of the same
Place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February,, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in, the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant unto
us, the said William Baylis.and Thomas Henry Hopwool, Iler special licence,
that we, the said William Baylis, and Thomas Henry Hopwood, our executors,
alministrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Baylis and
Thomas Henry Hopwood, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should.at

page_text: any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TONGS OR FORCEPS FOR GRASPING ARTICLES OUT OF REACH OF THE HAND," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Baylis & Thomas
Henry Hopwood, our executors 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 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 William Baylis and Thomas Henry
Hopwood, 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, reference being had to the Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say)—
The object of our Invention is to facilitate the grasping, retaining, and
releasing of any object or article at a distance or otherwise out of reach of the
hand, and relates to improved tongs or forceps which may be used for placing
and adjusting articles in shop windows and removing the same therefrom, or
from shelves, pegs, or other places; also on a smaller scale for various surgical
purposes, as, for instance, the dislodgement of substances accidentally fixed or
stuck in the throat or other parts of the body, and when made of iron or
other metal may be conveniently used as steak tongs, and by smiths for
placing and removing articles in and from furnaces where the heat is too great
to approach closely, and for a variety of analogous purposes.
The instrument may be constructed in a variety of ways, of' wood, bone,"
metal, or other suitable material, but one peculiar feature of the construction
of the different forms herein-after described, is, that the jaws and the handle
open and shut simultaneously.
'
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily car-
ried into effect, we will now proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, reference being made to the figures and letters marked thereon,
similar parts being marked with corresponding letters of reference.
Figs. 1 and 2 are views of our' improved tongs or forceps, which" contain
the connecting wire between the handles and the jaws, as herein-after
described; Fig. 3 is a view of a modification of one of our improved tongs or

page_text: forceps shown in the position it presents when not in use; in this the con-
necting wire is entirely dispensed with; Fig. 4 presents a view of the same
tongs or forceps when grasped by the hand of the operator; Fig. 5 is a
detached view of one of the same, shewing a method whereby an article when
grasped may be retained in position after the hand has been withdrawn.
Fig. 1 is an illustration of our improved tongs or forceps. a is the main
portion of the instrument, one end of which is made in the form of a jaw, the
other end being formed like a handle; b is a movable jaw, and c is a movable
handle, both of which are hinged to a at d and e; the hinge plate e works in
a slot in the main portion a, and is made sufficiently long to serve as a guide for
the movable handle c, to which it is made fast; on the movable handle c is fixed
a bracket f', to which is attached one end of the wire g', the other end of
which is made fast to the bell-crank lever i, whose fulcrum is at j in the main
piece a, in which it moves freely in a slot of convenient size and shape; the bell-
crank lever i is attached to the movable jaw b by the link k; between the two
jaws a and b is the spiral spring h for the purpose of maintaining the handles
and jaws in an open position when the instrument is not in use. It is evident
from this arrangement that when the movable handle c is depressed by the
hand of the operator motion is communicated by the wire g', which will
cause the movable jaw b to approach the main piece a and take hold of or
clasp any article within its reach as may be desired.
Fig. 2 exbibits a similar arrangement to the preceding one, Fig. 1, but in
this case the middle portion of the main piece a may be either a tube of
metal, or when made of wood may have a groove o running the greater part
of its length, as shown in the Drawing, for the purpose of receiving the con-
necting wire g', which is attached to the movable handle c by the link l,
whose pivot is at n, and to the movable jaw b by the bracket m, which is fixed
to it, the spiral spring h keeping the instrument in the described position
when not in use. It is evident that when the movable handle c is depressed,
the end of the link I will be made to move along the bottom of the groove o
in the direction indicated by the arrow, thus causing the movable jaw b to
approach the main piece a and take hold of any object required. When this
instrument is intended to be used for holding heavy articles the connecting
wire g¹ must be replaced by a rod of metal of suitable strength. The hinges
at d and e are placed on the outside of the jaws a, d, and the handles a, c, as
shown in the Drawing.
The tongs or forceps shown in Fig. 3 are constructed principally of three
parts, marked a, b, and c, the pieces marked b and c being hinged to the piece
marked a at d and e, as clearly shown in the Drawing; the parts b and c are also

page_text: connected together by a hinge f, which is provided with slots instead of screw
holes for the purpose of allowing it to slide on the parts 6 and c. When the
instrument is being used in the part a; two pins 9 are inserted projecting into
and moving easily in the parts b and c to act as guides for those parts, as
will be readily understood by referring to the Drawing. The spiral springs h
are for the purpose of keeping the handle and jaws in an open position when
the instrument is not in use. The mode of operation is as follows:-When it is
desirable to take hold of an article the operator places the instrument within
reach of it, and compresses the handle portion of the tongs or forceps marked
a and c, as shown in Fig. 4, with sufficient force to overcome the resistance of
the springs h, which causes the parts b-and c to move on their hinges & and e,
and assume the positions clearly indicated in Fig. 4, thus taking hold of the
article desired in the jaws of the instrument. When the pressure of the hand
is removed the springs h bring the instrument into the original position shown
in Fig. 3. When the article to be taken hold of is of a delicate or fragile
description the jaws of any of the forms of instruments here described may be
lined with india-rubber or other sort or yielding substances.
In Fig. 5 we have shown one method of securing the articles clasped by
the jaws of our improved tongs or forceps. When the hand of the operator has
been withdrawn, which it may be found convenient to do when the articles
have to be handed about for the purpose of displaying them, when the
handle c is depressed, its fulcrum e being a little distance from its extremity,
a wedge-shaped opening will be formed between the movable handle c and the
main piece a, into this opening a wedge-shaped piece p is inserted. When it
is required to keep the instrument closed, on the removal of the hand from
the handle the wedge-shaped piece p slides on the main piece a, and has a
feather q projecting from its under side furnished with a slot; this feather
works in a groove in the main piece a, and a pin passing through both the
main piece
and the slot in the feather q, holds the wedge-shaped piece p
securely, still allowing it perfect liberty to be slid backwards or forwards as
may be required.
It is evident that this part of our Invention may be considerably modified
in the details. In some cases a metal hoop or coupling may be slipped over
the handles to effect the same purpose.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish to observe here, that although many other
modifications might have been shown and described, such as the movable jaw
and handle being placed on opposite sides of the instrument, and although only
one application of our improvements has been described, yet we do not limit

page_text: ourselves to the precise details herein set forth, as the same may be still
further varied in its application or construction without departing from the
peculiar nature of our Invention; as, for instance, by converting the jaw into
the form of shears, or by the addition of shears or scissors to the jaws, a useful
instrument is formed for gardening purposes. We hereby declare that we do
claim as of our Invention,-
First, the improved tongs or forceps shown and described in reference to
Figs. 1 and 2; or any modification of the same requiring the use or adaptation
of a longitudinal wire, rod, or similar connection between the jaws and the
handle, as herein described.
Secondly, the improved tongs or forceps shown and described in reference
to Figs. 3 and 4, or any mere modification of the same whereby the peculiar
character of our Invention may be retained, especially with reference to
the positions of the movable jaws and handles with regard to each other, as
herein-before described.
Thirdly, the improved method of retaining any article in the grasp of our
improved tongs or forceps, as shown and described with reference to Fig. 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Henry Hopwood, on behalf
of myself and the said William Baylis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witnessed by
W. H. CLAY,
THOMAS HENRI HOT WOOD. (L.S.)
110, Stretford Road, Hulme,
Manchester.
107, Dale Street, Hulme,
Manchester.