AN IMPROVED DEVICE FOR HOLDING LETters and other Documents
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank Theophilus Ferguson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th March 1870.
I, FRANK THEOPHILUS FERGUSON, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
6 States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED DEVICE
FOR HOLDING LETters and other Documents,” to be as follows :—
The said Invention relates to a device for holding letters, bills, and
other documents or papers in a more secure and convenient manner with
greater facility of reference and less liability to tear or otherwise injure
the papers than the clips or holding devices heretofore used.
In my improved device the papers are held between two parallel flat
pieces, one of which forms the base and the other the adjustable or
expanding portion of the device. These two parts are connected by
two springs which project up from the sides of the base, and are jointed
to the said adjustable piece. The distinguishing peculiarity of the said
device or spring clip is the arrangement of these springs in combination
with the parallel flat pieces of the clip, by which arrangement the clip
when fully opened is self-retaining in that position, so that the papers
may be conveniently inserted and removed, but when the clip is not

page_text: fully opened it will always exert the required pressure upon the papers
placed therein and will hold them securely, the pressure of the clip when
there is only a single letter or other document being nearly the same as
when the clip is full.
The base of my improved device is constructed of wood, metal, or
other suitable material which may be adapted either to lie on a table or
desk or to be suspended from a nail or hook in any convenient position
upon the wall of the apartment or at the side of a table or other piece
of furniture. The adjustable portion of the clip between which and
the base the letters, bills, or other papers are held is a flat piece of
wood, metal, or other suitable material, which for convenience is
made considerably shorter than the base, but of about the same width.
The springs are pieces of brass or other metal wire which are secured to
the sides of the base; from the base the springs or wires are extended
up to such a height as will give the required distance between the base
and adjustable portion of the clip. The springs are coiled or otherwise
so formed at the base as to give their upper ends a tendency to close or
approach each other. The adjustable piece is connected to the top of
the spring wires by wire links, which are jointed to the top of the said
piece and to the top bar of the spring wires. These links are nearly of
the same length as the springs, and they allow the adjustable piece to
be raised or lowered between the springs which yield to a moderate
force, but whose tendency is always to keep the adjustable piece down
except when the same is raised high enough to bring the connecting
links at a right angle or nearly so to the springs (that is to say, when the
clip is fully opened), in which position the links being in line with each
other and perpendicular to the springs prevent the closing of the latter.
The letters or other papers are kept from lateral displacement by the
vertical spring wires, and I prefer to provide the adjustable or upper part
of the clip with a loop or half circle of wire at each end to lengthen the
bearing surface upon the papers. The said adjustible piece is also
provided with a small ring or button to allow it to be conveniently
raised.