Improvements in Chain for Hanging Pictures and for other purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Feb., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 19th Sept., 1891-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Chain for Hanging Pictures and for other purposes.
We WILLIAM HENRY TONKS of the firm of Tonks Limited of Moseley Street
Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers and JOHN BURN of Sturge
Street Sparkhill near Birmingham aforesaid Tool Maker do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in making
chain from sheet metal and wire. Chain made according to our invention is
particularly useful for hanging pictures and other articles hung or suspended by
means of hooks but chain made according to our invention may also be used for
general purposes.
By our improvements the links of the chain are preserved in line with one another;
the hooking of pictures or other articles to it is readily effected and the attach-
ment of the links to one another and their detachment for adjusting the length of
the chain can be effected without the use of tools. We will first describe a chain
made according to our invention from sheet metal.
'We cut out from sheet brass or other ductile sheet metal fork shaped links that
is each link consists of two parallel branches joined at one end by a cross bar
having notches or depressions in it where it joins the side branches.
The unconnected ends of the branches are slightly wider than the other parts of
the forked link and are pierced with long eyes or slots of a nearly elliptical figure.
It is by means of these eyes or slots that the links are engaged together. After
the wide ends of the branches have been pierced the pierced ends are twisted or bent.
at right angles to the cross bar and to the parts of the branches adjacent to the
cross bar.
In order to join or connect the links together they are threaded in such a way
as to cause the eye ends of the branches of one link to hang upon and engage with
the notches in the cross bar of the adjacent link. That is to say one link being
placed at right angles to the link to which it is to be connected one branch of the
first named link is passed through the eyes of the other link and the first named
link brought into a line with the other link so as to engage the cross bar of the
former link with the eye ends of the latter link. By the engagement of the eye
ends of one link with the notches in the cross bar of the adjacent link the several
links are preserved in line.
By the method described of threading or engaging the links together links can
be removed one at a time from a chain made according to our invention and
additional links added to a chain without the use of tools and without interfering
with the integrity of the links; and the clear or unobstructed spaces between the
branches of the links perinit of the ready hooking of the picture or article to or
the unhooking of it from the chain.
In making our improved chain from wire we bend lengths of wire into fork
shaped links as described with respect to links made from sheet metal. In this
case the eye ends of the branches of the wire links are made by looping the wire
aud coiling the ends of the loops upon or soldering them to the branches and the
depressions in the cross bar for the eye ends of the adjacent link to engage with
are made by bending.
Dated the 2nd day of February 1891.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants..

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Chain for Hanging Pictures and for other purposes.
We WILLIAM HENRY TONKS of the firm of Tonks Limited of Moseley Street
Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers and JOHN BURN of Sturge
Street, Sparkhill near Birmingham aforesaid, Tool Maker, do hereby declare the
nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in making
chain from sheet metal and wire. Chain made according to our invention is
particularly useful for hanging pictures and other articles hung or suspended by
ineans of hooks but chain made according to our invention may also be used for
general purposes.
r
By our improvements the links of the chain are preserved in line with one
another the hooking of pictures or other articles to it is readily effected and the
attachment of the links to one another and their detachment for adjusting the length
of the chain can be effected without the use of tools.
We will first describe a chain made according to our invention from sheet metal.
We cut out from sheet brass or other ductile sheet metal, fork shaped links,
that is each link consists of two nearly parallel branches joined at one end by a
cross bar having notches or depressions in it where it joins the side branches. The
unconnected ends of the branches are slightly wider than the other parts of the
forked link and are pierced with long eyes or slots of a nearly elliptical figure. It
is by means of these eyes or slots that the links are engaged together. After the
wide ends of the branches have been pierced, the pierced ends are twisted or bent
at right angles to the cross bar and to the parts of the branches adjacent to the
cross bar.
In order to join or connect the links together they are threaded in such a way as
to cause the eye ends of the branches of one link to hang upon and engage with
the notches in the cross bar of the adjacent link. That is to say, one link being
placed at right angles to the link to which it is to be connected, one branch of the
first named link is passed through the eyes of the other link and the first named
link brought into a line with the other link so as to engage the cross bar of the
former link with the eye ends of the latter link. By the engagement of the eye
ends of one link with the notches in the cross bar of the adjacent link the several
links are preserved in line.
By the method described of threading or engaging the links together, links can
be removed one at a time from a chain made according to our invention and
additional links added to a chain without the use of tools and without interfering
with the integrity of the links; and the clear or unobstructed spaces between the
branches of the links permit of the ready hooking of the picture or article to or
the unhooking of it from the chain.
In making our improved chain from wire we bend lengths of wire into fork
shaped links as described with respect to links made from sheet metal. In this
case the eye ends of the branches of the wire links are made by looping the wire
and coiling the ends of the loops upon or soldering them to the branches and the
depressions in the cross bar for the eye ends of the adjacent link to engage with
are made by bending.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings
the manner in which our invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation and Figure 2 in side elevation a piece of
sheet metal chain for holding pictures and the like, the said chain being made
according to our invention.
a, a² a a² are the links of the chain each link consisting of the two nearly
parallel side branches a, a which are joined at one end by the cross bar a². The

