AN IMPROVED SAFETY HOOK OR FASTENING PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO SECURING WATCH CHAINS AND WATCHES TO WAISTCOATS AND OTHER GARMENTS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ephraim Smith, of Carlisle Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Goldsmith, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SAFETY HOOK
OR FASTENING PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO SECURING WATCH CHAINS AND
WATCHES TO WAISTCOATS AND OTHER GARMENTS
Sealed the 27th April 1858, and dated the 29th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ephraim Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th October 1857.
I, EPHRAIM SMITH, of Carlisle Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gold-
smith, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
SAFETY HOOK OR FASTENING PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO SECURING WATCH CHAINS
AND WATCHES TO WAISTCOATS AND OTHER GARMENTS," to be as follows:-
My improved safety hook is constructed in three main parts; 1, a button,
rosette, or other similar ornament; 2, a tube fixed to the back of the button;
3, a hook, one end of which enters the tube, is firmly held therein, but in such
manner that it may turn entirely or partially round in it, while the other end of
the hook, when the attachment is complete, forms a spring and enters a small
groove or neck made for its reception in the fore and under part of the button
or rosette. In order to open the safety hook or fastening it is necessary to
push that end of the hook which is not held in the tube laterally.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ephraim Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EPHRAIM
SMITH, of Carlisle Street, in the County of Middlesex; Goldsmith, send
greeting.
A
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her, heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ephraim Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Ephraim Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ephraim
Smith, 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 "AN IMPROVED SAFETY HOOK OR
FASTENING PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO SECURING WATCH CHAINS AND WATCHES TO
WAISTCOATS AND OTHER GARMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
1, the said Ephraim Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their han
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.
.
7)
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ephraim Smith, do hereby declare, the..
nature of my 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. beingi had to the Drawings hereunto, annexed,
that is to say:
My improved safety hook is constructed in three, main parts; 1st, a button,
rosette, or other similar ornanient;. 2nd, a tube fixed to, the back of the button....
3rd, a hook; one end of which enters the tube,. is; firmly held therein, but in
such manner that it may turn entirely. or partially round in it, while the other
end of the hook, when the attachment is complete; forms a spring and enters, a
small groove or nick made for its reception in the fore and under part, of the
button or rosette. In order to open the safety hook or fastening, it is necessary
to push that end of the hook which is not held in the tube laterally.

page_text: The manner of carrying my Invention into effect will be fully understood by
reference to the annexed Drawings, where Figure 1 is a perspective view of
the back of a fastening, suitable for attaching an Albert chain to the button-
hole of a waistcoat. A is the button or setting for the reception of a jewel or
other ornament; B is the tube fixed to the back of the button; and C is the
hook, the shank of which is held in the tube by a pin, which enters a collar
formed in the shank, as shewn in the enlarged and detached sectional eleva-
tion, Figure 2, of part of the tube B and shank. Or the tube inay be pinched
in over the end of the shank, or other means of preventing the hook coming
out of the tube may be adopted, provided the hook be free to turn in the tube;
a, is an eye for receiving the end of the chain; b, is a notch in the button into
which the hook is pressed to close the fastening. The dotted lines shew the
position of the hook when the fastening is opened.
Figure 3 shews the fastening applied as an ear-ring. Here the eye a is
dispensed with, but in other respects the fastening is similar to that already
described.
In Figure 4, side elevation, Figure 5, side elevation, partly in section, and
Figure 6, end view, I shew a modification of my fastening when made in
the form of a ring. The main parts are a solid piece a, a hollow tube b, and
solid bolt c. A helical spring is inserted in the tube b, and a channel is.
formed in the top thereof to allow a pin connected to the back of the bolt to
work in. To open the fastening, the bolt is drawn back by the pin, and on the
pin being released the spring forces out the bolt and closes it. In Figures 4
and 5 the fastening is shewn closed, and in Figure 6 open.
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,―
First, the constructing of the safety hook or fastening, in the manner
herein-before described, with reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Second, the constructing of the safety fastening, as shewn modified in
Figures 4, 5, and 6.
f
In witness whereof, I, the said Ephraim Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
BM
EPH SMITH. (L.S.)