IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPANNERS AND SCREW KEYS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bernoulli Barlow, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPANNERS AND SCREW KEYS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Edward Gatty, of Paris, in the Republic
of France.
Sealed the 14th February 1873, and dated the 25th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bernoulli
Barlow at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th September 1872.
I, HENRY BERNOULLI BARLOW, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPANNERS AND SCREW
KEYS," being a communication to me from abroad by Edward Gatty, of
Paris, in the Republic of France, to be as follows :-
―:

page_text: are provided with V projections fitting into corresponding recesses in the
body of the spanner or screw key, and held by springs or otherwise, or
the steel plates may be connected to the spanner or screw key in any
other convenient manner.
Secondly. In connecting the jaw piece to the lever or arm of the
screw key or spanner by a hinge and by a spring catch taking into
ratchet teeth made on the hinge of the jaw piece; by this means any
angle can be given to the jaw piece, and when the screw nut or bolt
head is held by the jaw picce it can be turned partly round, and then by
releasing the spring catch which is provided with a tail piece, a fresh
hold is obtained for again turning the nut or bolt without disengaging
the jaws from the nut or head.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditious of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BERNOULLI BARLOW, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Bernoulli
Barlow, my executors, administrators, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPANNERS AND SCREW KEYS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Edward Gatty, of Paris, in the
Republic of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, my executors or administrators, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Henry Bernoulli Barlow, 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 (that is to say) :-
The improvement in spanners and screw keys consists,―
Firstly. In varying the openings in the jaws according to the size
of the screw nut or bolt head by means of movable steel plates, which
are provided with projections fitting into corresponding recesses in the
body of the spanner or screw key, and which are held by springs or
otherwise, or the steel plates may be connected to the spanuer or screw
key in any other convenient manner.
Secondly. In connecting the jaw piece to the lever or arm of the
screw key or spanner by a hinge and by a spring catch taking into
ratchet teeth made on the hinge of the jaw piece; by this means any
angle can be given to the jaw piece, and when the screw nut or bolt
head is held by the jaw piece it can be turned round without disengaging
the jaws from the nut or head.
And in order that this Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thercon.
Fig. 1 is a plan, Fig. 2 an edge view, and Figs. 3 and 4 are end views
of a screw key or spanner constructed according to these improvements.
In this tool, which is only given as an illustration as the dimensions can
be varied, the left hand end is made originally to fit a seven-eighths of
an inch nut or bolt head, and the right-hand end is for a larger one, say
for instance a one and a quarter inch, and in order to vary the opening
in the jaws to fit smaller bolt heads or nuts I make use of the movable
steel plates a, a, which are provided with V projections fitting into
corresponding recesses in the jaws, as shown in Fig. 3, or with recesses

page_text: And, secondly. Connecting the jaw piece to the lever or arm of a
screw key or spanner by a hinge and by a catch lever taking into ratchet
teeth, as shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.