IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAT COAT AND WARDROBE HOOKS AND RAILS
Year: 1884

page_text: We WILLIAM HENRY TONKS of the firm of William Tonks and Sons of Moseley
Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers and JOHN BURN of
Watt Street Spark Hill near Birmingham aforesaid Tool Maker do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
HAT COAT AND WARDROBE HOOKS AND RAILS" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the method or methods hereinafter described of
making and connecting the fixing plates and terminal knobs of hat coat and
wardrobe hooks and attaching the said hooks to rails.
In making the fixing plate of the hook we cut out at a press or stamp from
sheet brass or other hard metal or alloy a blank having the general figure of the
ordinary fixing plate and also having at opposite edges and near the narrow end a
pair of ears or side pieces. These ears or side pieces are raised at right angles to
the body of the plate and the end of the cylindrical rod from which the body of
the hook is to be made is placed on the narrow end of the said fixing plate. By
means of dies worked in a stamp the pair of ears or side pieces on the fixing plate
are closed upon the back of the said plate and upon the end of the rod the said end
of the rod being at the same time flattened and expanded laterally so as to prevent
its withdrawal from the closed ears or side pieces of the fixing plate.
By the action of the dies by which the fixing plate is attached to the rod or
body of the hook as described the front of the said plate is ornamented with any
desired pattern. After the fixing plate has been made and attached to the rod the
countersunk holes for the screws are made in it in the ordinary way.
In making combined hat and coat hooks where the fixing plate is situated at
about the middle of the body the fixing plate is made longer than that herein before
described and is provided with two pairs of ears or side pieces a pair at each end
of the plate. These pairs of ears are closed and fixed upon the middle of the solid.
rod and the outer face of the fixing plate ornamented by stamping as before
described.
The terminal knobs or spheres
the hooks in the following way.
thread it upon the end of the rod
are made and fixed on the ends of the bodies of
We take a short coil of brass or other wire and
from which the body of the hook is to be made

page_text: and by means of a stamping operation we give to the coil a spherical figure and at
the same time fix it upon the rod the stamping operation causing the convolutions
of the coil to embed themselves in the metal of the rod and thereby fix the knob
securely in its place. The terminal knobs or spheres are finished by the clearing
tools commonly called "mousing" tools.
After the fixing plates and knobs have been fixed to the rods in the manner
described the said rods are bent into hooks in the ordinary way.
In affixing hooks made according to our Invention to rails so as to make hat
coat and wardrobe rails we make on the back of the shoulder of the hook a split
or divided pin which being passed through a hole in the rail and clinched secures
the hook to the rail.
Dated this Twenty first day of January
1884

page_text: We WILLIAM HENRY TONKS of the firm of William Tonks and Sons of Moseley
Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers and JOHN BURN of
Watt Street Sparkhill near Birmingham aforesaid Tool Maker do hereby declare
the nature of our Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAT,
COAT AND WARDROBE HOOKS AND RAILS" 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 of the method or methods herein after described of
making and connecting the fixing plates of hat, coat and wardrobe hooks and
attaching the said hooks to rails.
In making the fixing plate of the hook we cut out at a press or stamp from sheet
brass or other hard metal or alloy a blank having the general figure of the ordinary
fixing plate and also having at opposite edges and near the narrow end a pair of
ears or side pieces. These ears or side pieces are raised at right angles to the
body of the plate and the end of the cylindrical rod from which the body of the
hook is to be made is placed on the narrow end of the said fixing plate. By means
of dies worked in a stamp, the pair of ears or side pieces on the fixing plate are
closed upon the back of the said plate and upon the end of the rod, the said end
of the rod being at the same time flattened and expanded laterally so as to prevent
its withdrawal from the closed ears or side pieces of the fixing plate.
By the action of the dies by which the fixing plate is attached to the rod or
body of the look as described the front of the said plate is ornamented with any
desired pattern. After the fixing plate has been made and attached to the rod the
countersunk holes for the screws are made in it in the ordinary way.
In making combined hat and coat hooks where the fixing plate is situated at
about the middle of the body, the fixing plate is made longer than that herein
before described and is provided with two pairs of ears or side pieces, a pair at
each end of the plate.
These pairs of ears are closed and fixed upon the middle of the solid rod and the
outer face of the fixing plate ornamented by stamping as before described.
In affixing hooks made according to our Invention to rails so as to make hat,
coat and wardrobe rails we make on the back of the shoulder of the hook a split
or divided pin which being passed through a hole in the rail and clinched secures
the hook to the rail.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings
the manner in which our Invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan and edge view the blank of sheet metal or alloy
from which we form the fixing plate of the hook. The said blank is marked a and
has the general figure of the ordinary fixing plate with the addition of the ears or
side pieces b, b at opposite edges. By means of a stamp and raising tools the said
ears or side pieces b, bare raised at right angles to the body of the plate a as
represented in plan and side elevation in Figure 2. The fixing plate is now ready
to receive the flattened and expanded end c of the cylindrical rod & represented in
Figure 3 from which rod the body of the book is made. The opposite end of the
rod d has a terminal knob or sphere e formed upon it, preferably in the way herein
after described, before the fixing plate is attached to it. The flattened end c of the
rod d having been placed on the narrow end of the fixing plate Figure 2 and
between the raised side ears b, b the said side ears are closed by the operation of a
stamp and dies upon the flattened end of the rod so as to secure the said plate to
the said end of the rod as represented in Figure 4.

