An Improved Stand for Kettles and other Outwardly Dirty Vessels, which is Capable of Serving as a Fancy Packing Box, and also as an Advertising Medium.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 18th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 20th Nov., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Stand for Kettles and other Outwardly Dirty Vessels,
which is Capable of Serving as a Fancy Packing Box, and also as
an Advertising Medium.
We JOHN BRITTEN, Retired Chemist, and, PERCY JOHNSON BRITTEN, Brewers
Assistant both of 192 Balls Pond Road Islington, London, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In its most eligible form the invention consists of a flat box, the top and bottom
of which are nearly alike, so that when the box is open and lying with its inner
side upwards it has the appearance of a tray with a vertical rim round it. Within
this rim are the supports on which the kettles and the like rest. These supports
are about a quarter inch higher than the rim, and the rim projects about half
an inch beyond or outside of the bearing, surfaces of the supports. And the
supports are of such a shape and in such positions that when the box is closed
the bearing surfaces on the one side of the box shall be received into the recesses
on the other side.
The supports are preferably oblong blocks of wood, but we do not restrict our-
selves to this material or this shape. They may be of such size and shape as to
admit of their being in the box and yet allowing sufficient packing space beside
them for some kind of goods. Or they may be of such size and shape as to nearly
fill the box when closed. In the latter case they are sent with the box as an
outside parcel so that the entire space inside may be occupied with goods, provision
is made for easily fixing the blocks in their right position, when the boxes are
emptied of their original contents.
When required to serve only as a stand for kettles & the like the outside rim
may be dispensed with in cases where cheapness is a material consideration.
The outsides of the stands may be used for the display of advertisements as an
advertising medium.
Dated this 17th day of December 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Stand for Kettles and other Outwardly Dirty Vessels,
which is Capable of Serving as a Fancy Packing Box, and also as
an Advertising Medium.
We JOHN BRITTEN, Retired Chemist, and, PERCY JOHNSON BRITTEN, Brewers
Assistant both of 192 Balls Pond Road Islington, London, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention consists preferably of a square tin box, the body and the lid of
which are both of the same depth. When full open this box forms a kind of square

page_text: tray with a vertical rim round it; and is herein called either a box or a tray as may
best suit the point under explanation.
In the accompanying drawings this box and the so-called tray formed by it
when full open are indicated by dotted lines; those marked A Fig. 2 representing
the bottom of the tray, and the remaining dotted lines of Fig. 2, and the whole of
the dotted lines of Fig. I representing the rim. The hinges are omitted to
simplify the drawings.
In each division of this tray are two ribs, the four forming together a ribbed
platform on which the kettles rest. This ribbed platform rises about or inch
above the level of the rim of the so called tray, and is of such dimensions hori-
zontally as to leave at least half an inch of space between the outer edges of the
platform and the rim, so that the soot rubbed off the kettles by contact with the
said outer edges of the platform may fall within the rim.
Each pair of ribs is made preferably of a plate of tin, bent into the form shewn
in the drawings. Figure I (exclusive of the dotted lines) being a plan of the two
plates, and Figure 2 (exclusive of the dotted lines) being a transverse section.
Though seemingly alike they differ, the difference being necessary to admit of the
ribs in the one division of the tray fitting into the spaces in the other division
when the box is closed.
A small stump is stamped or pressed inwardly on each side-rim of the tray,
in such a position that when the bent plates are in their intended places in the
tray these stumps shall project over the flanges b of the said plates and thereby
hold them securely, one in the body of the box and one in the lid. The elasticity
of the bent plates admits of their being narrowed by compression while being
inserted in the tray so as to admit of the flanges 6 escaping these stumps while
passing downwards, and expanding under the stumps when the compression
ceases. Or, instead of the stumps here described, small recesses might be stamped
in the side rims of the boxes, and the bent plates may be provided with corre-
sponding projections which may spring into these recesses when the compression'
ceases.
