AN IMPROVEMENT IN JOINTS FOR ARTICLES IN METAL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Hoskins, of the Firm of Key, Hoskins,
and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Bedstead
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN JOINTS FOR
ARTICLES IN METAL."
Sealed the 5th November 1861, and dated the 8th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Hoskins at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th May 1861.
I, EBENEZER HOSKINS, of the Firm of Key, Hoskins, and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Bedstead Manufacturers; do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN JOINTS
POR ARTICLES IN METAL," to be as follows:-
My improvement in joints consists in forming a slot hole or aperture in and
through one of the pillars or other articles to be joined, and in forming a
tongue or other projection on the rail, frame, or other article to be connected
to that with the aperture of a size to fit the said aperture, and of sufficient
length to pass beyond the termination or mouth thereof. The said tongue or
projection is formed of two pieces, that at the extremity of the tongue being
united to the body by means of a spindle, with or on which the said extreme
end is free to turn, so that after the tongue has been inserted in the aperture
the extreme end may be caused to make a half turn in a manner similar to a
button, and thus securely join the parts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ebenezer Hoskins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EBENEZER
HOSKINS, of the Firm of Key, Hoskins, and Company, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Bedstead Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ebenezer Hoskins, Her special licence that I, the said Ebenezer Hoskins,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Ebenezer Hoskins, 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 "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN JOINTS FOR ARTICLES IN METAL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Ebenezer Hoskins, 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 Ebenezer Hoskins, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My improvement in joints consists in forming a slot hole or aperture in and
through one of the pillars or other articles to be joined, and in forming a
tongue or other projection on the rail frame or other article to be connected
to that, with the aperture of a size to fit the said aperture, and of sufficient
length to pass beyond the termination or mouth thereof. The said tongue or
projection is formed of two pieces, that at the extremity of the tongue being
united to the body by means of a spindle, with or on which the said extreme
end is free to turn, so that after the tongue has been inserted in the aperture

page_text: the extreme end may be caused to turn in a manner similar to a button, and
thus securely join the parts.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of so much of a pillar as
will be necessary to explain my Invention. a is the aperture formed through
the pillar, the outer end of which is sunk, as shown at b, to receive a button
or tongue c, formed on a rail frame or other article to be connected; Figure 2
shews the end of a rail, with projections forming a button c and spindle d, for
securing the button and turning it after being inserted in the aperture in the
pillar; Figure 3 shews the end of a rail, with its button c inserted in the
aperture, and the button turned to secure the joint. The sunken.portion
allows the button to lie flush or nearly so with the face of the pillar, and
prevents the paint, varnish, or other ornamental or protective coating being
rubbed off when the button is turned. When the joint is applied to a four-
post bedstead there will be two holes through the pillar for the end and side
rails, arranged in such manner that when put together the parts lie level with
one another. A similar joint to that described is applicable to the supports in
the middle of a bedstead. The sides of the mouth of the aperture are, by
preference, inclined or wedge-shaped, so that the more the button is turned the
tighter will the fastening become.
And baving now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the shape of the aperture, nor to the shape of button shown; but I claim as
my improvement in joints for articles in metal, forming a slot hole or aperture
or apertures in and through the pillars or other articles to be joined, and forming
a tongue or button on the end of the rail frame or other article to be con-
nected, substantially in manner and for the purposes herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ebenezer Hoskins, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Sixth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
EBENEZER HOSKINS. (L.S.)