Improvements in or relating to the Means of Opening and Closing the Fronts of Boxes, such as Coal Boxes and Deed Boxes.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 28th July, 1888
´omplete Specification Left, 18th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 18th May, 1889
Improvements in or relating to the Means of Opening and Closing
the Fronts of Boxes, such as Coal Boxes and Deed Boxes.
We, GEORGE MITCHESON ROWE, and HEZEкLAH WALKER, both of London Works,
Salop Street, Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford, tin-plate workers and
japanners, do bereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Hitherto it has been customary to form the opening front of a box, such as a coal
box or deed box, as a single lid or door hinged at the top or bottoni. When hinged
at the top it must be held up by hand when open, or be leant back against a handle or
other stop, or be specially fixed or fastened in place, which is in either case incon-
venient; and there is also a liability of the lid falling down. When hinged at the
bottom the lid projects when open an inconvenient distance forwards. Occasionally a
pair of vertical, or vertically inclined, doors, hinged one to each side of the box, have
been employed, but such doors have had to be opened and closed separately.
This invention has for its object a novel arrangement of a pair of doors at the front
of a box, and more especially means in combination with such pair of doors, or with
a pair of doors arranged as described in the last preceding paragraph, by which one
door of the pair is opened and closed automatically with the other, and by which the
doors may be maintained in their opened position.
According to this invention, the front of the box, whether vertical or inclined, is
divided into two lids or doors one of which is hinged preferably at the top and the
other at the bottom, but the arrangement of vertical, or vertically inclined, doors
above described may be adopted if desired. A quadrant or other arm is carried
inwards from the face of one of the doors (preferably the upper door when the pair
of doors is divided horizontally) and a rod or link is pivotted to such arm and to a
bracket on the inner face of the other door, and thus when the latter door is opened or
closed the other door opens or closes therewith, and both the doors are maintained in
their open position, the lower door being made to balance the upper, when open, in
the case of a pair of doors divided horizontally. The door from which the arm

page_text: projects closes slightly in advance of the other and commences to open slightly after
it, and is formed with a rebated edge into which the other door closes. Just as the
former door has closed the link is in position parallel, or approximately so, with the
plane of the other door and thus allows such other door to be closed in against
the door already closed, and to be opened slightly in advance of it. The mechanism
by which the one door is operated by the other closes into a pocket formed in one
side or in the top or bottom of the box.
ו...
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071 1

page_text: the Fronts of Boxes, such as Coal Boxes and Deed Boxes.
We, GEORGE MITCHESON ROWE, of Penn Fields, Wolverhampton in the County
of Stafford, tin-plate worker and japanner, and HEZEKIAH WALKER, of London
Works, Salop Street, Wolverhampton, aforesaid, tin-plate worker and japanner, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Hitherto it has been customary to form the opening front of a box, such as a coal
box or deed box, as a single lid or door hinged at the top or bottom. When hinged
at the top such door must be held up by hand when open, or be leant back against a
handle or other stop, or be specially fixed or fastened in place, which is in either case
inconvenient; and there is also a liability of the lid falling down. When hinged at
the bottom, the lid projects when open an inconvenient distance forwards. Occasion-
ally a pair of vertical, or vertically inclined, doors, hinged one to each side of
the box, have been employed, but such doors have had to be opened and closed
separately.
This invention has for its object a novel arrangement of a pair of doors at the
front of a box, and more especially means in combination with such pair of doors, or
with a pair of doors arranged as described in the last preceding paragraph, by which
one door of the pair is opened and closed automatically with the other, and by which
the doors may be maintained in their opened position.
This invention will be readily understood on reference to the accompanying
drawings, of which figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through the centre of a
coal box. with the invention applied thereto. In this figure the box is shewn to be
closed. Figure 2 is a corresponding view to figure 1, but with the box shewn open;
figure 3 is a front elevation of figure 2; and figure 4 is a sectional plan taken on
line of figure 2. The door is divided into two parts a and b, of which the part
a is hinged along the upper front edge of the box and of which the part is hinged
along the lower front edge thereof. The lids are coupled together by means of a
quadrant or arm c fixed to the inner face of the door a, and a rod or link d pivotted
to the unconnected end of the arm c and also to a bracket on the inner face of the
door ; and thus when the door b is pulled open, or is pushed in to close it, the door a
opens or closes therewith; and the doors, being preferably both about the same size,
balance one another sufficiently to maintain them in their desired open position, and
render the opening and closing of the box a very easy and convenient operation. The
pair of doors may be opened and closed by directly operating either of them, but it
is more convenient to handle the lower door b, and for this purpose a knob or other
handle of the usual character should be affixed thereto. The door closes slightly
after the other door, and commences to open slightly in advance of it, and the door a
is formed with a rebate f along its outer edge within which the upper edge of the

page_text: door b lies when the box is closed. The door b is enabled to close slightly behind the
door a, and to open slightly in advance of it, owing to the position of the link d when
the doors are closed and to the slight play in the joints. The arm c and link d close
into a pocket divided off from one side of the box. The box is used, preferably,
with a lining of the usual character, but may of course be used without it if
desired.
The arm c is shewn of a quadrant shape on the drawing, but this is not at all
essential as it may, for instance, be made straight.
The arme may, if desired, be fixed to the lower door b, and the link d be pivotted
to a bracket on the door a, in which case the handle should be fixed to the door a
and the rebate be formed in the edge of the door 6; but the arrangement previously
described and shewn by the drawings is preferred.
Instead of the doors being hinged to the upper and lower edges of the front of
the box, as shewn, they may be hinged to the sides thereof, in a manner previously
adopted as above stated, and in such case the doors are coupled together by means of
an arm and link operating transversely. In this case the doors will not be required
to open so widely as when they are hinged at top and bottom, and the means by
which the doors are coupled together must be modified as will be readily understood,
so that the link c will not be stopped against the side of the box as the doors are
closed in. This arrangement of the doors and arm and link is not, however, recom-
mended, at any rate for use with a coal box, as it is obviously not so convenient for
for such purpose as that previously described with reference to the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1. The improvements in or relating to the means of opening and closing the fronts
of boxes, such as coal boxes and deed boxes, substantially as described.
2. In a box, such as a coal box or deed box, a pair of doors hinged to the front
thereof and coupled together so that as one door is opened or closed the other door
opens or closes automatically therewith, substantially as described.
3. In a box, such as a coal box or deed box, a pair of doors hinged, respectively,
to the upper and lower front edges, thereof, and coupled together so that as one door
is opened or closed the other door opens or closes automatically therewith, substan-
tially as described.
4. The means, substantially as described with reference to the drawings herewith,
by which a pair of doors hinged to the front of a box, such as a coal box or deed box,
are coupled together, for the purpose set forth.
5. In a coal box, the doors a, b hinged, respectively, to the upper and lower front
edges thereof in combination with the arm c and link d, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
Data thi 19th J
2
1 1300
STEPHEN WATKINS,
Wolverhampton and Walsall,
Agent for the Applicants.