AN IMPROVEMENT IN CONNECTING SKINS OR SHEETS OF PARCHMENT, VELLUM, OR PAPER TOGETHER, AND IN ATTACHING SEALS TO DEEDE AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1860

page_text: For attaching seals to deeds, the form of the clip is circular, and the method
of forming, inserting, and clinching the tangs or points is the same, the face,
however, of the clip is covered with a circular piece of any suitable woven fabric
to receive the wax for the seal, such fabric being retained by bending over it
the edge of the metallic disc...
We may here remark that the tangs or points may be provided with barbs
as a further security, and, if requisite, a metallic collar or washer may be
placed over the points or tangs before clinching them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Earle and William Earle in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
EARLE and WILLIAM EARLE, of Hereford, in the County of Hereford, 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, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Henry
Earle and William Earle, Her special licence that we, the said Henry Earle
and William Earle, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Henry Earle and William Earle, our 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CONNECTING SKINS OR
SHEETS OF PARCHMENT, VELLUM, OR PAPER TOGETHER, AND IN ATTACHING SEALS TO
DEEDE AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Henry Earle and William Earle, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or one of 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 Henry Earle and William Earle,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement in writing, and on reference to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
This improvement consists in the employment for such purposes of a metallic
clip, part of which is passed through the parchment, vellum, or paper, and
then bent over or clinched on the other side.
For connecting the skins or sheets together, we take a piece of thin metal
or alloy of a triangular, rectangular, circular, or other shape, and make
incisions therein at acute angles, so that two or more points or fangs can be
turned up at right angles. These points or fangs are passed through the skins
or sheets and then bent back again and clenched by a blow or pressure so as
to bind the skins or sheets together.
For attaching seals to deeds the form of the clip is circular, and the method
of forming, inserting, and clinching the fangs or points is the same, the face,
however, of the clip is covered with a circular piece of any suitable woven
fabric to receive the wax for the seal, such fabric being retained by bending
over it the edge of the metallic disc.
We may here remark that the fangs or points may be provided with barbs
as a further security, and, if requisite, a metallic collar or washer may be
placed over the points or fangs before clinching them.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention for "An Improve-
ment in Connecting Skins or Sheets of Parchment, Vellum, or Paper together,
and in attaching Seals to Deeds and other Instruments," we will proceed to
describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect....And in order that our Invention may be
perfectly understood, we have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illus-
trative thereof, and have marked the same with Figures and letters of
reference corresponding with those in the following explanation thereof, that is
to say.
In making a clip for connecting together skins or sheets of parchment,
vellum, or paper by one corner, a piece of soft brass or other pliable metal or
alloy is punched, cut, or stamped of the form shewn in Figure 1, and the fangs
a, a, a, are turned up at right angles, as shewn in the edge view, Figure 2.
A square or other shaped hole is then punched or cut at a suitable distance
from the upper left hand corner of the skins or sheets, and the fangs of the
clip passed through as shewn in Figure 3. A washer, Figure 4, is then
placed on the back and the fangs turned over, and on giving them a slight
blow the fastening will be secure, as seen in the back view, Figure 5.
In making clips for attaching seals to deeds or other instruments, we first

page_text: cut, stamp, or punch a piece of metal into the form shown in Figure 6,
turning up the fangs at the back at right angles as before. A circular pièce
of silk "ferret" or other suitable woven material is then placed on the face,
and secured by turning the edges over as shown at Figure 7.
To attach this seal clip to the deed or other instrument, cut or punch a
hole (square or other shaped) in the "turn up" of the deed, and insert the
fangs of the clip as shewn at Figure 8. The fangs are then to be turned back
with the finger, the point of a penknife, or other instrument, or by an opener
which turns the points of the fangs downwards, and a slight blow will then
make the seal clip secure, as shewn by the back view, Figure 9. Either a
wax or adhesive wafer seal may then be applied, both of which will readily
and firmly adhere to the face of the "ferret" or other woven fabric.
Having now fully described the nature and object of our said Invention for
"An Improvement in Connecting Skins or Sheels of Parchment, Vellum, or
Paper together," and also the manner in which the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly understood
that although (for the sake of illustrating our Invention) we have shewn in
the Drawings certain particular forms of clip and have described in detail the
particular method of constructing the same, yet we do not intend to limit or
confine ourselves to the precise forms shown in the Drawings, nor to the
particular method of forming or constructing the clips herein-before described,
but what we wish to claim as our Invention is the employment for such
purposes of a metallic clip, part (or parts) of which is (or arc) passed through
the vellum or paper, and then bent over or clinched on the other side so as
to secure the same.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Earle and William Earle,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Fourth day of February,
in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and sixty one.