AN IMPROVED CRAMP OR IMPROVED CRAMPS FOR CRAMPING FLOORS, DOORS, AND JOINERS AND SHIP WORK GENERALLY.
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bissell, of Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Factor, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
CRAMP OR IMPROVED CRAMPS FOR CRAMPING FLOORS, DOORS, AND
JOINERS AND SHIP WORK GENERALLY.".
Sealed the 23rd March 1853, and dated the 7th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bissell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th October 1852.
I. WILLIAM BISSELL do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for AN IMPROVED CRAMP OR IMPROVED CRAMPS FOR CRAMPING
FLOORS, DOORS, AND JOINERS' AND SHIP WORK GENERALLY," to be as follows,
namely:
The cramp consists of a frame fixed to one of the joists on which the
boarding to be cramped is laid. The said frame is fixed on the said joist
by one side (namely, the fixed side,) being placed on one side of the
said joist, and the other side of the said frame (namely, the moveable
side,) being placed on the other side of the said joist; the said moveable
side consists of a curved surface which turns on an axis on the fixed
part of the frame, and being eccentric to its axis it may be made by
Invention for AN IMPROVED CRAMP OR IMPROVED CRAMPS FOR CRAMPING
FLOORS, DOORS, AND JOINERS' AND SHIP WORK GENERALLY," to be as follows,
namely:-
The cramp consists of a frame fixed to one of the joists on which the
boarding to be cramped is laid. The said frame is fixed on the said joist
by one side (namely, the fixed side,) being placed on one side of the
said joist, and the other side of the said frame (namely, the moveable
side,) being placed on the other side of the said joist; the said moveable
side consists of a curved surface which turns on an axis on the fixed
part of the frame, and being eccentric to its axis it may be made by

page_text: being more or less turned to grasp joists of different thicknesses. On
the said frame is a screw working in bearings on the said frame, and
carrying a screw box connected with an arm or bolt, the head of which
is placed against the board to be cramped. By turning the said screw
the screw box and bolt connected therewith are carried forward and the
boards compressed. The screw is worked by a winch. through the
medium of bevil gear. I sometimes fix the cramp on the joist by
causing it to grasp the said joist by means of a screw!
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bissell in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 5th April 1858.
.TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,. 1,
WILLIAM BISSELL, of Wolverhampton, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said. William Bissell, Her special licence
that I, the said William Bissell, my executors, administrators, and.
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Bissell, iny 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 "AN IMPROVED.
CRAMP OR IMPROVED CRAMPS FOR CRAMPING FLOORS, DOORS, AND JOINEKS
AND SHIP WORK GENERALLY," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Bissell, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the saine was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and inimediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Bissell, 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 thereof (that is to say): "
My Invention consists, firstly, of a self-fastening flooring cramp,
that is to say, of a flooring cramp which does not require to be fastened
previous to using to the joist upon which it is laid, but which, on being
l'aid upon the said joists, fastens itself thereon immediately it is made to
commence the cramping of the boards to be attached to the said joists;
and, secondly, of new or improved mechanisin for effecting the cramping
of floors and other boards as herein-after particularly explained. Figure
1, represents a plan of my Invention, and Figure 2, represents a side
elevation of the same, the parts in both Figures having the positions
given to them when the cramp is laid upon a joist the boards to be
attached to which the said cramp is intended to cramp or compress.
The same letters indicate the same parts in both Figures: a, is the frame
or base of the cramp to which the several working parts are attached;
6, is a side plate situated in a plane at right angles to that in which the
part a, is situated, the said plate b, is furnished with a number of teeth
c, c, c, (shewn in dotted lines in Figure 1); d, is a slide which works in
a bed forined for its reception in the frame or base a; e, is an axis
working in the collars f, and g, on the frame or base of the cramp; a
bevil toothed wheel h, is affixed to one end of the axis e, as shewn in
the Drawing, and that portion of the said axis e, which is situated
between the two bearings f, g, has a screw i, made upon it, as shown in
the Drawing; k, is a screw box, through which the screw i, passes; the
said screw box k, is attached to the slide d, so that when the bevil
wheel h, is turned the rotation of the screw i, causes the screw box k,
and slide d, to advance or recéde; a second axis l, situated in a line at
right angles to the former and working in a collar m, affixed to the
frame or base of the cramp, carries at one end a bevil pinion n, and
at its other end the crank or handle o; the said pinion n, engages in the
bevil wheel h, so that by turning the handle or crank o, the slide d, is
made to advance or recede; p, is a slot in the frame or base of the
cramp, through which said slot-an axis q, passes by the shoulder r, on

