CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENING AND. SECURING LETTERS, PACKETS, AND DISPATCHES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STEVENS VILLIERS SANKEY, of Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, Master
of Arts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of February, in the eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Stevens Villiers Sankey, my exors, adiňors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Stevens Villiers
Sankey, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others, as I, the said William
Stevens Villiers Sankey, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENING AND.
SECURING LETTERS, PACKETS, AND DISPATCHES ;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that 1, the said William Stevens, Villiers Sankey, shall.
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, under my hand and seal, to be inrolled

page_text: in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Stevens Villiers Sankey, hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully ascer-
tained and described in and by the present Specification thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
The nature of my Invention consists in fastening and securing letters,
'packets, and dispatches by means of certain clasps, which, when once closed,
cannot be opened again or removed except by such violence as would leave
obvious signs of its having been used, and lead therefore to the instant
detection of any fraudulent or unauthorized opening of the letters, packets, or
dispatches. And the manner in which the said Invention is performed is as
follows: The clasp consists of two pieces A and B, the former of which is
usually attached to the flap of the envelope containing the letters, packets, or
dispatches, and the other to the back of the body of it, at the part which the
flap overlays, as represented in Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
The piece A is represented on an enlarged scale in, plan and section in
Figures 2 and 3. It consists of a metal disc a, with a hasp 6 projecting from
the centre of it; the hasp b is passed through a slit made in the flap, and the
disc is then made fast to the outside of the flap by means of a solution
of shell-lac, or some other adhesive substance. The piece B is separately
represented in section in Figure 4, on the same scale as A in Figures 2 and 3;
it is also of metal, and consists of a hollow button or disc (c), with a raised
rim, to which a second disc or back piece (d) is attached, containing inside,
concealed from view, a catch (e). Figure 5 is a plan of B, with the back
piece (d) removed, in order to shew more clearly the form and position of the
catch (e). From this plan (Figure 5) it will be seen that the catch consists
simply of a straight piece of metal made fast by a cross-piece x, to the disc c.
The piece B is in its entire state firmly attached by a solution of shell-lac or
other adhesive substance to the back of the body of the envelope, so as to be
immediately underneath the piece A when the flap is folded down, but on the
inside of the paper, and with the front disc c uppermost; in the centre of the
disc c there is a slit f, and corresponding with it there is another slit g, made
in the paper. On bringing down the flap and inserting the hasp b of the
piece A, through the slits g and f, it comes in contact with the end of the

page_text: catch e of the piece B, and being pressed over it, the catch slips into the hasp
and holds the two parts inseparably together. The envelope can then only be
opened (fairly) by cutting or tearing the paper round the clasp. A view of
the clasp when thus closed is given in section in Figure 6, and in plan
Figure 7. Instead of. the parts A and B being respectively attached to the
flap and body of the envelope, as before directed, their positions may be
reversed, as shewn in the second series of Drawings, Figures 8 to 13, both
inclusive. Instead also of the pièce A' being attached to the paper by some
adhesive substance, as before directed, it may be made with two side prongs,
as shewn in Figure 14, and secured to the paper by passing these prongs also
through it, and then burring up the points by a sharp blow of a mallet or by
pressure. The piece B may be. also made fast in the same way; I prefer,
however, the mode of attachment by shell-lac or some other adhesive substance,
as being equally complete and attended with less trouble. I wish it at the
same time to be understood that it is only when envelopes are manufactured
for sale with clasps fitted to them, that attachment of any sort is necessary, for
the clasps may be sold by themselves (in two parts), and kept ready for use
as wanted; in which case, the two parts being united on the instant by the
hasp and catch, as before explained, no separate attachment of either to the
paper by means of an adhesive substance or otherwise would be necessary.
And further, that the clasps may be applied not only to envelopes containing
letters and dispatches, but directly to the letters and dispatches themselves.
The part affixed to the upper flap of the envelope or letter may moreover have
any armorial or other distinctive device engraven or stamped thereon. Instead
of the catch consisting of a straight piece of metal, as represented in bohof
the varieties before described, it may be of a coiled or curved form, so as to
act with the force of a spring, or it may consist of a bit attached to the end of
a coiled spring, as in the ordinary box clasps.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the
fastening and securing of letters, packets, and dispatches by means of a
metallic clasp, constructed, attached, and acting as before described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth
day of August. One thousand eight hundred and forty-five
W. S. VILLIERS (L.s.) SANKEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid William Stevens Villiers Sankey
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twentieth day of. August, in the year of our Lord One:
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.