Improvements in Means for Holding the Lids of Packing Cases to the Cases, and for their Removal therefrom.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 15th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 17th Nov., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Holding the Lids of Packing Cases to
the Cases, and for their Removal therefrom.
I, ALFRED STEER, of 14 Florian Road, Putney, in the County of Surrey,
Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in devices for fixing the lids of packing
cases as well as for providing for the opening of the latter without injury to either
the lids or the cases.
In carrying the invention into effect, I fix bars across or along the inside face of
the lid say across the ends. A suitable number of pins are provided to hold the
lid down to the case by being passed through the ends of the latter into the said
bars. Holes are bored through the said ends and the bars, those in the latter being
aligned with respectively those in the former. The lid is fixed by driving the pins
into the holes in the ends of the case and in the cross-bars till the front ends of the
pins are flush with the said ends; and released by driving the pins through the said
holes. Provision for preventing fraudulent unpacking is made by increasing the
diameter of the holes in the ends of the case for a short distance from the outside,
far enough to form a receptacle for sufficient wax to carry the impression of a seal.
In the latter case, the pins are driven through the case ends till their front ends are
flush with the bottoms of the respective receptacles.
Dated this 5th day of December 1893.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Holding the Lids of Packing Cases to
the Cases, and for their Removal therefrom.
I, Alfred SteER of No. 14 Florian Road, Putney, in the County of Surrey,
Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to improvements in devices for holding the lids of packing
cases to the bodies of the latter and for, at the same time, providing for the
removal of the said lids from the said bodies without injuring either..
In carrying the invention into effect, I provide a novel combination of pins and
holes of equal diameter throughout. The latter are made through the body of the
case and are continued into the lid, the axis of a hole being parallel with the plane
of the lid. The pins are of the same diameter as the holes so as to fit tightly
therein and of the same length or nearly so. The object of the pins is to be driven
into the holes, one pin into each hole. When a pin is in its hole, the outer end of
it is flush with the outside of the case and its inner end with the inner end of the
hole or nearly. It is this combination of pins and holes, the latter as to parts of
them in the case body and as to the remainders of them in the lid, that is the subject
matter of the present invention. It is distributed between two opposite ends or two
opposite sides of the case body and lid. It may however be applied to both
opposite ends and opposite sides as well.

page_text: It is obvious that, the holding power of my invention, is, other things being
equal, proportional to the non-liability of the holes to be broken away through the
substance in which they are formed. To obviate the risk of their being so broken
away, they are fortified in any convenient way. Where they pass through the
case body they are fortified by metal plates which are let into the inside faces of
the case body. Those portions of the holes which are formed in the lid may be
fortified by thickening the latter in their neighbourhood. Such thickening is
necessary when the lid fits on the sides and ends of the case body, to provide
extensions adapted to stand in the proper level for having the lid portions of the
holes formed in them. Such extensions take the form of battens or bars secured to
the underside of the lid in a proper position for their outer edges to fit close up to
the inside of the case body when the lid is on it and also (when they are of wood)
to present their grain transversely of the direction of the respective holes.
The pius are driven into their respective holes by any convenient means.
To prevent the said pins being tampered with, I combine with the outer ends of
those portions of the holes which are formed in the case body, cups adapted to
receive wax seals and to hold them as shields in front of the ends of the pins.
The provision for the removal of the lid from the case body is a result of the
holes and pins being of the same diameter throughout, for then the latter can be
driven quite through the former on to the contents of the case where they will be
found after the lid has been lifted off. When the lid portions of the holes are
formed within the material of the lid itself, instead of in added battens, a special
clear way is provided through which protruded pins may drop into the case.
The accompanying drawings illustrate several of the forms which my invention
may take. The material of the cases is shewn as wood, but the choice of material
is not a part of the invention and I am not limited by it to any one in
particular.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section; Figure 2, an inverted plan of the lid, and
Figure 3 an end elevation partly in section of one form of my invention.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section and Figure 5, an end elevation of a modified
form thereof.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal elevation, partly in section, and Figure 7, a plan of
another modified form of the said invention.
Figure 8 is longitudinal section of a fourth form.
Figures 9, 10 and 11 are details illustrating a fortifying device for the case body
portion of a hole and the combination therewith of a cavity for the seal.
a is the body of the case.
bis the lid. It is shewn as an overall lid, i.e., as long and wide as the case
body a in Figures 1 to 7 and as a drop-in lid in Figure 8. In the former case the
lid fits upon the case body, in the latter, it fits within the case body in a rebated
seat a formed either round the body a or along the ends or the sides only. My
invention does not relate to the form of the lid as such. c, c are the holes. They
extend through the case body a and into the lid as far as may be necessary to give
the pins a sufficient hold of it. The figures shew two in each end of the body a and
lid b. The number is immaterial and may be varied according to circumstances,
and it is also immaterial whether the holes be in the sides or in the ends, but a row
in an end (say) must have a row opposite to it: the lid must be held along at least
two opposite edges.
When the lid is an overall one, the respective portions of these holes are formed
in bars or battens d, d. The latter are made fast to the under side of the lid.
Their exact position on the latter with reference to the nearest edges of the lid is
clearly illustrated in Figures 1 to 5. Where there is to be a row of holes there
must also be a batten if the lid is an overall one.
e, e are the pins. The devices for driving them into their respective holes are
not illustrated for they are not parts of the present invention and are too obvious to
need description. One is shewn in Figure 1 as only partly driven. A pin is driven
home when its outer end is flush with the outer face of the case.

page_text: The row of holes and pins on one end or side or the rows on one end and one side,
as the case may be, may be replaced by a groove or grooves c¹ on the underside of
the lid near the edge or edges thereof and a ledge or ledges el projecting inwardly
from the top of the case body-see Figure 6. The full lines of the lid shew the
way in which the groove is made to engage with the ledge; the dotted lines shew
the lid down on the case body and ready to receive the pins.
The fortifying device illustrated in Figures 9, 10 and 11 consists of a nipple f
bored out to the diameter of a pin e, and a flange fat right angles with the axis of
the said nipple and fast to the latter. This flange holds the nipple in position in
the case body by being held to the inside of the latter by screws f³.
9, 9, are the seal cavities. They are shewn in Figure 4 as provided by the
expanded ends of nipples gl and in Figures 9, 10 and 11 by the nipples f. The
nipples g' are held to the case body against fraudulent withdrawal by pins g³.
The process of unfastening a lid from a case body a consists in driving the
pins e through the holes c into the inside of the case. For this purpose any suitable
driver and mallet may be used. After the pins have been driven through the holes,.
the lid b ceases to be held to the case body a.
In the case of a lid having bars d on its under side, there is already a clear way
for the expulsion of the pins, but this is not so when the lid portions of the holes c
are formed within the material of the lid itself as they are in the lid illustrated in
Figure 8. Hence the necessity of cutting clear ways from the underside of the
lid into the material of the latter until what will be the tops thereof coincide with
the holes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The hereinbefore described combination of lid, case body, holes and pins.
2. The hereinbefore described combination of lid, case body, holes and pins with
ledge and groove opposite.
3 The hereinbefore described combination of lid, case body, hole, pin and seal
socket.