A NEW OR IMPROVED TABLE EXPANDER
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Fitter, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED TABLE
EXPANDER."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 8th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Fitter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th May 1861.
I, JOSEPH FITTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
TABLE EXPANDER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a new or improved table expander constructed in
the following manner:-A screw having a slot running on one side through
its whole length turns in a plate fixed to one end of the table, and a screw of
larger diameter, but without a slot, is fixed to a plate on the other end of
the table. A double bracket fixed on the cross rail of the table carries a
screw nut in which the slotted screw engages. A tube also turns in a collar
in the said bracket, both the screws passing into and out of the said tube in
the manner herein-after explained; the said tube may be supported by two or
more brackets. As the slotted screw is turned by a winch or handle applied
to its square end, it enters the screw box carried by the bracket, and advances
through the said screw box into the tube. A feather or key in the tube
engages in the slot in the screw, and a rotatory motion is given to the said

page_text: tube as the slotted screw enters it. That end of the tube in which the other
screw enters carries a screw box in which the last-mentioned screw engages, so
that when the slotted screw is turned in one direction it not only enters the tube
itself, but by the rotation it communicates to the said tube it causes the other
screw also to advance into it. When the slotted screw is turned in the direc-
tion proper to make it pass out of the tube, the other screw at the same time
passes out of the other end of the tube. The ends of the two screws herein-
before described are connected to the slides of the table in the ordinary way,
and by turning the winch or handle on the end of the slotted screw in one or
other direction the said slides can be opened or closed, and the table expanded
or contracted by the simultaneous motion of its opposite ends.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Fitter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FITTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, 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 Joseph Fitter, Her special licence that I; the said Joseph Fitter,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Fitter, 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 "A NEW OR IM-
PROVED TABLE EXPANDER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Fitter, 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 Joseph Fitter, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of a new or improved table expander constructed in
the manner herein-after particularly explained and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in plan the under side of a portion of a table to which
my new or improved expander is applied, and Figure 2 represents a longitu-
dinal section of the table shewing the expander in side elevation, the said
expander being represented extended to its utmost length in both Figures.
The other Figures represent detached portions of my Invention, as herein-
after explained. The same letters of reference are employed to indicate the
same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing.
My new or improved table expander consists of an arrangement of parts
whereby on turning a winch at one end of the table in one direction the
opposite ends or slides of the table are made simultaneously to move in
opposite directions, and thereby to expand the framing of the table for the
insertion of the required sized. flap in its middle. By turning the said winch
in the other direction the opposite ends or slides of the table are made
simultaneously to approach each other and diminish the length of the table.
In order to facilitate the description of my Invention I will first explain;
with reference to Figures 1 and 2, the general action of the several parts of
my Invention. On turning the winch a in the direction proper to drive home
a screw, the screw b.advances into the hollow screw c, the said screw c at the
same time advancing into the tube d. During the motions of the screws b
and c the screws e and fare performing similar motions in opposite directions,
that is, the screw f enters the hollow screw e, and the said hollow screw e
enters the tube d. On turning the winch a in a direction contrary to that
last described the screws c and e pass out of the tube d, and the screws b and f
out of the screws c and e, respectively, the several parts assuming the positions
represented in Figures 1 and 2.
I have represented and will describe my Invention as constructed to effect
a large amount of expansion in a table. Where a less amount of expansion
is required some of the parts represented in the Drawing may be omitted
as herein-after described.
The
I will now proceed to describe my Invention in detail. A screw b shewn
in cross section in Figure 3 turns in the plate g on the slide h of the table,
the said plate g engaging in a collar or neck in the end of the screw.
said screw has two slots 62, 63, on opposite sides and running its whole length.
One only of the said slots may be employed but I prefer two or more. The

