AN IMPROVED APPARATUS ANSWERING THE PURPOSE OF A PRESS FOR RETAINING AND KEEPING LEAVES OR PIECES OF PAPER, OR OF CLOTH, OR OF OTHER THIN SUBSTANCES, FOLDED OR UNFOLDED, IN A FLATTENED CONDITION, UNDER GENTLE PRESSURE
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, IIENRY
BRIDGE COWELL, of Lower Street, Islington, in the County of Middlesex,
Ironmonger, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent unto Her present most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria that, after considerable application and
expense I had invented "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS ANSWERING THE PURPOSE
OF A PRESS FOR RETAINING AND KEEPING LEAVES OR PIECES OF PAPER, OR OF
CLOTH, OR OF OTHER THIN SUBSTANCES, FOLDED OR UNFOLDED, IN A FLATTENED
CONDITION, UNDER GENTLE PRESSURE;" and Her said Majesty, being willing to
give encouragement to all arts and inventions which may be for the public
good, was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great
Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of July last (One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight), in the second year of Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, to give and grant unto me, the said Henry Bridge Cowell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
priviledge and authority, that I or they, by myself or themselves, or by my
or their deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as I or they should
agree with (and no others), during the term of fourteen years from the date of
the said Letters Patent, should and might lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend my said Invention within that part of Her said Majesty's Dominions.
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,

page_text: in such manner as to me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, shall
seem meet, and as that I or they shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage
arising by reason of the said Invention during the said term of fourteen
years; and for that end Her said Majesty requires and strictly commands all
Her subjects whatsoever, within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed,
aforesaid, that they shall not, neither directly or indirectly, make, use, or put
in practice my said Invention, or any part thereof, nor in anywise counterfeit,
imitate, or resemble the same, nor make any addition thereto or subtraction
therefrom, whereby to pretend himself or themselves to be the inventor or
inventors thereof: and whereas the said Letters Patent contain a proviso,
obliging me, the said Henry Bridge Cowell, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to
cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, (reference being thereunto had), will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Bridge Cowell, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described
and ascertained in manner following, and by the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My improved apparatus, answering the purpose of a press, consists of two
flat boards or parallel surfaces, on one of which boards leaves or pieces of
paper, or of cloth, or of other thin substances, folded or unfolded, may be laid
flat or spread out, and the other of the said boards or surfaces being pressed
towards its fellow board by force of the hands, so as to cause a gentle pressure
on the interposed substances, in order to flatten the same between the said two
boards, and when the said pressure of the hands is removed the two boards are
securely retained from retreating or separating one from the other by means of
spring bolts or clicks catching into serrated teeth, formed in parallel guiding
pillars, which are fixed fast into the two borders or sides of one of the said two
boards, and stand up therefrom at right angles to its flat surface; and the said
pillars pass through suitable sockets in the two corresponding borders or sides
of the other of the said two boards, and to which latter board the said spring
bolts or clicks are connected, and when required those spring bolts or clicks
can be withdrawn or disengaged all at once from the serrated teeth in the said
pillars by pressure of a thumb or finger (or of a thumb and finger) upon one or
two buttons or knobs, which are suitably connected with the said spring bolts
or clicks, for withdrawing them all at once, which being done, then the two

