IMPROVEMENTS IN SASH FASTENERS AND STOPS AND LOCKS FOR WINDOW SASHES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SASH FASTENERS
AND STOPS AND LOCKS FOR WINDOW SASHES."-A communication from
abroad by Nathan Thompson, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 29th August 1871, and dated the 17th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th April 1871.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN SASH FASTENERS
AND STOPS AND LOCKS FOR WINDOW SASHES," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to a novel screw fastening
designed to be adapted to the meeting rails of window sashes. To
this end a finger or thumb screw (which is restricted from moving in
direction of its length) has combined with it a travelling screw tongue.
which engages in a locking manner within a keeper or box secured to

page_text: When the fastening
the opposite sash to that which carries the screw.
is disengaged the finger is turned by the friction of the screw to the
right or left to prevent it from interfering with the opening of the
window, but it may be turned into fastening position as occasion may
require by means of the screw, and by tightening the screw the finger
cannot be turned back.
The second part of the Invention consists in a combined screw and
button fastening also intended to be adapted to the meeting rails of
window sashes. In this instance a button is pivoted to a plate on the
onc sash, and at or near its swinging extremity it is provided with a
screw nut or projection, through which a thumbscrew is fitted for the
purpose of locking the button when turned, so as to fasten the sashes.
This screw is then made to enter a recess in a plate secured to the
opposite sash, and thus the sashes are held from rattling or shaking and
are securely held against being opened.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 SASH FASTENERS AND STOPS AND LOCKS FOR WINDOW
SASHES," being a communication to me from abroad by Nathan Thomp-

page_text: son, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
The first part of this Invention relates to a novel screw fastening
designed to be adapted to the meeting rails of window sashes in which a
finger or thumb screw (which is restricted from moving in direction
of its length) has combined with it a travelling screw tongue which
engages in a locking manner within a keeper or box secured to the
opposite sash to that which carries the screw. When the fastening is
disengaged the finger is turned by the friction of the screw to the right
or left to prevent it from interfering with the opening of the window,
but it may be turned into fastening position as occasion may require.
The second part of the Invention consists in a combined screw and
button fastening, also intended to be adapted to the meeting rails of
window sashes. In this instance a button is pivotted to a plate on the
one sash, and at or near its swinging extremity it is provided with a
screw nut or projection through which a thumb screw is fitted for the
purpose of locking the button when turned, so as to fasten the sashes.
This screw is then made to enter a recess in a plate secured to the
opposite sash, and thus the sashes are held from rattling or shaking, and
are securely held against being opened.
The third part of the Invention is intended to be applied to upper
and lower window sashes, both of which are made to slide the one
past or over the other. The object of this part of the Invention is
to provide for the adjustment and locking of either or both sashes at
different points, so as to hold them in partially open positions, and also
to securely lock the same when closed. When the fastening is applied

page_text: to two sashes opening and closing in reverse directions up and down
one past or over the other, provision is made for ventilating by the
window at its top and bottom, subject to a locked hold of both sashes in
their open positions. To these ends a screw or other moveable stop and
box or nut is applied to the one sash and a vertical metal guide or
strip is applied to the other sash and provided with centreing points or
cavities for the screw stop to enter or lock with and hold the sashes at
the required position.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a plan of a sash
fastener constructed in accordance with the first part of the Invention,
and as applied to the meeting rails of an upper and lower window sash;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, shewing the meeting rails in
section; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the fastener, and Fig. 4 is a longi-
tudinal sectional elevation of the keeper of the fastener.
Fig. 5 represents a plan of a sash fastener constructed in accordance
with the second part of the Invention, and as applied to the meeting
rails of an upper and lower window sash, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view
of the same taken in the line x, x, of Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 represents a face view of part of an upper and lower window
sash with a sash stop and lock or fastener constructed in accordance
with the third part of the Invention applied thereto; Fig. 8 is a vertical
section of the same taken in the line y, y, of Fig. 7, and Fig. 9 is a
horizontal section through the stop and lock above the meeting rails of
the sashes.
Referring in the first instance to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, A represents
a finger or thumb screw connected as by a bearing plate washer and
rivet head at its lower end with the meeting rail of a lower window saslı,
and B is the keeper secured to the meeting rail of a corresponding
upper sash. This keeper is constructed with a locking shoulder portion b
for a screw tongue C to engage with when the fastening is tightened up
by the screw. When the fastening is released by turning the screw A
to the left the tongue C is free to work in and out of the keeper
according to the direction in which the screw is turned. The friction of
the screw A on the screw tongue C causes the latter to turn with the
screw as between stops d, d', which restrict the turning action of the
tongue C to a distance, but little if any beyond what is necessary to so
place the fastening that it will not interfere with the opening of the
window or the movement of the one sash over the other, and so that

