IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE INSTANT CONVERSION OF VERTICALLY SLIDING WINDOW SASHES INTO THAT OF REVOLVING SASHES OR FANLIGHTS, AND HELD OPEN AT ANY HEIGHT OR ANGLE FOR VENTILATION AND OTHER PURPOSES, BUT MORE ESPECIALLY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS AND LOSS OF LIFE WHILE CLEANING THE SAME."
Year: 1881

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Robert Adams, of No. 7, Great Dover Street, Southwark,
in the County of Surrey, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR THE INSTANT CONVERSION OF VERTICALLY SLIDING WINDOW SASHES
INTO THAT OF REVOLVING SASHES OR FANLIGHTS, AND HELD OPEN AT ANY
HEIGHT OR ANGLE FOR VENTILATION AND OTHER PURPOSES, BUT MORE
ESPECIALLY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS AND LOSS OF LIFE WHILE
CLEANING THE SAME."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Adams at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd March 1881.
ROBERT ADAMS, of No. 7, Great Dover Street, Southwark, in the County of
Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE INSTANT CONVERSION OF
VERTICALLY SLIDING WINDOW SASHES INTO THAT OF REVOLVING SASHES OR
FANLIGHTS, AND HELD OPEN AT ANY HEIGHT OR ANGLE FOR VENTILATION AND
OTHER PURPOSES, BUT MORE ESPECIALLY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS
AND LOSS OF LIFE WHILE CLEANING THE SAME.'
"
My Invention applies to windows with vertically sliding sashes hung with
cords, pullies, and sash weights, the external cleaning and repairing of which is
frequently attended with serious and fatal results.
Now the object of my Invention is to construct a window with apparatus that
the sashes may not only be raised and lowered in the usual way, but may also be
made to revolve or open on centres or bolts, pins, or cords, and somewhat resemble
an ordinary fanlight, and held open at any height or angle to facilitate cleaning
and repairing the outside of the window without danger, and for the purpose of
ventilation.
In order to apply this Invention to windows fitted between beads, I make the
said beads moveable into grooves or otherwise by screws, links, levers, wedges,
pins, or other suitable arrangement. Centres, as herein after described, may some-
times be used or dispensed with or substituted by common centres, which may be
fixed in any desired position in the sash or frame and opened thereon at any given

page_text: height, or a plate tongue may be fitted to the faces of the sashes and made to pass
partially into grooves made in the lining of frame.
But the construction which I prefer to adopt is as follows:-I make the window
frame with vertical guide grooves on each side and inner faces of the box lining or
pulley stile each of these grooves are similar to a groove I make on the edge of
each of the sliding sash stiles, in each of which I insert an expanding bead or
tongue, that is, such as may be moved from one position to another laterally, and
if desired expansively, being fitted with a suitable arrangement to effect the same,
and cause the said bead or tongue to be partially thrown out of the sash groove
into the frame groove or vice versa, when for the purpose of cleaning the outside of
the window or otherwise it is required to swing open on its centres or cords. The
centre I make for this and other purposes, and which may be made in any desired
shape, as a bolt, centre, or fastener, but when used as a centre it consists of a
flanged case in which I insert a round ended bolt, which I propel or withdraw by
a crank or other suitable movement, which I turn or move by a suitable lever or
screw driver inserted in or fixed on the face of the sash; this bolt or sash centre
or fastener when thrown partially out passes into a bearing attached to the end
of a cord; which passes over a pulley wheel and attached to a sash counterbalance
weight in the usual manner; thus when either of the sashes so hung are raised or
lowered the said bearings pass up and down in the said grooves in the frame
simultaneously with the sash, and may be readily detached from the same by
withdrawing the said centre or bolt. Now when these sashes are made to swing
on the said centre or bolts for ventilation or other purposes they may be held
open at any height or angle by cords fastened in any desired manner, but for which
I have a special device as follows:-I make a base plate mounted with two pillars,
to one of which I attach a rocking bar or plate with pulley or otherwise swinging
near or at its centre forms a fulcrum lever; thus when the cord or cords are passed
between its face and that of the opposite pillar, any tension the cords may receive
from the sash or any other object to which it may be applied immediately brings
one end of the said lever towards the second pillar and grips the cord.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert Adams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd September
1881.
