IMPROVEMENTS IN. INDICATORS AND FASTENINGS FOR WATERCLOSETS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Kindon Taylor,. of King Street, Covent
Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Marine Artist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN. INDICATORS AND FASTENINGS FOR WATERCLOSETS AND
OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 13th October 1865, and dated the 20th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Kindon Taylor
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1865.
I, HENRY KINDON TAYLOR, of King Street, Covent Garden, in the County
of Middlesex, Marine Artist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATORS AND FASTENINGS FOR WATERCLOSETS AND
OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
It is well known that delicate and nervous persons suffer considerable
annoyance and distress from the frequent difficulty which arises in ascer-
taining whether a closet or other private room is occupied or not, and also
when occupying them in being. subject to the attempts of others desiring to

page_text: enter the same, and my Invention has for its object the application of an
indicator or signal to such places of resort, which I prefer to combine or
connect with the fastening to the door in order that the setting or placing
of the indicator or signal may be rendered compulsory on the part of the
person when entering a closet or other private room. The removal or with-
drawal of the signal or indicator is self-acting on the person opening the door
to leave the closet or room, by which means it can at all times be ascertained
whether a closet or other private room is occupied or not without trying
whether the door is fastened or not.
sliding
A simple mode of carrying out my Invention consists in mounting a
door, shutter, or screen in a suitable frame to close an aperture or window
formed in the door, wall, or other part of a closet or other private room or
place to which my Invention is applied. When the closet or room is
unoccupied the sliding door, screen, or shutter is kept back by an india-
rubber spring or by other means, so as to uncover the aperture or window
through which the interior can be seen. To the sliding door or shutter a catch,
latch, bolt, or other fastening is applied, which is the means employed for
fastening the door of the room or closet when occupied, the act of fastening
the closet door being also the means of closing the aperture or window by
closing or drawing the door, screen, or shutter over it, the word "engaged
or other suitable device being placed on the exterior thereof to indicate to
those outside that the place is occupied.
I would remark that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangements
herein described, as various contrivances for indicating the occupation or other-
wise of such places may be resorted to in order to realize the object which it
is desired to obtain according to my Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Kindon Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY 3
KINDON TAYLOR, of King Street, Covent Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Marine Artist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Kindon Taylor, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Kindon Taylor, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Henry Kindon Taylor, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN INDICATORS AND FASTENINGS FOR WATERCLOSETS AND
PORPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Kindon Taylor, 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.
OTHER
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Kindon Taylor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
It is well known that delicate and nervous persons suffer considerable
annoyance and distress from the frequent difficulty which arises in ascer-
taining whether a closet or other private room is occupied or not, and
also when occupying them in being subject to the attempts of others
desiring to enter the same, and my Invention has for its object the appli-
cation of an indicator or signal to such places of resort, which I prefer
to combine or connect with the fastening to the door in order that
the setting or placing of the indicator or signal may be rendered com-
pulsory on the part of the person when entering a closet or other private
room. The removal or withdrawal of the signal or indicator is self-acting
on the person opening the door to leave the closet or room, by which
means it can at all times be ascertained whether a closet or other private
room is occupied or not without trying whether the door is fastened
or not.
A simple mode of carrying out my Invention consists in mounting a
sliding door, shutter, or screen in a suitable frame to close an aperture or
window formed in the door, wall, or other part of a closet or other private

page_text: To the sliding door or
applied, which is the 5
room or place to which my Invention is applied. When the closet or
room is unoccupied the sliding door, screen, or shutter is kept back
by an india-rubber spring or by other means so as to uncover the aperture
or window through which the interior can be seen.
shutter a catch, latch, bolt, or other fastening is
means employed for fastening the door of the room or closet when occupied,
the act of fastening the closet door being also the means of closing the
aperture or window by closing or drawing the door, screen, or shutter over
it, the word "engaged" or other suitable device placed on the exterior thereof
indicating to those outside that the place is occupied.
I would remark that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangements
herein described, as various contrivances for indicating the occupation or
otherwise of such places may be resorted to in order to realize the object
which it is desired to obtain according to my Invention.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and.
readily carried into practice, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed, which shows one of the combined fastenings and indicators which I
prefer to employ in carrying out my Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows part of the exterior view of the door of a closet or
other private room having an indicator and fastening applied thereto
according to my Invention; Figure 2 shows part of the inuer sido of the same
door which is fastened by the sliding bolt a' carried by the lever indicator a,
as shown.
The lever indicator a, carrying the bolt a', is fixed to the inner side of
the door by screws or otherwise, and moves freely on the pin a², so
that when the bolt a' is withdrawn from the staple or catch c, fixed on
the jamb or frame of the door, the weight of the enlarged end of the
lever a (covering the aperture or window 6) causes it to fall into the
position indicated by dotted lines, thus removing the signal by the act
of unfastening the door, the act of bolting or fastening the door being the
means by which the aperture is closed or covered with a signal or
device indicating to those desiring to enter that the closet or other private
room is occupied.
I would remark that the form and arrangement of the indicator and
fastening may be greatly varied without departing from the true character of
my Invention, which consists in combining an indicator or signal with the
1

page_text: fastening of the door of a watercloset or other private room for the purposes
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Kindon Taylor, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
HENRY K. TAYLOR. (LS.)
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chaucery Lane, W.C.