page_text: boards being set at liberty may be separated one from the other by the hand,
in order to release, examine, or remove the substances which are interposed
between the two boards, and which substanceshad been previously retained in a
flattened condition under gentle pressure so long as the two boards were kept
closed together by the detention occasioned by the catching of the said spring
bolts or clicks into the serrated teeth of the guiding pillars.
Figure 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed represents the said improved
apparatus in perspective, wherein A is the lowermost of the two flat boards,
serving as the base of the apparatus; and B is the uppermost or moveable
flat board; C, D, are the two upright guiding pillars, which are fixed fast to
the edges of the lower board A, and stand up perpendicularly therefrom,
passing through sockets G, H, which are fixed into the edges of the moveable
board B, and by those sockets sliding on the two guiding pillars C, D; the
said board B is kept with its flat surface tolerably near to parallelism with the
flat surface of the board A when the beard B is moved up or down. The
upper ends of the two guiding pillars C, D, are united together by a horizontal
cross bar E, which keeps them firm in their upright position, and also serves as a
handle to lift or carry the whole apparatus by. Those sides of the upright
guiding pillars C, D, which are opposite one to the other have rows of equi-
distant notches cut in them to form serrated teeth c, d, like the teeth of a saw,
the sloping sides of those teeth being their uppermost sides, and two spring
bolts, which are lodged within the thickness of the moveable board B, catch into
the said serrated teeth c, d, so as to hold firmly therein, in order to prevent the
moveable board B from being raised up, although they permit it to be pressed
down by pressure of the hand for the catching edges at the ends of the spring
bolts then slip past the upper or sloping sides of the serrated teeth, because'
the said catching edges or ends of the bolts are made with a corresponding
slope on their under sides to the aforesaid slope of the upper sides of the
serrated teeth, the ends of the spring bolts being formed in the manner of the
spring bolt of a door lock, which will allow the door to shut and will then
catch of itself by action of its own spring, so as to retain the door from being
opened again until the spring bolt has been first released by action of the hand.
In like manner the upper board B of the apparatus, Figure 1, has a button or
knob F rising up from the centre of it, which knob F, being pressed down by
a thumb or finger, will withdraw both the
gage them from holding in the teeth c, d,
upper board B at liberty to be raised up.
end of an upright moveable pin standing up within the centre of a large knob `
handle K, which is fixed to the centre of the moveable board B, and has an
spring bolts at once, so as to disen-
and thereby leave the moveable or
The button F is fixed on the upper

page_text: overhanging mushroom head with a small neck below it, suitably formed for
applying two fingers on each side of that neck beneath the head, the palm of
the hand being uppermost, and in that position the thumb of the same hand
will be over the top of the button F ready to press down the same, and
also by a grasp of that thumb towards the fingers to keep the button F
pressed down, whilst the moveable board B is lifted up by action of the fingers.
which are beneath the mushroom head of the knob handle K.
The details of the construction of the said apparatus, Figure 1, are more
fully explained by Figures 2, 3, and 4, wherein the same letters denote
the same parts, as have been already described in reference to Figure 1.
The two boards A, B, may be made of mahogany or other wood, or other
suitable material of sufficient flatness and rigidity; the guiding pillars C, D,
may be of metal (but if made of adequately large dimensions for strength
they might be of hard wood). The lower ends of the pillars C, D, are fixed by
screwing or rivetting them into metal feet n, n, see Figures 2 and 4, which
are inlaid into the edges of the lower board A and fastened thereto by screws,
so as to cause the pillars to stand firmly upright therefrom. The upper ends
of two pillars C, D, are reduced to square tenons, which pass up through
square holes in the end pieces 1, 1, of the horizontal cress bar k, which may
be a round metal rod of strong wire, passing through a central hollow in the
wooden or ivory handle E, and which handle may be ornamented by turning cr
carving. The cross bar ke may have its two end pieces 1, 1, fastened by screw--
ing them on to each end of it after the handle E is put on, and the aforesaid
square tenons at the upper ends of the pillars C, D, are retained fast in their -
mortice holes through the end pieces 1, 1, by nuts m, m, screwed on screws at
the upper ends of the pillars, and those nuts may have an ornamental form.
The upper or moveable board B has the two sockets G, H, fixed into its.
edges so as to stand firmly upright therefrom by means of feet p, p, which are
inlaid into the board B and fastened thereto by screws; the sockets themselves
are metal tubes fitted to slide freely up and down on the pillars C, D, and
they are inserted and soldered into the said feet p, p; and in order to give more
firmness to those feet p, p; they may be the two ends of a bar r, r, of metal,
extending across the board B from one foot to the other, as is explained by
the horizontal plan, Figure 3, as well as by Figure 2, and the said bar r, r,
may have a groove or channel within it for the reception of the tails or stems
9, 9, of the two spring bolts s, s, which are lodged within that groove, so as to
slide freely backwards and forwards therein. The acting ends s, s, of the bolts
are made of steel to form the catching edges which are to hold in the serrated
teeth of the pillars C, D; those steel ends are fitted into suitable notches,

