IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTT HINGES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Snell, of 16, Clement's Inn, in the City
of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTT HINGES."
-A communication from abroad by William Henry Hayes, of New
York City, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Snell at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 22nd May 1863, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SNELL, of No. 16, Clement's Inn, in the City of Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BUTT HINGES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn declaration that the same is a communication-
to me from abroad by William Henry Hayes, of New York City, United
States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Snell, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully de-
scribes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement and accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-

page_text: eyes of the two leaves A, B, and keeps the two parts of the hinge together,
allowing them at the same time to have the usual free swinging motion. I
thus dispense with a central axis or solid pintle common in sectional eyed
hinges, and introduce within the cylinder D a strong spiral spring C, which is
nearly if not quite equal in length to the cylinder D. The ends of the wire
ends of this spring so
of the spiral spring C are bent diametrically across the
as to pass between the prongs of the bifurcated lugs G, G, on caps E and F,
as shown in the Figures 1 and 2 of the. Drawings, for the purpose of being
held rigidly in their places by said lugs. The method hitherto adopted of
passing the ends of the spring wire into perforations which were made. in 'the
ends of the caps E, F, has been found objectionable, as the ends of the wire
were liable to slip out of their places, the wire to bend, &c.; but where the
ends of the spring wire are bent, as described and represented, and passed
between the forks of the bifurcated lugs G, G, the ends of the spring will be
substantially held in their places. The two caps E and F differ somewhat
one with the other in their construction. The lower cap F has an annular
depression or neck, which fits into the end of eye a¹ of leaf A. The flange e
abuts against the end of eye a¹ and pin i, which passes diametrically through
eye a', and cap F keeps this cap rigidly fixed to the eye a¹ of leaf A. G² is
the bifurcated lug of cap F, which holds the lower end of the spring C; cap E,
or the upper cap, which is to be rotated in the operation of increasing or
diminishing the action of spring C upon the leaves of the hinge, consists of an
enlarged perforated portion k, a reduced perforated portion n, an annular
groove p, flange p', and the bifurcated lug G, which latter corresponds with
the lug on cap F. The portions n, p, p, and lug G pass into the eye b' of
leaf B, and the portions n and p₁ fit snugly, but not very tightly within this
eye 6. The perforations s, s, in portion k, are used merely for the purpose of
receiving the end of a lever for turning the cap E to the right or to the left;
but the perforations 7, 7, in the neck n are intended to receive the end of the
setting pin w, which passes through a perforation near the upper end of the
eye b' of leaf B, and locks or affixes the leaf B to the cap E. The anuular
groove p receives a number of screws, pins, f, f, which are tapped through eye
61 of the leaf B. The ends of these pins f, f, pass into the annular groove p,
and allow the cap E to rotate, but the pins keep the cap from being forced or
drawn out of the eye b¹. It will now be seen that cap F is rigidly fixed to the
eye a' of leaf A by means of pin i, and that cap E can be rotated so as to wind
up or unwind spring C, and also that this cap E can be fixed to the eye b¹ of leaf
B, by introducing pin w through eye b¹ into any one of the radial perforations
v, v, in neck n. When the setting pin wo is not in its place, the hinge will