IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPERTAINING TO FRAMES OF WRITING AND SCHOOL SLATES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, OWEN JONES OWEN, of Blaenau Festiniog, in the County of Merioneth, Slate
and Timber Merchant do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPERTAINING TO FRAMES OF WRITING AND SCHOOL
SLATES" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
School slate frames have been strengthened with metal in several ways, by
nailing thin sheet metal on their surfaces, by putting corner pieces on or through
the corners, and by binding them round with wire for instance. The first of these
plans scratches the desks, and sharp corners cut the fingers sometimes. The
second is weak as everything depends on the rivets. The third is defective as the
wire cannot be placed so deep in the groove as to prevent the child getting a knife
below it and prising it out.
Now my Invention is best described by aid of the accompanying Drawings, in.
which Fig. 1 is a view of a slate partly in section with frame made in accordance
with my Invention, Fig. 2 a side view, and Fig. 3 a section of a block as hereafter
described.
I propose to use 2 or 4 metallic plates A. A fitting into a groove in the frame B
all round abutting against each other, and held by rivets at their ends, and if
desirable by cement also. The groove is cut with an ordinary rotating cutter after
the frame is completed, and the plates are made of a variety of material, wrought
iron, malleable cast iron, brass, zinc, or even good hard pressed raw hide or horn, as
desired. If, as I prefer, they are made of wrought iron, they can be rolled in long
lengths and then bent red hot round a grooved block shaped like the slate but
slightly larger so as to allow of contraction on cooling. The grooved block can
be solid or formed in two parts as in Fig. 3, which shows a section of the block,
CC being the slit. The hoop iron is bent round the slit in a quarter, half, or
complete circuit, the upper block D is then raised and the shaped iron allowed to
fall off the tapering mandril E, or the machine can be continuous, the hoop con-
tinuously winding into the slot and pushing the previously formed ring further
down the conical mandril against the pressure of a spring or the weight of block D,
till the entire length of hoop iron is worked off. It is then taken off, sawn or cut
in two or four in any convenient manner, and each quarter or half circuit forms

page_text: one slate iron. In all cases it is requisite that the junctions between the two or
four plates shall occur at or about the centre of the sides of the slate frame, not at
or near the corners. The rivets H must be passed through the frame and
ends of the plates to keep the plates in place and bind all firmly and strongly
together.
Having now described my Invention and the best mode known to me of carrying
it into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I desire to protect under the
Letters Patent is :-
The manufacture of frames for slates with a flat strengthening plate in two or
more pieces sunk in a groove round the frame, whether that frame be round
cornered, or sharp cornered, substantially as described.
Wч. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.