page_text: screw. b engages in a screw box k, carried by the bracket as will be best
understood by referring to the section, Figure 4, representing these parts.
The said bracket 7 slides upon the bar m, fixed on the under side of the slide h
of the table; c is a hollow screw having slots on opposite sides running its
whole length. The said screw c engages and works in a screw box n fixed
by the bracket to the cross rail p of the table, as best seen in the section
Figure 6 which represents these parts. In the interior of the hollow screw c
and at that end which works in the bracket are two feathers or keys, one
only of which, marked q, is represented in the section of the end of the screw
Figure 5. The said feathers or keys q engage and slide in the slots 63, 63, of
the screw b. The tube d is supported by and turns in the brackets o, r, on
the cross rails p, s.
In that end of the tube d at which the hollow screw c
enters are two feathers or keys on opposite sides. These feathers or keys
are marked t, t, in the elevation of this end of the tube, Figure 7. The said
feathers or keys t engage in the slots u, u, on opposite sides of the hollow
screw c. The screw c is double threaded and the screw 6 is single threaded,
they are thereby made to move in their respective screw boxes with the
required relative velocity.
Having described the parts at one end of the table I will now proceed to
describe the action of the said parts. By turning the winch a in the direction
proper to drive home a screw, the screw b advances in the screw box k, the
said screw box being drawn on the said screw b and moves with the bracket
towards the winch a. The hollow screw.c is carried by the bracket / upon
the said screw b, by means of the slots 62, 3, on the screw b engaging with
the feathers or keys 9, on the inside of the hollow screw ca rotatory motion
is communicated to the said hollow screw c during the time that it is being
drawn upon the screw b. The rotatory motion of the said hollow screw c
causes it.to enter or screw into the screw box n, carried by the bracket o
and the slots u, on the said hollow screw c engaging with the feathers or
keys on the end of the tube d communicates a rotatory motion to the said
tube d. The rotation of the winch a has thus made the screw b enter the
hollow screw c simultaneously with the entrance of the hollow screw c into
the tube d, and has also given a rotatory motion to the said tube d. The
slide of the table has been thereby brought towards the middle of the
table.
I will now proceed to describe and explain the action of the parts connected
with the slide i of the table by which the said slide i is made to move
simultaneously with the slide h and in an opposite direction. The construction
and action of the parts I am about to describe are very nearly the reverso

page_text: of those I have already described. The screws b and c already described are
of the kind called right-handed screws, but the screw e which I am about
further to describe is of the kind called left-handed. The screw f is right-
handed; f is a solid screw of a size similar to the screw b, but the said screw f
is fixed to the slide i and has no rotatory motion. The said screw f is also
without slots in its sides. The free end of the screw f works in a screw box
fixed in the end of the hollow screw e as represented in the section, Figure 8,
where the screw box is marked v. The hollow screw e has slots w on its
exterior, the said slots being on opposite sides and running the whole length
of the said screw. That end of the tube d in which the hollow screw e enters
bas feathers or keys which engage in the slots win the screw e. One of
these feathers or keys is marked in Figure 9 which represents the end of
the tube in longitudinal section. Both the feathers or keys x are seen
in Figure 10 which represents the end of the tube d in elevation. The
hollow screw e works in the screw box y fixed in the bracket r, which said
bracket is carried by the cross rails of the table. Figure 11 represents in
longitudinal section the bracket r, screw box y, and parts immediately con-
nected therewith. The end of the tube d is supported by and turns in the
bracket r. The screw is single threaded and the hollow screw e is double
threaded.
The action of the parts last-described is as follows:-The rotatory motion
of the tube d (produced as herein-before described by the winch a) is
communicated by means of the feathers or keys x, x, and slots w to the hollow
screw e. The said screw e is thereby made to advance in the screw box y
and to enter the tube d. The rotatory motion of the hollow screw e is
communicated to the screw box v, and the screw f is thereby made to enter
the said hollow screw e. The entry of the screw f into the hollow screw e
and the entry of the said hollow screw e into the tube d are simultaneous
with the motions of the screws b and c herein-before described. The diameter
of the hollow screw c is so much less than that of the hollow screw e that
when they are both simultaneously entering the tube d in opposite directions
the said screw centers and occupies the interior of the said screw e. When
a small amount of expansion is required in the table the construction of the
expander may be simplified, in such case I dispense with the two hollow
screws c and e, and I make the screws b and f engage in the screw boxes n
and y respectively, the said screw boxes being made of a size to fit the
screws b and f. The screw box y is in this modification of my Invention
fixed in the end of the tube d and turns with it. The action of the several
parts is then as follows:-By turning the winch a the slotted screw b enters

page_text: the screw box n and communicates a rotatory motion to the tube d. By
the rotatory motion of the screw box y the screw f is drawn into the said
tube d simultaneously with the entry of the screw 6 at the opposite end.
Or in place of using the two solid screws and f, the hollow screw c, and
the solid screw f may be employed in conjunction with the tube d, in which
case when the table is closed the screw foccupies the interior of the screw c,
the arrangement of the screw boxes being the same as that last-described.
For convenience of description I have explained my Invention in detail
with reference to the contraction only of the table, and as the reverse action
of the several parts of my said Invention, by which the said parts are again
brought into the positions represented in Figures 1 and 2, and the table
expanded, will, I believe, be readily understood by the previous explanation,
I do not think a description of the said reverse action necessary.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein-described and represented in the
accompanying Drawing as the same may be varied without departing from
the nature of my Invention, but I claim as my Invention the new or improved
table expander constructed in the manner herein-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, the arrangement or
combination of the parts of a table expander essentially in the manner
herein-before described and illustrated, whereby the slides of a table, to which
the said expander is adapted, are made simultaneously to approach to or recede
from one another by the communication of a rotatory motion to one end of
the table expander.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Fitter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JOSEPH FITTER. (L.S.)