IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS TO THEIR SPINDLES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Beverley Fenby at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with, his Petition, on the 11th March
1867.
I, JOSEPH BEVERLEY. FENBY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING DOOR AND OTHER KNOBS TO THEIR SPINDLES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in con-
necting door and other knobs to their spindles, by which improvements a knob
may be put on one or both ends of a spindle at the required distance on the
spindle, and be retained there without the use of a screw or any other
mechanism in addition to that carried by the knob itself. By connecting
door and other knobs to their spindles according to my Invention the said
knobs and spindles are made suitable for doors, drawers, and other articles of
different thicknesses. I cut or otherwise form on one side or face of the
square spindle a series of transverse ratchet teeth, that is, a series of trans-
verse teeth inclined from the end of the spindle towards its middle; these
teeth may be made on one end or on both ends of the spindle, but for ordinary
purposes it is only necessary to make them on one end of the spindle. In the
neck of the knob I place a plate having on its face a series of ratchet teeth of
a size proper to engage with the ratchet teeth on the spindle, the said teeth,
when the knob is put on the spindle, being inclined in a direction opposite to
that in which the teeth on the spindle are inclined; the said plate is pressed
towards the axis of the neck of the knob by means of a spring. When the

page_text: spindle is introduced into the neck of the knob and the knob is pushed on the
spindle it advances thereon without obstruction, the teeth on the plate in the
neck passing over those on the spindle, but the knob cannot be withdrawn
from the spindle as the teeth on the plate engage with the teeth on the
spindle when the knob is pulled in a direction proper to withdraw it from the
spindle.
In applying my Invention to the knobs and spindle of an ordinary lock
or latch I prefer to make ratchet teeth on one end of the spindle only. I
attach one knob, which I will call the fixed knob, to the spindle by a screw
or otherwise, and pass the toothed end of the spindle through the lock or
latch; I then place the other knob having the plate with ratchet teeth, which
I will call the adjustable knob, on the end of the spindle having ratchet
teeth, and push it thereon until its neck is brought against the door. The
adjustable knob is thereby adjusted and fixed on the spindle. In order to
permit the removal of. the adjustable knob from the spindle I make a groove.
along the middle of that face of the spindle on which the ratchet teeth are
situated. On removing the fixed knob a wire may be passed along the said
groove, and the plate having the ratchet teeth being thereby lifted its teeth
no longer engage with those on the spindle, and the adjustable knob may be
drawn from off the spindle to any required distance, or be removed from..it
entirely.