IMPROVED MEANS FOR ATTACHING TO THE PERSON THOSE WATCH CHAINS KNOWN AS ALBERTS AND VICTORIAS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, of 22, Cam-
berwell Green, in the County of Surrey, Goldsmith, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED MEANS FOR ATTACHING TO THE PERSON THOSE WATCH CHAINS
KNOWN AS ALBERTS AND VICTORIAS."
Sealed the 24th May 1872, and dated the 7th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas George
Fonnereau Dolby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 7th December 1871.
I, THOMAS GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY, of 22, Camberwell Green, in
the County of Surrey, Goldsmith, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR ATTACHING TO THE PERSON THOSE
WATCH CHAINS KNOWN AS ALBERTS AND VICTORIAS," to be as follows:-
Albert chains are generally secured to the waistcoat by means of a
bar on the end of the chain, which bar is passed through one of the
button holes of the waistcoat. This mode of attachment while it gives

page_text: little or no scope for ornament is very inconvenient, because there is
generally a difficulty, first, in getting the bar through the hole, and
secondly, in afterwards passing the button of the waistcoat through the
same hole. Victoria chains worn by ladies are generally attached at
their upper end to a hook on a brooch, or on the dress itself, and this
mode of attachment is insecure.
Now the object of my Invention is to make a perfectly secure attach-
ment for Albert and Victoria chains, and at the same time to give great
scope for ornament or for varying the design.
My Invention consists in the employment of a plate, key, shield, or
ornament of any kind not intended to pass through a button hole, but
provided at the back with a shank or equivalent to pass through a button
hole or through an eyelet hole made for the purpose. The shank is then
secured inside the waistcoat or dress by a bolt or other device. The
chain itself is attached to the plate, key, shield, or other ornament, and 1
remains entirely outside the waistcoat or dress together with the said
plate or other ornament.
By the employment as described of a plate or other device which has
not to be passed through any hole, there need be no limit to the diameter
or size of such device, and therefore great scope for ornament and variety
in design is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS 25
GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY, of 22, Camberwell Green, in the County of
Surrey, Goldsmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the 30
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, Her

page_text: special licence that I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, my 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,
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 "IMPROVED MEANS FOR ATTACHING TO
THE PERSON THOSE WATCH CHAINS KNOWN AS ALBERTS AND VICTORIAS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau
Dolby, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Albert chains are generally secured to the waistcoat by means of a bar
on the end of the chain, which bar is passed through one of the button
holes of the waistcoat. This mode of attachment while it gives little or
no scope for ornament is very inconvenient, because there is generally
first, a difficulty in getting the bar through the hole, and secondly, in
afterwards passing the button of the waistcoat through the same hole.
Victoria chains worn by ladies are generally attached at their upper end
to a hook on a brooch or on the dress itself, and this mode of attachment
is insecure.
Now the object of my Invention is to make a perfectly secure attach-
ment for Albert and Victoria chains, and at the same time give great
scope for ornament or for varying the design.
My Invention consists in the employment of a plate, key, shield, or
ornament of any kind not intended to pass through a button hole, but
provided at the back with a shank to pass through a button hole or
through a small hole made for the purpose. The shank is then secured

page_text: inside the waistcoat or dress by a spring bolt, which prevents the shank
from returning through the hole. The chain itself is attached to the
plate, key, shield, or other ornament, or to the shank, and remains entirely
outside the waistcoat or dress, together with the said plate or other
ornament.
By the employment as described of a plate or other device which has
not to be passed through any hole, there need be no limit to the diameter
or size of such device, and therefore great scope for ornament and
variety in design is obtained.
My Invention will be fully understood by the annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is a side view of a plate a, which may be of any ornamental
form; it is provided at the back with a shank 6 to pass through a button
hole or through a small hole made for the purpose. This shank 6 has an
aperture c to receive a double spring bolt d, Figures 2 and 3. This bolt,
after the shank has been passed through the button hole or small hole,
is pushed into the said aperture until the notches e, e, catch therein, the
shank is thus prevented from being pulled back through the button
hole or small hole until the spring bolt is withdrawn. The bolt is
composed of two pieces fand g, see Figure 4, which are soldered together
at right angles to each other, as shewn; the two ends of the part 9 being
after the soldering turned down into the position scen in Figure 3 so as
to act as springs.
Figure 5 shews a single spring bolt which may also be used, but I
prefer the double bolt first described. Figure 6 shews a plate and shank
with an aperture shaped to receive the single bolt. The watch chain h
may either be attached to the back of the plate a, as in Figure 1, or to the
shank near the plate, as in Figure 6; in either case the whole chain as
well as the plate a remains outside the waistcoat or dress.
Figure 7 is a back view of the parts. The plate a here shewn is star-
shaped, but the design may be varied according to taste, and a fox's head,
lion's head, or any other desired ornament may be substituted for the
plate.
Figures 8 and 9 shew spring bolts suitable for apertures such as those
seen in the shanks 6 of Figures 10 and 11.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the

page_text: combination of parts herein-before described, that is to say, the plate, key,
shield, or other ornament a, the shank b, and the spring bolt:d, for
attaching to the person those watch chains known as Alberts and
Victorias.
In witness, whereof, I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
THOMAS GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY. (L.S.)