IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Crook and Frederick Crook, both of Carnaby
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturing Ironmongers and
Brassfounders, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
Sealed the 7th February 1865, and dated the 9th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Crook and
Frederick Crook at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 9th August 1864.
We, EDWIN CROOK and FREDERICK CROOK, both of Carnaby Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Manufacturing Ironmongers and Brassfounders do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF BRACKETS FOR SUPPORTING BANNER SCREENS, READING DESKS.
AND OTHER ARTICLES" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the construction of brackets as hereafter described,
whereby they may be turned to the right or left, or raised or lowered without
altering the horizontal or vertical position of the article or articles attached
thereto or suspended therefrom.. We hinge to a fixed point, by preference
two rods, which are set parallel to one another, and are divided and united
at each end by two small vertical junction bars, which as the rods are moved
about the hinge to the right or left, or up or down, always maintains them
Price 8d 1

page_text: parallel. When the bracket is, for example, used to support a banner screen,
the outer vertical small junction bar has a long arm hinged to it, and this arm
carries a cross bar at its outer end, to which the screen is attached or sus-
pended, thus it will be seen that no matter in what position the two rods are
placed, the long arm carrying the cross bar will always maintain a horizontal
position, and the screen will hang vertically.
.To support a reading desk the desk is attached at or near the outer
vertical junction bar on a short arm corresponding to the long arm, and this
arrangement whether the arm be long or short, applies to any article the
bracket may be required to support, our Invention essentially consisting in the
method herein-before described of constructing brackets with rods so as to
obtain a parallel motion, and so continually to preserve the article supported
in a horizontal or vertical position. The two rods of which the bracket mainly
consists are as before stated hinged to a fixed point, which may be attached or
connected to any device desired, a standard for example, or to a mantelpiece,
or to any other required article by a simple clip or other fastening, or it may
if desired be permanently attached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Crook and Frederick Crook in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 9th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, EDWIN
CROOK and FREDERICK CROOK, both of Carnaby Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Manufacturing Ironmongers and Brassfounders, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Edwin Crook and Frederick Crook, Her special licence
that we, the said Edwin Crook and Frederick Crook, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edwin Crook and
Frederick Crook, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
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,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRACKETS FOR SUPPORTING BANNER SCREENS, READING
DESKS, AND OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Edwin Crook and Frederick Crook, our executors or adminstrators, by
an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Edwin Crook and Frederick Crook,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in the construction of brackets as hereafter described
whereby they may be turned to the right or left, or raised or lowered without
altering the horizontal or vertical position of the article or articles attached
thereto or suspended therefrom. We hinge to a fixed point, by preference
two rods, which are set parallel to one another, and are divided and united at
each end by two small vertical junction bars, which as the rods are moved
about the hinge to the right or left, or up or down, always maintain them
parallel. When the bracket is, for example, used to support a banner screen,
the outer vertical small junction bar, has a long arm hinged to it, and this arm
carries a cross bar at its outer end to which the screen is attached or sus-
pended, thus it will be seen that no matter in what position the two rods are
placed, the long arm carrying the cross bar will always maintain a horizontal
position, and the screen will hang vertically.
To support a reading desk the desk is attached at or near the outer vertical
junction bar on a short arm corresponding to the long arm, and this arrange-
ment whether the arm be long or short applies to any article the bracket may
be required to support, our Invention essentially consisting in the method
herein-before described of constructing brackets with rods so as to obtain a
parallel motion, and so continually to preserve the article supported in a hori-
zontal or vertical position. The two rods of which the bracket mainly consists
are as before stated hinged to a fixed point, which may be attached or con-
nected to any device desired, a standard for example, or to a mantelpiece, or
to any other required article by a simple clip or other fastening, or it may if
desired be permanently attached.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view in side elevation, and

page_text: Figure 2 a plan of a bracket applied to the support of a banner screen, and
constructed according to our Invention.
a, a, are two bars set parallel to one another, and so maintained by junction
bars b, b, b', b', between which the ends of the two bars a, a, are inserted,
and secured by pins and screws. The inner ends of these bars, t, are
hinged to a lump c, so that they may be free to turn to the right and left, and
vice versa, and in the Drawings this lump is shewn forming a clip to attach
it to a mantelpiece or other place of support. To the outer end of the bars
u, a, and the junction bars b', b', a horizontal bar d is jointed as shewn, and
so that it may be free to move from the right to the left, and vice versa. The
outer end of this bar d carries a ring, or is formed with a ring, through which
a rod e is passed at right angles as shewn to the bar d. This rod e carries
rings with hooks, whereby the screen f is attached to the rod e, or the hooks
may be inserted in this rod, or the screen may be otherwise attached thereto.
The full lines in the Drawing show the bracket in a horizontal position with
the screen depending from the rod e. Now to alter the position of the screen,
as for example to raise it, place the hand upon the under side of the
outer ends of the bars a, a, and lift or press upwards the bars a, a, then
gradually contract and move about the pins, uniting them at their inner
ends and the junction bars b, b, until they are raised to any desired posi-
tion between the dotted lines on the upper side of Figure 1, or up to the
position of the dotted lines themselves. As the bars move, and no matter
at what height they are left, the bar d is always maintained in a hori-
zontal position, and consequently the screen hangs vertically. To lower the
screen the reverse action takes place, viz., the outer ends of the bars a, a, are
depressed until the screen is as low as required, or to the position shewn by
the dotted lines on the under side of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a perspective
view of the bracket before described; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a
similar bracket applied to a reading desk. It will be seen that the desk is
fitted at the outer ends of the bars a, a, and that the action is precisely similar
to that in the bracket before described, thus no matter whether the bars a, a,
be raised or lowered, and consequently the desk with it, the latter will always
be maintained in a vertical position. We fit an adjusting screw v, working
into a rack if required, to the junction bars, in order to prevent the bars a, a,
moving by the weight of a heavy book laid on the desk, at the outer end
thereof. Sometimes instead of fitting a desk to the horizontal bar, we attach
thereto a table or stand for supporting any desired article or articles, as for
example, it will be found useful to support articles in shops, or in shop

page_text: windows, or in houses, for the bracket is with great facility attached to articles
of furniture. Brackets constructed in the manner before described are also
applicable as sconces for candles.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we are aware that
brackets for the support of banner screens have been heretofore constructed,
whereby the screen has been capable of receiving an up-and-down motion, and
its position regulated as desired, we therefore lay no claim to such an Inven-
tion, neither can we claim the parallel bars when taken alone, but what we
do claim as our Invention, and desire to secure by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the application to and the employment in the con-
struction of brackets for the support of banner screens, reading desks, and
other articles of two bars free to move parallel to one another, and supporting
the screen, desk, or other article, substantially in manner and for the purposes
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Crook, for myself and on
behalf of Edwin Crook, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Seventh day of February, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
0 Witness,
EDWP. G. BREWER,
89, Chancery Lane,
W.C.
FREDERICK CROOK. (L.S.)