IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY FASTENINGS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Selfe, of the City of Worcester, in the
County of Worcestershire, Watch Maker and Jeweller, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SAFETY FASTENINGS PARTICULARLY
APPLICABLE TO ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY."
Scaled the 11th June 1872, and dated the 14th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Selfe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th December 1871.
I, FRANCIS SELFE, of the City of Worcester, in the County of
Worcestershire, Watch Maker and Jeweller, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY FASTENINGS
PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY," to be as follows:-
My improvements in safety fastenings are particularly applicable to
articles of jewellery, such as brooches and lockets requiring to be
securely held to the dress or garments by pins, and which as now made
are so liable to get loose and the article of jewellery to be lost, whereas
by my Invention the pin cannot leave the article to which it is attached

page_text: without the fastening itself is unfastened, or without the brooch or other
article is bodily torn from the fabric.
According to my Invention I make the pin a fixture, that is, instead
of its being hinged as heretofore I rigidly connect it at that part where
it is usually hinged to the brooch, supposing a brooch to be the article
to which I am applying my Invention, the point of the pin being
sufficiently raised so that there may be space between it and the brooch
for the introduction of the fabric to which it is to be attached. At or
near the pointed pin end of the brooch I fit a loop or guard on a pin,
which guard works with a sliding hinge or joint on its pin, and is free to
rise and fall when required, and when up to cover or to extend over the
point of the pin and so to prevent the pin leaving the material; the
loop slides on its pin and has a spring always pressing against one side of
it which keeps the loop against its collar when the loop is down; there
is a notch or step in the collar on the opposite side to the spring, so that
when the loop is raised the spring forces the loop into the notch or step,
and keeps it firmly held there until it is pressed back by the finger and
thumb, when the spring yields and the loop falls so that the pin can be
easily withdrawn.
Other arrangements may be provided for causing the loop or guard to
rise and fall, but this part of the Invention consists of a loop or guard
made to rise or fall over the point of the pin, and when up to be there
held so that it cannot fall until released by the finger, and I prefer to
make the loop or guard to rise and fall by making the hinge of the
guard with an incline to work or ride on a corresponding incline made
on the knuckle or joint fixed to the article to be secured, substantially as
herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Selfe in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
SELFE, of the City of Worcester, in the County of Worcestershire, Watch
Maker and Jeweller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis Selfe, Her special
licence that I, the said Francis Selfe, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Selfe, 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, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SAFETY FASTENINGS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ARTICLES OF JEWELLERY,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis Selfe, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Francis Selfe, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to say :—
My improvements in safety fastenings are particularly applicable to
articles of jewellery, such as brooches and lockets requiring to be
securely held to the dress or garments by pins, and which as now
made are so liable to get loose and the article of jewellery to be lost,
whereas by my Invention the pin cannot leave the article to which it
is attached without the fastening itself is unfastened, or without the
brooch or other article is bodily torn from the fabric.
According to my Invention I make the pin a fixture, that is, instead
of its being hinged as heretofore I rigidly connect it at that part where
it is usually hinged to the brooch, supposing a brooch to be the article
to which I am applying my Invention, the point of the pin being
sufficiently raised so that there may be space between it and the brooch
for the introduction of the fabric to which it is to be attached. At or
near the pointed pin end of the brooch I fit a loop or guard on a pin,
which guard works with a sliding hinge or joint in its pin, and is free to

page_text: rise and fall when required, and when up to cover or to extend over the
point of the pin and so to prevent the pin leaving the material; the loop
slides on its pin and has a spring always pressing against one side of it,
which keeps the loop against its collar when the loop is down; there is
a notch or step in the collar on the opposite side to the spring, so that
when the loop is raised the spring forces the loop into the notch or step
and keeps it firmly held there until it is pressed back by the finger and
thumb, when the spring yields and the loop falls so that the pin can be
easily withdrawn.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of the under side of
a brooch with a pin applied according to my Invention. a is the pin
which is firmly secured in the socket 6 by solder or otherwise; the
pointed end of the pin is preferably raised somewhat higher than the
socket end b in order that there may be ample space between the brooch
and point of the pin for the material to pass between the same.
Figure 2 is a view on a scale above the ordinary usual size of the
fastening open, shewing how this part of my Invention may be carried
into effect, and Figure 3 is a cross section of the same when closed,
taken through the line x, y, of Figure 2.
Figure 4 is an end view. c is the loop or guard which is mounted
loosely on the pin d, and free to slide thereon; e is the notched collar
on the pin d, and f is the spring between the collar e and one arm of
the loop o; now in Figure 2 the fastening is shewn open.
Figure 5 shews a pin applied to a brooch which has been inserted in
a piece of fabric to which it is desired for the sake of illustration to
attach the brooch; supposing then the pin to be inserted, now to secure
the fastening raise the loop, one arm of which travels up the collar until
it reaches the top thereof and arrives at the notch therein, at which
time the spring expands, forces the loop into the notch, and there
retains it over the point of the pin as shewn at Figure 6, the notch into
which the loop has entered preventing the loop being forced back and
thereby rendering it as nearly as may be impossible to remove the pin.
from the fabric without bodily tearing the fabric away with it. To undo
the fastening give the loop lateral pressure in the direction indicated by
the arrow, Fig. 4, which causes the spring to compress sufficiently to
allow the other arm of the loop to be clear of the notch; this done give
the loop a downward pressure and it travels back over the inclined

page_text: plane which it had previously, ascended into the position previously
shewn in Figure 2, when the pin can be freely withdrawn from the
fabric.
Although the Invention is particularly described with reference to
brooches, yet it is applicable to all articles wherein pins are used and to
which safety fastenings are applicable.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit
myself to the precise arrangement described for causing the loop or
guard to rise and fall over the point of the pin, because the same may be
modified without departing from the essential feature of the Invention;
but I claim as my improvements in safety fastenings particularly
applicable to articles of jewellery,-
First. The employment in and with fastenings of a pin which is
a fixture instead of being hinged as heretofore and substantially as
described.
Second. The combination of a fixed pin with a loop or guard made to
rise or fall over the point thereof.
Third. The combination of a fixed pin with a loop or guard made to
rise or fall over the point thereof, and when up to be there held so that
it cannot fall until released by the finger, the said loop or guard being
made to rise and fall by making the hinge of the guard with an incline
to work or ride on a corresponding incline made in the knuckle or joint
fixed to the article to be secured, substantially in manner herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Selfe, have hereunto sent
my hand and. seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
FRANCIS SELFE. (L.s.)