A NEW OR IMPROVED FASTENING FOR BRACES, BELTS, AND BANDS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Halladay, of No. 30, Burbury Street, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED FASTENING FOR BRACES, BELTS, AND BANDS."
Sealed the 16th May 1879, and dated the 22nd November 1878.
Sealed the 16th May 1879, and dated the 22nd November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Halladay at the Office.
cf the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd November 1878.
HENRY HALLADAY, of No. 30, Burbury Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer. "A NEW OR IMPROVED FASTENING FOR BRACES, BELTS,
AND BANDS."
My Invention consists of a fastening, constructed as herein after described, to be
used for fastening braces, belts, and bands, in place of a buckle or other like
fastening.
The fastening constituting my Invention consists essentially of the following
combination or arrangement of parts. I will describe my Invention as applied to
the fastening of a brace:-
The principal part or frame of the fastening consists of a plate of sheet metal of
somewhat greater width than the band of the brace with which it is used. The
upper part of this plate has a horizontal slot in it. The upper edge of this slot is
serrated or toothed. The tabs of the brace are connected to the lower part of the
frame or body of the fastening. Upon the said frame or body a slide or sliding
plate works, the said slide or sliding plate having the same general figure, but being
smaller than the body of the fastening. The top edge of the slide or sliding plate
is serrated. A short distance below the top serrated edge of the said slide a plain
horizontal slot is made. The top part of the slide, separated excepting at its ends
from the other part, is depressed out of the plane of the other part to a distance
equal to the thickness of the metal of which the body is made. When the slide is
placed on the body the top serrated part lies in the slot in the body, and the opposed
serrated edges of the two parts are in the same plane, the teeth of one serrated edge

page_text: fitting between the teeth of the other. The slide is connected to and made to work
upon the body in the following manner:-In the lower part of the slide is a vertical
slot, in which a guide pin on the body takes. The upper part of this slot is enlarged
sufficiently to receive a cam or excentric carried by a short arm turning upon a pin
fixed to the body of the fastening. When the arm carrying the cam or excentric is
in a horizontal position the slide is in its lowest position, and the serrated edges of
the fastening are separated, but when the arm is depressed in to a vertical position
the cam or excentric raises the slide, and brings its serrated edge close to the serrated
edge of the body.
The end of the web of the brace is passed first between the two serrated edges,
and then through a slot in the slide, the arm being in a horizontal position. When
the brace has been adjusted to the required length the arm is depressed into a
vertical position, when the slide is raised and grips the web between its serrated
edge and that of the body. The arm described is enlarged at its head or where
it is jointed to the body, the enlarged part holding the slide close upon the body.
Instead of employing serrated edges for gripping the web plain edges may be
employed, with the same or nearly the same effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Halladay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th May
1879.
HENRY HALLADAY, of No. 30, Burbury Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer. "A NEW OR IMPROVED FASTENING FOR BRACES, BELTS,
AND BANDS."
My Invention consists of a fastening, constructed as hereinafter described, to be
used for fastening braces, belts, and bands, in place of a buckle or other like
fastening.
The fastening constituting my Invention consists essentially of the following com-
bination or arrangement of parts:-
I will describe my Invention as applied to the fastening of a brace.
The principal part or frame of the fastening consists of a plate of sheet metal of
somewhat greater width than the band of the brace with which it is used. The
said plate has a horizontal slot in it, the upper edge of which slot is serrated or
toothed. The tabs of the brace are connected to the lower part of the frame or
body of the fastening. Upon the said frame or body a slide or sliding plate works,
the Faid slide or sliding plate having the same general figure as, but being smaller
than, the body of the fastening. The top edge of the slido or sliding plate is
serrated. A short distanco below the top serrated edge of the said slide a plain
horizontal slot is made. The top part of the slide (separated excepting at its ends
from the other part) is depressed out of the plane of the other part to a distance
equal to the thickness of the metal of which the body is made. When the slide is

page_text: placed on the body the top serrated part lies in the slot in the body, and the opposed
serrated edges of the two parts are in the same plane, the teeth of one serrated
edge fitting between the teeth of the other. The slide is connected to and made to
work upon the body in the following manner :-
In the body are vertical slots, in which pins on the slide work. The upper part
of the slide has an opening in it to receive a cam or eccentric turning upon a pin
fixed to the body of the fastening, and having an arm for moving it. By giving
different positions to the cam or eccentric the slide may be raised to its highest
position or depressed to its lowest position on the body, so that the serrated edges
of the two parts are brought together or separated from one another, and the band
either gripped or released. The end of the web of the brace is passed first between
the two serrated edges and then through a slot in the slide, the said slide being in
its lowest position. When the brace has been adjusted to the required length the
arm of the cam or eccentric is moved so as to raise the slide, and cause the web to
be gripped between its serrated edge and that of the body. The arm described is
enlarged at its head or where it is jointed to the body, the enlarged part holding the
slide close upon the body.
Instead of employing serrated edges for gripping the web plain edges may be
employed, with the same or nearly the same effect.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front clevation, and Figure 2 in vertical section, my new
or improved fastening applied to the fastening of a brace, the gripping edges of the
fastening being represented separated from each other and the brace released;
Figure 3 represents the same view of the fastening as Figure 1 without the brace;
Figure 4 represents in section the fastening with the parts in their gripping position;
Figure 5 represents a front elevation of the same, and Figure 6 a cross section of
the same without the brace; Figure 7 represents a front elevation of the brace
fastening, showing the cam or eccentric in section; Figure 8 represents a front
elevation of the body or frame of the fastening separately; and Figure 9 represents
a front elevation and cross section of the slide part separately; Figure 10 represents
the eccentric or cam and its arm separately.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
Drawing.
To
a is the body or frame of the fastening, having in it a wide horizontal slot b.
The upper edge of this slot forms the gripping edge of one part of the fastening,
and the said edge may either be plain as represented, or serrated, or toothed.
the loop c at the bottom of the body or frame a the tabs d, d (Figure 1), are con-
nected in the ordinary way. e is the slide or sliding plate moving upon the body
or frame a. The said slide e has the same general figure as the upper part of the
frame or body a, as best seen in Figures 8 and 9. At the lower part of the slide e
is a bar f curved in transverse section, the convex side being outwards. The top
edge of the bar may either be plain as represented, or serrated, or toothed.
Above the bar f is a plain horizontal slot g. The bar is bent out of the plane of
the other part of the slide e, the gripping upper edge of the said bar f and the top
gripping edge of the slot 6 of the frame or body a of the fastening being in the
same plane, as seen in the cross sections, Figures 2, 4, and 6. The inner ends of
the slide e and the bar f work on the inside of the ends of the frame or body a,
and assist in guiding the said slide in its motion upon the body. The slide e is
connected to the body and guided in its motion by means of vertical studs or pro-
jections h, h, on the back of the slide e working in vertical slots i, i, in the body or
frame a. The motion of the slide e upon the body a is effected, and the said slide held
in its gripping position or unfastening position, by the following arrangement:-In
the upper part of the slide e is an elliptical opening e2, in which a cam or eccentric k
works. This cam or eccentric turns upon a pin 7 rivetted to the body a. Upon the
said cam or eccentric is a rim m situated on the outside of the slide e, and serves to
hold the slide e close upon the body a. On the said rim m an arm n is secured

page_text: for working the cam or eccentric k. The cam k, rim m, and arm n are made in one
piece.
and causes
By moving the cam or eccentric through the required angle by means of its
its arm n the said cam works in the elliptical opening e² in the slide
the said slide to rise or fall upon the body or frame a and grip or release the web
of the brace, as herein-after explained. The end of the web p of the brace is
passed first between the gripping edge of the slot b in the body or frame a and the
top gripping edge of the bar f of the slide e, and the said end of the web p is then
passed around the bar f and through the lower part of the slot b in the body or
frame a to the back of the said body or frame, as seen in the cross sections.
When the slide e is in its lowest position, as represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3,
the brace web p is unfastened, being free to move in the space or slot between the
top of the bar f on the slide e and the top edge of the slot b in the frame a, and
the brace may be adjusted. When the brace has been adjusted the arm n of the
eccentric is turned through a semicircle from the position represented in Figures 1,
2, and 3 to that represented in Figures 4, 5, and 6, or approaching to that position,
according to the thickness of the web of the brace. The slide c is thereby raised on
the frame a, and the top or gripping edge of the bar f of the said slide is made to
grip the web p between itself and the top edge of the slot b in the body a, and the
brace is fastened.
The eccentric or cam k may be made to grip or release the brace by a motion
through a less angle than that described.
I apply my Invention to the fastening of belts and bands, substantially in the
maner herein-before described and illustrated with respect to a brace buckle or
fastening.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention
the new or improved fastening for braces, belts, and bands, herein-before described,
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a fastening consisting
essentially of a frame or body and a slide capable of sliding upon the said frame or
body, the brace, belt, or band being gripped between the said slide and the frame or
body and released therefrom by the action of a cam or eccentric working in an
opening in the said slide and turning upon a pin or centre on the frame or body,
the several parts being constructed and acting substantially as described and illus-
trated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Halladay, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
HENRY HALLADAY. (L.S.)