AN IMPROVED METHOD OF JOINING BOXES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF JOINING BOXES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Wright Duryea, of New York City, United States
of America.
Sealed the 3rd October 1862, and dated the 3rd May 1862,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd May 1862.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for " AN IMPROVED METHOD OF JOINING BOXES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention and improvement in the construction of boxes has for its
object to join the ends of boxes in a more perfect, neat, and efficient manner
than can be done with nails, glue, or by dovetailing the ends.
The Invention consists in the employment of strips of metal bent into an

page_text: angular form and inserted endwise into the slots cut into the bevelled ends of
the box stuff, so that these strips, when inserted, will bind and secure the
corners tightly together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me
the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and 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 Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF JOINING BOXES," being a com-
munication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object to join the ends of boxes in a more perfect,
neat, and efficient manner than can be done with nails, or glue, or by dove-
tailing the ends.

page_text: The Invention consists in the employment of strips of metal bent into an
angular form and inserted endwise into the slots cut into the bevelled ends of
the box stuff, by sawing or otherwise, as will be herein-after described, so that
these strips, when inserted, will bind and secure the corners tightly together.
In the accompanying Drawings representing this Invention and to which
reference is bad, Fig. 1 is a perspective view, showing four sides of a box joined
together in the improved manner; Fig. 2 shows a horizontal section of two
sides of a box joined; Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the angular
strip used in uniting the ends of the box. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the three Figures.
The stuff of which the boxes are made is worked out in the usual manner
and the corners are bevelled as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. For ordinary boxes
the top and bottom may be nailed on in the usual manner, so that the sides
may be put together to form a rectangular box. The bevelled or mitred ends of
the stuff are then presented to a saw, and a deep slot is cut into cach. This
slot runs through the entire end of the piece from edge to edge; the width of
the slots will depend upon the thickness of the metal strips that are used in
joining the ends, but ordinary stiff sheet metal will be found best adapted to
the
purpose.
The joining strips, one of which is shown in Fig. 3, are made of narrow
strips of thin metal, which are bent longitudinally at right angles or nearly so,
as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, at a, a, forming, when the strip is inserted
into the corners of the box, locks, for giving additional security to the joint.
These strips are cut the required length, and when the sides forming the box
are put together and held by the hand, the strips are inserted into the grooves
or slots previously cut into the ends of the sides, and pressed or hammered
down. It will be seen that there are no slots made to receive the angular
elges a, a; these edges, after the strips are started, will form their own
channels across the grain of the wood, and thus hold more tightly.
When the sides and ends of the box are put together in this manner with
angular strips of metal, they are introduced into the wood, the bottom of the
box may be nailed on, or for very nice boxes it may be put on with the metal
strips, the top may be made to slide, or may be nailed on, or attached in any
suitable manner.
Having now described this Invention of "An Improved Method of Joining
Boxes," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, joining the ends of boxes by

page_text: means of an angular strip of metal inserted into the corners of the box, as
hercin set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)