page_text: one side of the base a, and a thumb screw or nuts, on the other;
the said axis can be fixed in any part of the said slot p; t, is an arm or
lever turning upon the axis q; the form of the said arm or lever is best
seen in Figure 1, in which said Figure part of the said arm or lever is
represented in dotted lines, being situated underneath the base a; the
curved part of the said arm or lever is furnished with teeth u, u, and
the curvature of the said toothed part is (as shown in the Drawing),
excentric to the axis q, on which the said arm or lever works; I
will herein-after call the curved and toothed part the excentric u. The
action of my improved cramp is as follows:-The said cramp is laid upon
the joist (upon which the boards are to be cramped), with all its parts
in the positions represented in the Drawing. The joist is indicated in
the Figures by the dotted lines v, v, the arm or levert, is then turned
in the direction indicated by the arrow w, in Figure 1, until its
excentric u, comes in contact with the side v', of the joist e, by which
its further motion is prevented. The joist is thus grasped on one side
by the toothed plate b, and on the other by the excentric, of the arm
or lever t, but the said cramp does not become firmly fixed upon the
said joist until by the turning of the crank or handle s, the slide d, is
made to press against and cramp the board a. When the said slide
presses against the said board æ, the consequent reaction or back
pressure tends to make the frame or base of the cramp slide back on
the said joists v, vl, that is to say, in the direction indicated by
the arrow y, the effect of which sliding is to cause the arm or lever t
to move in the direction indicated by the arrow w, and the excentric u,
to pass from the position in which it is represented to that indicated by
the curved line u', Figure 1; but as in this motion of the said excentric
the distance between its toothed face and the toothed plate 6, (between
which two toothed surfaces the joist v, v, is grasped) is diminished,
the effect of the said motion is to cause the cramp to grasp the joist the
more tightly, and speedily to check the tendency to récede. During the
continuance of the motion of the handle t, in the direction proper to
effect the cramping, and until the said motion is reversed, the pressure
of the slide d, on the board c, maintains the reaction which fixes the
cramp on the joist, but as soon as the pressure on the board x, is

page_text: relaxed by turning the handle t, in the direction proper to effect the
same, the reaction or back pressure in question ceases, and the cramp is
no longer fixed to the joists. By means of the thumb screw or nuts,
and slot p, the axis, on which the excentric, turns can be placed at
a greater or less distance from the plate b, so as to accommodate the
cramp to joists of different thicknesses.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not limit myself to the precise manner of carrying my
Invention into effect herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention.
I claim,-
But
Firstly, the construction of a flooring cramp which fixes itself on the
joist, or which it is placed, and across which the boards to be cramped
are situated, the self-fixing of the said cramp being ellected by the
reaction or back pressure occasioned by the said cramping, causing the
two surfaces between which the joist is grasped by the said cramp to
approach each other, and grasp the said joist the more tightly in
proportion as the said reaction or back pressure is greater, whether the
said self-fixing mechanism be used in connection with the cramping
mechanism herein described or otherwise.
Secondly, the arrangement of mechanism for cramping herein
described, whether the same be used in connection with the self-fixing
mechanism berein described or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bissell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
Ron. H. WHITEHEAD.
WILL BISSELL. (L.S.)