IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR PORTEMONNAIES, TRAVEL- LING BAGS, LADIES' COMPANIONS, CIGAR, WRITING, AND INSTRUMENT CASES, FUSEE BOXES, AND OTHER LIKE CASES OR RECEPTACLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Matthew May, of the firm of Alexander Moench
and Company, of Lambeth Hill, in the City of London, Importers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR PORTEMONNAIES, TRAVEL-
LING BAGS, LADIES' COMPANIONS, CIGAR, WRITING, AND INSTRUMENT CASES,
FUSEE BOXES, AND OTHER LIKE CASES OR RECEPTACLES."-A communication
from Jacob Moench and Company.
Sealed the 1st September 1858, and dated the 19th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Matthew May at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th March 1858.
I, JOHN MATTHEW MAY, of the firm of Alexander Moench and Company, of
Lambeth Hill, in the City of London, Importers, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR PORTEMONNAIES,
TRAVELLING BAGS, LADIES' COMPANIONS, CIGAR, WRITING, AND INSTRUMENT CASES,
FUSEE BOXES, AND OTHER LIKE CASES OR RECEPTACLES," communicated to me by
Jacob Moench and Company, foreigners residing abroad, to be as follows:-
This improved fastening, which has the advantage of not being liable to
open by any accidental pressure, consists of a pin, bolt, or moveable piece on
one side of a portemonnaie (or other case or article), which when released to
the impulsion of a spring, is by the action of such spring shot into and kept
in a tube or recess on the other side of the article, and so fastens it securely,
while to open it the pin or moveable piece must be pulled back or drawn out
of such tube; the bolt may also travel in a tube on its own side (which likewise
contains the spring) before entering the opposite tube. Or the pin or moveable
piece may carry or terminate in a stud or projection, which, when the pin is
'abandoned to the impulsive action of the spring, is by such action caused to

page_text: catch into and hold a hook on the opposite side of the case or article, and so
fasten it, while to open it the pin must as before be pulled back or drawn away
to release the hook. The fastening may be within or without the case, and
combined or not with a lock or other connection.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Matthew May in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MATTHEW MAY, of the firm of Alexander Moench and Company, of Lambeth
Hill, in the City of London, Importers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Matthew May, Her special licence that I, the said John
Matthew May, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as Ì,
the said John Matthew May, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR PORTEMONNAIES, TRAVELLING BAGS, LADIES' COMPANIONS,
CIGAR, WRITING, AND INSTRUMENT CASES, FUSEE BOXES, AND OTHER LIKE CASES
OR RECEPTACLES," communicated to me by Jacob Moench and Company,
foreigners residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Matthew May, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 John Matthew May, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in constructing fastenings for portemonnaies, ladies'

page_text: companions, travelling bags, fusee boxes, cigar, writing, and instrument cases;
and similar receptacles, in the following manner:-On one side of the porte-
monnaie (or other case. or receptacle) is fitted a pin, bolt, or moveable piece,
which, when released to the impulsion of a spring, is by the action of such
spring shot into and kept in a tube or recess on the other side of the case or
receptacle, which it thus fastens securely, while in order to open or unfasten
the portemonnaie (case, or receptacle), the bolt, pin, or moveable piece must
be pulled back or drawn out of the said tube or recess. The bolt before
entering the opposite tube may likewise travel on its own side in a tube or
recess (also containing the spring); or a pin or moveable piece is fitted on one
side of the portemonnaie (or other case or receptacle), carrying or terminating
in a stud or projection, which, when the pin is abandoned to the impulse of a
spring, is thereby caused to catch and hold a hook on the opposite side of the
case or article, which it thus fastens, while in order to open it the pin must
be pulled back or drawn away to release it from the hook.
My fastenings may be within or without the case, and combined or not with
a lock or other connection.
Fastenings constructed according to my improvements have the advantage
of not being liable to open by accidental pressure, a drawing out or pulling
back action being requisite in order to unfasten them..
I now proceed, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, more par-
ticularly to explain the said Invention, and to exemplify the mode of carrying
it into effect.
Figure 1 is a front view of one of my improved fastenings (attached to a
portemonnaie), and shown as closed; Figure 2, perspective view, representing
it open; Figure 3, section. a is a pin or bolt fitted in a tube b, containing a
spring c; d is a tube on the opposite side of the portemonnaie; e, knob at
one end of the bolt a for convenience of handling. The bolt is bevilled off at
the other end, to facilitate the closing of the portemonnaie, on pressing the
sides of which together the bolt will be pushed or snapped back, and the tubes
fall in a line, and the bolt obeying the impulse of the spring will be shot into
the tube d, and fitting therein firmly secures the case; to unfasten it the bolt a
is drawn (by its knob e) out of the tube d.
Figure 4 is an elevation, and Figure 4° a section of a modification with
similar action. a, bolt or pin (in recess 6), which, when released to a spring c,
enters the opposite tubular recess d, and secures the case, which is unfastened
by withdrawing the bolt from the recess d.
Figure 5 is a front view, Figure 6 end view, Figure 7 section, of an arrange
ment in which a is a pin or moveable piece fitted on one side of the porte-

page_text: monnaie, and carrying a stud b.; c is a spring in a recess d; e, a hook on the
opposite side (shewn enlarged in Figure 8); .on pressing the sides of the case
together, 'the pin will be pushed back, and being released to the action of the
spring will be driven forward, so that its stud b will be caught by the hook e
(at the slot), and effect a firm fastening; and to open the case the pin must
be drawn back (by its knob or 'button g) to free or release the stud from the
hook.
Although the bolt and tubes, Figures 1 to 4*, are shewn as round in trans:
verse section, they may be square or of other suitable form.
Although I have represented these arrangements as fitted to a porte-
monnaie, it is obvious that they may be applied in like manner to bags, fusee
boxes, or similar receptacles.
I do not restrict myself to the mere details or exact shapes shewn in the
Drawings, provided the nature and method of action of my improvements, as
herein set forth, be adhered to.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I do not claim any of the mechanical
parts separately considered; but that I claim,-
First, the mode of constructing fastenings first herein-before set forth, accord-
ing to which the parts are so combined and arranged that a bolt, pin, or such
like moveable piece released to the action of a spring; is shot into and kept in
a tube or. recess (on the opposite side) to effect the fastening, and drawn or
pulled back out of it to effect the unfastening; all in the manner berein-before
described, and exemplified in Figures 1 to 4* of the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the combination (of parts) and arrangement of fastening, constructed
and operating in the manner secondly herein-before described, and exemplified
in Figures 5 to 8 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Matthew May, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the e year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
84, Fleet Street.
JOHN MATTHEW MAY. (L.S.)