page_text: which are cut into the feet p, p, of the sockets, so that the bolts cannot rise up
in those notches independantly of the sockets, but nevertheless the bolts can
move freely endways in those notches, and they are urged towards the pillars
C, D, by steel springs t, t, which are fixed upon the feet p, p, and act in
notches cut in the steel ends of the bolts; or springs of curled wire may be
substituted for the springs t, t, as hercinafter mentioned. The upper surfaces
of those steel ends s, s, are flat on the top, but the under edges of the ends are
sloped, as before mentioned, to form bevel edges, like that of a carpenter's chissel,
in order that the bolts may be qualified to slip down past the serrated teeth c, d,
of the pillars C, D, when the upper board B is pressed down, but that they
may be qualified to catch, by action of their springs t, t, beneath the under sides
of the serrated teeth c, d, in order to hold therein against the rising of the upper
board B, unless the two bolts are first withdrawn, for effecting which purpose
the extreme ends of the tails q, q, of those bolts pass one beyond the other, and
are bended at right angles to receive the action of a wedge v at the lower
end of the upright pin w, which stands up within the knob K, and has the
button F on its upper end, as before mentioned. The lower part of the
upright pin w, just above its wedge v, is square, and fitted into a corresponding
square hole through a small plate of metal x, which is applied over the
wedge v, and fixed to the two sides of the groove in the barr, r, by soldering or
rivetting into suitable notches in those sides; the ends of the tails q, q, where
they are bended at right angles, as before mentioned, are bevelled to suit the
bevil edges of the wedge v, which is inserted between those two bended ends, so
that being pressed down by action of the thumb or finger on the top of the
button F, as already explained, the wedge v will force those bended ends of the
rails 9, q, one away from the other, and thereby overcoming the springs t, t, will
withdraw the two bolts s, s, both at once from the serrated teeth c, d, of the
pillars C, D. And note.-In case springs or curled wire are to be substituted for
the springs t, t, they may be lodged in the hollow of the cross bar r, r, Figure 3,
alongside of the tails or stems q, q, as is shewn by the outlines y, z, y, z, therein,
one end y of each curled wire spring y, z, being connected to a short spur or
pin projecting out from each of the stems q, q. and the other end z of the same
spring being connected to a stud pin fixed in the bottom of the groove of the
cross bar r, r, whereby the contracting action of each spring y, z, will tend to
urge that bolt to which it is so connected outwards towards the serrated
teeth c, d, of the pillars C, D; or, instead of one thumb button F for with-
drawing both bolts at once by means of a wedge v, spring catches may be used
in place of bolts, with two separate buttons applied, one at each edge of the
moveable board B, as shewn in Figure 5, in order to be able to release each

page_text: catch by pressure of a thumb on one and a finger on the other at the same
time when the hand is applied to grasp across the width of the board B; where-
fore this variation in the construction (as shewn in Figures 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9,)
is most applicable to a small apparatus of a narrow width adapted to receive
folded letters, or bills of accounts, stamped receipts, bankers' cheques, or gloves,
or small articles, and which width will admit of being conveniently spanned across
by the hand. In Figure 5 the lower board A and the moveable board B and
the two upright guiding pillars C, D, with their serrated teeth c, d, also the
handle E, are (or may be) the same as the corresponding parts of Figures 1,
2, 3, and 4, already described, except that the upper ends of the pillars C, D,
may (if preferred) be bended at right angles and made sharp-pointed to drive
into the ends of the wooden handle E. The sockets G, HI, which are fitted
upon the pillars C, D, are somewhat different from those already described,
having metal plates f, f, projecting from them to be inlaid into the vertical
edges of the moveable board B, and to be fastened thereto with serews. The
spring catches g, g, are affixed to the said plates f, f, against the insides thereof
which apply against the wood; the springs g, g, are fastened at one end by
rivets or screws to the said plates f, f, so as pass across the sockets G, H, within
notches which are cut therein for the reception of the springs, and which
springs 9, 9, are bended at the middle part of their length where they apply
across the pillars C, D, to give those parts a proper slope for for forming
catches suitable for acting in the serrated teeth to hold therein, in order to
retain the board B from being raised upwards but without preventing the
same from being pressed downwards; and at the opposite ends of the said
springs 9, 9, to those ends thereof which are fastened as aforesaid to the
said plates f, f, short pins or studs are fixed fast into the springs, and pass
through holes in the plates f,f, to the outsides thereof, where small buttons F, W,
are fixed or the ends of those pins, as shewn in Figure 5, in order to receive the
pressure of a thumb on one button and of a finger on the other when the hand
is applied with a grasp across the width of the upper board B, in order to first
disengage the spring catches and then to lift up that board B, in manner
already stated.
The said improved apparatus may be made of various dimensions suitably
for the different kinds of articles it is intended to receive. Figures 2, 3 and 4
are drawn the real size for an apparatus suitable for receiving leaves or sheets
of music, and other sizes may be made, according to the said Figures, by
enlarging or diminishing all the parts there represented proportionably to the
intended size.
:
But note. In case of an apparatus of a much larger size being required to

page_text: ), and
receive and retain such articles as large prints or newspapers, it may be desirable
to have four upright guiding pillars instead of only two, that is, two such pillars
at each side of each board instead of one, and with a spring bolt or catch to act
in the serrated teeth of each such pillar, in order to retain the two boards more
effectually together than only two pillars could do for a larger size; and all those
four spring bolts or catches may be made capable of being withdrawn at once
from their respective teeth in the four guiding pillars by pressure of a thumb
or figure upon one button F in the centre of the upper board B, and which
button, together with its upright pin w, and the wedge v, at the lower end
thereof, also the two long stems or tails q, q, and springs y, z, y, z, may be the
same as in Figure 3, and as already described; but instead of the steel bolts 8, s,
which are to catch in the teeth of the pillars, being at the ends of the said
stems 9. q, each of those stems may have a transverse bar affixed across the
end of it at right angles to its length in form of the letter T, (thus
the four steel bolts may be connected with the two ends of each of those said
transverse bars, which, by extending horizontally along the edges of the upper
board and being concealed within the thickness thereof, will reach to the four
sockets of the pillars where the four steel bolts are required to be situated; or
otherwise four bolts like 8, 8, with long stems like q, q, may be disposed in
oblique directions, reaching from each of the pillars, in the teeth whereof those
bolts are to act to the centre of the upper board (being either concealed within
its thickness, or else applied above the top of it with suitable covering for
concealment), and the said four stems, passing beyond each other at the centro
and having their extreme ends bended in the manner of hooks, and disposed onc
bend within the other; their extreme ends may be adapted to be operated upon
by one wedge at the lower end of the upright pin w, that wedge having four sides
to operate on the four extremities of the bended ends of the four tails of the bolts,
in the same manner as the two sides of the wedge v, already described, operate.
on the two bended ends of the tails q, q, of two bolts.
And note. If required a small lock may be applied to the board B,in such
a position as to shoot its bolt into a suitable notch in (or beneath a suitable
prominence of) the upright stem w, in order to prevent the knob K being
pressed down as as to release the said spring clicks or spring bolts, unless the
the said lock is unlocked by its key, so as withdraw its bolt from contact with
the upright stem w.
Having now described my said improved apparatus, I, the said Henry
Bridge Cowell, do hereby declare that the new Invention whereof the exclusive
use is granted to me by the said Letters Patent consists in the improved
apparatus herein-before described, answering the purpose of a press, having as

page_text: in ordinary presses two parallel flat boards or surfaces between which leaves
or pieces of paper, or of cloth, or other thin substances, folded or unfolded,
may be interposed, and, having guiding pillars to guide the moveable board,
all which is common to ordinary presses; but the novelty in the construction
of my improved apparatus is, that the moveable board is retained so as to keep
the interposed articles under gentle pressure by means of spring clicks or spring
bolts catching into and holding in suitable teeth formed in the guiding pillars,
and those spring clicks or spring bolts are suitably connected with a button
or buttons, in order that by pressure thereon they can be both or all of them
withdrawn at once from the said teeth when it is required to raise up the
moveable board and release the interposed articles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bridge Cowell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Sixteenth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-nine
H. B. (L.S.) COWELL.
Signed and sealed by the said Henry Bridge
Cowell, in the presence of
W™ SMITH,
Clerk to Mess Shearman and Evans, Solrs,