page_text: fork shaped link has notches or depressions c, c on the upper edge of its cross bar
for the purpose hereinafter described. The unconnected ends of the side branches a, a
of the link are made wider than the other parts and in the said wide unconnected
ends long tapering or nearly elliptical eyes or slots d, dare pierced. By means of
the eyes or slots d d in the side branches the several links are connected together
as represented in the drawings and as hereinafter described, the eye ends of one
link hanging upon and engaging with the notches or depressions, in the cross
bar a of the adjacent link to preserve the several links in line. After the several
links are engaged together they are prevented from being unthreaded by the top
link of the series being connected to the lever catch or fasteninge (shown separately
in Figure 3) which also serves for suspending the chain. This catch or fastening
consists of two jointed crossing arms the lower ends being notched and hooked and
engaged with the eyes of the upper link, the upper ends of the said catch being
provided with holes at for engaging with a nail y to which the chain is to be
suspended as represented in the drawing. By separating the arms of the lever
catch e its hooked ends can be unhooked from the top link when it is wished to
remove any of the links from or add other links to the chain. It will be seen by
an examination of the drawing that the clear or unobstructed spaces between the
side branches a, a of the links permit of the ready hooking of the pictures or
articles by means of hooks of the kind represented at to or the unhooking of them
from the chain. The hooks carried by the chain are hung upon the cross bars
of the links.
In making the links of the chain and connecting them together we proceed as
follows:-
-
We cut out from sheet copper brass or other ductile sheet metal, fork shaped
blanks of the kind represented in Figure 4, that is, a link blank having parallel
side branches joined at one end by a cross bar having depressions or notches in its
top edge. The wide ends of the side branches a, a of the link blank are next
pierced with the nearly elliptically shaped eyes or slots d, das represented in
Figure 5. The pierced side branches of the link blank are next twisted or bent at
right angles to the cross bar a² as represented in Figure 6. A fork shaped link is
thus formed in which the slotted or eyed side branches are situated at right angles
to the connecting cross bar at one end.
In threading or connecting together the links of the chain, the upper link is
placed at right angles to the link k below it as represented in Figure 7 and one of
the branches of the upper link is passed through the eyes of the lower link. The
top link is next turned at right angles to the position Figure 7 as represented
in Figure 8 so as to bring its connecting cross bar in line with the slot in one of
the eyes of the lower link k.
The upper link can now be turned in the eyes of the lower link so as to cause
its cross bar to engage with the eye ends of the lower link k and thus thread or
engage the two links together, the eye ends of the lower link falling into the
notches or depressions of the cross bar of the upper link as represented. By
reversing the motions described of the upper link it may be unthreaded from the
lower link.
The links made and threaded together in the manner described and represented
can be removed one at a time from or additional links added to the chain without
the use of tools and without interfering with the integrity of the links.
After the several links have been threaded or engaged together they are
prevented from being separated by the engaging of the lever catch or fastening e
or other equivalent fastening with the top link or the link last threaded as before
described.
Figure 9 represents in front elevation and Figure 10 in side elevation our
improved sheet metal chain suspended to a picture rod. In this case the lever
fastening (shown separately in Figure 11) used for preventing the unthreading of
the links, has straight slots at top through which slots the hook sliding on the
picture rod is passed to suspend the chain to the picture rod.
e

page_text: Figure 12 represents in front elevation and Figure 13 in side elevation, sheet
metal chain constructed according to our invention. 'used for supporting shelves,
trays or slabs in shop windows and the like. For 'this purpose, two lengths of
chain are suspended to the, top of the shop window by fastenings p, p (one of
which is shown detached in Figure 14) for engaging by incans of the cross pins or
heads with the top links of the chains and cross strips or supports, hooked at
their ends, of the kind represented at are hooked to the parallel chains, the shelves,
plates of glass or trays on or in which the articles are displayed in the shop window
resting on the said hooked strips or supports.
In addition to the hanging of pictures and the supporting of shelves, plates of
glass and trays in shop windows, chain made according to our invention may be
used for other purposes to which it is or may be applicable.
Figure 15 represents in front elevation and side elevation a piece of wire chain
made according to our invention. In making our improved chain from wire we
take the length of wire represented in Figure 16 and double its ends into the
form represented in Figure 17. Its doubled ends are then bent into eyes by
coiling the free ends of the doubled parts upon the straight part of the wire
as represented in Figure 18. For greater security the coiled parts may be
soldered to the wire on which they are coiled. The blank Figure 18 is next
bent into chain links of the kind represented in Figure 15 which are engaged
or threaded together in the manner herein before described with respect to
sheet metal links. To preserve the several joined links in line, the connecting bar
at the bottom of each link may be made convex or arched at its middle; or notches
or depressions may be made near its junction with the side branches for the eye
ends of the adjacent link to engage with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed we declare that we claim
as our invention of "Improvements in chain for hanging pictures and for other
purposes
Making chain of fork like links either of sheet metal or of wire, the side branches
of the said sheet metal or wire links being pierced or made at their unconnected ends
with eyes or slots for threading or engaging the links together the said links being
made and threaded or engaged together and disconnected from one another withou
the use of tools and preserved in line substantially as herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 17th day of September 1891.
WILLIAM HENRY TONKS.
JOHN BURN.