A NEW OR IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF DRAWING BOARD
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kay, of Rothesay, in the Island of Bute, North
Britain, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF
DRAWING BOARD:
22
Sealed the 5th June 1877, and dated the 16th December 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kay at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th December 1870.
JOHN KAY, of Rothesay, in the Island of Bute, North Britain.
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF DRAWING BOARD."
"A NEW OR
This Invention consists generally in a new or improved construction of drawing
board for the more rapid, convenient, and efficient mounting thereon of the paper,
parchment, or other material to be drawn or traced upon without the use of gum,
glue, or other adhesive substance, and for dispensing with horn or other such centres
for the compasses or instruments in drawing.
And the nature and novelty of the Invention consist in forming the board of a
strong frame of the ordinary width and thickness for the size of board required,
preferably of hard wood, mitred at the corners, and mortised and tenoned towards
the inside to give sufficient strength without end wood in the outer edges, a check
being run all round the upper and back inner edge of the frame when put together
for the glazing in of a central square of strong plate glass to form the upper
drawing surface of the board a boarding or square of wood being similarly fitted
in the back check to form the back of the board, which may be hinged or made
portable for removal when the glass front is to be used as a transparent board for
tracing on.
The outer hard wood frame before being put together has a groove sunk in the
middle of its upper side, bevelled or dovetailed on the inner edge, so that when put
together as a frame, a griping slip is inserted in each of these centre side or face
grooves, which when pressed down gripe the four edges of the sheet of paper
previously damped and laid over the central or glass surface of the board, and which
is held in the stretched position by a number of small turned pins with pressing or
eccentric catches on them sunk flush and tight into holes in the frame behind the
grooves and griping slips, these pins being forined with a slit in their head like a
screw nail for the insertion of a screwdriver to turn them, to press the slips tight to
the paper to hold it firm against the bevelled edge of the frame, the turning of
these pins or catches back in the opposite direction slackening or loosening the
Paine 621

page_text: griping slips for the removal of the paper. These slips would preferably be made of
hard wood, with metal slips or springs at their back for the catches to act on, and
when desired a sheet of paper or parchment may be mounted over the glass
surface, perinanently or temporarily, below the sheet of paper to be drawn upon, to
give greator stability to the points of the compasses or other drawing instruments,
and thus disponse with the usual horn or other centres.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Kay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th June 1877.
JOHN KAY, of Rothesay, in the Island of Bute, North Britain.
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF DRAWING BOARD."
"A NEW OR
My said Invention consists generally of a new or improved construction of
drawing board for the more rapid, convenient, and efficient inounting on it of the
sheets of paper, parchment, or other material to be drawn or traced upon without
the use of gum, glue, or other adhesive substance, and for dispensing with horn or
other such centres for the points of the compasses and other instruments in
drawing, and for the more simple removing of the finished drawing or tracing.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing my said Invention
may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the several Figures on
the Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing
the best mode and means I am at present aware of for putting the Invention into
effect or practice, the same reference letters indicating the same or like parts in all
the Figures where shown.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a plan or face view and a transverse and
longitudinal section taken on the lines 1 - 1 and 2 - - 2 in Figure 1, all of a
drawing board constructed in accordance with one modification of my said In-
vention, and illustrative of my improvements connected therewith, andt he mode
of putting the same into effect or practice.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 are respectively a full-sized face view and a transverse and a
longitudinal section of one corner of the drawing board, shown in Figure 1 to 3, all
to show the details of construction more clearly than seen in these first general
views of the complete board.
Figures 7 and 8 are a detached face view and transverse section of a part of one
of the loose angled slips D with angled edge for griping the paper at the edges;
and Figure 9 is a detached side elevation and plan of one of the turning and
tightening cylindrical pins or plugs E with its lateral or eccentric griping or holding
pin or stud e.
Referring to these Figures 1 to 9, the Invention consists in forming the drawing
board of a strong frame A of the ordinary width and thickness for the size of board
required (to suit the different regular sized sheets of drawing paper), and preferably
made of hard wood, open in the iniddle, and mitred at the corners A¹, and inortised
and tenoned towards the inside, or fixed as picture frames are, with angled saw
drafts filled with glued slips or other equivalent fixing, to give sufficient strength
without end wood on the outer edges where the square works. A check is run
all round the upper and back or inner edge of the wood at b and c, so that when the
frame A is put together a central square or rectangular sheet of thick or strong
plate glass B is fixed or glazed into the check b to form the upper or drawing
surface of the board Hush with the top surface of the frame, while similar square
or rectangular board of wood C is fitted into the back check c to form the back of
the board, which may be hinged or inade portable for removal when the glass front
is to be used as a transparent drawing board by allowing the light to pass through
the glass and drawing being traced from.
The outer hard wood frame A, before being put together, has a groove a sunk in
the middle of its upper side or face, dovetailed, bevelled, or under cut on the inner

page_text: edge, so that when put together as a frame, a correspondingly bevelled griping slip
D is inserted in each of these centre face or side grooves a, and which when pressed
down by hand into their grooves over the four outer edge parts of the sheet of
paper previously damped and laid on the central or glass surface of the board,
with the edges placed a little over the grooves a, so that the angled edges of the
grooves a and slips D tighten and gripe or hold the sheet by the edges in the
stretched position over the central glass part or surface of the board by the action
of a number of small turned brass pins or plugs E, preferably three or four along
each edge, with a small lateral catch or eccentric pressing and griping pin e, in each
acting on the head of a screw d or other equivalent fixed in the back edges of the
slips D. The plug piecos E are sunk tight into holes bored in the frame A behind
the grooves a and griping slips D, having their top ends flush with the upper
surface of the frame A, and each formed with a slit in its head like a screw nail for
the insertion of a screwdriver to turn them to press the slips D tight to the paper
to hold it firin against the bevelled edge of the frame A, and vice versa, the
turning of the pins and catches E, e, back in the opposite direction slackens and
releases the griping slips D for the removal of the mounted sheet of paper or
drawing when desired.
A sheet of paper or parchment F may when desired be mounted or glued over the
surface of the glass plate B to the part a* of the frame between the glass and the
groove a below the sheet of paper to be drawn upon, to give greater stability to
the points of the compasses and other drawing instruments, this sheet steadying
their points close to the glass which carries their weight, and thus dispenses with
the usual horn or other centres used for preventing holes being forined in the
drawing by the points of the instruments. The frame A, and especially the slips D,
are preferably made of hard wood, and metal slips or springs might be fixed on
their back edges for the griping pins E, e, to act on.
Although eccentric turning pins E, e, have been shown and described for pressing
up and holding the edge griping slips D, it is to be understood that brass or other
screws might be sunk in or fitted from the outer edge of the frame, turned by a
screwdriver or key, so that their points would press up the slips D direct at their
back edges, as indicated in dotted lines at E" in Figure 4.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manuer in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect or practice, I would observe in
conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The general construction of drawing board and its use for mounting paper
or other material on (to make drawings or tracings), all substantially in the new or
improved manner herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying
Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
Second. The construction and use of a drawing board, with a glass plate and a
sheet of paper or parchment mounted over it and below the Sheet of Drawings to be
made or traced from, for the purpose of dispensing with horn or other centres for the
points of the instruments in the making of drawings, all substantially in the new or
improved manner herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying
Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kay, have hereunto set my hand and seal
this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN KAY. (L.S.)