page_text: Instead of flattening the end of the rod d prior to closing the ears upon it,
the said end of the rod may be flattened and expanded laterally by the closing
operation. The closed ears or side pieces b, b at the back of the fixing plate a
are further operated upon by another pair of dies-so as to spread out the ears b, b
and cause them to completely cover the expanded end c of the rod. By the operation
of the last pair of dies the figure of the fixing plate is perfected and the front of
the said plate ornamented with any desired pattern. The fixing plate is thus made
and attached to the rod d. The straight rod d is next bent into a hook form and
the countersunk holes in the fixing plate are made in the ordinary way. Figure 5
represents in front elevation; Figure 6 in side elevation and Figure 7 in back
elevation a finished hook made as described. In Figure 7 the closed and spread
out back ears or side pieces are marked b, b.
In making and fixing the terminal knobs or spheres e on the ends of the straight
rods from which the bodies of the hooks are to be made, we take a plain rod d
Figure 8 and also a short coil f of brass or other wire represented in Figure 9 and
place or thread it upon one end of the rod d as represented in Figure 10. By
means of a stamping operation we give the coil f the spherical figure represented
at g Figure 11 and at the same time fix it upon the rod, the stamping operation
causing the convolutions of the coil to embed themselves in the metal of the rod
and thereby fix the knob firmly in its place. The knobs or spheres are finished by
means of the clearing tools called "mousing" tools. By the operation of these
tools the " fins on the surface of the knob are removed and the required smooth
"
spherical figure given to it.
Figure 12 represents in front elevation; Figure 13 in side elevation; Figure 14
in back elevation and Figure 15 in plan, a double hook made in the manner before
described excepting that the rod d from which the double hook is made is flattened
at its middle d² for the side ears b, b of the fixing plate a to be closed upon.
In making a combined hat and coat hook according to our Invention we use a
blank for the fixing plate of the kind represented in Figure 16, that is, it has two
pairs of side ears or pieces, a pair 62, 62 at each end of the plate or blank a, which
ears or side pieces 62, 62 are raised at right angles to the body of the fixing plate a
as represented in Figure 17 for receiving the flattened middle part d² of the rod d
Figure 18.
The pairs of ears b³, 62; 62, 62 of the fixing plate a are closed upon the
flattened middle part d² of the rod and the outer face of the fixing plate ornamented
in the manner before described. Figure 19 represents in front elevation Figure 20
in side elevation and Figure 21 in back elevation a combined hat and coat hook
made according to our Invention the fixing plate being marked a, the body of the
hook d and the closed back ears b², 62.
In making hooks for hat coat and wardrobe rails and affixing them to the said
rails we proceed as follows. We provide the side ears of the blank with projections
from which a split or divided pin is made at the back of the fixing plate or shoulder
of the hook for clinching or rivetting the hook to the rail. Figure 22 represents
the blank of the fixing plate of the hook and Figure 23 the same after the side
ears b, b have been raised from the body of the plate. The projecting parts on the
ears of the blank from which the split pin is made are marked 63, 63; Figure 24
represents the rod from which the body of the hook is made and Figure 25
represents in back elevation and Figure 26 in side elevation, the partly made hook
after the side ears b, b of the plate a have been closed upon the flattened end d² of
the rod d. By the closing and finishing operations effected by stamping as before
described, the projections 63, 63 on the ears of the plate are brought parallel and
close to one another so as to form a split or divided pin marked h at the back of
the fixing plate or shoulder a of the hook as represented in the said Figures 25
and 26 and also in the finished hook Figures 27, 28 and 29.
In affixing the hooks made in this way to rails so as to make hat coat or
wardrobe rails, the split or divided pin h is passed through a hole in the rail and
the projecting end at the back of the rail clinched, expanded or rivetted upon a
washer placed at the back of the rail so as to secure the said book to the rail.

page_text: Figure 30 represents in side elevation (partly in section) and Figure 31 in front
elevation, a portion of a hat coat or wardrobe rail made according to our Invention.
In the said Figures 30 and 31 the rail is marked i; the hooks are marked a, d; the
split or divided pins are marked h and the washers upon which the ends of the
pins h are clinched, expanded or rivetted so as to form heads upon the said pins,
are marked kc.
Double hooks for rails may be made and affixed in the manner described and
represented with respect to single hooks, the rod of the double hook being made
in the manner described with reference to Figures 12. 13. 14 and 15.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed we declare that
what we claim of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Hat Coat and Wardrobe
Hooks and Rails" is:-
First The methods herein before described and illustrated in Figures 1. 2. 3. 4
5. 6. 7. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20 and 21 of the accompanying Drawings of
making and connecting the fixing plates of single and double hat, coat and
wardrobe hooks and combined hat and coat hooks; that is to say, forming the
blank from which the fixing plate is made with a pair or with pairs of ears or side
pieces which by a series of stamping operations are raised and closed upon the end
or middle of the rod from which the body of the hook is made so as to make and
attach the said fixing plate to the rod and, if required, at the same time ornament
the front of the said fixing plate substantially as before described and illustrated.
Secondly The methods herein before described and illustrated in Figures 22
to 31 both inclusive of the accompanying Drawings of making hat, coat and
wardrobe hooks and affixing them to rails; that is to say, forming on the blank
from which the fixing plate or shoulder of the hook is made projections in addition
to the ears or side pieces claimed in the first claim which projections by the closing
of the ears upon the rod of the hook form at the back of the fixing plate or
shoulder, a split or divided pin which being passed through a hole in the rail and
clinched, expanded or rivetted at the back of the rail secures the hook to the said
rail substantially as described and illustrated.
WILLIAM HENRY TONKS.
JOHN BURN.