AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT FOR SUSTAINING WINDOW SASHES AND SLIDING PANELS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Riddell, of Carracou Terrace, Old Ford,
Bow, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT FOR SUSTAINING WINDOW SASHES AND SLIDING
PANELS."
Sealed the 8th April 1859, and dated the 11th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Riddell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1858.
I, THOMAS RIDDELL, of Carracou Terrace, Old Ford, Bow, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT FOR SUSTAINING WINDOW SASHES AND SLIDING
PANNELS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to provide for the support of window
sashes and sliding panels without the use of cords, pullies, and counter-
weights for their support, and to prevent them from rattling in their frames.
To this end I employ the elastic pressure of vulcanized india-rubber, a tube or
cord of which I insert in each of the side grooves of the window frame, and
cause it to bear against the window sash or panel required to be supported,
through the medium of strips of metal or other hard material so fixed as to
5 cover the india-rubber cords or tubes, and yield freely to their elastic pressure.
By this means the windows of railway and other carriages may not only be

page_text: supported at any required elevation, but prevented from rattling either when
down or up. The Invention also applies to house windows and to shutters of
light weight, the covering strips of metal offering an efficient protection for
the india-rubber which might otherwise be injured by friction, and also
facilitating the up-and-down movement of the sashes or panels.
Instead of fixing the india-rubber to the window frame, it may be applied
to the moveable sash or panel, and covered in like manner to preserve it
from friction, and yet allow of its acting laterally to produce the requisite
contact pressure between the sash or panel and its frame to ensure its
suspension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Riddell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RIDDELL, of Carracou Terrace, Old Ford, Bow, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Riddell, Her special license that I, the said
Thomas Riddell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Riddell, 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 "AN
IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT FOR SUSTAINING WINDOW SASHES AND SLIDING PANNELS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Riddell, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Riddell, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of supporting window sashes and
sliding panels at any required elevation in their frames, the object being to
avoid the use of cords, pullies, and counter-weights where these are admissible,
and where they are not admissible, as in railway carriages, to provide an
efficient substitute for the metallic supporting springs at present employed to
keep the windows wholly or partially closed. To this end I avail myself of
the elastic pressure of vulcanized india-rubber for maintaining sufficient
friction of contact between the sash or panel and the frame, to ensure the
retention of the latter at any desired position, and also to keep it from rattling
in the grooves of the frame.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in front view a carriage window
fitted according to my Invention, the frame being drawn in section or with the
beading removed, in order to exhibit the yielding friction surfaces contained in
the grooves. Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same taken in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 1; and Fig. 2× is a top or plan of the sliding window sash.
a, a, is the
sash fitted into and working in the grooved frame b, b. In the face of the
sash parallel grooves are formed near the opposite edges of the sash, for the
purpose of receiving a packing of vulcanized india-rubber c, c, made, by
preference, of a tubular form; this tubular elastic packing is covered by metal
plates d, d, which are fitted in place so as to admit of their yielding to the
pressure put upon them. I prefer to make these plates angular, as shewn,
and to insert one edge in a narrow groove cut a sufficient depth to permit
of the plate moving inwards. The ends I turn over to form caps,.which,
embracing the ends of the sash, will prevent both the plates and the packing
from slipping out of position. The use of these plates is to protect the india-
rubber packing from injury through friction of contact with the sash frame,
and also to ensure the smooth run of the sash in the frame. These advantages,
it will be understood, will be secured without in any way detracting from the
self-sustaining property of the window sash imparted to it by the compressed
elastic packing. Fig. 3 shews in front view a double sash window fitted
according to this Invention. Fig. 4 is a cross section taken in the line 3, 4,
of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the same. In this arrangement
it will be seen that the packing and the covering plates are fitted in the front
of the lower sash and in the back of the upper sash. A screw is passed
through a slot in the caps of the plates, as shewn at Fig. 4, for the purpose of
keeping the plates from falling out of position when the sashes are for any

page_text: purpose lifted out of the frame. When it is found desirable to increase the
suspending power of the elastic packing, this may readily be done by inserting
a shaving of wood or pasteboard in the packing grooves behind or at the
side of the packing.
From the foregoing explanation it will be readily understood that the
Invention applies to railway and other carriage windows and panels, and also
to house windows and to shutters of light weight, the covering strips of metal
offering an efficient protection for the india-rubber, which is liable to injury
from exposure to friction, and also ensuring a smooth run for the sashes.
Instead of fixing the india-rubber to the window sash, it may be applied to
the fixed frame, and covered in like manner by a metallic or other suitable
shield to preserve it from friction, and yet allow of the india-rubber acting to
produce the requisite contact pressure between the sash or panel and its frame
to insure its suspension.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Arrangement for Sustaining Window Sashes and Sliding Pannels," and ex-
plained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, imparting to
sliding sashes and panels the property of self-suspension by the means above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Riddell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
THOMAS RIDDELL. (L.s.)