IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR METALLIC HOOPS OR BANDS USED IN . PROVISIONAL SP
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Charles Stiff, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Merchant and Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR METALLIC HOOPS OR BANDS USED IN
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Charles Stiff
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th April 1873.
I, WILLIAM CHARLES STIFF, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,..
Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR METALLIC HOOPS OR BANDS
USED IN BALING COTTON AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
•
My Invention consists in constructing fastenings for .connecting the
ends of the said metallic hoops or bands together from the hoop or band
itself in the manner herein-after described, whereby the use of a
detached tie or buckle is dispensed with..
.
4.
=
In constructing fastenings according to my Invention I form on one
end of the band a hook made by doubling a portion of the band upon

page_text: -
itself. At the other end of the band I form a transverse loop or eye,
with which the said hook engages to fasten the ends of the band
together. I form this transverse loop or eye in the following manner :-
I bend a portion of the end of the band at an angle of 90 degrees,
folding the said bent part flat upon the other part of the band. The
said földed part stands at right angles to the band, and from this part the
transverse loop or eye is made. The said transverse loop or eye is formed
by bending the part standing at right angles to the band in such a
manner that it forms at the end of a band a transverse loop or eye
surrounding the end of the band. Between the front face of the band:
and the front side of the said transverse loop or eye there is sufficient
space for the insertion of the hook formed at the other end of the band.
The loop formed as described has a slot or opening at front and near one
edge. In this slot the hook is introduced by a lateral motion for the
purpose of engaging it with the eye and fastening the ends of the band
together. The inner face of the eye is made convex in order that when
the hook is introduced it may press it against the front of the band
and prevent the hook escaping from the eye by any accidental lateral
pressure.
In order the more effectually to retain the hook it its place I make a
depression in that edge of the eye on which the hook bears. Into this
depression the hook falls when the two parts of the fastening are engaged
together.
In order that the strain on the band when in use on a bale may not
be thrown on that part where it is doubled on itself at an angle of 90
degrees I make a föld in addition to the folds already described. The
additional fold referred to is made at right angles to the band and near
the fold, made at an angle of 90 degrees. This additional fold not only
causes the strain on the band to be direct, but also serves to make the
band start from the inner and lower edge of the back of the loop.
Where, however, great strength is not required the additional fold-
may be dispensed with, and where extra strength is required the end
of the band may be doubled upon itself before the formation of the eye
is commenced.
"
Fastenings made as described are very strong and need not be of a
width much exceeding that of the band."

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Charles Stiff in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd October 1873..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL. COME, I, WILLIAM.
CHARLES STIFF, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant
and Manufacturer, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors;
give and grant unto me, the said William Charles Stiff, Her special
license that I, the said William Charles Stiff, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Charles Stiff,
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 METALLIC HOOPS OR BANDS USED IN BALING COTTON AND
OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Charles Stiff, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 William Charles Stiff, 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
My Invention consists in constructing fastenings for connecting the
ends of the said metallic hoops or bands together.from the hoop or
band itself, in the manner herein-after described, whereby the use of a
detached tie or buckle is dispensed with.
In constructing fastenings according to my Invention I form on one
end of the band a hook made by doubling a portion of the band upon

