IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR BRACELETS, NECKLETS, CLASPS, SCARF SLIDES, BELTS AND BANDS AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oliver Vaughton, of the Firm of Philip Vaughton and
Sons, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturing Jewellers,
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR BRACELETS,
NECKLETS, CLASPS, SCARF SLIDES, BELTS AND BANDS AND OTHER LIKE
ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oliver Vaughton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th January 1881.
OLIVER VAUGHTON, of the Firm of Philip Vaughton and Sons, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturing Jewellers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FASTENINGS FOR BRACELETS, NECKLETS, CLASPS, SCARF SLIDES, BELTS AND
BANDS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES."
My Invention consists in the construction and combination of parts herein after
described of fastenings for bracelets, necklets, clasps, scarf slides, belts and. bands,
and other like articles, that is, articles in which the two ends have to be connected
and disconnected. By my Invention a simple, efficient, and inexpensive fastening
is produced.
My Invention is especially applicable as a bracelet fastening, and I will describe
it as used for fastening the free or unjointed ends of the semi-elliptical halves of a
bracelet.
In the meeting face of one half of the bracelet, and near each end of the said
face, a slot is made, the inner part of the slot being wider than the outer part,
which is open at the edge of the bracelet.
.
In each of the slots described a spring fastening with its pusher works. Each
fastening consists of a spring having a hooked head, the hook being bevilled and
joining the other part of the spring by a shoulder. Near the hooked head of the
spring and at right angles thereto is a short bar, which constitutes the pusher or
releaser of the fastening. The hooked springs described are soldered at their rear
ends to the flanged edges of the bracelet, the hooked heads of the springs passing
through the wide parts of the slots described, and projecting from the meeting face
of the half bracelet, while the short bars or pushers occupy the narrow parts of the

page_text: slots, and project slightly from the edges of the bracelet. The bevilled heads of
the hooked springs are turned outwards, that is, towards the edges of the bracelet.
The meeting face of the other half of the bracelet is furnished with two oblong
openings situated respectively opposite the bevilled heads of the springs in the
meeting face of the other half bracelet. When the meeting faces of the halves of
the bracelet are pressed together to close the bracelet the hooked springs are forced
inwards, that is, towards one another, by the ends of the openings in one half
bracelet bearing against the bevilled heads of the hooked springs in the other half
bracelet. On the complete closing of the bracelet the hooked springs resume their
normal positions, and the shoulders of their heads snap upon the edges of the
openings described, and thus fasten the two halves of the bracelet together.
To unfasten the bracelet the pushers at the edges of the bracelet are simul-
taneously pressed inwards by the thumb and finger. The heads of the hooked
springs are thereby withdrawn from the edges of the openings in the face of the
half bracelet, when the bracelet is unfastened and may be opened.
The fastening may be modified in the following manner:-I make the springs
situated at opposite ends of the meeting face of the half bracelet of a folded or
doubled strip of metal, somewhat resembling an ordinary spring snap. The spring
is secured by one of its folded parts to the face of the half bracelet, and to the free
end of the other folded part constituting the true spring a pusher is connected. At
the ends of the meeting face of the other half bracelet are T shaped openings, the
springs passing into the wide cross parts, and the pushers into the other and
narrow parts of the openings. On closing the bracelet the springs are first
compressed by the cross parts of the openings, and the said springs afterwards snap
upon the edges of the narrow parts of the said T shaped openings. By pressure
upon the pushers the springs are compressed and thereby withdrawn from the
edges of the narrow parts of the T shaped openings, and the bracelet is unfastened
and may be opened.
A spring fastening may be used at one edge or at both edges of the bracelet, or
at the middle of the meeting face of the bracelet. In the latter case the pusher is
made sufficiently long to be acted upon at the edge of the bracelet.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Oliver Vaughton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th July
1881.
OLIVER VAUGHTON, of the Firm of Philip Vaughton and Sons, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturing Jewellers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FASTENINGS FOR BRACELETS, NECKLETS, CLASPS, SCARF SLIDES, BELTS AND
BANDS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES.".
My Invention consists in the construction and combination of parts herein after
described of fastenings for bracelets, necklets, clasps, scarf slides, belts and bands,
and other like articles; that is, articles in which the two ends have to be connected
and disconnected. By my Invention a simple, efficient, and inexpensive fastening
is produced.
My Invention is especially applicable as a bracelet fastening, and I will describe
it as used for fastening the free unjointed ends of the semi-elliptical halves of a
bracelet. In the meeting face of one half of the bracelet and near each end of the
said face a slot is made; the said slot is also open at the edge of the half bracelet.
In each of the slots described a spring fastening with its pusher works. Each
fastening consists of a spring having a hooked head, the hook being bevilled and
joining the other part of the spring by a shoulder. Near the hooked head of the
spring, and at right angles thereto, is a short bar which constitutes the pusher or
releaser of the fastenings. The hooked springs described are soldered at their rear
ends to the flanged edges of the bracelet, the hooked heads of the springs passing
through the slots described and projecting from the meeting face of the half
bracelet, while the short bars or pushers occupy the side parts of the slots and
project slightly from the edges of the bracelet. The bevilled heads of the hooked
springs are turned outwards, that is, towards the edges of the bracelet.
The meeting face of the other half of the bracelet is furnished with two oblong
openings, situated respectively opposite the bevilled heads of the springs at the
meeting face of the other half bracelet. When the meeting faces of the halves of
the bracelet are pressed together to close the bracelet, the hooked springs are forced
inwards, that is, towards one another, by the ends of the openings in one half
bearing against the bevilled heads of the hooked springs in the other half bracelet.
On the complete closing of the bracelet the hooked springs resume their normal
positions and the shoulders of their heads snap upon the edges of the openings
described, and thus fasten the two halves of the bracelet together.
are
To unfasten the bracelet the pushers at the edges of the bracelet
simultaneously pressed inwards by the thumb and finger. The heads of the hooked
springs are thereby withdrawn from the edges of the openings in the face of the
half bracelet, when the bracelet is unfastened and may be opened.
A spring fastening may be used at one edge or at both edges of the bracelet, or
at the middle of the meeting face of the bracelet. In the latter case the pusher is
made sufficiently long to be acted upon at the edge of the bracelet.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which my Invention is to be performed.
Figures 1 and 2 represent in front elevation; Figure 3, partly in section, and
Figure 4, in side elevation, a bracelet provided with a fastening constructed
according to my Invention. In Figures 1, 3, and 4, the bracelet is represented
closed and the two parts fastened together; and in Figure 2 the bracelet is
represented unfastened and partly opened; Figure 5 represents one of the hooked
springs and its pusher detached from the bracelet; Figure 6 represents the meeting
face of one half of the bracelet with and without the hooked springs; Figure 7