When these boxes are used for packing goods that are not made up in packets
the ribbed platforms are held in reserve, to be inserted after the boxes are emptied
of the goods originally packed in them. To adapt the boxes for this purpose there
is fitted inside the body of each, what may be called a square hoop of card board;
by which we mean a strip of cardboard bent into a shape corresponding with the
sides & ends of the box, as they would appear with the top & bottom of the
box removed. This square hoop serves as a false rim, and is as large in all
directions as can be shut within the box without its being crushed in closing down
the lid. The intention and effect of this false rim is to make the capacity of the
body of the box nearly equal to that of both the body and the lid so that when
the box is open the whole of the goods packed in it may lie in the body, & the
lid remain empty.
In some of our designs the ribbed platforms consist of oblong blocks of wood
fixed in their proper places by nails passing through the metal of the boxes.
When this kind of kettle stands are used primarily as packing boxes, the wooden
ribs are supplied separately; the flat plates forming the tops and bottoms of the
boxes being pierced with nail holes as above described, and corresponding nail
holes being also pierced in the wooden ribs. The whole of the holes are in such
relative positions that, by driving small nails through the holes in the boxes and
the corresponding holes in the ribs, the latter are fixed in their intended positions
inside the boxes.
In another design the necessary ribs of wood or other material are nailed or
otherwise fixed to plating tin or other material; so that, by rivetting, soldering
or otherwise fixing the said plates within the bodies and lids of the boxes, the ribs
also are fixed in their required positions.
If the goods to be packed in the boxes should be in packets, the ribbed platforms
might be fixed in them before the boxes are sent out. For this purpose we prefer

page_text: wooden ribs nailed to the boxes as hereinbefore explained, and we prefer to use
only three ribs instead of four. Two of these are fixed in the body of the box,
one close to the hinged rim and the other (hereinafter referred to as the second rib)
about an inch from the other or outer rim. The space between these two ribs is
available as packing room for goods in small packets. The third rib is fixed in
the lid of the box about half an inch from the outer rim, so that, when the box is
closed this rib shall fall between the second rib & the outer rim of the box.
Although we have spoken only, of ribbed platforms surrounded by rims, such
being the only rational plan for the construction of platforms for the purpose
herein defined, we claim of course any kind of platform that would be equivalent
to these; that is to say, any kind of folding platform consisting of projections
and recesses, and capable of being folded as herein explained, so that the projec-
tions on one of the folding sides of the platform shall fall within the recesses
on the other side.
Nor do we restrict ourselves to platforms with hinges and rims. The two halves
of the platforms might, if preferred, be joined with some flexible material instead
of hinges; and if desired the enclosing rims might be dispensed with, to cheapen
the stands.
As these boxes will be ornamentally got up, and might therefore be kept ready
for use in living rooms as well as kitchens, they would serve well as advertizing
mediums; that is to say, advertisements might be printed ornamentally on their
tops and sides. This capability is referred to in the title of the invention, but we
do not make any claim to the utilization of tin boxes or kettle stands for this
purpose, other than what our exclusive right of manufacturing these articles
necessarily gives us.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. The Stands for Kettles, pans and the like, herein described.
2. The providing of the kind of boxes herein described, with means for facili-
tating the fixing of platforms within them, whereby they may be converted into
kettle stands; as, for example, small stumps projecting inward from their sides,
or ends or small recesses in their sides or ends, under which stumps, or into which
recesses the plates to which the ribs of the platform are fixed, may project as herein
described with reference to the bent plates Figures 1 and 2; and we claim also
the punching of nail holes in the tops and bottoms of the boxes, in so far as the
numbers and relative positions of such nail holes shall show them to be designed
for the passage of nails wherewith to fix inside the boxes the ribbed platforms
necessary for converting them into our improved kettle stands.
3. The construction of detached platforms for the purpose herein described,
by fixing ribs or their equivalents on plates of tin or other material; in so far as
the things produced by thus fixing ribs to plates or slabs of metal or other
material, shall be obviously designed for the construction of folding ribbed Kettle
stands.
2
4. The fixing in these or any equivalent boxes, of the platforms necessary for
converting them into our improved Kettle stands; as, for example, the nailing
or rivetting or soldering of separate ribs of wood or other material in the said
boxes, or the soldering or otherwise fixing therein of plates of Tin or other
materials to which the necessary ribs are fixed.
Dated this 18th day of September 1897.
JOHN BRITTEN.
PERCY JOHNSON BRITTEN.