IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR CATCHES FOR PORTEMONNAIES, PORTFOLIOS, OR OTHER ARTICLES." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Chambers, of Russia Row, in the City of
London, Manufacturer, and George Gregory, of James Street, Saint
Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, Lock Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR CATCHES FOR PORTEMONNAIES,
PORTFOLIOS, OR OTHER ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Chambers and
George Gregory at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th November 1865.
We, GEORGE CHAMBERS, of Russia Row, in the City of London, Manu-
facturer, and GEORGE GREGORY, of James Street, Saint Luke's, in the County
of Middlesex, Lock Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR CATCHES FOR PORTEMONNAIES,
PORTFOLIOS, OR OTHER ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention is by a mechanical contrivance to so make or
manufacture a lock or catch, whether for portfolios, pocket-books, porte-
monnaies, or other articles to which the Invention may be applicable, that
the parts fastened or attached together by the lock or catch may be allowed
to expand, without such expansion being apparent in the catch or fastening.
To effect this we make a plate of any form, say (for the present purpose)
oval, with a bed sunk in its centre, and nearly as long as the plate itself, a
groove being made on each side of the bed, and pins at or near the edges of

page_text: the plate, by which it is attached through the flap of the portfolio to the under
plate. In this bed is to be placed a spiral or helical spring which is guarded by
a slotted plate in which it works. Over this plate is placed a box plate, and at
this stage the box plate is bedded into the leather (or other material) of the
book flap, the pins before mentioned passing through the leather and into a
plate on the inner part of the flap into which they are secured. On the body
of the portfolio or other article is attached a plate having a flat spring fastened
to it, the end or tongue of which passes into a projecting lug. The action
will be as follows:-The upper portion of the snap or catch being completed
on the flap of the portfolio, is pressed on to the lower plate on the body of that
article, and is so fastened. When there may be more papers or documents in
a portfolio, or more money in a portemonnaie, than could be conveniently
held therein if the snap or clasp were rigid, the snap made as above stated
allows the interior of the portfolio or portemonnaie to expand to the full
length of the spiral or helical spring embedded or held in the snap as
aforesaid, without the appearance of the fastening being altered, as is the case
where a helical spring is attached between a snap and a tongue visibly, as
hitherto practised.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by James Killingsworth and the said George Gregory in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
KILLINGSWORTH, Administrator to the Estate of the late GEORGE CHAMBERS,
of Russia Row, in the City of London, Manufacturer, and I, GEORGE
GREGORY, of James Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, Lock
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto them,
the said George Chambers and George Gregory, Her special licence that
they, the said George Chambers and George Gregory, their executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as they, the said George Chambers and
George Gregory, their executors, administrators, and assigns, should at uny
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for ." Iж-
PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR CATCHES FOR PORTEMONNAIES, PORTFOLIOS, OR OTHER
ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that they, the said George
Chambers and George Gregory, their executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under their or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 James Killingsworth, as Administrator
to the Estate of the late George Chambers, and on behalf of George Gregory,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters of reference placed upon the several
diagrams, the said Drawing forming part of this Specification.
The object of our Invention is by a mechanical contrivance so to make or
manufacture a lock snap or catch, whether for portfolios, portemonnaies,
pocket-books, or other similar articles to which our Invention is or may be
applicable, that the parts fastened or attached together by the lock or clasp
may be allowed to expand without such expansion being apparent. To effect
this we make a plate a of any form (we have shewn the Invention in an oval
form in the Drawing) with a bed 6 sunk in its centre, and nearly as long as
the plate itself, a groove c being made on each side of the bed, and pins i at
or near the edges of the plate a, by which it is attached to the plate h through
the flap of the portfolio. In the bed 6 we place loose a spiral or helical
spring d, which is guarded by a thin slotted plate e in which it works. Over
this guard plate is placed a box plate 9 covering spring and bedded in the
grooves c. At this stage the parts so arranged are placed on the outer side of
the flap of the portfolio or other article, the pins i, i, passing through the
leather; the plate h is then placed on the inside of the flap on the pins i,
which so pass and which are then rivetted. On the body of the portfolio or
other article is attached a plate j, having a flat spring f fastened to it, the end
or tongue of which passes into a projecting lug or loop. The action is as
follows:-The upper portion of the snap or catch being completed on the flap
of the portfolio, portemonnaie, or other article, it is pressed on to the lower
plate on the body of the said article, and is thus fastened. When there are more
papers or documents in the portfolio, or more money in a portemonnaie, than

page_text: could be conveniently held therein if the snap or clasp were rigid, the snap
or clasp made as herein-before directed allows the interior of the portfolio,
portemonnaie, or other article to expand to the full length of the spiral or
helical spring embedded or held in the snap or catch, as before stated, without
the appearance of the fastening being altered, as necessarily must be the case
where a helical spring is attached between a snap and tongue visibly, as
hitherto practised.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and shewn the
mode in which we carry it into practical effect, we desire it to be distinctly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details herein given,
as modifications may be made without departure from the principle of our
Invention, nor do we confine ourselves to any particular size or form of clasp,
lock, or catch, or to any particular metal, as our lock or catch may be made
of gold, silver, brass, or other metal, or of a combination of various metals in
one lock or catch. We claim as of our Invention placing a spiral or helical
spring within the catch or fastening for portfolios, portemonnaies, or other
similar articles, substantially as described and shewn, in order to permit their
expansion without altering the appearance of the fastening, as is the case
when the spring is visible.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Killingsworth, as Administrator to
the Estate of the said George Chambers, and on behalf of the said
George Gregory, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth
day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
cixty-six
Witness,
JOHN CHOYCE CHAMBERS.
J. KILLINGSWORTH. (L.S.)