CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GATES, DOORS, SHUTTERS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF LIKE CONSTRUCTION, AND IN FASTENINGS TO BE ATTACHED THERETO
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
SHEPARD, of Trafalgar Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
giceting.
WHEREAS 1er present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ITer
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, the Seventh day of May, in the ninth year of Iler icign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Shepard, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, lei especial license, full
power, sole puvilege and authority, that I, the said Edward Shepard, my
exors. adñois, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Shepard,
my exors, admois, or assigns should at any time agree with, and no others,
fiom 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, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN GATES, DOORS, SHUTTERS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF LIKE
CONSTRUCTION, AND IN FASTENINGS TO BE ATTACHED THERETO;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Edward Shepard,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, be inrolled in Ier 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Shepard, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say).-
The nature of my Invention consists in certain additions to gates, doors,
shutters, and other articles of like construction, and certain arrangements of
machinery or apparatus whereby such gates, doors, shutters, windows, and
other like articles may be thrown open and closed, and locked and unlocked,
with great facility, and whereby also the said two sets of actions are made
dependant and consequential the one upon the other. And the manner in
which the same is performed is as follows-
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed in an elevation, partly in
section, of a gate and gateway constructed according to my said improvements;
A', A³,
Figure 2 is an end elevation; and Figure 3 a plan of the same.
are the two leaves of the gate which, instead of turning on hinges as usual,
are withdrawn into two recesses B', B, formed in the side walls of the
-gateway when it is desired that the roadway should be left clear. C, C, is a
hollow framework of wood or metal, which is supported after the manner of
an entablature by the two side walls, and-encloses the machinery by which
the gates are acted upon. Within this framework there are-two-platforms
D', D, which are attached to it by means of pins E, E, upon which, as
centres, they are free to move up and down to a certain extent, limited by
stops F, F, which form part of the framework C, so as to assume, when required
for the purposes of my Invention, the position of inclined planes. Each
platform carries a set of farallel nails r, r, r, r, running in a duection at right
angles to the line of road. G¹, G1, G2, G3, are four vertical rods, two of which
are attached to cach leaf of the gate, which terminate at their upper ends in
cross bars II, II, which serve as axles to two wheels I, I, which rest and move
freely upon the rails. These rods, with the aid of the framework, wheels,
and rails connected with them, support the whole weight of the gate, keeping
the same suspended at a short distance clear of the ground K, K, are two
uprights which support the ends of a cross spindle or shaft L, to which are
attached two levers M and N The outer end of the lever M is attached to
the ends of the two platforms D', D', by means of two links or connecting rods
d', d, and from the outer end of the lever N there are two cords or chains
0, 0%, carried, which pass over a series of pullics P, P. so arranged that the
one chain shall draw down the end of the lover N, and the other, when
similarly acted upon, shall draw it up. From inspection of the Drawings it
will be readily understood, that, supposing the chain 02 to be pulled downward,
the lever N must be drawn downward from the position it is there represented

page_text: as occupying, and that this action, by means of the links d¹, de, must lift up
the two ends of the platforms D', D2, which are over the middle of the road-
way, and lift at the same time the leaves of the gate along with them, but as
the platforms D', D, become thus inclined from the level in an opposite
direction to that which they previously occupied, that is, towards the recesses
in the walls of the gateway, it follows, necessarily, that the two leaves of the
gate A, A, will by the action of gravity run down the rails r, 7. into the
1ecesses B', B³. A reverse action will of course piotrude or shut the leaves,
that is to say, by pulling the chain 0¹ it will raise the platforms D¹, D³, into
their orginal position, when the leaves A1, A3, will also assume then original
position.
The Diawings which I have just described include also a representation of
my improvements in fastenings as applied to a double-leaved gate. a', a³,
are two catches attached to the bars G¹, G³. 6 is a strong spring fixed to one
side of the frame C, to the free end of which sping there is attached a catch c,
which is so adjusted that when the gato or door or shutter comes into its
proper closed position it embraces both the catches a', a³. The spring allows
the catch c to yield to the pressure of the catches a', a³, but the moment that
they have advanced sufficiently close it comes up into its place, and holds
them fast, until relieved by the next time the gate-opening apparatus is
put into action, when the gato and catches a, a, ate lifted up clear of
the catch c 9 is a small lever attached to and centied upon one of
the upughts K, one end of which lever is raised and depressed
by the shaft L, and the other. end is connected by a 10d to the spring b. The
action of this lever makes surer the liberation of the catch c from the grip
of a', a², when the gate is raised up, but it is not absolutely necessary, and
may be dispensed with. When the gates, or doors or shutters, to be removed,
are of great weight, then, instead of applying the power directly to the chains
or cords O', 0%, the latter may be attached to the barrel of a small winch or
crane, or the power may be applied directly to the lover N, which in that
case would require to be brought to the outside of the entablature of the
gateway. The power to the gate may be also applied by means of a platform
placed under or near to the gate, and so connected by a chain or other means
to the lever or handle N, that the weight of the horses or carriage upon the
platform shall bear it down, and move the handle; or it may be applied by
means of a rail or bar laid across the carriage-way at a short distance from the
gate, so that the weight of the carriage in passing the rail or bar shall move
the handle N.
I have hitherto described my improvements in locking and unlocking.

page_text: shutting and opening, as applied to a gate of two leaves only; but the same
principle of action may be made equally applicable to gates, doors, and shutters
consisting of one single leaf, by using only one moveable inclined plane instead
of two; and so also my improvements in fastenings may be applied, with such
slight and obvious modifications as will readily occur to any intelligent work-
man, to single doors, shutters, and other articles of light construction
And though in the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the preceding description
thereof, I have represented the leaves of the gate as being suspended from a
fiamework raised across the roadway or overhead, and sliding back into masonry
raised above the ground, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself
to these particular positions, for that the gates may be equally well supported
clear of the ground by bearings raised from a framework sunk in the ground,
and caused to move backwards and forwards in sunken recesses maile for the
purpose.
And having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim 15,-Fust, the opening
and closing of gates, doors, shutters, and other articles of like construction, by
the action of inclined planes. as before described; and, second, the simul-
taneous fastening and unfastening, or locking and unlocking thereof, by the
action of the said inclined planes on catches and levels, so fixed and placed as
to be brought into connection with them when required, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Shepard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal. this Sixth day of November, in the year of our Loid
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.