IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKING CASES OR CRATES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Blake, Joseph William Shaw, and
Edward Fulton, all of West Hartlepool, in the County of Durham,
Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKING CASES OR
CRATES."
Sealed the 18th January 1876, and dated the 19th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Blake, Joseph
William Shaw, and Edward Fulton at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th November
1875.
We, WILLIAM BLAKE, JOSEPH WILLIAM SHAW, and EDWARD FULTON,
all of West Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKING
CASES OR CRATES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to improvements in the construction
of cases or crates for holding or containing merchandise and other goods,

page_text: has for its object to form the said cases or crates in such a manner that
when empty or out of use they may be folded up, and so made to occupy
less space.
The Invention consists in constructing the sides and ends of packing
cases or crates of iron tubes, the joints of which at the angles are made t
by screwing or otherwise inserting the ends of the various horizontal
and vertical tubes composing the frames into knee pieces after the
manner of joining pipes when laid at an angle relatively with each
other. Each side and end of the case or crate is hinged or jointed at
its lower part to the bottom, the hinge being made by passing the 1
lower horizontal tube through eyes bolted or otherwise fixed to the
bottom or sole. The sides and ends are constructed independently of
each other, and when opened out or in the position to contain goods
they are held together at the corners by suitable arrangements of hinged
clasps.
When the case or crate is out of use the clasps are folded back and
the sides and ends turned down flat over the bottom or sole of the case
or crate, in which position they are retained by the clasps herein-before
referred to, or by other equivalent means.
The sides, ends, and also the bottom or sole of the case or crate, con-
structed in accordance with this Invention, may be wholly or entirely
composed of iron tubes, as set forth, or the framing only of the said
sides, ends, and sole may be so composed, the spaces contained by the
frames being filled in, at the desired distances apart, with bars or strips
of hoop iron or other light material:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Blake, Joseph William Shaw, and Edward
Fulton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BLAKE, JOSEPH WILLIAM SHAW, and EDWARD FULTON, all of West 30
Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date, the Nineteenth day of November, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Blake, Joseph William
Shaw, and Edward Fulton, Her special license that we, the said
5 William Blake, Joseph William Shaw, and Edward Fulton, our exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Blake, Joseph William Shaw, and Edward Fulton, our
executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PACKING CASES OR CRATES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Blake, Joseph William Shaw, and
Edward Fulton, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said 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 we, the said William Blake, Joseph William
Shaw, and Edward Fulton, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our said Invention, which relates to improvements in the construction
of cases or crates for holding merchandise and other goods, has for its
object to form the said cases or crates in such a manner that when
empty or out of use they may be folded up and so made to occupy
less space.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood, we
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, reference being had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-

page_text: On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended,—
Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a plan; Figure 3, an end
elevation; and Figure 4, a transverse section of the improved packing
case or crate as constructed in accordance with our said Invention.
These Figures illustrate the form of the packing case or crate when in
use, that is to say, with its sides and ends in position for receiving such
articles as are to be contained within the case or crate.
Figure 5 is an end elevation of the case or crate when out of use, or
with its sides and ends folded down over the bottom or sole A.
Figures 6 to 13 inclusive are respectively full size details of parts
of the improved crate, and are herein-after more particularly referred to.
As shewn by Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, the sides B and ends C of the
case or crate are composed of frames formed of iron tubes, the joints of
which at the angles are made by screwing the adjacent ends of the
vertical and horizontal tubes into elbow pieces D. Midway between
the top and bottom of each frame B, C, another horizontal tube E is
attached to the vertical end tubes by screwed T or analogous
couplings D'; or the juncture of these and of the other tubes con-
stituting the sides B and ends C may be effected by welding the
tubes together, or by casting the elbow and T joints on the pipes,
or by other equivalent means. The spaces contained by the side and
end frames B and C are filled up at the desired distances apart with
bars or strips F of hoop iron or other light material.
Each side and end of the case or crate is hinged or jointed at its lower
part to the rectangular bottom A, which, as shewn on the Drawing, is
composed of a flat iron bar framing filled in at the desired distances
apart with strips a of hoop iron.
'
Figure 6 is a side elevation, and Figure 7, an end elevation of the
hinges H employed to connect the two ends C and one side B to the
bottom or sole A, the other side B being connected to the bottom by
the hinges I, which, as shewn in side elevation at Figure 8, and in end
elevation at Figure 9, are shorter than the hinges H.
Besides being permanently and independently connected to the bottom
or sole A, the sides and ends of the case or crate are, when in the position

page_text: shewn at Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Drawings, attached to each
other by books J, details of which are illustrated at Figures 10 and 11
of the Drawings, and by catches K, shewn in detail at Figures 12 and 13;
the opposite sides B of the crate are also connected together by the
bar L and chain M, as shewn.
When it is desired to fold up the case or crate into the position shewn
on Figure 5 of the Drawings, the bar L is removed and the hooks J
turned backwards. The split pins 6 by which the catches K on the
ends Care held round the vertical tubes of the sides B are then with-
drawn and the catches folded back on their centres c. The sides B are
then folded downwards over the bottom A, beginning with that side
which has the shorter hinges I. The ends C are next folded down and
fastened by passing the catches K round the tubular portions of the
sides B, and inserting the split pins & into and through the holes made
to receive them in the catches and in the flat top bars of the ends C.
By this arrangement the sides and ends are securely retained in position
when folded downwards.
Under a modifieation of our said Invention instead of filling in the
space enclosed by the tubular frames of the sides B and ends C with
strips or bars of hoop iron, as herein-before described and shewn on the
Drawings, the said spaces may be filled in at the desired intervals
with tubular ribs attached to the vertical or horizontal tubes of the
side and end frames under any of the modes herein-before set forth.
The bottom or sole A may also be made with a tubular instead of a
flat iron framing, and if desired it may be filled in with tubular ribs,
it being explained that we do not confine ourselves to construct the
improved packing case or crate precisely in the manner herein-before
described and shewn on the Drawings, as the same is capable of
various modifications without departing from the essential features of
our said Invention.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, we would
observe in conclusion that what we consider to be novel and original
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the improved packing case or crate,

page_text: herein-before described and shewn on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
appended, or any mere modification thereof, constructed of iron tubes,
or of iron tubes and bars or strips of hoop iron, and with the sides and
ends so arranged as to be capable of folding downwards and upwards to
and from the bottom or sole, and of being fixed at these positions, sub-
stantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Blake, Joseph William
Shaw, and Edward Fulton, have hereunto set our hands and
seals, this Thirteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-six.
WILLIAM BLAKE.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH WILLIAM SHAW. (L.S.)
EDWARD FULTON.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM BLAKE.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH WILLIAM SHAW. (L.S.)
EDWARD FULTON.
(L.S.)