CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS FOR FURNITURE, SUCH IMPROVED CASTORS BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MALCOLM RYMER, of 17, Henrietta Street, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster
the Twenty-third day of April, in the third year of Her reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said James Malcolm Rymer, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Malcolm Rymer, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said James Malcolm Rymer, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times hereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS
FOR FURNITURE, SUCH IMPROVED CASTORS BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said
James Malcolm Rymer, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled 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, reference
being thereunto had may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Janies Malcolm Rymer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in the means I employ for inducing the continued
revolution or rotation of a sphere upon its axis under pressure, and its
progression in any required direction upon a force being applied.
My new or improved castor for furniture, such improved castor being
applicable to other purposes, is an application of this my Invention, and
consists of a sphere constructed or fashioned as hereafter described, contained
partly within a cup or cavity constructed and shaped in any convenient manner
to receive the same.
Fig. 1, Plate 1 is a sectional Drawing of one of my castors, shewing the
position of the sphere A with regard to the cup B; the cup B in the Drawing
being shaped or fashioned according to one of the forms I intend using in the
manufacture of this my Invention. The lines on the sphere A represent cuttings
or indentations, which cuttings or indentations may be produced in any
manner most convenient, and may assume any form, shape, or design; some
variations of which are shewn by Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. The object marked C,
within the cup B is a piece of metal which fits into the cup in the place
indicated in the Drawing, and which is in continual contact with the sphere
A when the apparatus is placed together. Upon a lateral force being applied
to the castor so formed and constructed, the sphere A will revolve or rotate
upon its axis, at the same time proceeding in a straight or curved line as may
be required. By the cuttings or indentations on the external surface of the
sphere A, the friction or rubbing of the sphere against the piece of metal C
is reduced in consequence of the reduction of the area of the rubbing surface
by part of it being removed in order to produce the indentations, while at the
same time the friction of the sphere against the surface over which it is
required to roll is increased by means of little particles of matter and asperities
or projections which exist to a greater or less degree upon all surfaces
insinuating themselves into the cuttings or indentations in the sphere. By
this contrivance the friction of the sphere against the surface over which it is
intended to proceed becomes greater than the friction of the sphere within the
cup, or against the inserted piece of metal C, and its revolution or rotation is
the consequence upon a force being applied in a proper direction. The
indented, engraved, or cut sphere may be made of any size to suit various

page_text: cup
purposes, and it may be used with a cup and provided with a piece of inserted
metal, as shewn in Fig. A. The sphere above described, indented or cut
according to my Invention, may rest or rub against a ring placed within the
to receive it as in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 represents an elevation of my castor above
described. The spheres may be made of brass, and the piece of metal ring or
side of the cup upon which the sphere rubs may be made of iron hardened,
but other metals or alloys will do, or any substances of sufficient hardness.
My new or improved castor is applicable to all kinds of furniture requiring
castors; it may likewise be applied to the carriages of cannons on shipboard,
rollers for drawers, castors for urns, cruet stands, globes, telescope stands, and
other objects which it may become desirable to furnish with rollers or castors.
I do not claim any particular shaped cup to receive the sphere, nor do I claim
the general application of a cup and sphere for a castor or roller.
I claim as my Invention the indented cut or engraved sphere of any
pattern, fashion, or design applied to the purpose of a spherical castor for
furniture and other purposes, in any shaped cup or body whatever, constructed
for the purpose of holding or partially containing the engraved, cut or
indented sphere.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Malcolm Rymer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid James Malcolm Rymer came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.