"SLIDES TO BE FIXED TO WINDOWS, DOORS, AND PARTITIONS OF ALL DESCRIP- TIONS, WHICH I CALL AIR SLIDES
Year: 1802

page_text: HESE PRESE
SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MERCIE, of the City of Bath, Music Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of February,
in the forty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Mercie, His especial licence that I, the said Charles Mercie, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "SLIDES TO BE FIXED TO WINDOWS, DOORS, AND PARTITIONS OF ALL DESCRIP-
TIONS, WHICH I CALL AIR SLIDES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Charles Mercie, under my hand and
seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had)
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso I, the said
Charles Mercie, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described by the
opposite Drawings, and the following explanation thereof :-
A, the upper sash; B, the slide, which presses against the upper sash at the
edge C, and lined with cloth, leather, or any thing soft, to prevent as much air
from passing as possible; the corner of which is cut off, that it may pass the easier
into a mortice made in the sides or box, which also serves for window fasten-
ings, as at *. D, a nitch for the sash rope; E, diagonal grooves or slits, lined

page_text: with brass or any hard substance, through which the screws, nails, pins, or
rivets are fixed, and on which the slides are moved, by means of a knob at f;
G, the wedge that fills up the space in the middle G, between the ends
of the slides B; H, the hinge by which the wedge is fastened to its place,
and shuts in to keep the slides fast; I, the side slides, which are, formed as a
wedge, and fits tight when the window is down against the wedge N, which is
screwed to the side post or box. The grooves or slits E are made diagonal or
horizontal. K, the lower slide, with perpendicular grooves or slits E, with
screws, &c., as before named. The slides I and K are screwed tight, in order
to keep them to their places. The use of the grooves or slits in them is
to adjust them in case the wood should swell or shrink, and is done by
loosening the screws so that you may then place the slide as close as possible
and screw them tight against the side slides; the upper sash A, if made
to slide down, are the reverse of the lower ones I and N; and likewise
the slide, K, instead of the edge C passing down, as in the lower sash, will
press against the top part of the upper frame or box. The side slides and
top one may be fixed on the outside of the sash as well as inside, and if the
sashes have never been fitted up, the slides may be rabitted in level, that is
to say, the thickness of the slide; but in sashes that are fixed up; you have
only to screw them on; and by way of fastener to the upper sash, on the
top of the wedge G is screwed a little bolt, which bolts into the hole
above G, between the ends of the slides B. L is an improvement upon
a slide for the bottom of a door that is exhibited at the Society's Room
for the Encouragement of Arts and Sciences, to put on which, the door is
obliged to be taken down, and a groove cut, two inches deep or more,
to admit a box or case in which it is contained. My slide L is 2½ inches
wide and thick, more or less, and made any length, according to the
door for which it is intended. M is a hollow moulding upon the top edge, to
take off the apparent thickness of the slide L, as before named, the slide
being fitted in its length and lower edge, which is lined, as before named.
The diagonal grooves or slits E must incline to the hinge, as the pressure in
shutting will be much easier than when the end of the slide is forced down
from the front edge of the door, like the spring bolt of a lock.
O represents
the inside of the slide L; P is a hole not deep enough to admit the spring R,
or any spring or springs that is strong enough to force up the slide, and may
be made of any form or fashion; but the spring I recommend is as follows:-
R, the spring; S, the head, turned to face you, that it might be screwed on the
easier to the slide through the screw holes in S; T, the spring rest, which is
fixed in the door opposite the end of the spring U, rather in a diagonal
direction is also inade of brass, or any metal or hard substance, about inch

page_text: long, and width of the spring, with two sharp points, that it might be drove
the easier into the door, so that the spring, bearing tight upon it, will, when
the door opens, force up the slide in a diagonal direction an inch beyond the
back edge of the door, so that when you shut the door the end of the slide
will press againt the side frame and be forced close to the ground; Q, the
screw on which the slide works, and by which it is screwed to the door, but
not so tight as to prevent its working. The same must be observed in the
slides B. R, R, long slides for the sides of the door and top, which are
screwed to the side posts of the door, and may be rabbited in before the
doors are hung or the frame or side posts fixed, so that the edge C might
press against the door, which being lined, will keep out all air and dust; E,
the same as the above, which represents the head of the screw on the brass
plate; and Q, the screw part inside the slides. The number of grooves or
slits in each slide are not confined, and may be few or many; the above slides
may also be made with springs, on the same principle as the bottom of the
door. N is fixed or screwed upon the bead which makes the rabbit in old
sashes, but when put up new may be made all in one length, as at V, and
screwed on to the slide box or post, and will receive the lower sash, in the
same manner as at N; or instead of V being in one length, it might be joined,
as at the letter W, where the bevil or wedge begins.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Mercie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal the Second day of March. One thousand eight hundred
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of March, in the
forty-second year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said Charles Mercie came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the several Statutes made in
the sixth year of the reign of the late King and Queen William and Mary
of England, and so forth, and in the seventeenth, twenty-third, and thirty-
seventh years of the reign of His present Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and two.