page_text: after the window has been opened the fastening is free to be adjusted
again when required (on closing the window) into connection with
its keeper. Thus the stop d limits the opening action or swing of the
tongue C when the screw is turned to the left, and the stop d' restricts
the tongue (after the window has been opened) from being turned
in excess to the right, so that when the meeting rails are brought
together again it would be prevented by the keeper and stop d from
being adjusted into an engaging angle of action with the keeper.
Supposing the screw tongue C (by the friction of the screw A on
it in opening the fastening) to have been swung or thrown against
the stop d, then when it is required to make the tongue engage with
the keeper B it is only necessary to turn the screw A to the right, when
the friction of the latter on the screw tongue will throw the latter
into the keeper under the shoulder portion b, and a continued turning
of the screw in the same direction will screw up the tongue so that
it will be made to enter and bind against the top of the shoulder
portion b, thus securely holding the sashes from rattling or the window
from being opened except by the turning of the screw, and so that a knife
inserted between the meeting rails cannot turn the tongue C out of its
locking position with the shoulder portion of the keeper. In opening the
fastening the first action of the screw will be to lower the tongue C, so
that the latter can be worked out of the shoulder portion 6 and sub-
sequently (by the friction of the screw) thrown back against the stop d
or out of the way of the sash which carries the keeper so as to admit of
the window being opened. Under a changed condition of the meeting
rails or parts to which the keeper and screw are applied the relative
position of the fastening will be changed, and it may be arranged to
have either a right or a left hand action in closing.
In Figures 5 and 6, A³ represents a button pivotted as at b² to a
plate which is secured to the meeting rail of an upper sash B².
This button is provided at or near its fastening end with a screw nut
or box &, which may be formed by an upward projection, and through
which a finger screw C° arranged to swing with the button is fitted.
This screw is preferably so constructed that it cannot be detached from
the button. The screw C° is of tapering form at its lower end, so that
when the button A* is turned to fasten the sashes and the screw C
turned to screw its way down through the nut portion & of the button,
the tapering lower end of the screw is made to enter a correspondingly

page_text: shaped recess in a plate secured to the lower sash D³ or meeting
rail thereof, whereby the sashes are not only locked but centred as it
An
were and held from rattling or shaking in various directions.
equivalent construction would be to make the lower end of the screw
the female centre, and a conical or tapering projection on the plate
the male centre. To open the sash or sashes it will only be necessary
to unscrew the screw C₁ from locking with the plate and then to
suitably turn the button, using the screw C as a handle. The button A*
has its range of action restricted by stop arranged so that when
the button is turned to fasten the sashes its screw C³ is necessarily
brought in line with or over the recess in the plate %, so that when
the button is turned to unfasten the sashes it is automatically stopped
in a position which will not interfere with working the sashes the one
past the other. A sash fastener thus constructed is at once cheap,
durable, and secure. Under a changed condition of the meeting rails
or parts to which the fastener is applied the relative position of the
latter or its several parts will be changed accordingly, and the same
may be arranged to have either a right or left hand action when

page_text: screw E to enter one or other of the cavatics &³, or both sashes may be
simultaneously and similarly locked in open positions, or both sashes
may be locked when closed by the same means. Instead of the screw Es
a sliding spring bolt or other moveable catch or stop may be used if
preferred to lock with the cavities & in the bar or strip F³.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me
by Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
First. The combination of the screw A, the keeper B, and the screw
tongue C as described and for the purpose set forth with reference to
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Second. The combination of the stops d, d¹, with the locking tongue C,
the screw A, and the keeper B as described and shown in Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4.
Third. The combination of the tapering pointed screw C with the
button A² and tapering recess e in the adjacent plate or surface f* as
described with reference to Figures 5 and 6.
Fourth. The combination and arrangement of the stop g² with the
button A³, the screw C, and recess e as described and shown in
Figures 5 and 6.
Fifth. The combination with the screw or moveable stop E³ of the
bar or strip F³ formed with a series of locking points or cavities &* as
described with reference to Figures 7, 8, and 9.
Sixth. The bar or strip F³ constructed to form a guide in direction
of its length and provided with centreing and locking cavities ³ in
combination with the box or nut D³, and screw E³, as herein set forth
and shewn in Figures 7, 8, and 9.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
one