IMPROVEMENTS IN' MECHANICAL ARRANGEMENTS APPLICABLE TO LOOKING- GLASSES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FURNITURE
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arthur St. George Cuff at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th September 1871.
I, ARTHUR ST. GEORGE CUFF, of Bury Street, Saint Mary Axe, in the
City of London; do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN' MECHANICAL ARRANGEMENTS APPLICABLE TO LOOKING-
GLASSES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FURNITURE," to be as follows:
This Invention consists of certain improved mechanical arrangements.
which are applicable to looking-glasses, reading desks, and other articles
of furniture. in which it is desirable to place and retain one portion
thereof at any required, angle.. A. ratched wheel is placed in a box
constructed of, metal, and a lever having, at one end thereof a tooth or
detent capable of taking into the teeth of the wheel is arranged above-
the latter. A spring is placed so as to act upon the end of the lever
which carries the tooth or detent, for the purpose of producing. the

page_text: necessary ratchet and pawl action. The other end of the lever passes
through a slot in one side of the box, and in which it can work freely,
sufficiently to allow a glass or other ornamental head to be placed at the
end thereof. The lever works upon a pivot screw attached to one end of
the box, which latter with the lever, wheel, and spring is covered with a
metal plate or cap which projects from each end of the box to admit of
small screw holes being formed therein. In the plate or cap is provided
a circular hole or aperture to admit a pivot or axle, one end of which is
of a rectangular section coinciding in form and size with a rectangular
hole or aperture in the centre of the ratchet wheel. The other portion
of the pivot or axle is of a circular section and slightly larger than the
rectangular portion thereof, so as to fit tightly in the circular hole or
aperture in the plate or cap. At a short distance from the end of the
rectangular portion of the pivot or axle is a rectangular notch cut onc-
third of the depth of the former. The pivot or axle is passed through
the plate or cap of the box and through the centre of the ratchet wheel
(which is thus firmly mounted thereon), and is attached to the back plate
of the box. The box may be of any desired shape, and is attached to
the pillar of the looking-glass or other article to which the apparatus is
applied by being morticed into the pillar and secured to the outer plate
or cap of the box, which comes flush with the woodwork. The socket
in which the axle works is formed of a cut metallic plate having a
rectangular notch in the centre thereof, but of only half its thickness,
and a second plate of similar form, but having in the centre of the
rectangular notch therein a rectangular piece of metal projecting there-
from. The two plates are attached together at the bottom by a hinge,
and upon the top or opposite end is provided a thumbscrew, by which
they are screwed together. The rectangular piece of metal which
projects from the notch in the secondly mentioned plate exactly fits the
notch in the rectangular portion of the pivot or axle, so that when the
latter is placed in the socket, and the plates forming the socket screwed
together, the pivot or axle cannot be drawn out without opening the top
plate of the same by means of the thumbscrew. Holes or apertures are
provided by means of which the back or under part of the socket can be
fixed by means of screws. The socket is sunk in the centre of the
frame of the looking-glass or other article.

page_text: looking-glasses and other articles to which they are applicable can be
placed at any angle, from which they cannot be removed without
pressing the end of the lever which projects from the side of the
pillar.