IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR BAGS, PORTEMONNAIES, POCKET BOOKS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Rottmann, of Lawrence Lane, in the City of
..London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR BAGS,
PORTEMONNAIES, POCKET BOOKS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Rottmann at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd August 1858.
I, ALBERT ROTTMANN, of Lawrence Lane, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR
BAGS, PORTEMONNAIES, POCKET BOOKS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
Ladies' work bags and carpet bags, are frequently made with two jaws or
frames of iron or steel or other suitable material, which shut together and are
secured by various descriptions of fastenings. In applying my improvements
to such articles, I bend a piece of steel wire into a staple or loop or V-form,
passing the ends of the branches through a slit or slits in one of the jaws of
the bag, and attaching knobs to them or otherwise finishing off the ends. The
angle or bend of the staple: may be secured by a screw by pressing the two
knobs towards each other. This spring staple is compressed and can enter a
recess or recesses in the other jaw, and then being allowed to expand again, it
enters notches at each end of the recess and thus secures, the two jaws together.
The edges or énds of the recess: are bevilled to allow the spring staple to enter
the recess by merely pressing the jaws together.. A lock may be used in
conjunction, with this fastening, and it may be made to move a bolt or stud

page_text: between the two branches of the spring staple, so as to prevent them from
opening. This fastening may be applied in a similar manner to portemonnaies
and other articles. In portemonnaies or purses and pocket books with a flap,
I sometimes attach or insert a piece of metal or other rigid material with a
recess in it in the side of the purse or book, and I-insert in the under surface
of the flap a frame or plate or sheath of metal or other rigid material with a
sliding bolt or hook which enters the recess, and is drawn in by a spring and
drawn out by hand when it is required to unfasten it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Albert Rottmann in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th February 1859..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALBERT
ROTTMANN, of Lawrence Lane, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, 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 Albert Rottmann, Her special licence that I, the said Albert Rottmann;
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Albert
Rottmann, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FASTENINGS FOR BAGS, PORTEMONNAIES, POCKET BOOKS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES,"
(communicated to me from abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Albert Rottmann, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or 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 Albert Rottmann; 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
thereof, that is to say

page_text: Ladies' work bags and carpet bags are frequently made with two jaws or
frames of iron or steel or other suitable material which shut together and are
secured by various descriptions of fastenings. In applying my improvements
to such articles, I bend a piece of steel wire into a staple or loop or V-form
passing the ends of the branches through a slit or slits in one of the jaws of
the bag, and attaching knobs to them or otherwise finishing off the ends. The
angle or bend of the staple may be secured by a screw. By pressing the two
knobs towards each other, this spring staple is compressed and can enter a
recess or recesses in the other jaw, and then being allowed to expand again, it
enters notches at each end of the recess, and thus secures the two jaws
together. The edges or ends of the recess are bevilled to allow the spring
staple to enter the recess by merely pressing the jaws together. A lock may
be used in conjunction with this fastening, and it may be made to move a bolt
or stud between the two branches of the spring staple, so as to prevent them
from opening. This fastening may be applied in a similar manner to porte-
monnaies and other articles.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a plan of the frame of a ladies'
work bag, with one of my improved fastenings applied to it; Figure 2 is a
view of the inner side of one jaw or piece of the same; and Figure 3 is a
section of the same; the same letters refer to similar parts in each figure. A
and B are the two jaws or parts of the frame jointed or hinged together at
C, C; D is a spring which may be made of round or flat steel wire bent into
a staple, or loop, or V-form. The two branches of this spring pass through two
slits in the frame A, and terminate in two knobs E; E. By pressing these two
knobs towards each other, the two ends of the spring are brought nearer
together, and on releasing the knobs the spring expands again to the form
shewn in the Drawing. The angle or bend of the spring is kept in its place
by a pin F, fixed in the frame A, or in a plate G, formed in one piece with or
attached to it. The jaw or frame B is made. with a recess as shewn in
Figure 1, or with two recesses as shewn in plan in Figure 4. The edges of
the recess or recesses at a, a, are rounded or bevilled, and two spaces or
notches c, c, are formed at the ends of the recess or recesses for the reception
of the spring D. H is an ornamental plate which may be fixed on the frame
A, and may form one piece with the plate G. By pressing the two knobs E, E,
towards each other, and closing the jaws A, B, together, and then releasing
the knobs, the spring D is made to enter the two notches c, c, and the bag is
thus fastened; by pressing the two knobs together the fastening is released,
and the bag may be opened. In closing the bag it is not necessary to press
the knobs together, but it is sufficient to press the two jaws of the frame

page_text: together. The rounded or bevilled edges a, a, being thus pressed against the
spring D, cause it to collapse sufficiently to enter the recess, when it again
expands and secures the jaws together.
This fastening may be applied in a similar manner to portemonnaies with
metal frames, or with frames of hard vulcanized caoutchouc or other suitable
material and to other articles.
In portemonnaies or purses and pocket books with a flap, I. sometimes
attach or insert a piece of metal or other rigid material, with a recess in it, in
the side of the purse or book; and I insert in the under surface of the flap;
a frame or plate or sheath. of metal or other rigid material with. a sliding bolt
or hook which enters the recess and is.drawn in by a spring and drawn out by
hand when it is required to unfasten it.
Figure 5 is a view of a purse in its closed state; Figure 6.is.a view of: the
same open; Figure 7 is a longitudinal. section; and Figure 8 is a transverse
section through the one part of the fastening; and Figure 9 is an elevation,.
and Figure 10 is a section of the other part of the fastening; the same letters
refer to similar parts in each Figure. I is a small plate of metal with a
recess or a hole in it, the edge of which may be bevilled; K.is a hook on a
small metallic plate attached to a sliding piece or bolt L, which may be of
leather, and which is attached to one. end.of a spring of vulcanized caoutchouc
M, whose other end is fixed in the bottom. of a sheath N, which is introduced,
and fixed between the inner and outer leather P, P', of the flap of the purse.
The sheath N may be of metal or of folds of strong calico cemented or fastened
together, or of any other suitable material, or it may be formed by sewing or
fastening together. the parts P, P¹, of the flap itself, provided it be made
sufficiently firm and strong to keep the sliding piece L in its place, so that
when the flap is shut down, the hook K may meet the plate I, and .may be
pushed into it by simply pressing the flap against the purse.. The hook K is
rounded or bevilled, so that when pressed into the recess in the plate I, the
spring M.yields a little, and again contracts after: the hook has entered, and
thus draws it tight into its place. The fastening is released by pulling the
piece. L, so as to withdraw the hook K from under the edge of the plate I...
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and. in what manner
the same is to be performed, I'wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the use of the particular materials herein-before mentioned, as the
same may be varied, but what I claim. as the Invention of improvements in
fastenings for bags, portemonnaies, pocket books, and.similar. articles is,
First, the fastening or. fastenings herein-before described in reference:to
Figures 1. 2..3. and 4..

page_text: Second, constructing fastenings with a rounded or bevilled hook attached to
a piece of leather or metal, or other suitable material sliding in a sheath and
drawn in by a spring, and so arranged that it can be forced into a recess or
hole, and secured by simple pressure, as herein-before described in reference to
Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
In witness whereof, I, the said Albert Rottmann, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ALBERT ROTTMANN. (L.S.)