IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES." FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Potts, of Handsworth, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
POR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES."
FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES."
Sealed the 14th January 1868, and dated the 20th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Potts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
July 1867.
I, WILLIAM POTTS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of improvements on an Invention described and
represented in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, bearing.
date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty, No. 8471. The said patented Invention consists of an
iron rail affixed to wooden plugs in the walls, the said rail being nearly semi-
circular in cross section, the convex side being turned outwards, and the lower
or inner edge being turned upwards, so as to constitute a rail on which the
hooks for suspending the pictures or other articles can freely slide The said

page_text: iron rail is covered by an ornamental covering of brass or other metal affixed
thereto by small tongues on the said ornamental covering being bent over the
top edge of the iron rail.
My present Invention consists in making the said iron rail with a close
fitting or nearly close fitting ornamental covering of brass or other metal or
material, which said covering when made of metal is affixed to the said rail
of iron by the process of drawing, or by screwing the said rail and ornamental
covering to the wall by screws passing through the said rail and the said
casing. When the ornamental covering is made of a non-metallic substance,
such, for example, as papier mâché, I attach it by shellac or other adhesive
material, or by screws. By drawing the close fitting ornamental metal
covering upon the iron rail less metal is required in the said covering, and the
manufacture of the rail is much facilitated. By attaching a nearly close
fitting ornamental metallic covering by screws, as described, and by making a
non-metallic ornamental covering fit close upon the iron rail, like economy in
material and facility of manufacture are secured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Potts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
Porrs, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord. One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the.
said William Potts, Her special licence that I, the said William Potts, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Potts, 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. APPARATUS
FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Potts, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument. in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,

page_text: 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 Potts, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of improvements on an Invention described and
represented in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, bearing
date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty, No. 8471. The said patented Invention consists of an
iron rail affixed to wooden plugs in the walls, the said rail being nearly semi-
circular in cross section, the convex side being turned outwards, and the lower
or inner edge being turned upwards, so as to constitute a rail on which the
hooks for suspending the pictures or other articles can freely slide. The said
iron rail is covered by an ornamental covering of brass or other metal affixed
thereto by small tongues on the said ornamental covering being bent over the
top edge of the iron rail, or by overlapping the upper and lower edges of the
iron by the brass.
My present Invention consists in making the said iron rail with a close
fitting or nearly close fitting ornamental covering of brass or other metal or
material, which said covering when made of metal is affixed to the said rail of
iron by bending, or by pressure, or by screwing the said rail and ornamental
covering to the wall by screws passing through the said rail and the said
casing. When the ornamental casing is made of a non-metallic substance,
such, for example, as papier mâché, I attach it by shellac or other adhesive
material, or by screws. By forming the close fitting ornamental metal
covering which has been previously stamped upon the iron rail less metal
is required in the said covering, and the manufacture of the rail is much
facilitated. By attaching a nearly close fitting ornamental metallic covering
by screws, as described, and by making a non-metallic ornamental covering
fit closely upon the rail, like economy in material and facility of manufacture
are secured.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents a portion of the foundation of a rail for supporting
pictures or other articles made according to my Invention, and Figure 2

page_text: represents the same with its close fitting or nearly close fitting metallic casing
or covering.
The foundation, Figure 1, is made by preference of iron, and the metallic
covering or casing is made by preference of thin sheet metal. The iron
foundation is marked a in Figures 1 and 2, and the brass covering or casing
is marked b in Figure 2. The rail or apparatus is fixed to the top of the wall
of the room by means of screws c passing through holes d in the rail, the said
screws c taking into wooden plugs driven into the wall. The turned-up
portion e of the rail serves for the reception of the sliding hooks of the kind
represented in Figure 8, to which the pictures or other articles are bung.
The foundation a may be raised from flat sheet metal, either by the process of
drawing, or by pressure in dies. The close fitting covering or casing 6 may
be formed by drawing, and may be put on the foundation a by a sliding
motion. In order to make the said covering or casing fit more tightly upon
the foundation they may be drawn together through a draw plate after the
casing 6 has been put upon the foundation a. Instead of fixing the parts a
and 6 together by drawing the screws c by which the rail is fixed to the wall,
may by the pressure of their heads be made to secure the covering 6 to the
foundation a. The picture rail, Figures 1 and 2, is the simplest form of my
Invention.
Figures 3 and 4 represent a picture rail of another form made according to
my Invention. This rail has the figure, which will be understood by an
examination of the Drawing, and consists of two parts, the foundation of
iron a, and the close fitting covering or casing of brass or other thin sheet
metal b². The foundation a² may be made by drawing or by pressure in dies,
and the covering or casing 62 may be fixed upon the foundation a³ by drawing.
Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, represent modifications of my Invention in which an
ornamented casing or covering is fixed upon the foundation. The ornamented
casing is raised in dies by pressure, or may be formed in any other convenient
manner, and fits closely upon the foundation in all those parts which have the
same figure as the foundation. The ornamented casing after being put upon
the foundation may, if thought desirable, be secured thereto at intervals by
small screws or rivets, or other fastenings. In Figure 8 two of the hooks
which engage with the rail and by which the pictures or other articles are
suspended are represented and marked respectively f, g. The hook f shows
the manner in which the top of the hooks engage with and slide upon the
turned in lower edge of the rail. The rails, Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are
fixed to the wall of the room by means of staples of the kind represented in
Figure 9, or screws of the kind represented in Figure 10. The staple,

page_text: Figure 9, is driven into the wall or joints of the brickwork, and the screw,
Figure 10, is screwed into wood. The heads of the said staples or screws are
made of the form represented, and have a notch or recess h in which the
upper edge of the picture rail engages. In the staple, Figure 9, the picture
rail is represented as engaged in the notch in the staple. When I employ an
ornamental covering or casing made of papier mâché or other non-metallic
substance I attach it to the foundation by shellac or other adhesive matter
employed in the way proper for the adhesive matter used, or I attach the
non-metallic covering or casing to the foundation by screws.
Although I have represented the forms of the foundation of the rails which
in practice I have found most convenient to employ, yet the forms of the
said foundations may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention.
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 do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention, the improvements in apparatus for suspending pictures
and other articles, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, making the said apparatus of a rail or foundation of
iron having a close fitting or nearly close fitting ornamental covering or
casing of brass, or other metal or alloy, or of a non-metallic substance, sub-
stantially as described and illustrated, and attaching the said apparatus
directly to the wall of the room by means of screws, or by making it engage
with staples or screws fixed in the wall of the kind described and represented
in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Potts, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
JOSEPH C. POTTS,
Handsworth.
WILLIAM POTTS. (L.S.)