CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTMANTEAUS;
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
MOTTE, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said Auguste Motte, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Augusto Motte, my exors, adñors, and assigns, and such others as I, tho
said Auguste Motte, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTMANTEAUS;" in
which Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Auguste
Motte, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being
thereto had, will more fully, and at large appear...

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Auguste Motte, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by this present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereto annexed, in which similar parts are marked with
similar letters or figures (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in improvements in the mode of constructing
portmanteaus made of leather or any other suitable material, by which I am
enabled to make the same (except the linings and fittings thereof, which may
be of any convenient description,) of one piece of leather or material, and
secure the seams of such portmanteaus by means of rivets, and without
stitching. For this purpose I adopt a peculiar mode of cutting out a piece
of material intended to be used in forming a portmanteau, as herein-after
described.
Secondly, the said Invention consists of an improved opening joint. of a
portmanteau, or an improved mode of forming those parts of a portmanteau
which come in contact when the portmanteau is closed; and this I effect by a
mode of cutting out the material of which a portmanteau is to be formed, and
by placing or fixing the bottom frame of the portmanteau in a particular
position.
Thirdly, the said Invention consists in a mode of securing or fastening the
handles to the portmanteau in manner hereafter described, for the purpose of
more effectually securing them or preventing them from being torn off.
In Figure 1 of the said Drawings, I have shewn a piece of leather or other
material, cut out in such a manner as to enable me to form a portmanteau
according to the first and also the second part of my Invention; Figure. 4
being a view. shewing the portmanteau complete, and as it would appear. when
open. In Figure 1, the portion of material marked A is intended to form the
top part of the portmanteau; B, the bottom-part;-C,-C, and C2; C², the ends
of the top and bottom parts respectively; D, the front of the top part; E, the
back and F, the front of the bottom part; and P, the back; the material along
the dotted line G, G, forming the hinge upon which the portmanteau opens. In
this mode of cutting the material, the top A- and the bottom B are made both
of the same size; the front and back portions D, F, E, and P, are respectively
cut with-the-projections or pieces d, d, fif, e, e, and p, p, for the purpose of
enabling me to secure the joints by rivetting. The front part D and the ends
C, C, are all made of the same width or depth; the front part F, and the ends
C², C², are made of the same width or depth, but the back part P is made as
much wider or deeper than the front F and the ends C, C as the bottom

page_text: frame projects above the upper edges of the front F, and ends C³, C; the back
part E being diminished to the same extent as the back P is thus widened.
In Figure 2, I have shewn a view of the top iron frame (I) of a portmanteau
of the ordinary description, and which I use for the top of my portmanteau,
placing it within the top part and securing it with rivets in the same position
as in ordinary portmanteaus. In Figure 3, I have shewn a view of the bottom
frame K (which may be made of iron or any other material of sufficient
strength), which I use in making my portmanteau, and which I make wider
and somewhat thinner than ordinary bottom frames. This frame I place
within the bottom part of the portmanteau in manner shewn in Figure 4, the
upper part of the frame projecting considerably above the edges of the front F
and ends C², C. In putting the materials which I have described together,
so as to form a portmanteau, the front D, the ends C, C', and the back E,
being turned up, the pieces d, d, and e, e, are to be turned over at the corners
and rivetted to the ends C, C', so as to form the upper part of the portmanteau.
I then introduce the top frame, and secure it by rivets all round, in the manner
shewn in Figure 4. The front F, the ends C2, C3, and back P, being in like
manner turned up, the pieces f.f, and p, p, are to be turned over at the
corners and rivetted to the ends C, C, so as to form the bottom part of the
portmanteau. I then take the bottom frame K, already mentioned, and place
the lower portion of it within the bottom part of the portmanteau, in the
position shewn in Figure 4, and secure it by rivets along the bottom of the
front and ends of the frame to the front and ends of this part of the portmanteau
and along the top of the frame to back P. The portion marked by the dotted
line G, G, will then, as already mentioned, form the hinge of the portmanteau,
and when it is closed, the projection of the bottom frame will pass up within
the front D, and ends C', C', and thus form a secure joint for the portmanteau,
the front and ends of the top and bottom parts of the portmanteau being flush
with each other. I prefer to secure the overlapping parts d, d, e, e, f,f, p, p,
with rivets, but any other effective mode of securing them may be adopted.
A portmanteau made in this manner may have its interior fitted up in any
usual manner, and may be secured by a lock or otherwise as may be required.
In Figure 4, I have shewn my mode of securing or fastening a handle to a
portmanteau. In this Figure, O, O, is the handle, the flat part at each end of
the handle being secured to the portmanteau by rivets M, M, to the front of the
portmanteau. In fixing a handle according to my Invention, I place a plate
of metal L (which may be of any convenient size or shape) upon the flat piece
at each end of the handle, the plato being first perforated to receive the rivet
or rivets to be used for securing it.
I then introduce each of the rivets, and

page_text: secure it in the usual manner; one handle only is shewn in this Figure, but a
handle may be placed on the top part of the portmanteau as well as the
bottom, in the manner I have described. The rivets in Figure 4 are denoted
by the letter h.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Motte, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Second day of October, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-one
AUGUSTE (L.S.) MOTTE.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Auguste Motte, in the presence of
GEO. MARKWICK STUCHBURY,
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of October, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Augusto Motte came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Second day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.