AN IMPROVED BUCKLE SUITABLE FOR HARNESS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
LAWRENCE, of Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of December, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Lawrence, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Lawrence, my exors,
adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Lawrence, my exors,
adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED BUCKLE
SUITABLE FOR HARNESS AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent.
is contained a proviso that I, the said Henry Lawrence, shall cause a parti-
cular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Lawrence, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists in so constructing the buckle by which parts of harness are held fast

page_text: together, or such other purposes effected as buckles are applicable to, that
instead of the bold of the buckle being dependant as usual on a tongue or fork
inserted into one or other of a series of holes made in the trace, strap, belt, or
band drawn through the buckle, it is produced by the mere-strain applied to
such trace, strap, belt, or band, and the greater the strain the faster the hold
of the buckle, whereby the inconvenience attending the use of the tongue or
fork, and the injury done to the trace, strap, belt or band, by puncturing it
with holes, are obviated, and the trace, strap, belt or band is rendered much
stronger and of surer hold than heretofore; and the manner in which the said
Invention is variously performed, according to the different purposes to which
the said improved buckle is desired to be applied, is fully represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and in the following description thereof.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 a section, and Figure 3 a plan of this
buckle, in one of its most generally useful forms for harness. It consists of
two main parts, A and B, united by a cross pin O, which serves as a hinge
for the latter to turn upon. The part A is formed of two cross bars a¹, a³,
placed in different planes, (that is, the one considerably above the other,) and
joined together by two side angle pieces p, p. The part B is of the open
quadrangular form usual with buckles, but bent into the double curved shape
shewn in the Drawings. The part A is that by which the buckle is made
permanently fast to some bearing of the harness (as L'), by looping it round
the bar a'; and the part B is that through which the free end of the trace,
strap, belt, or band, which is to be secured as occasion may require, is drawn.
In making fast with this buckle, the free end of the trace or other like piece
of harness (represented by L²) is first brought under the outer end 6¹ of the
part B, then passes up through the eye E, and next through the space
between the pin and the part a³ of the part A, after which it is drawn
through a leather loop (s) attached to the bearing end (L'). Any strain
which may be now applied in cither direction to the parts thus buckled
together has the effect of encreasing the hold of the buckle upon them. But
for the sake of greater security the bar a² is ridged longitudinally on its under
surface, as shewn in the section, Figure 2. For leathers of more than
ordinary breadth, a slight modification, such as is represented in Figure 4
(a section) and Figure 5 (a plan) may be advisable. In this the eye of the
buckle part B is provided with a cross stay over which the leather is drawn
before passing between the gripping bar a and the joint pin O. Figure 6
represents a third modification, in which the part B of the buckle has two
side bars f, f, for the attachment of other straps to it, as may be found
necessary. Figure 7 is, a section, and Figure 8 a plan of a machine buckle,

page_text: constructed according to my Invention. The part answering to B in the
buckle first before.described is in this case hinged to the other part A by
means of two pivots cast upon it, which enter corresponding holes in the
part A. The bearing end L is in this case secured by inetal rivets to tho
bar a', which is perforated with holes, and made of a breath sufficient for the
purpose. Figure 9 is a section, and Figure 10 a plan of a buckle, chiefly..
applicable to belts for fastening garments, the former being on the line x, 2, of
the latter. A, A is an open quadrangular piece, and a¹ a cross bar, to which
one end of the belt is made fast. B is a spring clasp with a finely serrated edge,
which turns on a bent axis a³, and lays firm hold of the other end of the belt
when it is drawn through the buckle. The belt is in both cases indicated in the
Drawings by the red lines. The spring of the clasp consists of a metal piece,
'C, which projects from the back of the serrated edge, and bears upon the axis
a by means of a curved or claw end. Instead of the metallic spring just
described, a spring or springs of gutta-percha, sulphurized or otherwise suitably
prepared, may be employed in either of the modes represented in Figure 11
and Figure 12, or in Figures 13 and 14. In Figures 11 and 12, the frame
A is made with two pins S, S, projecting inwards from the side bars, and the
clasp C with two similar pins O, O, projecting outwards from two recesses cut
out of the sides of the clasp, each of these pins having a flanged or projecting
head. A ring or endless band of the gutta-percha is passed round each pair
of these pins (S, O,) and under the bar B (to which the fast end of the belt
is looped), and the two rings exert by their elasticity a like effect on the clasp
as the metal spring before describrd. In. Figure 13 a form of buckle with
one elastic band only is shewn. The frame A is similar in form to that in
Figure 11. The bar a³ has a tongue t, projecting laterally and downwards,
and the clasp C (which is shewn in Figure 14 detached from the rest of the
buckle, is provided with a similar tongue t, but projecting in an opposite
direction to the tongue t. A band or ring of the gutta-percha (when in a
collapsed state at M) is slipped over the tongues t, t¹, and performs the office
of the two springs in Figures 11 and 12. The clasp C turns upon the bar a³.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,
First, a buckle (without tongue or fork, constructed in any of the modes
represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and herein-before described,
or according to any modification thereof respectively, and deriving the firmness
of its hold from the strain applied to the trace, strap, belt, or band, or other
like article to which it is applied.
Second, the buckle chiefly applicable to belts for fastening garments, repre-

page_text: sented in Figures 9 and 10, and before described, in the improved combination
of parts of which the same consists (but disclaiming, as I hereby disclaim, the
employment of a clasp with a serrated edge, as before described, except as a
part of such improved combination. And,
Third, the application as aforesaid of gutta-percha, sulphurized, or otherwise
suitably prepared, as a substitute for metallic springs in buckles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Lawrence, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.