Im- PROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS, AND ALSO IN OTHER ARTICLES HAVING TO BE RAISED AND LOWERED
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred James Williams, of Duke Street, Adelphi,
in the City of Westminster, Engineer, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS, AND ALSO IN OTHER ARTICLES HAVING
TO BE RAISED AND LOWERED."
Sealed the 15th December 1874, and dated the 19th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred James Williams
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th June 1874.
I, ALFRED JAMES WILLIAMS, of Duke Street, Adelphi, in the City
of Westminster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS, AND ALSO IN OTHER
ARTICLES HAVING TO BE RAISED AND LOWERED," to be as follows:-
The principal objects of my Invention are to facilitate the raising
and lowering of revolving shutters to prevent them from being easily
thrown out of work, and to multiply power in lowering and raising
them.

page_text: Hitherto the springs of revolving shutters have been placed on or
attached to the shuttle roller, whereas I fix the spring so as to be
separate from or independent of the roller, that is to say, I attach them.
to the frame of the window or other permanent part of the structure
to which the shutter is applied, and I connect them with the roller by
means of chain wheels and pitch chains, so that when the roller
descends the springs uncoil, and as the roller ascends the springs recoil,
hence the strain or dead weight is taken off the springs. The chains
permit the roller to have a lateral traversing or to-and-fro motion
without hindrance, even when springs are employed.
In one arrangement I use box springs or spiral springs fitted to the
joist or elsewhere at a part of the permanent framework behind the
roller. I connect a chain wheel to the box or barrel of each spring,
and round the wheel I pass a pitch chain which also passes over a chain
wheel, one on each end of the roller or roller axis. One of the spring
chain wheels is provided with a pawl.
In another arrangement I place the springs with their wheels under
the stall or window board below the shutters.
Shutters may be raised from below the window boards or stall boards
by springs having wheels, round which pass chains connected with the
wide rail of the shutters. A similar arrangement may be employed
when counterbalance weights are used with or without springs. The
wheels on the shutter and the permanent frame may work with a rack
instead of a pitch chain. I sometimes fit pulley wheels or guide rollers
in convenient positions so that the chains may be carried over them
in passing from the wheels of the springs to those of the roller. Or
instead of such pulleys springs with wheels may be used in order to
multiply power.
When counterbalance weights are used, with or without springs, for
working shutters I attach to the roller an axis flanged at one end, where
it works in a bearing plate. The flange serves as a guide on one side,
the face of the chain wheel serving as a guide on the other, and the
shutter is thus prevented from working out of square.
The chains or cords of the counterbalance weights may be passed over
pulleys or rollers fixed to the window frame or other permanent part of

page_text: the structure to relieve the shutter axis from strain or dead weight. Or
springs and chain wheels may be used instead of such pulleys so as not
only to relieve the strain but to multiply power..
The pawl or clawker connected with the springs will retain the shutter
at any desirable point of its course till the pawl is raised by a pull or
other means.
The pawl contrivance may be applied in like manner and for like
purposes to pulleys used for cords or chains of counterbalance weights
when these are employed.
I employ a conical onded roller for shutters and other purposes,
which roller I "truss ' or support in a trussed frame. The truss or
"
frame prevents the roller from sagging.
Certain of the above specificd improvements are applicable to raising
and lowering Venetian blinds, window sashes, and sails of ships, and
other like purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said. Alfred James Williams in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
JAMES WILLIAMS, of Duke Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred James Williams, Her special
licence, that I, the said Alfred James Williams, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred James
Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there.
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
ر

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SHUTTERS, AND ALSO IN OTHER ARTICLES
HAVING TO BE RAISED AND LOWERED," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred James Williams, 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 Alfred James Williams, 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
accompanying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say :-
-
The principal objects of my Invention are to facilitate the raising
and lowering of revolving shutters to prevent them from being easily
thrown out of work, and to multiply power in lowering and raising
them.
Hitherto the springs of revolving shutters have been placed on or
attached to the shutter roller or shutters, whereas according to my
Invention I fix the springs in such manner that they are separate from
the roller or shutter, that is to say, I attach the springs to the frame of
the window or other permanent part of the structure to which the
shutter is applied, and I connect them with the roller by means of chain
wheels and pitch chains, so that when the shutter descends the springs
coil, and as the shutter ascends the springs uncoil. Hence the strain
or dead weight is taken off the springs. The chains permit the roller to
have a lateral traversing or to-and-fro motion without hindrance even
when springs are employed.
In one arrangement for carrying out my Invention I use box springs
(or I use spiral springs), fitted to the joist or elsewhere at a part of the
permanent framework behind the roller. I connect the chain wheel to
the box or barrel of each spring, and round this whicel I pass a pitch

