AN IMPROVED SPRING CLIP FILE OR BINDER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Adams, of No. 14, Little Tower Strect, in
the City of London, Stationer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
SPRING CLIP FILE OR BINDER."-A communication from abroad by
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Adams at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th April 1870.
I, THOMAS ADAMS, of No. 14, Little Tower Street, in the City of London,
Stationer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED SPRING CLIP FILE OR BINDER," to be as follows:—
I make or form out of metal, millboard, cloth, paper, or other
material a spring clip, file, or binder for loose documents or papers. I
make a metal frame with teeth fitted to the bottom for holding the
binders or piercers; attached to the upper part of the frame is a spring
acting on a plate or clip for pressing the binders or piercers through

page_text: the documents or papers; the plate is raised by a lever attached to it
working at the back of the frame, the frame fitted complete is then
rivetted on a board.
;
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Adams in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ADAMS, of 14, Little Tower Strect, in the City of London, Stationer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Adams, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Adams, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Adams, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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, usc, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A SPRING CLIP FILE OR
BINDER," a communication to me from abroad by Anthony Morris Crow-
hurst, of Boston, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Adams, 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 Thomas Adams, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say :—

page_text: The object of this Invention is to provide a ready and simple means
of filing and permanently securing loose documents, letters, invoices,
and other papers in such a manner that they may be secured, fastened,
or bound together by any suitable clip fastener or binder, and removed
from the file or clip when required. To accomplish these objects I
attach a metal frame to a sheet of millboard or other suitable material.
To this frame is fitted a presser and spring or springs for pressing down
the papers and holding them in position, and to the bottom of the
frame is attached holders in which the binders are put. A lever or
other means are provided for raising and lowering the presser when
required. In the arrangement shown I employ a plate spring to act
on the presser, but the same object may be attained by spiral springs
either acting direct on the presser or on a lever.
On the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents an arrangement
of the spring clip file or binder in elevation; Figure 2 is a plan; and
Figure 3 an end elevation of the same.
A is a metal frame flanged at the bottom for the more conveniently
attaching it to the sheet of millboard or other material by rivets or other-
wise. The top of this frame is also flanged, or it may be provided with
a lug or other means of holding the spring which presses on the
presser C. The lever D is pivotted on the outer side of the frame A
in any convenient position, and the lower part is hinged to the presser C
by a saddle piece E (best seen in Figures 2 and 3), F, F, are clamps
for holding the binders in position, and may be either fixed or moveable
as shown. These clamps or holders consist of a serrated plate or claw
having a screwed pin or shank fixed thereto, which passes through
the bottom flange of the frame and is fixed by the thumb or fly nuts
G, G.
A modification of the Invention is shewn in Figures 4, 5, and 6. The
principal parts and letters of reference remaining the same as above
described, but instead of employing the lever D to raise the presser C,
the same may be done by the handle H being attached to the presser.
Spiral springs may also be employed to act on the presser either direct
or by means of a lever. It will be seen that any suitable fastener or
binder may be temporarily fixed in the clamps F, F, and any paper or
document filed by pressing on the end of the lever D, by which the
presser will be raised as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1; the paper or
document may then be placed or inserted over the points of the fasteners

page_text: or binders, then by releasing the lever from the pressure the reaction
of the spring will force down the prèsser and cause the points of the
fasteners or binders to pierce the paper or document, which will then be
held securely between the presser and the bottom of the frame A. This
operation may be repeated until a sufficient or desired number of papers
are put on the fasteners or binders. The screws G, G, can then be turned
backward, and the clamps or holders will release the fasteners or binders
with the papers thereon, which can then be removed and the fasteners or
binders be clenched or fixed. Fresh binders are then inserted under the
clamps and the file is again ready for use.
Having described the nature of the said Invention and the manner
in which I carry the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise arrangements shown and described,
but what I claim is, the attaching of moveable fasteners or binders
to a spring clip or file for the purpose of filing and afterwards
removing, securing, fastening, or binding the same as herein shown
and described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Thomas Adams, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy.