IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDOWS AND IN SASHES OR GLAZED FRAMES, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Brittain at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 15th March 1879.
HENRY BRITTAIN, of the Firm of S. Brittain and Son, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDOWS AND IN SASHES
OR GLAZED FRAMES, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
My Invention has reference principally to the sliding windows of carriage heads,
the folding windows of hansom cabs, the sliding windows of railway and other
carriage doors, and the sliding sashes or glazed frames of show cases and cabinets,
but may also be applied to the sliding windows or sashes of buildings and the like;
and my said Invention consists in part of additions to and modifications of the
Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 18th day of September
1876, No. 3648.
In applying my present Invention to the sliding windows of carriage heads I
construct the outer frames and the inner or sliding frames or sashes of the said
windows and parts connected with them in the following manner :-
In making the outer sheet metal frame I form the small trough and the vertical
web, referred to in my former Patent, in one piece, which web is soldered to the
light hollow bar forming the top of the frame or outer case; I make the other part.
of the case of a larger trough piece having a part constituting the pulley, stile, or
that part on which the inner glazed frame slides, the said. stile part having an
angular figure and running parallel to the face of the casing. The said large
trough piece and stile part are made in one piece; I make the inner sliding glazed
metallic frame or sash of the window hollow or tubular, the outer edge being angular
and having a figure the counterpart of that of the annular stile of the fixed frame
upon which it works. The inner edge of the sliding frame has a trough form to
receive the edge of the glass, which is fixed in its place by putty. The parts con-
stituting the sliding sash or glazed frame are secured together by angle or elbow;
pieces and screws, so that the parts can be taken to pieces for reglazing, or the'
parts of the sliding sash or glazed frame may be connected together by screwing
to one. elbow piece a rod which passes through a tube in the hollow frame and
also through the opposite angle piece at which the said rod is secured by a screw
nut..
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+ f •
In order to prevent the shaking or rattling of the sliding frames in the fixed or
outer metallic frames I provide the top edge of the said fixed frame with a moveable.

page_text: or yielding angular style against which the top angular part of the sliding frame or
sash bears, screw pins carried by springs pressing upon the said moveable or yielding
stile and keeping it in close contact with the top of the sliding frame or sash. The
pressure upon the moveable stile may be regulated by the screw pins carried by the
springs described.
I prefer to make this kind of carriage window in three parts, namely, of a
middle part and two outer parts, the middle part being fixed and the outer parts
capable of sliding to and from the middle one for opening and closing the window.
To prevent the entrance of rain at the fixed middle part the bottom of the outer
frame is furnished with a moveable "fence" rail worked from the inside of the
carriage; this fence rail consists of a slightly curved strip of metal passing under
the bottom of the fixed middle glazed frame and worked by a system of arms or
levers from a thumb plate. When the sliding frames are in their closed positions
and the fence rail is brought into use the said fence rail bridges over and protects
from rain the uncovered part of the outer frame in which the sliding inner frames
work. The said fence rail also acts as a stop or bolt to prevent the sliding of the
sashes or glazed frames. The middle fixed glazed frame may be dispensed with and
two sliding frames only be employed, one of the said frames carrying the moveable
fence rail described. In this arrangement the fixed outer frame has a double angular
face or two flat faces, so that one sliding frame or sash can move in front of the
other. In applying my improvements to the sliding sashes or glazed frames of show
and other cases and cabinets I modify the parts as follows:-I make the outside
moulding, and the double angular sash stiles, and the vertical inner face against
which the inner face of the sliding sash or glazed frame works, of one piece of
sheet metal, the said combined parts being screwed or otherwise fastened to the
wood of the show case or cabinet. I make the upper stile as well as the lower
stile of the fixed frame stationary and I attach to the stile of the sliding sash or
glazed frame friction or pressing shoes acted upon by springs for preventing the
rattling of the sliding sashes, the said shoes being so connected with a thumb bit
or handle on the sliding sash that the act of grasping the said thumb bits depresses
the friction or pressing shoes and permits the sliding sashes to move freely on their
stiles.
In small show cases the top stile may be loose or yielding as described with
respect to the carriage window; I make the metallic frames of the sliding sashes
of show cases and cabinets in the manner before described, excepting that that side
of the hollow metallic frame which bears against the fixed metal moulding on the
show case or cabinet is open and is provided with an elastic packing to effect a
close joint between thesaid sliding sash and the fixed moulding.
I apply my improvements to the windows of buildings substantially as described
with respect to sliding carriage windows.
In applying metallic windows to railway and other carriage doors I make the
frames of the sashes with bevilled edges to fit upon bevilled stiles on the case of the
door, the sectional figure of the said sash frames being somewhat different from
that described in the Specification of the Patent before referred to for permitting
the bearing edge to have applied to it a band or packing of india rubber for
preventing the rattling of the sash in its frame.
For the purpose of retaining the sash or sliding window of the carriage door
in the position to which it may have been brought I make one of the stiles in the
case of the door loose and join it at top to the case of the door. The bottom of
the said loose stile is connected to a spring by which the said stile is pressed forcibly
against the bearing edge of the sliding sash or window. To release the sliding
sash or window the loose or moveable stile is acted upon by a cracked lever so
arranged that one arm of it is depressed by the action of the strap in raising the.
sash, and the other arm of the lever is made to press against the loose stile, so as
to force it from the sash and permit the latter to be raised;. when it is wished to
open the sliding sash the cranked lever is acted upon by a thumb plate near the

page_text: meeting rail; the loose stile is thereby forced from the sash, and the latter falls by
its own weight.
The sliding sash or window last described has motion only in one plane, that is,
it is incapable of being moved outwards or inwards to lift it over the fence rail as
in ordinary carriage door windows or sashes.
My improved sash or window therefore requires a moveable fence rail to take
the place of the ordinary fixed one. The moveable fence rail which I use consists
of a strip of metal jointed to the outer ends of the meeting rail, the said fence rail
being brought into position by the action of the bottom of the sash or window when
the latter is raised to its full extent.
For the windows of hansom cabs I use metallic sash rails or frames of the
construction before described, or made according to the patented Invention before
referred to, the two sashes of which the window is composed being jointed together
in the usual way excepting that a spring is attached to each jointed part near the
hinge to keep the two parts open when at liberty to move; the lower corners of
the bottom part of the window are protected with studs on which concave rollers
are mounted and work, the said rollers travel upon nearly vertical guide rods or
stiles within the cab. The cord by which the window is opened is attached to the
upper part of the window, and the free end of the said cord is passed over a pulley
in the roof of the cab and through a sliding handle working in a tube on the out-
side of the roof. The said cord also passes over a second pulley at the end of the
tube and returns into the cab. This second pulley is carried by a swivelling socket,
so that it can be turned aside by the lateral pressure of the cord, and the handle
which has been pressed into the said socket is turned down so as to engage it with
a cross slot in the tube and thereby lock the handle and fix the window in its raised
position.
The mechanism described permits the occupant of the cab to open or close the
window and to lock the window in its open position. The handle is within reach
of the driver and may be operated by him when required.