Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Mar., 1887
Complete Left, 15th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 20th Jan., 1888
I, FREDERICK SAGE of 80 to 84 Grays Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Shop Fitter do hereby declure the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The ordinary show cases of the better class are made dust proof and air tight by a
most expensive and intricate system of rebating and heading, the joints having to be
cut and fitted by hand with an amount of care and nicety which renders the production
of these better class cases a tedious and expensive matter.
On this account an inferior quality of cases is often substituted for the genuine
article and the object of my present invention is to produce a case with all the qualities
of the more expensive kind but at a lower price. I do this by making all the parts
by machinery whereby I obtain a more accurate fit than is possible by hand but to
render the work suitable for machining I have to materially alter the excessively
complicated arrangement of the joints and adopt a straightforward form of heading
to exclude the dust etcetera. I do not confine myself in the application of this
invention to show cases only, but I have specially designed it for these and will
describe it as applied to them.
It is unnecessary to go into all the intricacies, of the ordinary construction, here
and I will therefore confine myself to describing the form that I adopt.
The base framing is made much in the usual manner to receive the flat bottom
corner pieces binged door and so forth but the joints at the corners are half checked
into each other with tongues and grooves all cuts being straight and machine made.
Any form of ornamental moulding may be used and project upwards to receive the
glass sides and ends of the case.
The fitting of the upright corner pieces to the mouldings only requires a few
straight cuts and the corner pieces are secured by pins or dowels which pass partly
or entirely through the joint of the framing which thus is firmly fixed. The corner
pieces are cut or grooved to receive the glass sides and ends (all straight cutting or
grooving) and are dowelled to the top frame in like manner to the bottom.
The sides and ends of the top frame are jointed as described for the bottom frame
that side which is intended to receive the door or flap being preferably broader,
grooved to receive the top glass and provided with a bead against which the door
827

page_text: fits. The two contiguous corner pieces are also beaded to form an abutment for the
door which is hinged to the bottom frame one side of which is rebated to receive a
corresponding bead projecting from the under edge of the door. As the door is
usually fitted with a piece of looking glass the beading may be formed of the projecting
edge of one of the fillets or pieces which hold the glass upon the door. The other
pieces or the door itself are moulded or grooved to fit the beadings upon the top frame
and corner pieces already described.
For curved cases some of the frame pieces would necessarily be curved but the
joints could still be made with straight faces; however so long as some form suitable
for machine work is adopted it is not necessary that straight cuts and joints only
should be used.

page_text: I, FREDERICK SAGE of 80 to 84 Grays Inn Road in the County of Middlesex,
Shop-fitter, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
The ordinary show cases of the better class are made dust proof and air tight by a
most expensive and intricate system of rebating and heading, the joints having to be
cut and fitted by hand with an amount of care and nicety which renders the production
of these better class cases a tedious and expensive matter. On this account an inferior
quality of case is often substituted for the genuine article and the object of my present
invention is to produce a case with all the qualities of the more expensive kind but at
a lower price. To do this I materially alter the excessively complicated arrangement
of the joints and adopt a straightforward heading to exclude the dust &c. whereby
I am enabled to make all the parts by machinery and thus obtain a more accurate fit
than is possible by hand.
The application of this invention is not limited to show cases only but I have
specially designed it for these and will describe and illustrate it as applied to them.
In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 represents a transverse section of a show
case the middle portion of which has been broken away to reduce the depth. Fig. 2
is a part plan thereof with the top and one of the corner posts removed. Fig. 3 is
a detail showing manner of joining framework and fixing corner posts. Fig. 4 is a
sectional detail of corner post.
A A¹ is the base framing which is made much in the usual manner the front and
side pieces A being of the same section and having an ornamental moulding a on the
outside. The moulding is not required at the back A and this piece is made wider as
it has to carry the door B. The parts of the base are half checked into each other
with tongues and grooves as shown at a¹ in figure all cuts being straight and
machine made. In addition to the moulding a an ornamental bead a² is formed on
or let into the upper side of the base pieces to receive or support the glass front and
sides of the case. At the angles of the frame the mouldings or beads a² are cut away
to receive the corner posts of which there are two sectional forms C and C¹ a detail of
the latter being shown in figure 4.
The rear corner posts C are grooved to receive the glass at c and a stop or bead c¹
is also provided for the door to close against. The rear portion D of the top frame is
of the same form in section as the rear corner posts whilst the front and side
portions D' resemble the front corner posts (". The bead a of the base frame is, as
above stated, cut away to receive the corner posts as shown at the right hand corner
of figure 2; the cut is taken at an angle of 45° and the glass-holding beads c² of the
corner posts are similarly cut so that when the corner posts are fixed the beads a*
and mitre together, the corner posts being fixed to the base by pins or dowels c³.
The sides and ends D and D' of the top frame are jointed as described for the
bottom frame and are fixed to the tops of the corner posts by pins or dowels d. The

page_text: base piece A is formed with a groove a³ into which fits a bead 6 formed on the lower
edge of a frame B' which is fixed to the inside of the door B for the purpose of
holding a mirror. In the upper edge and the sides of this frame are formed grooves
or hollows to fit against the beads or stops c¹ of the top and posts when the door
is closed.
From the foregoing description it will be at once apparent that the labour expended
in the construction of a case such as is chosen for the purpose of illustration will be
very trifling when compared with that necessary to produce a tight and durable case
on the principle hitherto adopted. To particularize one or two points of improvement
I may refer first to the method of fixing the corner posts. These were formerly
fixed to the base by means of either a single or double mortice and tenon the whole
of which had to be cut by hand and accurately fitted whilst I arrive at the same
result by cutting the end of the corner post square, boring a hole, or two holes, through
the base frame and corresponding holes in the corner posts and securing the two parts
together by pins or dowels the whole of which can be done by machinery. Secondly--
referring to the method of joining the upper frame pieces and securing them to the
corner posts The frame pieces themselves (corresponding say to the parts C and D₁
in figure 3) were mitred together, with a secret or hidden dovetail, and the joint
double morticed on the underside to receive tenons cut on the top of the corner posts
the whole entailing a vast amount of delicate hand labour which can be dispensed
with and an equally tight and durable joint effected by half checking the frame pieces
and pinning them to the corner posts as previously described, hand labour being again
dispensed with and mechanical work substituted. It will be observed that I dispense
with mitre joints entirely as they are very apt to open and the case becomes weakened
thereby.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. A show case having
a) A base frame composed of parts such as A and A¹ joined together by half
checking with tongues and grooves.
b) Corner posts such as C and C₁ cut square at the ends and fixed to the base
plate by pins or dowels such as c³.
c) A top frame composed of parts such as D and D jointed as described and
fixed to the corner posts by pins or dowels such as c³.
d) A door B hinged to the framework and having a bead such as b along the
inside of the hinged edge to fit into a groove in the framework and hollows such
as balong the other inside edges to fit against corresponding beads or rounds
such as formed on the top frame D and corner posts C the whole constructed
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. The complete show case substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
3. In a show case the joint such as described and formed of or by the combination
of tongue and groove and dowel substantially as specified.
4. In a show case a joint constructed substantially as set forth in which both
mitreing and secret dovetails are dispensed with.
Dated this 15th day of December 1887.
FREDERICK SAGE.