AN IMPROVED FASTENING FOR PURSES, POCKET BOOKS, NEEDLE BOOKS, LADIES' COMPANIONS, INSTRUMENT CASES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James Henry Gebhardt, of Lawrence Lane, in
the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
FASTENING FOR PURSES, POCKET BOOKS, NEEDLE BOOKS, LADIES' COMPANIONS,
INSTRUMENT CASES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES."-A communication from:
abroad by Eduard Posen, of Offenbach, in Germany.
Sealed the 28th January 1863, and dated the 9th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John. James Henry
Gebhardt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th August 1862.
I, JOHN JAMES HENRY GEBHARDT, of Lawrence Lane, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IN-
PROVED FASTENING FOR PURSES, POCKET BOOKS, NEEDLE BOOKS, LADIES' COMPANIONS,
INSTRUMENT CASES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," communicated to me from
abroad by Eduard Posen, of Offenbach, in Germany, to be as follows:-
In a spring, or in a tongue or plate attached to a spring, is a slot or opening
into which, when the fastening is closed, a hook, or recessed, indented, or
notched piece catches or engages; the fastening is opened by applying pres-
sure on the spring, by means of a knob or equivalent appliance thereon,
whereby the part in which is the opening is so moved as to liberate the hook,
recessed or notched piece, and the latter can be withdrawn. To close the

page_text: fastening the spring is allowed to return to its original position, and the hook
or like agent being introduced into the opening will engage or catch therein
and close the fastening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John James Henry Gebhardt in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMES HENRY GEBHARDT, of Lawrence Lane, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto mic, the said
John James Henry Gebhardt, Her special licence that I, the said John James
Henry Gebhardt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
1, the said John James Henry Gebhardt, 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 IMPROVED FASTENING FOR PURSES, POCKET BOOKS, NEEDLE BOOKS, LADIES' COM-
PANIONS, INSTRUMENT CASES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," communicated to me
from abroad by Eduard Posen, of Offenbach, in Germany, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John James Henry Gebhardt, 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 John James Henry Gebhardt, 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 ful-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in constructing in the following manner an improved
fastening for purses, pocket books, needle books, ladies' companions, instru-

page_text: ment cases, and other similar articles. In a spring, or in a tongue or plate
attached to a spring, is a slot or opening into which, when the fastening is
closed, a hook or catch, or a recessed, indented, or notched piece catches or
engages. The fastening is opened by applying pressure on the spring by.
means of a knob or equivalent appliance, whereby the part in which is the
aforesaid slot or opening is so moved as to liberate the hook, catch, recessed
or notched piece, and allow the latter to be withdrawn therefrom. To close
the fastening the spring is allowed to return to its original position, and the
hook or like agent, being introduced into the slot or opening, will engage or
catch theroin and close the fastening.
I proceed particularly to describe, with reference to the accompanying
Drawings, the best means known to me for performing the Invention.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2, a transverse section of a fastening con-
structed according to this Invention, and shewn as closed; and Figure 3 is a
plan, and Figure 4, a transverse section of the same shewn open; Figure 5 is.
a plan of ono member or portion of the fastening with the outer plate e
removed; and Figure 6, a plan of the under sido of the same portion; Figures
7 and 8 shew the fastening attached to a purse or porte-monnaie A,.open in
Figure 7 and closed in Figure 8. Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, are shewn, for addi-
tional clearness, on an enlarged scale. For convenience of description I.
suppose the fastening as attached to a purse, though it may be applied in a
similar manner to pocket books and the other articles before mentioned.
:
a is a metal spring, or tongue forming a spring, attached at one end to a
plate b, and bent upward at the other end, where a slot or opening c is formed.
in it. The plate 6 is fixed to the body of the purse, and the spring a, when
actuated as hercin-after described, works in an opening h in the plate b; d is.
a knob fixed to the spring a and projecting through an orifice in a plate e
fixed over the plate 6; f is a slot in the plate e over that end of the spring in
which is the slot c, but these slots c and fdo not quite coincide, one edge of
the slot c being visible through the slot f, and the opposite edge of the slot f
extending over a portion of the slot c, as clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3.
The plate è is formed with a projecting part or tooth 9 which reduces the
aperture through c,f; i is a stay fixed across the opening h to prevent the
contents of the purse from obstructing the depression of the spring, and also
to prevent the spring from being too much depressed. On pressure being
applied upon the knob d the spring a will be pressed down, and on removing
pressure from the knob the spring will rise to its previous position; k is a
catch fixed to a plate attached to the flap of the purse. To close the
fastening the catch k is introduced through the slot f, the spring having first

page_text: been temporarily depressed by the knob to permit the catch to enter; the
spring is then, by removing the pressure, allowed to rise or return to its
original position, whereupon the catch k will be engaged in the slot c and the
fastening closed, as shewn in Figures.i and 2; the tooth 9 and the before
described arrangement of the slots c and f with respect to each other will
assist in preventing the catch k from escaping from the spring a till downward
pressure is again applied on the knob. To open the fastening the knob d must
be pressed down, thereby depressing the spring a, by which action the catch k
will be liberated from the spring and can be withdrawn through the slot f, the
space for its passage being enlarged by the depression of the spring. The
fastening will then be open, as shewn in Figures 3 and 4. Instead of the
form of catch k shewn in the Figures a recessed or notched piece may be used,
but I prefer the form represented in the Figures. I sometimes modify the
arrangement, as shewn in Fig. 9, longitudinal section, and Fig. 10, plan, in
which the spring a and a tongue a', in which is the slot c, are both attached
to the plate b, the tongue to which is fixed, the knob d being hinged to the
bent up sides of the plate 6 at 6', and the spring is fitted to the plate under
the tongue. The action is as before described. On depressing the knob & the
tongue and spring will be depressed and the catch & released from the slot c;
but on removing pressure from the knob the spring will force the tongue
upward so that its slot c may engage the catch k; e is the upper plate, and g
its projecting part, as in Figs. 2 and 3.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim in the improved
fastening is, the employment of a spring having a slot or opening, or of a
tongue or plate attached to or connected with a spring, and having a slot or
opening, such spring, tongue, or plate, acting as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John James Henry Gebhardt, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of-February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
JOHN JAMES HENRY GEBHARDT. (L.s.)
M. HENRY, Patent Agent,
84, Fleet Street, London.