A NEW OR Iм- PROVED APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING OR FIXING SHELVES, RACKS, OR OTHER ARTICLES IN THE RECESSES OF WALLS AND IN OTHER SITUATIONS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Weybridge Ferris, of 27, Portland Terrace, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW OR Iм-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING OR FIXING SHELVES, RACKS, OR OTHER
ARTICLES IN THE RECESSES OF WALLS AND IN OTHER SITUATIONS."
Sealed the 26th May 1877, and dated the 30th November 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Weybridge Ferris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th November 1876.
HENRY WEYBRIDGE FERRIS, of 27, Portland Terrace, Regent's Park, in the
County of Middlesex. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING OR
FIXING SHELVES, RACKS, OR OTHER ARTICLES IN THE RECESSES OF WALLS AND IN
OTHER SITUATIONS."
My apparatus consists of a frame or beam at one or both of the extremities of
which one or more buffers or pads are attached by means of a screw or threaded rod
working in a nut or female screw in the extremity of the frame, so that each buffer
can be set at any desired distance from the frame by turning the screw.
By this
means the buffers at the extremity of the frame may be made to press so firmly
against opposite walls or other opposite points as to fix the frame, and thus to render
it capable of supporting objects which may be suspended from or supported by one
or more of such frames.
In some cases, especially where the opposite walls or other points are a considerable
distance apart, I make the frame or beam with an upper arch, to the ends of which
the nuts are connected, and below the arch is a bar or beam through which vertical
rods attached to the said arch pass, and by these rods the weights or articles to be
supported are held. The strain is thus thrown upon the arch, and is communicated
by the outward or longitudinal pressure to the buffers. The lower bar is supported
by the end pieces in which the nuts are formed, and it is free to slide in these
pieces and does not receive any of the strain.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Weybridge Ferris in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
May 1877.
HENRY WEYBRIDGE FERRIS, of 27, Portland Terrace, Regent's Park, in the
County of Middlesex. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING OR-
FIXING SHELVES, RACKS, OR OTHER ARTICLES IN THE RECESSES OF WALLS AND IN
OTHER SITUATIONS."
•
The object of my Invention is to construct an apparatus by incans of which
shelves, racks, or other articles can be suspended or fixed in the recesses of walls,
in cupboards, or between opposite walls, rafters, beams, or other opposite surfaces
without damage to or defacement of the walls or other surfaces. For this purpose
I fit at one or both ends of a frame, beam, rod, or tube one or more buffers or pads,
which are attached to the said frame, beam, rod, or tube by means of screws or
threaded rods working in nuts or female screws in the extremities of the frames, so
that the buffers can be set at any desired distance from the frame by turning the
screws. By this means the buffers at the extremitics of the frame may be made to
press so firmly against opposite walls or other opposite points as to fix the frame,
and thus to render it capable of supporting objects which may be suspended from
or supported by one or more of such frames.
My Invention will be understood on reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed
Drawings, Figure 1 of which is an elevation with one end in section representing
one of my apparatus in position between two opposite walls, and Figure 2 an end
view shewing one of the buffers and parts connected thereto.
A, A, are the walls; B, B, are two buffers; C, C, are two screws or threaded rods
attached respectively to the two buffers, so as to be free to rotate, the mode of
attachment consisting of a head or collar D on the screw which works within a
bracket or socket E fixed to the buffer; F, F, are nuts or female screws in which
the screws C, C, work. These nuts are shaped externally to fit the ends of a tube
or hollow rod G, which extends from one nut to the other. In order to fix the
apparatus in position a tube or rod G of approximately the necessary length is
placed on the nuts F, F, and while the apparatus is held at the required points
the screws C, C, are made to rotate by spanners applied to their square portions
H, H, so as to move the buffers outwards or from the frame, the rotation of the
screws being continued until the buffers B, B, are pressed firmly against the walls
A, A. The screws shewn in the Figure are short screws, which I prefer to use
where the apparatus is to be fitted in a recess of a given width, in which case a
few turns of the screw are sufficient to fix the apparatus; but where the apparatus
has to be adapted to recesses or spaces varying in width long screws should be
employed, so that the apparatus may have a range of increased length. Instead of
the nuts F, F, being formed separately from the tube G, as represented, they may
be permanently fixed thereto; and instead of the tube, as shewy, a frame, beam, or
other like device of any required form may be used. The shape of the buffers
may be that shewn, or round, square, or otherwise; they may conveniently be made
of wood faced with baize or other suitable yielding material. Two or more pairs
of buffers with their connecting frames or rods may be fixed parallel to each
other, so as combined to support shelves or other articles, which may be screwed or
otherwise fixed to the said frames; or by dispensing with the frames, and pro-
viding the shelves or other articles to receive the screws C, C, a similar result to
that before described is obtained.
In some cases, especially where the opposite walls or other points are a con-
siderable distance apart, or where heavy weights have to be supported, I make the
frame or beam with an arched bar or girder, as represented at I, Figure 3 (which
is drawn on a smaller scale than Figures 1 and 2), to the ends of which bar or
girder end pieces F, F, in which the nuts are formed are connected. Below the bar
or girder 1 is a bar or heain G having slots or openings through which vertical rods

page_text: K, K, attached to the bar or girder I pass, and by these rods the weights or articles
to be supported are held. The strain is thus thrown on the arched bar or girder,
so that pressure is thrown on the buffers B, B, and they are thereby made to adhere
more firmly to their position. The lower bar G is supported by the end pieces F, F;
it is free to slide in these pieces, and does not receive any of the strain.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the apparatus constructed. sub-
stantially as herein-before described and shewn in the annexed Drawings, for
suspending or fixing shelves, racks, or other articles in, the recesses of walls or in
other situations.
In witness whereof, I, the said 'Henry Weybridge Ferris, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-seven.
H. W. FERRIS. (L.S.)