IMPROVED SELF-CLOSING HINGE
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edgar Seymour Shrubsole
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th September 1880.
EDGAR SEYMOUR SHRUBSOLE, of Maidstone, in the County of Kent.
IMPROVED SELF-CLOSING HINGE."
"AN
The object of my Invention is to construct a hinge in such a manner that it shall
be self-closing, and shall be an improvement upon the ordinary "rising" hinges,
the said hinge being chiefly applicable to swing gates and doors, but also capable
of being applied to every description of gates and doors which require a self-closing
movement.
For this purpose I provide one part of the hinge with a vee-shaped projection
and the other part with two inclined planes forming portions of right and left
handed helices. Either part of the hinge may be fitted to the gate or door, or it
may form a part of the gate or door if required, the other part being fitted to or
forming a part of the gate post, door post, or door sill, and either the vee-shaped
projection may ride upon the inclined planes or vice versa ; also the faces of the vee-
shaped projection and the inclined planes may be of hardened steel if necessary, or
of any other suitable material.
When the gate or door is opened it is slightly raised, and as soon as it is left
free will close by its own weight acting on the inclined plane.
In some cases the hinge may be so fitted as to work in an oil box or well below
the level of the floor or ground, and in other cases a spiral or other spring may
be fitted below the pintle or lower part of the hinge in order to obviate the rising
of the door when opened.

page_text: -SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edgar Seymour Shrubsole in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd March 1881.
EDGAR SEYMOUR SHRURSOLE, of Maidstone, in the County of Kent. "AN
IMPROVED SELF-CLOSING HINGE."
37
The object of my Invention is to construct a hinge in such a manner that it
shall be self-closing, and shall be an improvement upon the ordinary "rising
hinges, the said hinge being chiefly applicable to swing gates and doors, but also
capable of being applied to every description of gates and doors which require a
self-closing movement.
For this purpose I provide one part of the hinge with a vee-shaped projection
and the other part with two inclined planes forming portions of right and left
handed helices; either part of the hinge inay be fitted to the gate or door, or it
may form a part of the gate or door if required, the other part being fitted to or
forming a part of the gate post, door post, or door sill, and either the vee-shaped
projection may ride upon the inclined planes, or "vice versa;" also the faces of the
vee-shaped projection and the inclined planes may bo of hardened steel if necessary,
or of any other suitable material.
When the gate or door is opened it is slightly raised, and as soon as it is left
free will close by its own weight acting upon the inclined plane.
In some cases the hinge may be so fitted as to work in an oil box or well below
the-level-of-the floor or ground, and in other cases a spiral or other spring may
be fitted below the pintle or lower-part-of-the.hinge in order to obviate the rising
of the door when opened:--
Having described the nature and object of my Invention,-I-shall now proceed to
ascertain more particularly, by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, some of the
methods or modes in which my said Invention may be performed or carried into
practical effect.
Figures 1 and 2 show a hinge made in accordance with my Invention, and suitable
for a stone sill for lavatory, urinal, and railway station doors; this binge is also
shown in Figure 4 with the pintle or lower part withdrawn. The upper part of
the hinge is formed with two inclined planes a, a, forming portions of right and
left handed helices, and the pintle or lower part of the hinge is provided with a
vee-shaped projection b. When the door is closed the junction of the two inclined
planes rests upon the vee-shaped projection, as shown in Figure 2, and on the door
being opened in either direction one or other of the inclined planes rides upon the
vee-shaped projection. The door being slightly raised thereby closes as soon as it
is left free by reason of its own weight acting upon the inclined plane.
Figure 3 shows a hinge made in accordance with my Invention, and adapted for
gates or doors opening in only one direction, the upper part of the hinge being
formed with only one inclined plane a, and having a shoulder c which rests against
the vee-shaped projection b when the gate or door is closed.
Figure 5 shows my improved bingo fitted so as to work in an oil box or well.
The box d is let into the floor, and is provided with a flange e for securing it by
means of screws, or it may be secured in any other well known and suitable manner.
The pintle with its vee-shaped projection is fitted inside the oil box, or may form
a part of the same casting. The upper part of the hinge fits into the box over the
pintle, and is provided with a shoe for carrying the door.
Figure 6 shows a hinge made in accordance with my Invention, and suitable for
swing gates and doors. Two or more hinges, as shown in this Figure, may be
fitted to the gates or doors, or if desired only one hinge made in accordance with
my Invention may be used, the additional hingo or hinges required being of the
ordinary kind.

page_text: I wish it to be understood that my Invention may be performed or carried into
practical effect in various ways, and that I do not limit myself to the precise details
hereinbefore described, but what I claim is,-
The use in a self-closing hinge of the inclined plane or planes a, a, in combination
with the vee-shaped projection b, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described and shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edgar Seymour Shrubsole, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
EDGAR SEYMOUR SHRUBSOLE. (L.S.)