AN IMPROVEMENT IN OR AN ADDITION TO EARRINGS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Germain, of Brighton, in the County
of Sussex, Jeweller, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN OR AN
ADDITION TO EARRINGS."
Sealed the 25th October 1870, and dated the 28th April 1870..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Germain at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th April 1870.
I, WILLIAM GERMAIN, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Jeweller,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN OR AN ADDITION TO EARRINGS," to be as follows:-
My improvement in earrings refers to the mode of fastening and
securing the same to the ear of the wearer, and the Invention is par-
ticularly applicable to the ordinary and well known hook earring.
My Invention consists in attaching or connecting to the upper portion
of the hook, and where it is joined to the earring proper or ornamental
portion thereof, of a piece of metal, by preference gold, which acts as a

page_text: spring and extends downwards towards the hook with a space between
it and the hook; on inserting the hook in the car the spring yields, and
as soon as the hook is in the ear the spring returns to its original position
and prevents the possibility of the earring slipping off, while at the same
time it yields when about to be taken off and the carring is as easily
withdrawn as if the guard was not attached.
I prefer to make the spring guard with a collar and to slip the collar
over the hook and secure it by solder or otherwise, but it may be con-
nected to the hook without the collar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Germain in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GERMAIN, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Jeweller, 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, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Germain, Her special licence that I,
the said William Germain, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Germain, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 IN OR IN
ADDITION TO EARRINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Germain, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
86

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Germain, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say:
My improvement in carrings refers to the mode of fastening and
securing the same to the ear of the wearer, and the Invention is par-
ticularly applicable to the ordinary and well known hook earring.
My Invention consists in attaching or connecting to the upper portion
of the hook, and where it is joined to the earring proper or ornamental
portion thereof, of a piece of metal, by preference gold, which acts as a
spring and extends downwards towards the hook; on inserting the hook
in the ear the spring yields, and as soon as the hook is in the ear the
spring returns to its original position and prevents the possibility of the
earring slipping out, while at the same time it yields when about to be
taken out, and the carring is as easily withdrawn as if the guard was not
attached.
I prefer to make the spring guard with a collar and to slip the collar
over the hook and secure it by solder or otherwise, but it may be con-
nected to the hook without the collar.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of an ordinary hook.
earring with my improvement applied thereto. a is the spring piece,
and the collar or loop formed at the end thereof, shewn separately at
Fig. 2; c is the ordinary hook of the carring. The collar b is slipped
over the shank of the hook c, and when brought to its proper position, as
shown in Figure 1, is soldered or otherwise fixed thereto. To attach
the carring to the car of the wearer insert the point of hook c through
the hole in the ear in the ordinary manner; as the hook passes through
the car the spring portion a yields until the hook is wholly inserted,
when the spring portion a rebounds against the ear, rendering the earring
secure. To take out the earring remove the hook and the spring portion a
yields sufficiently to allow the hook to be easily removed in the ordinary
manner.
Figure 3 is a view of an earring made also according to my Invention,
wherein the spring portion is made in one piece with the hook, and this
arrangement is particularly applicable to new earrings, the arrangement
before described being capable of application to all existing hook earrings.

page_text: In this latter case a is the spring portion as before, and which acts in a
similar manner to the spring in the previous arrangement; d is a ring or
eye by which the ornamental portion is suspended; or instead of the
ring being soldered on as shown the spring may be made in one piece
with the suspension ring.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
the construction of carrings with a guard piece or spring for affording
greater security to the same when worn, substantially in manner described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Germain, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.