A NEW OR IMPROVED SPINDLE FOR DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Arnot, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Accountant Clerk, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
SPINDLE FOR DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS."
Sealed the 24th August 1860, and dated the 7th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Arnot at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th March
1860.
I, JAMES ARNOT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Accountant
Clerk, do hereby declare, the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED SPINDLE FOR DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a knob spindle constructed in the manner herein-
after explained, which said spindle is capable of being readily fixed at any
required distance in the knob with which it is employed, so as to suit the
thickness of the lock, door, drawer, cupboard, or other article to which it is
fixed or through which it passes. My said new or improved spindle is square
in cross section like the ordinary lock spindle. A hole is made in the axis of
the spindle through its whole length, and the spindle is split longitudinally
through nearly its whole length; or the spindle may be made in two halves
held or fixed together at one end. A rod passes through the hole in the axis
of the spindle, the said rod being of somewhat greater length than the spindle.
The said rod has a wedge-shaped expansion at one end, and a screw provided

page_text: with a nut at the other end. In connecting a knob to my new or improved
spindle, I proceed as follows:-The knob or the moveable knob, where a knob
is attached to each end of the spindle, is placed on that end of the spindle
from which the wedge-shaped end of the rod projects. The said knob having
been adjusted to its place, the nut at the other end of the rod is tightened.
The wedge-shaped end becomes thereby drawn into the spindle, and expands
it. The expansion of the end of the spindle fixes it in the collar of the knob,
which is thereby made immoveable on the spindle. Although I prefer to inake
the spindle square in section, yet it may be made of other shapes, with the
same or nearly the same effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Arnot in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
.30th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ARNOT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Accountant Clerk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Arnot, Her special licence that I, the said James Arnot,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Arnot, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "A NEW
OR IMPROVED SPINDLE FOR DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Arnot, 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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Arnot, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a spindle for door and other knobs, constructed in
the manner herein-after particularly described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing. The said spindle is capable of being readily fixed at any
required distance in the knob with which it is employed, so as to suit the
thicknesses of the lock, door, drawer, cupboard, or other article to which it is
fixed or through which it passes.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in side and end elevations
respectively one of my new or improved spindles; Figure 2 represents a longi-
tudinal vertical section of the same, with a knob fixed on either end; Figure 3
represents a spindle and knobs, partly in elevation and partly in section;
Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent portions of a spindle, as herein-after explained.
The spindle a, b, is square in transverse section, like the ordinary lock spindle.
A hole marked c, in Figure 2, is made in the axis of the spindle through its
whole length, and the spindle is split longitudinally through nearly its wholo
length, as is best seen in Figures 1 and 3, in which said Figures the slit is
marked d; or the spindle may be made in two halves, held or fixed together
at one end; Figures 4 and 6 represent the inner sides of two such halves; I
fix a collar a² on the spindle, and near the end to which the knob i, is to be
attached. When the spindle is made in two halves, the said halves are held
together by the said collar. When the spindle is to be used with a lock or
latch, I prefer to give a slight convexity to its sides, as represented in Figure 1,.
by which convexity the middle of the spindle is made elastic, and thereby fits
the follower of the lock or latch tightly. A rod, shown separately in Figure 5,
and marked e in the several Figures, passes through the hole c in the axis of
the spindle, the said rod being of somewhat greater length than the spindle..
The said rod has a wedge-shaped expansion at one end, and a screw f pro-
vided with a nut g at the other end. When the nut g is turned upon the
screw f, so as to draw the wedge into the spindle, that end of the said
spindle into which the said wedge centers is expanded, the two halves of the
spindle being separated, as represented in Figure 3. In attaching the knobs h
and i to the spindle, I proceed as follows:-The spindle is passed through the
lock or latch until the collar a bears against the rose of the lock or latch.
The knob h is placed in the required position on the end of the spindle, as
represented, and the nut g is turned so as to draw in the wedge e, and expand
the end of the spindle in the neck of the knob h; the said knob h is thereby
fixed in its place on the spindle; the knob i is then placed on the spindle, as
represented, and fixed by the screw . When a knob has to be fixed to one.

page_text: end only of the spindle, a 'plate or flange is made at the other end, as herein-
after explained with reference to Figures 10 and 11.
I sometimes make the wedge-shaped piece separate from the rod.in the axis
of the spindle, and cause the said wedge-shaped. piece to trável on a screw on
the said rod. In this case the screw itself does not advance in the hole in the
spindle, but has a rotatory motion therein. !
This inodification of my. Invention is illustrated in Figures. 7, 8, and 9
of the Drawing; Figure 7 representing the spindle in. elevation; Figure 9
representing a longitudinal section of the spindle; and Figure 8 repre-
senting a spindle with knobs thereon, the said, Figure 8 being partly in
elevation and partly in section. The rod 7, which runs through the spindle;
has a screw head m' at one end, and a flange a fixed on the other. The part
of the rod is made into a screw, which passes through and engages in a
female screw in the wedge-shaped piece o. By means of a screw driver the
screw head m and rod 7 may be turned, and the wedge o made to advance into
and expand that end of the spindle at which the said wedge piece is situated:
Knobs may be attached to the ends of the spindle, Figures 7 and 9, as.repre-
sented in Figure 8, by the method described with reference to Figure 2.
Figure 10 represents. in longitudinal vertical section: a spindle for a single
knob constructed according to the last-described modification of my Invention;
and Figure 11 represents the same in elevation, with a knob attached thereto,
the said knob being in section. A fixed plate or flange p at one end of the
spindle serves to attach the spindle to a door or other article, and the knob g
is fixed to or liberated from the spindle by turning the screw head m in one or
other direction, and thereby moving the wedge-shaped piece o. Figure 12
represents in longitudinal section the two halves of the spindle, Figure 10. I.
sometimes cause the two halves of the spindle to slide upon one another, and
thereby to adjust the distance between the two knobs.
Figure 13 represents in elevation a spindle constructed according to this
modification of my Invention, having knobs fixed on its end, the said knobs
being represented in section; Figure 14 represents an end view and plan of
the two halves of the spindle, the said halves having grooves v, w, made in
their faces. The knob r is affixed to the half s of the spindle by à screw t,.
which said screw engages in and passes through the said half s of the spindle.
The end of the screw t enters the groove w in the half u of the spindle.
The knob is attached to the half u of the spindle by the screw Y, which
passes through and engages in the said half u, the end of the screw y entering
the groove of the half s. When the screws t and y are slackened, the knobs r
and a may be made to approach to or recede from one another, the two halves

page_text: s and u of the spindle sliding upon one another. When the knobs have been
adjusted to the required distance, their relative position is fixed by driving
home either one or both of the screws and y. By driving home the screw t,
its end bearing against the bottom of the groove in the half u of the spindle,
causes the separation of the two halves of the spindle, and the expanded
spindle is made tight in the neck of the knob r. The same effect is produced
by driving home the screw y, that is to say, that end of the spindle which
is situated in the neck of the knob a is expanded, and fixed in the said
knob.
Although I have described and represented my new or improved spindle as
being square in transverse section, which shape answers well in practice, yet
the said spindle may be made of any other shape, excepting cylindrical, with
nearly the same effect, and although I prefer to split or divide the spindle
diagonally, yet the said spindle may be divided in a plane parallel to one of its
sides with nearly the same effect.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention, the new or improved spindle for door and other
knobs, and the modifications thereof herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a spindle nearly divided through
its whole length, or made in two separate parts, the end or ends of which
spindle may be expanded by a wedge or screw, and thereby made to fit tightly
in the neck of the knob.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Arnot, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JAMES ARNOT. (L.S.)