IMPROVED MEANS OF HANGING' OR SUPPORTING WINDOW SASHES AND BLINDS, APPLI- CABLE ALSO TO THE WINDOWS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Latimer Clark and Edward Jacob Hill, both of
'
Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MEANS OF HANGING' OR SUPPORTING WINDOW SASHES AND BLINDS, APPLI-
CABLE ALSO TO THE WINDOWS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 3rd December 1878, and dated the 14th June 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Latimer Clark and
Edward Jacob Hill at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th
June 1878.
JOSIAH LATIMER CLARK and EDWARD JACOB HILL, both of Victoria Street, in
the City of Westminster. "IMPROVED MEANS OF HANGING' OR SUPPORTING
WINDOW SASHES AND BLINDS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE WINDOWS OF RAILWAY
AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
Our Invention relates to improved means of hanging or supporting window
sashes, railway and other carriage windows and blinds, whereby they may be
readily raised and lowered, and retained at any height at which they may be
placed, without the use of counterbalance weights. To effect this, we affix to the
bottom edge of the sash a gridiron or series of smooth round horizontal bars, fixed
in a frame, or preferably cast in one piece. A cord or flat band is suspended inside
the box into which the sash descends, and is laced in and out through the gridiron
or frame, the said band or cord being fixed at the top and attached at the bottom
to a spring or weight, whereby its tension is so adjusted as to cause the sash to
hang in any position in which it is placed by virtue of the friction of the cord or
band on the bars of the gridiron.
Another way of making the gridiron is to cast or otherwise manufacture a small
holder or controlling plate, with a groove or hollow cut in the same, of the form of
a series of reversed curves or angles, through which the bands or cords are passed,
and which, when slack, works easily, but when a strain is put on the cord or band
the friction causes it to hold.

page_text: If an extra strain or pressure is put on the sash, it will overcome this friction,
and the sash may in that manner be lowered; but the most convenient way to do
this is to relieve the tension of the spring by a handle and line suitably arranged
for that purpose.
As soon as the tension of the spring is thus relaxed the friction ceases, and the
sash descends quickly by its own weight, but may be arrested at any point by
allowing the spring to exert its tension again. The cord which effects this is led
up inside tho box and brought out to a handle at any convenient position.
In using this apparatus for blinds, it would of course be inverted, and the gridiron
or holder would be fixed on the side of the window, and the cord passed through it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Josiah Latimer Clark and Edward Jacob Hill in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th December 1878.
་
JOSIAH LATIMER CLARK and EDWARD JACOB HILL, both of Victoria Street, in
the City of Westminster. "IMPROVED MEANS OF HANGING' OR SUPPORTING
WINDOW SASHES AND BLINDS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE WINDOWS OF RAILWAY
AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
Our Invention relates to improved means of hanging or supporting railway and
other carriage windows, applicable also to house blinds and window sashes, whereby
they may be retained at any height at which they may be placed without the use
of counterbalance weights or side springs, &c.
We will first describe the Invention as applied to a railway or other carriage
window, for which it is more particularly intended. To the bottom edge of the
sash we fix a cast or wrought piece of metal or wood, of the form of a gridiron, or
series of smooth round or half round horizontal bars fixed in a frame, or (when made
of metal) preferably cast in one piece; or another way of making it is to cast or
otherwise manufacture a small holder or controlling plate with a groove or hollow
cut in it of the form of a series of reversed curves or angles through which the
bands or cord are passed. This gridiron plate or holder rises and falls with the
sash. A cord or flat band is suspended inside the box into which the sash descends,
and is led in and out through the gridiron frame or holder, by which it is caused to
take a zigzag direction, so as to cause sufficient friction between the cord or band
and the gridiron or holder, to prevent the latter slipping even under the weight of
the sash when the cord or band is held taut. When however the band or cord is
Blackened, the gridiron or holder slips easily.
The band or cord is fixed at the top, and after passing through the gridiron or
holder frame is attached at the bottom to a spring or weight, and its tension is so
adjusted as to cause the sash to hang in any position in which it is placed by virtue
of the friction of the cord or band on the bars or equivalent part of the gridiron or
bolder. If an extra strain or pressure be put on the sash, it will overcome this

page_text: friction, and the sash may in this manner be lowered, but the most convenient way
is to relieve the stress of the weight or spring by a line or wire led up inside the
box.and brought out to a tassel, handle, or lever at any convenient position. As
soon as the stress of the weight or spring is thus relaxed, the friction is lessened
and overcome, and the sash descends quietly by its own gravity, but may be
arrested at any point by allowing the weight or spring to exert its stress again.
In using the apparatus for blinds, the gridiron or holder would be fixed on the
side of the window frame, and the cord or cords passed through it; and in applying
the Invention to house windows which do not descend into a box beneath the
window cill, there would be a gridiron or holder fixed to the sash at each side, and
the band or cords would be fixed at top to the window frame, to or near the top of
the pulley stile, and have a weight or spring attached to it at bottom, as will be
readily understood.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a railway carriage door partly broken away to show
the means or apparatus for supporting the sliding sash, and Figure 2 is a vertical
section of the same.
Figures 3 and 4 show respectively an elevation and cross section on a larger
scale of the gridiron or holder constructed according to one method.
A is the gridiron or holder fixed to the bottom of the window sash B. C, C, is
the band or webbing passed in a zigzag direction between the bars a of the gridiron
or holder, said band being attached at the top to the guard rail D, and having
suspended from or attached to the bottom end a weight (or spring) E.
When a weight is used, it would preferably have guide pins working in vertical
guide slots in small standards, as shewn, or otherwise, to prevent the weight
swinging under the movements of the carriage. To the said weight or spring E is
also attached a wire, string, or cord F, which passes up to a tassel or handle G
through a hole cut in the guard rail D, for the purpose of raising the weight or
distending the spring, thereby relieving or slackening the lower portion of the band
or webbing C.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 show other methods of making the gridiron or holder when
used with a wire or cord instead of a flat band. In this case A is a flat plate, and
a is a groove formed in it, of the angular or curved zigzag form shown in Figures
5 and 6, through which the wire or cord c passes. In either case the groove a¹
would be enclosed by a flat covering plate, to prevent the cord or wire slipping out
of it.
In Figure 7 a are small pins or rods fixed to the plate A for the wire or cord to
pass over instead of passing through a groove, as in Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 8 shows the application of the Invention to a venetian blind; any of the
forms of gridiron or holder above described may be used, but if the form of holder
shown in Figures 5 and 6 be used, we may either pass the two cords of the blind
through the same groove, or we may keep them separate by having a groove for
each cord, in which case the two grooves a¹ may be in the same plate or in two
separate plates, fixed the one on the other, with their grooved surfaces together, so
as to be enclosed; c, c¹, are the two cords by which the blind is usually raised and
lowered, and A is the holder fixed to the side of the window frame or in other
convenient position. E is a weight attached to the two cords to keep them taut.
To raise the blind the part of the cords above the holder would be pulled, and to
lower the blind the weight would be raised to relieve and slacken the cords beneath
the holder, and allow them to run freely through it to permit the blind to descend
by its own gravity. The same arrangement is applicable to roller blinds.
Having described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of performing the
same, we declare that what we claim as our Invention, to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The combination of a gridiron or holder constructed substantially as

page_text: described, and of a band or cord fastened at one end, led through said gridiron or
bolder, and acted on by a weight or spring as described, and applied in connection
with a railway or other carriage window sash, substantially as and for the purpose
herein specified.
2nd. The combination with the gridiron or holder and the band or cord with
its spring or weight, all arranged and applied as herein specified, of the releasing
cord or wire applied to the spring or weight, and led upwards, substantially as and
for the purpose specified.
3rd. The employment in combination with the cord or cords of roller or
venetian blinds of a holder through which the cord or cords are led, and of a weight
to keep them in tension, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Jacob Hill, for myself and on behalf of
the said Josiah Latimer Clark, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-eight.