IMPROVEMENTS IN BILL OR LET- TER HOLDERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Charlesworth, of the City of York,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BILL OR LET-
TER HOLDERS."
Sealed the 1st September 1853, and dated the 1st March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Charlesworth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st March 1853.
I, EDWARD CHARLESWORTH, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BILL OR LETTER HOLDERS" to be as
follows:-
The improved bill or letter holder for which I desire Letters Patent
consists principally of a circular, ovular, or other conveniently shaped
spring ring, which is cut or separated at one part so that the ring may
be opened in order to allow the bills or letters to be placed thereon;
after which, owing to the elasticity of the spring, the ring will always
keep closed, except when the ends are forcibly drawn apart.

page_text: This spring ring is fixed in a handle, which is furnished with a clip for
the purpose of holding a card, on which any inscription may be placed.
When bills or letters are to be placed on the holder, the ring is to
be opened, and one of the ends passed through a hole in the bill or
letter. But, in order to protect the hole, and prevent the bill or letter
from being torn with ordinary usage, I employ circular or oval or other
suitable shaped rings or discs made of thick paper or card, parchment,
or other suitable material, which, being made adhesive on one side,
may be stuck on any convenient part of the bill or letter, and the wire
of the spring ring being passed through the hole made therein, it will
not be so liable to tear off as heretofore; and any particular letter or
bill may be taken off the holder without removing any others.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Charlesworth, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 1st September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD CHARLESWORTH, of the City of York, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Charlesworth, Her special licence that I, the
said Edward Charlesworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edward Charlesworth, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 BILL OR
LETTER HOLDERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Charlesworth, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: 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 Edward Charlesworth, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
The improved bill or letter holder for which I have obtained Letters
Patent as aforesaid consists of a wire pointed at one end, and hollowed
or drilled out at the other, and then bent into a spiral coil or ring, as
shewn in the annexed drawing, Fig. 1. On forcibly pulling the
extremities of this coil in opposite directions the point at one end may
be lodged within the hollow at the other, so as to form the coil of wire
into a ring, with a socket joint at one point; and which joint will
remain closed by the elastic force of the ring or coil of wire so long as
the ends are not forcibly unsocketed.
This ring or coil of wire (which I call the "holder ring") I fix in a
handle, which handle, besides being a convenient appendage in the
ordinary manual use of the Invention by preventing the bills or letters
from passing that point of the ring at which the handle is attached,
readily enables such bills or letters as have been first filed to be dis-
tinguished from those put on at a subsequent date. Fig. 2, represents
the ring or coil mounted in a handle.
The holder, in the form above described, may be conveniently hung
upon a nail or hook, after the manner of ordinary bill and letter files,
and taken down for use as required; but, in order to give greater
facilities for its use when in very frequent requisition, I employ a block
or stand made of wood, or other suitable material, having a central
perforation, into which the handle of the holder may be fixed. Fig. 8,
represents a bill or letter file mounted in this manner.
The block may
also have a cleft or groove b, b, made therein, as shewn in the plan view,
Fig, 4, to allow of the holder being fixed in the stand by the ring;

page_text: but in this latter case I insert a moveable plug or wedge into the hole
or perforation a, at the side of the groove, in order to assist in fixing
the holder securely in the block.
This block I employ as a stand for the holder ring, either with or
without the handle, as I may find it convenient, as shewn at Figures 5,
and 6.
In placing bills or letters upon the holder I pass the pointed end of
the wire through the paper; but as, for various reasons, it may be
found more convenient to pass the wire through the margin instead
of through the centre or middle of the bill or letter, I employ rings or
discs of adhesive cardboard, paper, parchment, or other suitable mate-
rial, which, being stuck upon the bill or letter, strengthen that part
through which the wire of the holder is intended to pass, thereby
rendering it less liable to tear from rough usage. I call these rings
or discs "adhesive protectors," one of which is shown, detached, at
Fig. 7; and when I wish to avoid making a hole in a paper that I
have occasion to file, I attach the protector by only a portion of its
adhesive surface, allowing the unattached portion to project beyond the
margin of the paper in question, as shewn at Fig. 8; and through
this free portion of the protector 1 pass the wire of the holder.
These "adhesive protectors " I place in a box, which may be attached
to the handle of the holder, as shown at Fig. 2, or be sunk in a space
hollowed out in the block or stand, as shown at Fig. 4, or they may
.be kept detached from either.
In removing any one particular bill or other document from the
holder, the ends of the wire must be socketed or connected, so as to
form a ring; and those bills which are above the one required to be
removed must be passed over the joint, which latter is to be then
unsocketed to allow of the bill in question being removed. But if
bills are filed by means of the "adhesive protectors" any bill may be
removed by simply tearing through the protector.
It is obvious that the form of the protectors, as well as the form of
handle for the holder, ring, and stand for the same, may be varied in a
great variety of ways: I do not, therefore, intend to confine myself to
those particular forms of which I have given drawings.

page_text: Having now described my Invention, and the best means with which
I am at present acquainted for carrying it into effect, I claim, in con-
clusion, the exclusive right to the manufacture of bill and letter holders
constructed as herein shewn and described. I also claim the use and
manufacture of the "adhesive protectors" for the purposes above shewn
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Charlesworth, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
EDWARD CHARLESWORTH. (LS.)
Witness, HENRY BAINES, Museum, York.