Im- PROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel William Francis, of Gray's Inn Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Shutter Maker, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS."
Sealed the 24th July 1863, and dated the 28th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel William
Francis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th January 1863.
I, SAMUEL WILLIAM FRANCIS, of Gray's Inn Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Shutter Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in so constructing the laths or plates of revolving
shutters that such shutters may revolve in either direction round the roller to
which they are attached, and for this purpose I form a groove in the bottom
or lower edge of each lath or plate and along the entire length of each lath or
plate of which the shutter is composed (except the bottom lath of each shutter),
and I construct the upper edge of such lath or plate thinner than the lower
edge thereof to fit into the groove in the lower edge of the lath or plate
immediately above it. I then unite the several laths or plates of which the
shutter is composed by means of belts, webs, chains, cords, or wires passed

page_text: through holes or mortices in the breadth of each lath or plate in the usual
manner.
In the construction of metal laths or plates on my improved plan, I some-
times form the lath or plate of thin sheets of metal of any suitable description,
such as brass, iron, steel, tin, or composition metal, and I form such sheets
into hollow laths or plates of a shape similar to the lath herein-before described
by drawing them through dies in the usual manner or otherwise, and I then
unite the said laths or plates in the manner herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel William Francis, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
WILLIAM FRANCIS, of Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Shutter
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty
year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel William Francis, Her special licence that I, the said
Samuel William Francis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Samuel William Francis, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel William Francis,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel William Francis, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in so constructing the laths or plates of revolving
shutters that such shutters may revolve in either direction round the roller
to which they are attached, and for this purpose I form a groove in the
bottom or lower edge of each lath or plate and along the entire length of each
lath or plate of which the shutter is composed (except the bottom lath of
each shutter), and I construct the upper edge of such lath or plate thinner
than the lower edge thereof to fit into the groove in the lower edge of the
lath or plate immediately above it. I then unite the several laths or plates
of which the shutter is composed by means of belts, webs, chains, cords, or
wires passed through holes or mortices in the breadth of each lath or plate
in the usual manner.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a transverse section of a portion
of a revolving shutter constructed according to my Invention.
A, A, are the laths or plates in the bottom or lower edge, and along the
entire length of each of which I form a groove a, and the upper edge of each
of which I make thinner than the lower edge, so as to fit into the groove of
the lath or plate immediately above it as shewn; b, represents the belts, webs,
chains, cords, or wires which are passed through holes or mortices in the laths
or plates to unite the same. Sometimes I form each separate lath in two
halves, and unite the halves by screws or rivets; no holes or mortices are then
necessary, as I lay the webs or uniting cords or wires between the two halves
before being screwed together.
In the construction of metal laths or plates on my improved plan, I some-
times form the lath or plate of thin sheets of metal of any suitable description,
such as brass, iron, steel, tin, or composition metal, and I form such sheets
into hollow laths or plates, as shewn in Figure 2, of a shape similar to the
wooden lath represented in Figure 1, by drawing them through dies in the
usual manner or otherwise, and I then unite the said laths or plates in the
manner herein-before described. Figure 3 is a front elevation partly in
section, and Figure 4 a transverse section, showing one of my improved
revolving shutters applied to a window and made to revolve round a roller B
placed in a compartment or space above the window. Figure 5 shows the
same made to revolve round a roller B' placed in a compartment or space
below the window.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
the laths or plates of revolving shutters, substantially as herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, whereby such shutters may
revolve in either direction round the roller to which they are attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel William Francis, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.