AN IMPROVED CASTOR FOR FURNITURE
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WALKER, of Weymouth Street, Portland Place, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventeenth day of November, in the eighth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Walker, His especial licence that I, the said John Walker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVED CASTOR FOR FURNITURE;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Walker, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Walker, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention;
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascer-
tained by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following description
thereof (that is to say) :-
In my said Improved Castor for Furniture the point of the main pin of the
castor bears upon a steel cup a, fitted into the bottom of the socket, and which
said steel cup, as well as the point of the pin, being both formed of hardened
steel, it makes them more durable. I likewise fit a loose cylindrical collar b,
upon the upper part of the pin of the castor, which turns upon the pin as a
centre in the manner of a horizontal friction roller, and against which said
collar a circle, or a portion of a circle c, formed upon and above the horns
which carry the roller of the castor, presses or acts so as to keep the bearing
of the pin of the castor in the socket perpendicular, or nearly so, the circle or
portion of a circle c having a lateral pressure upon the collar 6, and thus
permitting the roller and horns to turn in the proper direction with facility.
When the furniture to which the castors are affixed is moved in any required
direction, the collar 6 is prevented from falling by means of a small pin d,
which is passed through a hole made in the main pin of the castor, and the
main pin itself is retained in the socket of the castor by having a circular
groove made around it, in which a screw wire or stud f, fitted securely into
the socket acts, so as to retain the pin in its place. All these arrangements
will be readily understood by a reference to No. 1 of the Figures contained in
the Drawing affixed to this Specification, to the section of the collar b, of No. 1,
to the elevation of the socket, horns, and roller, No. 8; and to the section of
No. 3, the same letters of reference indicating the similar parts in all the
Figures. I can, however, occasionally form the collar 6 of one piece with the
socket, and as shewn in No. of the said Drawing, and against which said
fixed collar the circular part c upon the horns of the castor acts in a similar
manner as 'in the case of the moveable collar 6, shewn in No. 1. I make my
said castor of brass; 'bell-metal, cast or wrought iron, steel, or any other fit
and proper metal, or combination of metals; and in certain instances I reverse
the main pin, placing it upwards instead of downwards, the principles of its
construction and action being however exactly the same in other respects.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Walker, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
JOHN
(L.S.)
WALKER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid John Walker came before our
said Lord the King in His 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 Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.