IMPROVE- MENTS IN WRITING DESKS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Garnett, of Windermere, in the County of
Westmorland, Printer and Stationer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WRITING DESKS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
.PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Garnett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
January 1860.
I, JOHN GARNETT, of Windermere, in the County of Westmorland, Printer
and Stationer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN WRITING DESKS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to bo
as follows:-
This Invention relates more particularly to the internal arrangement or
combination of fittings of travelling or portable and other writing desks, and
also to an improved blotter, applicable generally for drying newly written docu-
ments, and consists partly of a means of keeping writing paper, envelopes, and
other like articles of different sizes compact and orderly in their places without
liability to derangement by shaking, which it is proposed to accomplish by the
employment of thin metal plates, connected freely at one end to vertical pins
let into the sides of the desk, and having each a projection or lip at the oppo-
site end for the facility of raising them when inserting the paper in its place
between the plates, the several plates being of a width corresponding to the
various widths of paper and envelopes, and are placed one above the other

page_text: with the smaller sizes uppermost, the whole of the plates being held toge-
ther by elastic springs, so as to press the paper between them. These elastic
springs, in the form of bands or otherwise, are passed over the top plate
and in an indentation or notch in its edges, thence under a wire loop formed
on the surface of the next lower and larger plate, the edge of which is notched
or indented as before to serve as a guide to the elastic bands, and so on
throughout the entire series, one band by this means serving to hold the
several sizes together and keep the sheets of paper in their places laterally. A
convenient box or case is fitted, in the desk for carrying in separate compart
ments pens, stamps, and matches, the whole covered by one lid, having a
portion of its under side lined with sand paper for lighting the matches upon;
two small glass holders contained in leather cases with spring hinged lids, and
india-rubber caps are also fitted into separate compartments of their own, the
one serving to contain ink and the other liquid gum, this latter being reversed
or placed upside down when not in use, so that the moist gum will lie upon
the stopper or cap, and thereby prevent the mouth of the holder from being
clogged up with dry or hardened gum. A further compartment is provided
for penholders, wax, pencils, gum, brush, rubber, and other instruments requi-
sito in writing, the lid of this box forming a rule or divided scale. The writing
pad having a surface of leather or other suitable material is fitted into the
main lid of the desk, which forms a slope when open for writing upon. This
'pad is beld in its place by two swivel buttons, and a space is left behind or
underneath for containing large sized paper or letters. The blotter, which
forms one of the fittings of the desk consists of a number of sheets of blotting
paper cemented together at their edges by means of india-rubber solution, and
fitted to a flexible back of leather or other suitablo flexible material, thus ren-
dering the blotter perfectly flexible. This flexible blotter may, of course, be
used generally in drying written documents without necessarily forming one of
the fittings of the above described, or any other writing desk, and the same
.applies to the apparatus for holding paper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Garnett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
COME, I, JOHN
GARNETT, of Windermere, in the County of Westmorland, Printer and
Stationer, send greeting..

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Garnett, Her special license that I, the said
John Garnett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Garnett, my executors, administrators, or 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WRITING DESKS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Garnett, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 John Garnett, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and. by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-—
My said Invention relates more particularly to the internal arrangement or
combination of fittings of travelling or portable, and other writing desks, and
also to an improved blotter applicable generally for drying newly written
documents, and consists partly of a means of keeping writing paper, envelopes,
and other like articles of different sizes compact and orderly in their places.
without liability to derangement from shaking, which it is proposed to accom-
plish by the employment of thin metal plates connected freely at one end to
vertical pins let into the sides of the desk, and having each a projection or lip
at the opposite end for the facility of raising them when inserting the paper in
its place between the plates, the several plates being of a width corresponding.
to the various widths of paper and envelopes, and are placed one above the
other with the smaller sizes uppermost, the whole of the plates being held
together by elastic springs so as to press the paper between them. These
elastic springs, in the form of bands or otherwise, are passed over the top plate
and in an indentation or notch in its edges, thence under a wire loop formed
on the surface of the next lower and larger plate, the edge of which is notched.