page_text: cbain, which chain also passes over a chain wheel, one on each end of
the roller or roller axis.. One or both of the spring chain wheels is pro-
vided with a pawl.
In another arrangement I place the springs with their wheels under
the stall or window board below the shutters.
The shutters may be raised from below the window boards or stall
boards by springs having wheels, round which pass chains connected with
the wide rail of the shutters. A similar arrangement may be employed
when counterbalance weights are used with or without springs. The
wheels on the shutter and the permanent frame may work with a rack
or with a connecting rod instead of pitch chain. I sometimes fit pulley
wheels or guide rollers in convenient positions so that the chains may be
carried over them in passing from the wheels of the springs to those of
the roller. Or instead of such pulleys springs with wheels may be used
in order to multiply power.
When counterbalance weights are used, with or without springs, for
working shutters I sometimes attach to the shutter roller an axis flanged
at one end where it works in a bearing plate. The flange serves as a
guide on one side, the face of the chain wheel serving as a guide on the
other, and the shutter is thus prevented from working out of square.
The chains or cords of the counterbalance weights may be passed over
pulleys or rollers fixed to the window frame or other permanent part of
the structure to relieve the shutter axis from strain or dead weight.
Or springs and chain wheels may be used instead of such pulleys so as
not only to relieve the strain but to multiply power.
The pawl or clawker connected with the springs will retain the shutter
at any desirable point of its course till the pawl is raised by a pull or
other means.
The pawl contrivance may be applied in like manner and for like
purposes, and in any convenient position to pulleys used for cords or
chains of counterbalance weights when these are employed.
I sometimes employ a conical ended trussed roller for shutters and
other articles to be raised and lowered, which roller is trussed or sup-
ported in a trussed frame which prevents the roller from sagging.

page_text: Certain of the above specified improvements are applicable, in obviously
similar manner, to raising and lowering Venetian blinds, window sashes,
sails of ships, and other like articles, or to similar purposes.
The accompanying Drawings represent the Invention applied to the
raising and lowering of revolving shutters.
Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation shewing the apparatus
applied to and combined with a revolving shutter; Figure 2 is a plan;
Figure 3, perspective view. A is a revolving, shutter turning and
mounted on a roller B held in bearings attached to the window frame
or window head X, or other permanent part of the structure. On cach
end of the roller B is a pitch wheel c round which passes a pitch chain
C (which is sometimes, as in Figure 1) carried over a guide pulley c²,
and which passes over a chain wheel d. on the axis d² of the spring E.
The spring E and its axis e are contained within a box or casc F
attached to the window frame; G, ratchet wheel on the axis e; H, pawl
which takes into the teeth of the ratchet wheel, but which may be
lifted free therefrom by a pull / worked by hand; I, box spring at the
lower part of the window frame; 2, axis round which the spring is
coiled; J, ratchet wheel mounted on such axis; j, pawl engaging in the
teeth of ratchet wheel; j³, connection with the pull h; K, connecting
rod terminating both at its upper and lower ends in crank arms k, k²,
severally connected with the ratchet wheels G and J. These spring
ratchet and pawl arrangements act as locking appliances to prevent the
shutter from being raised or lowered contrary to the desire of the
proper person in charge and to stop it at any desired point. A con-
necting rod may be used instead of the pitch chain C to connect
the motion of the shutter roller with that of the spring. I sometimes
employ two boxes F and springs E, as in Figure 2. 3, handle attached
to the ratchet wheel J and worked by hand in order to help to raise the
shutter.
Figure 4 is a vertical sectional elevation of an arrangement in which
the roller (whereon the revolving shutter is wound) is placed below the
the window board or stall board. In this arrangement similar parts are
marked with similar letters of reference to those in the three preceding
Figures. In this modification the lower spring and ratchet wheel are
dispensed with. A, shutter; B, roller; G, ratchet wheel; H, pawl; h,
pull; E, spring; c, pitch chain; e, axis of the spring.

page_text: Figure 5 shews a modification of the arrangements shewn in Figures
1, 2, 3. Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts to those
shown in those Figures, but in this arrangement the pitch chain c is
carried over a guide pulley et mounted at the lower part of the window
frame and thence conducted upward over the chain wheel on the axis e
of the spring E at the upper part of the window frame. The pitchi
chain then descends and it is connected at its lower end with a counter-
balance weight Q.
Figure 6 is a perspective view of a trussed roller suitable for shutters
used in broad openings, the object being to prevent central sagging.
For this purpose a tube r is passed through the roller B and connected
by discs with a truss S having conical ends. T is a strengthening
disc or rim with radial arms & placed centrally of the roller and truss.
Fig. 7, a transverse section on line x, x, of Fig. 6.
I sometimes fix box springs and wheels at the top and bottom of the
window whereby one or more lengths of chain or connecting rods may
be used, these being attached to counterbalance weights. A ratchet
wheel with pawl is affixed to the box.or barrel of the springs.
.
Although I have described in reference to the Drawings the arrange-
ments as applied to the raising and lowering of window shutters, it is
evident that they may be adapted in the same manner and with obvious
modifications to purposes in which other shutters, also blinds, sails, and
other articles have to be raised and lowered.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. Fixing the springs so that they are separate from the roller on
which the shutter or other article to be raised and lowered is mounted
and on which it revolves, substantially in the manner described and for
the purpose set forth.
Second. The arrangement of springs with ratchet wheels and pawls,
in the manner and for the purposes substantially as described.
Third. The employment of weights with or without springs, sub-
stantially as herein-before described in the manner and for the purposes
set forth.

page_text: Fourth. The general arrangement and combination of parts, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and for the purposes set forth.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred James Williams, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
E. DE PASS,
Patent Office,
68, Fleet Street.
London.
ALFRED J. WILLIAMS. (L.S.)