ROBERT ADAMS, of No. 7, Great Dover Street, Southwark, in the County of
Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE INSTANT CONVERSION. OF
VERTICALLY SLIDING WINDOW SASHES INTO THAT OF REVOLVING SASHES OR
FANLIGHTS, AND HELD OPEN AT ANY HEIGHT OR ANGLE FOR VENTILATION AND
OTHER PURPOSES, BUT MORE ESPECIALLY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS
AND LOSS OF LIFE WHILE CLEANING THE SAME."
My Invention applies to windows with vertically sliding sashes hung with cords,
pullies, and sash weights, the external cleaning and repairing of which is frequently
attended with serious and fatal results.
Now the object of my Invention is to construct windows with such appliances
and arrangements that the sashes may not only be raised and lowered in the usual
manner, but may also be made to revolve or open on centres or bolts, pins, pivots,
or cords after the manner of an ordinary fanlight, and may be also held
at any
open
height or angle in order to facilitate cleaning and repairing either side of the
window sash without danger and also for purposes of ventilation, &c.
In applying this Invention to windows fitted with beads I make the beads
movable into grooves or otherwise by screws, links, excentrics, levers, wedges, pins,
or other suitable arrangements. At or near the centre of gravity of each sash I
provide a suitable support on each side as working centres, upon which centres the
sashes can be made to revolve or pivot and be kept in any desired position in the
sash or frame and also placed at any required height.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understood, the
accompanying Drawings are referred to, in which similar letters of reference
indicate similar parts in the several Figures.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a window fitted in accordance with my Invention.
a, a, is the window frame; b, b, are the sashes; 6' (in dotted lines) represents the
upper sash partially revolved on its centres and practically acting as a fanlight.
At c, c, c, c, are four keyholes with sliding covers. The usual balance weights are
used as shewn in the Figure. Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1, except that the sashes
are shewn at right angles to the frame; the top sash is lowered down and the
bottom sash raised near the top. Both sashes can be placed together at once if
desired at any height, and when raised together to the top great facility is afforded
for passing goods into or out of the room.
Fig. 3 is a sectional plan (on a larger scale) on the line d, e, of Fig. 1. f is a
view of part of the top of the lower sash, and f¹ is part of the upper sash stile in
section; g, g, are the sash lines; h, h, the sash weights in the boxes; i, i, are plate
tongues or metallic guides fitting into grooves ¹ in the sash bars, as shewn, which
grooves are deep enough to receive and completely recess the said tongues or
guides i, i, when locked back, and which tongues when placed in the position
shewn in Fig. 3 enter the grooves k, k, which are formed in the side of the box, as
shewn. These tongues guide the sashes vertically and prevent draught when in
that position, and while these tongues are thrust out, as shewn, the sash cannot
swing upon its centre; when however these tongues are drawn back entirely into
the grooves k¹ the sash is free to revolve.
Fig. 4 is an elevation to an enlarged scale of part of Figs. 1 and 3. f¹ is the
upper sash stile; m, m³, are two metallic bearings sunk into the sash stile, as shewn.
The lever or link o works upon a pin or fulcrum n fitted in m; the other end of o
works upon a pin n¹ which is attached to the tongues or guides i, i. Below this

page_text: and fitted to m¹ in the manner shewn is a cam c having a square key-hole c¹ for the
insertion of a square key. This cam has a curved slot p (on a radius having c¹ as
the centre) which slides upon and actuates a pin c²; it also slides against another
pin e cut to a radius from the same centre c¹. The pins c² and c³ are fitted in the
same manner as n¹ to the slides or guides i, i. When the cam c is turned to the
right (as the clock goes) the pin c² is at the upper part of the slot, the pin c³ is
in contact with the curved edge of the cam, and the lever o is in the position shewn.
