IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDOW SASHES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Robertson Dick, of Alnwick, in the County.
of Northumberland, Mechanist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WINDOW SASHES."
Sealed the 2nd June 1857, and dated the 23rd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jaines Robertson Dick
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd December 1856.
I, JAMES ROBERTSON DICK, of Alnwick, in the County of Northumberland,
Mechanist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WINDOW SASHES," to be follows (that is to say) :-
My Invention, which has for its object to improve the form and construction
of sashes, with the view to obviate the present dangerous inconveniences attend-
ant upon the painting, glazing, cleaning, or otherwise, of windows from the out-
side, consists in the sides or other portions of the sash frames being formed in
two parts and bolted together, so as to slide within the window frame attached
to the cords and weights in the ordinary manner, and admit of the sash being
easily separated when required and lowered into the room without its removal
from the frame or beading, each side of the sash being provided with a catch
and pivot for uniting the same to the sliding portions thereof, and maintaining
it in a vertical position with the window, frame.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Robertson Dick in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ROBERTSON DICK, of Alnwick, in the County of Northumberland, Mechanist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Robertson Dick, Her special licence that I, the said James Robertson
Dick, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Robertson Dick, my executors, administrators, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WINDOW SASHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Robertson Dick, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 James Robertson Dick, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the samo is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by tho
following statement, and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to say):-
My Invention, which has for its object to improve the form and construction
of window sashes, with the view to obviato the present dangerous incon-
veniences attendant upon the painting, glazing, cleaning, or otherwise, of
windows from the outside, consists in the sides or outer portions of the sash
frames being formed in two parts and bolted or locked together, so as to slido
within the window frame attached to the cords and weights in the ordinary
manner, and admit of the sash being easily separated when required and
lowered into the room without its removal from the frame or beading, each
side of the sash being provided with a catch and pivot for uniting the same to
the sliding portions thereof, and maintaining it in a vertical position with the
window frame.

page_text: But in order that this my said Invention may be more fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe it by the aid of the
acccompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and, figures thereon
marked (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 represents an outside or front elevation of an ordinary window with
my improvements attached; Fig. 2, an inside or back view thereof; Fig. 3,
a side elevation, with the sash lath removed; Fig. 4; a vertical' section, taken.
through the dotted line in Fig. 1; Fig. 5, a top or plan view; Fig. 6, a
transverse section, taken through the dotted line in Fig. 2; Fig. 7, a sectional
side elevation, showing the bottom sash lowered into the room; Fig. 8, a front
view of the same; Fig. 9, an enlarged horizontal section, taken through one
side of the sashes and sash frame; Fig. 10, a corresponding view, showing
one of the sashes removed, and the other separated or disconnected from the
running portion or false stile thereof, for the purpose of being lowered into
the apartment; Fig. 11, a front elevation of the upper and lower portions of
one side of the sash, separately shown; Fig. 12, a side view thereof, showing
the sliding portion unlocked and separated; and Fig. 13, detached views of
the catch ifastening and key. In each Figure the same letters of reference
denote similar corresponding parts.
A, A, sash frame; B, B, window sash; C, C, sliding portion or falsc
stile; D, D, sliding sash beading; E and E', sash cords and weights.; F, F,
slot or opening formed in the back of the sliding portion of the sash, in which
the cords are inserted and secured; G, G, sash lath for enclosing the cords
and weights; H, H, catch fastening for uniting and disuniting the sash and
sliding portion as required; I, I, catch-plate fastening; J, J, bolt or catch;
K, K, key for actuating the same; L, L,.reacting spring; M, M, side plate
bearing, in which the shoulder of the bolt or catch works; N, N, keyhole;
0,0, metallic hinge joint or pivot, connecting the sash to the sliding portion
thereof on each side of the window, so as to admit of the sash being readily
lowered into the room upon the bolts or catches being unfastened or with-
drawn; P, P, pivot on which the said hinge turns; Q. Q, opening for facili-
tating the insertion or withdrawal of the pivot; R, R, screws for attaching
or detaching the catch and hinge fastenings; S, S, panes of glass. Tho
lowering of the sash is effected by simply withdrawing the catch or fastening
(through the medium of the key) from each side of the window, and pulling
the same forward into the apartment, so as to allow the lower portion thereof
to ascend by the action of the weighted cords, thus reversing or changing the
sides of the window for the purposes aforesaid, the upper sash being operated
on in like manner after being lowered to the bottom of the sash frame for
that purpose.

page_text: In conclusion to the foregoing description, I would here briefly remark, that
in addition to the mechanical arrangements herein-before mentioned and
referred to for lowering the sash and enabling the windows to be cleaned or
otherwise within the room, other mechanism may be advantageously employed
in connection with the aforesaid contrivances for fixing or maintaining the
window sash or sashes in any desirable position necessary for the admission of
air or the ventilation of the apartment. Upon this principle windows of all.
kinds involving the necessity of being reached from the outside may be fitted
or constructed.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I would
have it clearly understood that I do not intend to confine myself to the precise
details herein-before described and set forth, as spring or other catches may
be substituted in place of the lock fastening as represented, or the same may
be otherwise varied without departing from the general principle of these my
said improvements; but that which I do claim, as new and of my said Inven-
tion is, the general construction and arrangement of reversible window sashes
in the manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Robertson Dick, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JAMES ROBERTSON DICK.
(L.S.)
Witness,
F. R. DARKIN CAMPBELL,
Clerk to Messrs. Weatherdon & Co.
77, Chancery Lane.