A CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENT IN OR SUBSTITUTE FOR BUCKLES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ALFRED CARPENTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Third day of April, in the twelfth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel
Alfred Carpenter, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENT IN OR SUBSTITUTE FOR BUCKLES," communicated to me from a certain
foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Alfred Carpenter, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon:-
My Invention is represented in the accompanying Drawing applied to a
brace. Figure 1 represents a front view, and Figure 2 a side view of the said
brace with my Invention; and Figures 3 and 4 represent a front and edge
view of a part of the same. a, b, represent the two parts of the brace to
which my Invention is connected, and which are to be fixed at a greater or
less distance from each other, so as to lengthen or shorten the said brace; c, d,
are metallic links, the former of which is attached to the upper part of the
brace, and the latter to the lower part of the said brace; e is a strip of leather
or other flexible material which is looped through the upper link c, and the
ends of which pass through the lower link d, as seen in Fig. 2. The ends of
the strap e are furnished with wedge-shaped pieces of leather or other sub-
stance f. g. The said wedge-shaped pieces are attached to the ends of the said
strap after the said ends have been passed through the link d. The strap e
and wedges f, g, Figures 1 and 2, are shewn separately in Figures 3 and 4,
Figure 3 representing them in edge view, and Figure 4 in front view, The
action of my Invention is as follows:-When it is wished to shorten the brace
(that is to say, to draw the links c, d, closer together), the end f of the strap is
pulled upwards, in the manner represented by the dotted lines Figure 2, when
the link dis raised, and the strap e moves in the direction indicated by the
arrows; when the brace has been sufficiently shortened, the end.f of the strap
is allowed to fall; the said strap is immediately wedged and fastened in its
position by the end g of the strap. When it is wished to lengthen the brace
(that is to say, to fix the links c, d, at a greater distance apart), it is only
necessary to pull the wedge 9 downwards when the strap will no longer be
held by the link d; the links c, d, may now be separated to the required
distance (the strap e during the separation of the links moving in a direction
contrary to that indicated by the arrows in Figure 2). When the brace is
sufficiently lengthened by loosing, the wedgeg (the pressure by which the links
c, d, were separated being continued), the said wedge resumes the position
indicated in Figure 2, and the strap e is fastened. Instead of making the
ends of the strap wedge-shaped, as herein-before described and represented
in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, I sometimes form the ends by attaching a piece
of leather of uniform thickness to the same, as illustrated by Fig. 5, which

page_text: said ends, when made of leather or other soft substance, answer as well
as the wedge-shaped ends herein-before described. Although I have herein
described, and in the accompanying represented my Invention applied only
to a brace, it is applicable to all the purposes for which a buckle is usually
employed; and although I prefer making my said Invention of the materials
herein described, yet other materials may be used in the construction of my
said Invention.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood, that I do not
limit myself to the precise methods of carrying my Invention into effect, herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawing, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the method, herein described and represented in the
accompanying of constructing an improvement on or substitute for a buckle,
that is to say, a fastening to be substituted for an ordinary buckle, in which
the several parts are fixed in their positions by a wedging action.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-nine.