page_text: represents the meeting face of the other half of the bracelet; and Figure 8
represents an inside elevation of a portion of the half of the bracelet carrying the
hooked springs. The said Figures 6, 7, and 8, are drawn double the scale of
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawing.
a and b are the two halves of the bracelet jointed together at c as usual. In the
meeting face of the half b, and near the ends of the said face, are slots d, d, the
said slots opening both at the face of the said half b and at the sides thereof, as
seen in Figure 6. In each of the slots d a spring fastening with its pusher works.
One of the said spring fastenings is represented in Figure 5. The said fastening
consists of a curved spring e, the base or enlarged end of which is soldered or
otherwise fastened to the flanged edge of the bracelet. The head e³ of the spring
is hooked and bevilled. The bevilled heads e², e², of the hooked springs e, e, are
turned outwards or towards the edges of the bracelet (see Figures 3 and 8). Near
the bevilled head e² of the spring, and at right angles thereto, is a short bar es
which constitutes the pusher or releaser of the fastener. The hooked heads e², e²,
of the springs, project from the slots in the meeting face of the part b of the
bracket, while the pushers es, e³, project from the edges of the said part b, as seen
in the Drawing.
In the meeting face of the other half a of the bracelet are two oblong openings f,f,
(see Figure 7) situated respectively opposite the bevilled heads e², e², of the
springs e, e, at the meeting face of the other half b of the bracelet.
On pressing together the meeting faces of the halves a, b, of the bracelet the
hooked heads e², e2, of the springs e, e, on the half 6 enter the openings f, f, in the
other half a, and the said springs are forced inwards or towards one another as
indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, by the bevilled heads of the said springs
bearing against the ends of the said openings f, f. On the complete closing of the
bracelet the hooked springs e, e, resume their normal positions, and the shoulders of
their heads e, e², snap upon the edges of the openings f,f, as illustrated in Figure 3,
and the two halves a, b, of the bracelet are thus fastened together. In order to unfasten
the bracelet the pushers es, e³, at the edges of the bracelet are pressed inwards
between the thumb and finger. The hooked springs e, e, are thereby made to take
the positions indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, and the shoulders of the hooked
heads e², e, are withdrawn from over the edges of the openings f, f, in the face of
the half bracelet a when the bracelet is unfastened, and may be opened as illustrated
in Figure 2. A guide peg h is used at the middle of the meeting face of the half b
of the bracelet, and an opening i is made in the meeting face of the other half a of
the bracelet for receiving the said peg h. By means of the said peg and opening
the free ends of the halves a, b, of the bracelet are so guided during the closing of
the bracelet that the efficient action of the fastening is secured.
Or instead of the peg h a guiding and retaining band of the kind represented
in the open bracelet shown in front elevation in Figure 9, and edge view in Figure 10,
and marked k, may be used. One end of the said band k is fixed to the middle of
the meeting face of the half 6 of the bracelet, and the said band works through the
opening at in the meeting face of the other half a when the bracelet is opened or
closed. A cross head ka on the said band k connects the two halves a, b, of the
bracelet and prevents the bracelet when unfastened from falling from the wrist.
Although I have represented a bracelet provided with a hooked spring at each
of the edges of the bracelet, yet a hooked spring at one edge only may be
employed, or.a hooked spring of the kind described and represented may be used
at the middle of the meeting face of the bracelet, the pusher in this case being
made sufficiently long to be acted upon at the edge of the bracelet.
Or instead of making each of the fastenings e, e², es, of a single piece of metal
the two fastenings, when a double fastening is used, may be made of a single piece
of metal bent so as to form two spring hooked arms joined together, each spring

page_text: arm carrying a pusher. These compound or double spring fastenings may be made
of various shapes.
Figure 11 represents three double or compound spring fastenings and their
pushers constructed according to my Invention to be used in place of the single
spring fastenings before described.
In the said Figure 11 the hooked spring arms are marked e, e, their booked
heads e, e2, and their pushers e³, es.
In applying my Invention to necklets, clasps, scarf slides, belts and bands, and
other like articles, I construct and arrange the parts substantially as herein before
described and illustrated with respect to a bracelet fastening.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention,―
The improvements in fastenings for bracelets, necklets, clasps, scarf slides, belts
and bands, and other like articles hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a fastening consisting essentially of one or
more single springs or of a double spring, each single spring or the arms of each
double spring having a hooked bevilled head and a pusher or releaser, the hooked
spring or springs being attached to one end or part of the article to be fastened,
and taking into and engaging with the edge of an opening or openings in the
other end or part of the article to be fastened, and being released from the said
opening or openings, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Oliver Vaughton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-one,
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT.
37, Temple Street,
Birmingham.
OLIVER VAUGHTON. (L.s.)