The effect of this is to forcibly retain the guides or tongues i, i, in the position
shewn in Fig. 3, from which position they cannot be removed except by turning
the cam to the left. When this is done with the key to the position shewn by the
dotted lines, c³ is released, the tongues i, i, are raised and thrown back by the
cam c and link o so as to leave the groove k (Fig. 3) entirely. When this has been
done the sash is free to swing upon the centre piu p. This pin p I prefer to
support in a metal bearing p¹, as shewn, and which pin is strongly fitted to the
sash stile and also to the cord receiver q to which the cord g is attached, and which
passes over a pulley r in the usual manner. In Fig. 1 I shew a spring catch
marked for keeping the sashes fixed open a few inches for ventilation when
desired.
The centre p is usually fitted slightly above the centre of gravity of the
sash, thus making the sash have a tendency to right itself. This enables me by a
very simple contrivance to arrange the window for ventilation as a fanlight. A
cord is attached to the upper. stile or bar of the sash and brought down into the
gripping apparatus or cord holder shewn in Fig. 5, which consists of a plate held by
screws as shewn, having a vibrating bars and fixed bar 8¹. The pull of the cord
at 82 causes the two bars to grip the cord at 8³, and thereby hold it fast. By
pulling the cord from above towards 82 the grip can be at once released. Fig. 6 is
another form of gripper for cords, the operation of which is clear from the
Drawing.
When ordinary windows are required to be altered to my said improved mode of
mounting I adopt the means shewn in Figs. 7 and 8. t, Fig. 7, is a portion of the
window frame; k is a groove, into which is usually fitted the parting bead; this
parting bead and the other beads I remove entirely, and utilise the parting bead
groove as a recess for the two tongues or guides i, i, to slide in. These tongues
are metallic, and are fitted on the adjoining faces of the sash stiles, as shewn, so as
to pass each other, the upper tongues being inside the sash, and the lower sash
having the tongues outside. These tongues i, i, are each fitted with a similar
arrangement to that described in Figs. 3 and 4 for projecting them into and
withdrawing them from the groove. The two sashes are fitted with a metallic
cord socket u, which is shewn in cross section in Fig. 7 and in sectional elevation
in Fig. 8. By this arrangement the sashes swing or pivot upon the cord as a
centre, the cord socket allowing the knot of the cord to revolve therein, and having
a hole below to allow the knot to enter and a slot above to retain it. This allows
the sash to be removable from the window in a few seconds.
Fig. 9 is a face view, and Fig. 10 a side view of a centro with a movable pin or
pivot. The portion marked vis let into the side of the stile at or near the centre
of gravity, and screwed thereto, and a keyway is cut in the side for the insertion
of a key. This key hole is at w, where it enters the side of an excentric or crank
working in a suitable recess in the bolt or pin, and by turning such key the pin
or pivot is withdrawn into the hole or propelled to the position shewn in Fig. 10.
Another mode of hanging ordinary window sashes is shewn in Fig. 11, which is
a side view of a pivot or centre and cord holder. The upper part is tubular, and
the cord is pinned in, as shewn; the lower part is formed at a right angle to the
upper, and has a reduced part or journal x turned thereon. This portion below the
elbow enters a suitably bushed socket in the style, and the upper portion y fits into
the cord groove of the sash, but when the sash is removed from its place it will
usually be necessary to allow the cords and weights to still counterbalance the
sash while placing the sash in a horizontal position.

page_text: For this purpose the pin z is inserted in the sash. The end y can be removed
from the groove as far as the pin z will allow but without entire removal, and the
sash can then be swung on its centres to any desired position.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention, I declare that
what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
1. The arrangement and construction of windows and sashes as shewn in Figs. 1,
2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings, for the purposes substantially as herein
before described.
2. The mode of applying my Invention to and the means of refitting ordinary
windows, substantially as herein before described and as shewn in Figs. 4, 7, 8, 9,
10, and 11 of the accompanying Drawings.
3. The construction of cord gripping apparatus berein before described and
shewn in Figs. 5 and 6 for the purpose herein before set forth.
4. The general combination and arrangement of the several and respective parts
together forming respectively my improvements in apparatus for the instant
conversion of vertically sliding window sashes into that of revolving sashes or
fanlights, and capable of being held open at any height or angle for ventilation,
cleaning, and other purposes, substantially as herein before described and shewn on
the Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Adams, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
ROBERT
ERT ADAMS. (L.D.)