IMPROVED Apparatus FOR STRETCHING PAINTING, PICTURE, AND OTHER FRAMES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Smith, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVED Apparatus
FOR STRETCHING PAINTING, PICTURE, AND OTHER FRAMES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by James Fairman, of New York, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 7th October 1871, and dated the 17th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas James Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th April 1871.
I, THOMAS JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING PAINTING, PICTURE, AND OTHER FRAMES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to improve the construction and
arrangement of the stretcher frames for oil paintings and pictures.
The sections which compose the stretchers now in use are at present
jointed at the corners by tenons and mortices, and can be spread by

page_text: wedges which are forced between the adjoining edges. The construc-
tion of the sections with such tenons and mortices is expensive and does
not produce reliable articles, as the wood is considerably weakened
thereby.
To obviate the latter deficiency, and also reduce the expense of
making the stretchers, I employ a metallic connecting plate, which
enters the slotted or grooved mitered ends of two adjoining sections of
the frame, holding the same properly together. This said connecting
or joining plate has a projecting rib on one face, which entering trans-
verse grooves prevents the sections from slipping apart. I also employ
a forked wedge, which is interposed between the adjoining sections of
the frame to straddle the joining plate and force the sections apart.
A, B, in Figure 1 represents portions of the adjoining sections of the
stretcher frame. They are mitered to fit together at the corners, and
have their mitered ends grooved for the reception of the joining plate C,
Figure 3. This plate is made of metal of sufficient length and width and
enters the grooves of the adjoining sections, as shown. From one face
of the plate C projects a transverse rib a entering corresponding grooves
in the sections, and serving to prevent the sections from being spread
apart; such rib may be provided, if desired, on each side of the plate.
D is a wedge forked, as shown in Fig. 2. It is applied between the
sections A, B, so as to straddle the plate C, and separates the sections
to the desired extent.
The same Invention, that is to say, the joining plate C having the
riba and the forked wedge, may be arranged between other than mitered
ends of sections, as, for example, in the middle of cach side of the
stretcher.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas James Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year.

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas James Smith, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas James Smith, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas James Smith,
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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING PAINTING, PICTURE, AND OTHER FRAMES,"
(communicated to me from abroad by James Fairman, of New York, in
the United States of America,) upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas James Smith, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 dato of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas James Smith, 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, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to improve the construction and
arrangement of the stretcher frames for oil paintings and pictures.
The sections which compose the stretchers now in use are at present
jointed at the corners by tenons and mortices, and can be spread by
wedges, which are forced between the adjoining edges. The con-
struction of the sections with such tenons and mortices is expensive,
and does not produce reliable articles, as the wood is considerably
weakened thereby.
To obviate the latter deficiency and also reduce the expense of
making the stretchers, I employ a metallic connecting plate which
enters the slotted or grooved mitered ends of two adjoining sections
of the frame, holding the same properly together. This said connecting
or joining plate has a projecting rib on one face, which entering trans-
verse grooves prevents the sections from slipping apart. I also employ

page_text: a forked wedge, which is interposed between the adjoining sections of
the frame to straddle the joining plate and force the sections apart.
A, B, in Figure 1 represents portions of the adjoining sections of the
stretcher frame. They are mitered to fit together at the corners, and
have their mitered ends grooved for the reception of the joining plate C, &
Figure 3. This plate is made of metal of sufficient length and width,
and enters the grooves of the adjoining sections, as shown. From one
face of the plate C projects a transverse rib a entering corresponding
grooves in the sections and serving to prevent the sections from being
spread apart; such rib may be provided, if desired, on each side of the 1
plate. D is a wedge forked as shown in Figure 2. It is applied between
the sections A, B, so as to straddle the plate C, and separates the sections
to the desired extent.
The same Invention, that is to say the joining plate C having the
rib a and the forked wedge, may be arranged between other than ]
mitered ends of sections, as, for example, in the middle of each side of
the stretcher.
Figure 1 is a detail face view showing one corner of a stretcher with
my improvement.
Figuro 2 is a detail edge view of the mitre and separating wedge.
Figure 3 is a face view of the new joining plate.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
Firstly. The joining plate C provided with the rib a and applied
to a stretcher for painting, picture, and other frames, as hercin-before
described & shown.
Secondly. The forked wedge D combined with the joining plate C to
straddle the same when spreading the stretcher, as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October One 3
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
ค
AFTATY