page_text: describe with reférence to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents a plan of upper side, Figure 2 an edge view, and
Figure 3 a plan of under side of the two ends of a metallic hoop or'
band connected together by a fastening constructed according to my
Invention.
Figures 4 and 5 represent the ends of the band detached.
Figure 6 is an edge view of the ordinary hook at one end of the band,
and Figure 7 is an end view of the fastening on the other end of
the band.
The fastening at the end a of the band consists of a hook 6 made by
doubling or bending a portion of the band or hoop upon itself, and the
fastening at the opposite end c of the band consists of a transverse loop'
or eye marked d, d², the said loop or eye nearly surrounding the end
of the band. The upper side & of the loop is situated at a short distance
from and is parallel or nearly parallel with the upper side of the end c of
the band and constitutes a strong elastic tongue, between which and the
end c of the band the hook 6 on the other end a of the band is passed.
to fasten the two ends of the band together. At the edge of one side of
the fastening is a lateral shoulder or bearing piece e standing at right
angles or nearly so to the band, and between the said lateral shoulder e
and the free end of the tongue d² of the loop is a slot ƒ (see Figures 5
and 7). In fastening the two ends a, c, of the band together the hook b
is introduced by a lateral motion through the slot ƒ and pressed forcibly
between the tongue and the face of the band c. The tongue d is.
thereby made slightly to yield and permits the hook
loop or eye d, d, the tongue d on the passing of the hook 6 into the
loop snapping upon it, and the two ends of the band are fastened
securely together, as illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3. By means of
the lateral shoulder or bearing e the hook 6 is prevented from escaping
from the loop or eye by any accidental lateral pressure.
to pass into the
I will now describe the manner in which the transverse loop or eye
d, d, is made from the end c of the band or hoop. I bend a portion of
the end of the band or hoop at right angles to the said band or hoop, as
illustrated in Figure 8, where the bent part standing at right angles is
marked g, g, the said part g, g³, joining the band c by an inclined fold

page_text: at h. From this bent part 9, 9³, the transverse loop or eye herein-before
described is made. This is effected by first folding or bending the outer
end gå at the dotted line i upon the part 9, as illustrated in Figure 9.
The part g2 of the band or hoop, Figure 9, is next folded over on to part
of the band or hoop c along the horizontal line between k and 1, and the
partially formed fastening assumes the shape represented in Figure 10.
The parts g³, g', Figure 10, are next bent at right angles to the band c,
as illustrated in edge view in Figure 11, and plan of upper side in
Figure 12, in which Figures 11 and 12 the part m is the part g³ of Figure
10 after bending, and the part n of the said Figures 11 and 12 is the
part g of Figure 10 after bending. By a further bending the part m,
Figures 11 and 12 is folded around the edge of the band c, to the front
side thereof so as to lie parallel therewith as illustrated in plan in Figure
13,,and shown also in end view in Figure 7. A transverse loop or eye
of the kind represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7, is thus formed at the
end of the band c.
Some of the parts of the transverse loop or eye may be modified as
follows: Instead of the hook 6 of the band taking a side bearing against
the vertical shoulder e, Figure 7, the said shoulder may be closed upon
the face of the band, as illustrated in Figure 14.*
Or the hook b may be made to take a bearing under the horizontal
part at e, Figure 15. In the last case the loop d, d², is made broader
than in the fastening previously described in order that the hook 6 may
be enabled after being introduced into the loop to pass under the said
bearing e.
As a further modification the band at the part g*, Figure 10, may be
prolonged and be folded upon the upper side of the band c, before the
part g³ forming the tongue d² of the loop is folded. A fastening, provided
with the additional fold described, is represented in Figure 16 where the
additional fold is marked p. In this fastening the end of the tongue d²
of the loop is expanded and forms a lateral shoulder q against which one
edge of the hook 6 bears to prevent the parts from becoming detached
by any side motion or strain on the fastening.
Where great strength is not required the additional fold p may be
dispensed with and where extra strength is required the end of the band
may be doubled upon itself before the formation of the transverse loop
or eye is commenced. The inner face of the tongue d² of the transverse
loop or cye may be convex in order that when the hook 6 is introduced

page_text: it may press it against the front of the band and prevent the said hook b
escaping from the loop or eye by any accidental lateral pressure.
The various bendings of the band or hoop herein described for the
manufacture of the fastenings constituting my Invention may either be
effected by hand tools or by pressing tools worked by a press, or the said
bendings may be effected by other pressing machinery.
Although I have described and represented the fastening d, ď², as
made from the end of the band or hoop, yet the said fastening may be
made from a separate piece of hoop iron and be rivetted or otherwise
secured to the end of the band or hoop.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention.
But I claim as my Invention the improvements in fastenings for
metallic hoops or bands used in baling cotton and other substances
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, making on one end of the band a transverse loop or eye
with which the hook on the other end of the band is to be engaged, the
said loop or eye being made from a portion of the band (or from a
separate piece) bent near its end at-right angles, the said bent part of
the band being folded and fashioned substantially in the several ways
described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said 'William Charles Stiff, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM CHARLES STIFF. (L.s.)