AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS TO THEIR SPINDLES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eliezer Edwards, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, and William Wilkins, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Brassfounder, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS TO THEIR SPINDLES.”
caled the 18th December 1874, and dated the 26th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eliezer Edwards and
William Wilkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,.
with their Petition, on the 26th June 1874.
We, ELLEZER EDWARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and WILLIAM WILKINS, of Birmingham aforesaid, Brass-
founder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS TO THEIR
SPINDLES," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary method of attaching door and other knobs to their
spindles there is no provision for maintaining the knob in a state of rigid
connection with the spindle except the accuracy with which the angular
hole in the knob is made to fit upon the angular spindle, and as the
spindles and knobs are now almost invaribly made so that the knob may

page_text: "
be adjusted on the spindle to suit locks and doors of different thicknesses
the said knobs do not fit tightly upon the said spindles. The result of
this construction is that when new the knob has considerable play upon
the spindle, and after a little wear acquires an unpleasant degree of
looseness on the spindle. The object of our Invention is to remedy this
defect and so to connect the knob with the spindle that the said knob
shall have no motion independent of the spindle..
.
We cut from sheet steel or other elastic metal or alloy a blank having
a nearly circular figure but with two or more arms or wings extending
radially from its outer edge. The said blank has a central perforation
sufficiently large for the spindle to pass through it. The said blank is
curved, that is, the arms described and the central part are not in the
same plane; when so bent it constitutes a dome-shaped spring. This
dome-shaped spring is placed in the recess in the rose which forms a
part of door and other knob furniture, and the shoulder of the knob,
when the knob is put in its place on the spindle, entering the said recess
in the rose, compresses or flattens more or less the said dome spring, which
being thus brought into a state of tension reacts on the shoulder of the
knob and preserves its symmetrical position on the spindle and renders it
incapable of any motion other than that of the spindle except by the
application of considerable pressure. We do not limit ourselves to the
particular shape of the spring. The unpleasant looseness which knobs
usually have upon their spindles is thus effectually prevented.
SPECÍFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Eliezer Edwards and William Wilkins in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 19th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ELIEZER
EDWARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
and WILLIAM WILKINS, of Birmingham aforesaid, Brassfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto us, the said Eliezer Edwards and William Wilkins,.
Her special license that we, the said Eliezer Edwards and William
Wilkins, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Eliezer Edwards and William Wilkins, our executors, admini-
strators, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ATTACHING DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS TO THEIR SPINDLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Eliezer Edwards and
William Wilkins, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and .
seal of one of us or them, 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 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 Eliezer Edwards, on behalf of
myself and the said William Wilkins, 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:
1
In the ordinary method of attaching door and other knobs to their
spindles there is no provision for maintaining the knob in a state of
rigid connection with the spindle except the accuracy with which the
angular hole in the knob is made to fit upon the angular spindle, and as
the spindles and knobs are now almost invariably made so that the knob
may be adjusted on the spindle to suit locks and doors of different thick-
nesses the said knobs do not fit tightly upon the said spindles. The
result of this construction is that when new the knob has considerable
play upon the spindle, and after a little wear acquires an unpleasant
degree of looseness on the spindle. The object of our Invention is to
remedy this defect, and so to connect the knob with the spindle that the
said knob shall have no motion independent of the spindle.
We cut from sheet steel or other elastic metal or alloy a blank having
a nearly circular figure but with two or more arms or wings extending
radially from its outer edge. The said blank has a central perforation

page_text: sofficiently large for the spindle to pass through it. The said blank is
curved, that is, the arms described and the central part are not in the
same plane; when so bent it constitutes a dome-shaped spring. This
dome-shaped spring is placed in the recess in the rose which forms a
part of door and other knob furniture, and the shoulder of the knob,
when the knob is put in its place on the spindle, entering the said recess
in the rose, compresses or flattens more or less the said dome spring,
which being thus brought into a state of tension reacts on the shoulder.
of the knob and preserves its symmetrical position on the spindle and
renders it incapable of any motion other than that of the spindle except
by the application of considerable pressure. We do not limit ourselves
to the particular shape of the spring. The unpleasant looseness which
knobs usually have upon their spindles is thus effectually prevented.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying
Drawing the manner in which our Invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents partly in section and partly in elevation a pair of
knobs of a mortise lock to which our Invention is applied; and Figure 2
represents a front elevation of the shoulder of the fixed knob and the
dome-shaped spring or binder of the same.
Figure 3 represents the dome-shaped spring, binder, or tightener in
back elevation, front elevation, section, and edge view detached.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts.
a is the fixed knob, and 6 is the adjustable knob; c is the spindle of
the said knobs. a² is the rose of the fixed knob, and 62 is the rose of the
adjustable knob. d is the dome-shaped spring or tightener for binding
the knob a to its spindle c. The said spring or tightener d is made from
a blank of steel or other clastic metal, and has the figure best seen in
the front views of the said spring; it has a central hole & through
which the spindle c passes, and has arms d³, d³, at opposite sides.
Instead of two arms the spring may have a series of radial arms.
rose a² is recessed at a³, and in the said recess the spring d is situated,
the convex side of the said spring being presented to the rose, the arms
d³, ds, of the spring being made to bear against the shoulder e of the
knob a, as represented in Figure 1. The position of the spring & may
however be reversed with nearly the same effect.
The
In applying the dome-shaped spring, binder, or tightener d to the
knob furniture the spindle c with the fixed knob a on its end and

page_text: carrying the rose a³ and spring or tightener d in the relative positions
represented is passed through the door and lock and the adjustable
knob 6 put on the protruding end of the said spindle; the two knobs a, b,,
are then pressed against the opposite sides of the door, and when so
pressed together the adjustable knob 6 is fixed to the spindle c by the
screw fas usual. By the pressure applied to the knobs a, b, the dome-
shaped spring or binder d is compressed or flattened and brought into a
state of tension, and by reacting on the shoulder e of the knob a binds
or tightens the knob on the spindle by the resistance which the said
spring offers, and the looseness or "wabbling" motion of the knob on
the spindle is prevented. The manner in which the spring d acts on the
shoulder of the knob so as to maintain the knob in a state of rigid con-
nection with the spindle will be understood. by an examination of
Figure 1. The dome-shaped spring or tightener d may be applied to
both knobs of the spindle.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that
we claim as our Invention the improvement or improvements in attaching
door and other knobs to their spindles, herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, preventing the
looseness or "wabbling" motion of the said knobs upon their spindles
or maintaining the knobs in a state of rigid connection with their
spindles by applying between the rose and shoulder of the knob a spring,
constructed and used substantially as described and illustrated, which
spring by its pressure against the knob binds, tightens, or preserves its
symmetrical position on the spindle, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eliezer Edwards, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
E. EDWARDS. (L.S.)