page_text: or indented as before to serve as a guide to the elastic bands, and so on through-
out the entire series, one band by this means serving to hold tho several sizes
together, and keep the sheets of paper in their places laterally. A convenient
box or case may be fitted in the desk for carrying in separate compartments
pens, stamps, and matches, the whole covered by one lid having a portion of
its under side lined with sand paper for lighting the matches upon. Two
small glass holders contained in leather cases with spring hinged lids, and
india-rubber caps, are also fitted into separate compartments of their own, the
one serving to contain ink, and the other liquid gum, this latter being reversed
or placed upside down when not in use, so that the moist gum will lie upon
the stopper or cap, and thereby prevent the mouth of the holder from being
clogged up with dry or hardened gum. A further compartment is provided
for penholders, wax, pencils, gum-brush, rubber, and other instruments requi-
site in writing, the lid of this box forming a rule or divided scale.
The writing pad having a surface of leather or other suitable material is fitted
into the main lid of the desk, which forms a slope when open for writing upon.
This pad is held in its place by two swivel buttons, and a space is left behind
or underneath for containing large-sized paper or letters. The blotter, which
forms one of the fittings of the desk, consists of a number of sheets of blotting
paper cemented together at their edges by means of india-rubber solution,
and fitted to a flexible back of leather or other suitable flexible material, thus
rendering the blotter perfectly flexible. This flexible blotter may of course be
used generally in drying written documents, without necessarily forming one
of the fittings of the above described or any other writing desk, and the same
applies to the apparatus for holding note paper and envelopes. As the use of
this flexible blotter obviates the necessity for rubbing either the blotting paper,
or the paper being written upon by the application of the hand, the surfaces
of both are prevented from becoming greasy, in which state the ink would
"run" upon the writing paper, and the blotting paper would cease to act
freely as an absorbent of the spare fluid.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all
the Figures.
.
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a portable or travelling writing-
desk. provided with my improvements, and having its internal fittings arranged
according to my present Invention; Figure 2 is a sectional detail of the,
means I adopt for holding envelopes, note paper, and memoranda in a neat and

page_text: compact manner; and Figure 3 represents a perspective view of my "flexiblo
blotter." A, A, are thin sheets of metal for holding the note paper and
envelopes in their proper places inside the desk, the plates being of graduated
sizes to suit the different sizes of the note paper and envelopes. Each plate
is formed with two ears a, a, on one edge, and through these ears are passed
two vertical pins or wires b, b, fitted into the side of the desk for the purpose-
of keeping the plates in position, and of affording facility at the same time for
their rising vertically, so as to accommodate themselves to the bulk of paper
or envelopes beneath them, the sides of the desk being slotted as shewn, to
admit the ears and to allow them to move up or down their holding pins with
freedom. The paper and envelopes are held together by the pressure of a
spring or elastic band B, as will be more clearly understood on referring to
the sectional detail, Figure 2. This band may either pass êntirely round the
series of plates and paper, or envelopes, or it may be secured at each extremity
to the bottom of the desk in any convenient manner. In the detail I havo
shewn it as passing entirely round the series. On the opposite edges of each
plate there is formed a notch c (Figure 1) in which the band is placed, and on
the surface of each lower plate of the series a loop d is formed, through:
which the band is passed before descending again over the notched edge of the
next lower plate, and so on through the entire series, by which arrangement
one band is made to compress the whole of the plates, and hold the papers or
envelopes between them in their proper position laterally at the same time.
A small handle e is formed on the end of each plate for the facility of raising
it slightly when inserting fresh paper or envelopes, the plate being dropped
again where the paper or envelopes have been pushed up to the point at
which the band crosses the plates, when the contents may be easily pushed
home to the back end of the plates. The remainder of the space inside the
desk may be fitted up with the ordinary conveniences for holding penholders,
pencils, and other requisites, matches, stamps, pens, an ink bottle or stand,
and a gum bottle, the last-mentioned bottle being fitted into its case (which
is provided with a spring lid packed with india-rubber to form a stopper) in
an inverted position, that is, with the neck downwards, so that the gum will
nover dry round the neck and obstruct the mouth thereof. C is the slope or
writing surface of the desk, beneath which is a space for containing largo
sized letter paper or letters, the cover being removable, and held in its place
by buttons, as shewn at f, f.
My improved blotter shewn at Figure 3 consists of a number of sheets of
blotting paper cemented together at their edges by means of india-rubber
solution, or other elastic or flexible cement, and having a back piece D also

page_text: comented thereto, composed of leather, leather cloth, or other suitable flexible
material. This blotter when used is to be laid upon the writing with the paper
downwards, and the back only is rubbed or pressed by the hand, by which
means the liability to greasy paper is obviated, as the hand need never come in
contact either with the writing paper or with the surface of the blotting paper,
whilst the flexibility of the blotter greatly facilitates its application.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observo in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the general construction and arrangement of the fittings of writing
desks and apparatus connected therewith, as herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar system or mode of holding note paper, envelopes, or
written documents together by the aid of a metal plate, or a series of metal
plates, compressed together by an elastic band, as herein-before described.
Third, the application and use of blotting pads, provided with flexible backs,.
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Garnett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 28th day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty