VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ON TRUNKS, AND APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MACHINERY, BY MEANS OF WHICH MACHINERY THEY WILL CONTRACT OR EXPAND AT PLEASURE
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, WILLIAM
DAY, of the Strand, in the Parish of Saint Martin's, in the County of
Middlesex, Trunk Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS. His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of November,
in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
William Day, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence that I,
the said William Day, my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully
might, during the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my.
Invention of "VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ON TRUNKS, AND
APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MACHINERY, BY MEANS OF WHICH MACHINERY THEY WILL
CONTRACT OR EXPAND AT PLEASURE;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said William Day, shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and
all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and; become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Day, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in manner following (that is to say):-
The nature of my said Invention, and the object of the same, is the pro-
duction, such as is herein and hereby described, of a trunk, box, or case of
more commodious form, construction, and arrangement of parts than the
article heretofore made bearing those appelations, and which shall effect more
readily, and in a superior manner, the usual purposes of such aforesaid article ;
and I do declare that I produce the same by so constructing my trunk, box, or
case, that it contains within itself the means of encreasing its capacity, internal
dimensions, or capability of containing the articles or matters intended to be
placed in it. And I do declare that the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, is fully and at length explained by the following particular description
of the construction of my said improved trunk, box, or case, reference being
made therein to the annexed explanatory Drawings. In all those Figures of
the annexed Drawings, which are different views of the same things, the
same letters of reference are set against and point out the same parts
respectively.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portmanteau trunk fitted up on the plan
of my Invention. A, A, is the body of the trunk; B, B, the lid; and C, C, a
second or inner box or case, having sides and ends, and a bottom, but no lid,
this is made of such dimensions relatively to the body of the trunk A, A, that
it slides or moves easily within the same; the outer part or body of the
trunk A, A, is made to slide or move upon this second or inner box or
case C, C, so as to enlarge or encrease the capacity or internal dimensions of
the whole trunk at pleasure, by the action of a screw D at each end of the
upper part or body A, A, the heads only of these screws are seen at D, D,
and they are worked the application of a key (Figure 2) to their heads or
upper extremities, which are squared for that purpose. Steadiness of motion
is promoted by projecting steady pins projecting from the body piece A, A, and
sliding in the grooves of two plates of metal, one of which is fixed on the front
side of the second or inner box C, C, and is shewn in Figure 1, and the other
is similarly situated on the opposite side of the box C, C. Figure 3 is a thin
flat or plate made of leather, board, or any suitable material; it is intended
to lay upon two ledges which run horizontally along the inside of each end of
the outer or body piece A, A; one of these ledges is seen in the Figure 1
at F, F; this flat or plate is made fast to the body of the trunk by
buttons G, G, G, G, which turn into suitable slits or openings made in the

page_text: body of the trunk, and this flat or plate I call the press. The action of the
screws which work to expand or extend the trunk, and the mode of attaching
the same to the trunk, is explained by reference to Figures 4, 5, and 6. In
Figure 4 the inner box or case is seen at C, C, with the upper edge or frame
of the body or outer part of the trunk A, A, Figure 1. This frame is com-
posed of two wood pieces H, H, H, H, which form the ends thereof, and two
connecting bars of metal I, I, which form the sides thereof. I take a male
screw of iron or any suitable metal or material, and of about half an inch
diameter, a little more or less, according to the size of the trunk or case,
and containing about eight threads in an inch, the upper end D thereof I file
or cut square to receive a key, by which it is to be worked. I attach it by
this upper end to the wood frame H, H, and attach the lower end or
extremity L to the inner box or case C, C, by means of the plate M; and this
I do at each end of the trunk. Figure 5 is an end view of the inner box or
case C, C, and also the piece H, H, the extremities of the bars I, I, the screw
K, and the plate M, all of which are shewn in perspective in Figure 4. The
mode of working to produce the expansion or extension of the trunk, and the
action of the screw to effect the same, is further explained by reference to
Figure 6. In this Figure K is the before-mentioned screw; D, its head
squared; Y, a washer; and Z, Z, two metal plates, which, being themselves
attached to the wood frame or end H, H, do attach or hold the said screw K
by its upper extremity to the frame or end H, H. At the lower extremity L
of the screw K it passes through a hole in the upper part of the plate M, and
a hollow screw or nut is placed on the screw K. before the plate M; and a
washer x is rivetted on the end of the screw K. (Figure 7 shews the plate M
turned edgewise to the view to explain the introduction of the screw K, and
the action of the nut L); the frame of the body H, H, I, I, being attached as
aforesaid to the upper end of the screw K, and the lower end of the said
screw being attached to the plate M, I then attach the plate M to the inner
box or case C, C, by means of pins, screws, or other suitable fastenings through
the sides M and N of the said plate. The upper or outer box or body of the
trunk, and the inner or lower box thereof, being now described to be connected,
reference to Figure 1 and 4 will explain the mode of working. The puts of
each screw K and K, being confined or attached to the inner or lower box C, C,
if the screws K, K, and work downwards, the upper or outer box (A, A,
Figure 1) will descend or slide downwards over the inner box C, C, gradually
reducing the capacity of the whole trunk; or, if worked upwards, will gradually
extend the capacity of the same. In making an extension, or in reducing the
bulk of the trunk, the screws K, K, are worked alternately a few turns on each.

page_text: I further declare that I do also sometimes use an arrangement, by which
the operation of working the screws K, K, may be performed without shifting
the key with which the said screws were alternately moved or worked in the
contrivance shewn in Figures 1 and 4. Figure 8 shews the arrangement in
which A is a male screw (as before shewn in Figures 1 and 4), and having
bevel wheels or gear B, B, at its lower end, with a rod or bar C connecting it
with-beval wheels or gear D, D, set on the lower end of the screw E, which
is thus worked without shifting the key from the screw A, the screw E is in
this case a left-handed screw.
I further declare that I also use another arrangement to effect the same
purpose; this is shewn in Figure 9, in which A, A, is the upper or outer box
or case of the trunk, and C, C, the lower or inner box or case, and S are two
metal racks affixed to the box C, C; and P and Q are pinions affixed to the
lower part of the front and back sides of the upper or outer box A, A. A
key T, T, of sufficient length to pass through the pinion P, and reach across
the width of the box A, A, is introduced by its farther extremity into the
pinion Q, and by its nearer extremity into the pinion P, the motion or action
of this key will then work the racks S and S together, and effect the required
purpose; in this case the grooves in the lower or inner case C, C, which
receive steady pins from the upper or outer case A, A, are placed at the ends
of the case, as at V in Figure 9.
I further declare that I apply my Invention to any and.every description of
trunk, box, or ense, and that in the manufacture of this my herein specified
Invention I use any of the metals or materials at present in use by or among
trunk and box makers, and adopt and use any of the well known modes of
fastening for fastening the parts of my trunk or box together, either by nails,
screws, or pins, not claiming under my Patent any privilege for such choice of
materials or metals, or modes of fastening, but confining my object, as afore-
said, to that principle of my trunk, box, or case, which allows it to expand or
increase its capacity, and the application of that principle to every description
of trunk or article which is now or may be used for the purposes of a trunk,
and to those methods of performing the same which I have herein and do
hereby specify; declaring that this, my said Specification of the same, does
fully and sufficiently comprehend and explain the true principle and foundation,
and also all the necessary organization and fabric of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixteen.
WILLIAM (L.S.) .DAY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1816, the aforesaid William Day came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixteen.