IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas William Greaves, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SOLITAIRES,"
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas William
Greaves at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th May 1875.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM GREAVES, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES," to be as follows:-
My improved solitaire is in two divisions, and consists substantially
of the following arrangement of parts :—
I first provide a suitable back plate, which has fixed in its centre a
pillar of the required height, and which is so pointed and cut away at
its top as to form a catch, into which the slide of the top part takes, as

page_text: herein-after explained. Around this pillar I place a tube of suitable
size to admit the tube attached to the upper part of the article.
The top part of the solitaire I make in the following manner :-I first
provide a plate having a hole in its centre, at the back of which I securo
a tube, which fits the outside of the first mentioned pillar and the inside 5
of the tube, which are attached to the back part of the said article firstly
described. I next cut two slots in the said plate, through which two
arms of the slide are passed, and these are so bent over as to form clips,
so as to hold the said slide in position. The said slide is pressed into its
normal position by means of a suitable spring.
When it is desired to put the article together the pointed pillar is
caused to enter through the hole in the top plate, and through a slot
formed in the slide (which slot comes partly over the before-mentioned
hole), thus forcing the said slide back until the catch is reached; the
said spring then forces the slide into the catch, and the fastening is 1
complete.
1
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas William Greaves in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Thomas 2
WILLIAM GREAVES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Jeweller, send greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-fivo, in the thirty- 2
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto mo, the said Thomas William Greaves, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas William Greaves, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas William
Greaves, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time 3
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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas William Greaves, 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 Letter's
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas William Greaves, 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 (that is to say) :—
My improved solitaire is in two divisions, and consists substantially
of the following arrangements of parts.
.
I first provide a suitable back plate, which has fixed in its centre a
pillar of the required height, and which is so pointed and cut away at
its top as to form a catch, into which the slide of the top part takes, as
herein-after explained. Around this pillar I place a tube of suitable
size to admit the tube attached to the upper part of the article.
-
The top part of the solitaire I make in the following manner: I first
provide a plate having a hole or aperture in its centre, at the back of
which said plate I secure a tube, which fits the outside of the first
mentioned pillar and the inside of the tube, both of which are attached
to the back part of the said article firstly described. I next cut two
slots in the said plate, through which two arms of the slide provided
(as herein-after described) are passed; and these are so bent over as to
form clips, so as to hold the said slide in position. The said slide is
pressed into or retained in its normal position by means of a suitable
spring.
When it is desired to put the solitaire together the pointed pillar is
caused to enter through the hole or aperture before mentioned as pro-
vided in the top plate, and through a slot formed in the slide (which
slot comes partly over the before-mentioned hole), thus forcing the said
slide back until the catch is reached; the said spring then forces the
slide into the patch, and the fastening is complete.

page_text: In order that my Invention may be fully understood I have annexed
Drawings thereof, which I now proceed to describe.
Fig. 1 is a plan and section of the back plate a, to the centre of which
is fixed the pillar 6 having a pointed top c and a groove d, into which
a slide engages, as will be hereafter explained. A tube e surrounds the 5
pillar b, and is also fixed to the plato a.
*. Fig. 2 is a plan and section of the upper part of the solitaire, consisting
of a plate, in which is a central aperture 7, and to which is fixed the
central tube ; i, i, i, are slots or openings, in which the slide k (Fig. 3)
works to and fro; 1, 1, 1, are supports for the annular plate (Fig. 4.)
10
Fig. 3 consists of a plan and two sections of the slide k of which m, m,
are two projecting arms; n is the finger piece; o is the central opening;
and p is the end which is pressed by the spring 9, shewn separately in
Fig. 5. When the arms m have been placed in the slots the said
arms m are bent over so as to clip the plate f, as shown by the dotted 18
lines in Fig. 3.
Figs. 6 and 7 shew a plan and section of the positions of all the afore-
said parts when put together; when the point c of the back plate is
pushed into the tube hit enters the opening o in the slide. k, forces
back the said slide k, and is finally held in place by the said slide k, 20
engaging in the groove d; Figs. 6, 7, and 8 shew the slide / engaging
in the groove d. To unfasten the solitaires the finger piece n is pressed
inwards against the spring 9, thereby releasing the pillar b. In Fig. 6
the plate shewn in Fig. 4 has been omitted for the sake of clearness.
In Fig. 7 is a polished stone or other ornamental front to the 25
solitaire.
Fig. 8 shews a modification of my Invention, in which the spring
consists of two curved arms 8, 8, which are cut from the same piece of
metal as the slide k, and which bear against the outer casing at the
points t, t.
30
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which it may be carried into effect, I desire it to be understood that
what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patént is, the several parts or arrangement of parts
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accom- 85

page_text: panying Drawings, which taken collectively make up the improved
solitaire.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas William Greaves, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.
THOMAS WILLIAM GREAVES. (L.S.)´