IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDOW SASHES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Askew, of No. 27, Charles Street, Hampstead
Road, N. W., in the County of Middlesex, Coppersmith, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDOW SASHES."
Sealed the 11th January 1861, and dated the 12th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Askew at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1860.
I, JOHN ASKEW, of 27, Charles Street, Hampstead Road, N. W., in the
County of Middlesex, Coppersmith, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDOW SASHES," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in certain additions and alterations to
window sashes for the purpose of cleaning, painting, and glaizing from inside
the room instead of standing, setting, or kneeling outside the window sell, and
for ventalating public buildings, and private dwellings, which additions and
alterations are carried out in the following manner, viz, by reducing the
width of the sash, and adding to the same false peices, which false peices and
sash are put together with a plug and screwed centre, and a grove is formed
and two peices of iron or other metal are screwed on the same, which forms a
recess for a slide to fit into the same, and for keeping the sash in a firm and

page_text: rigid position, and for a perfect draught and dust excluder, and by drawing
the slides from their recesses at the top of each slide of the sash, like drawing
a sword from the scabbard, the windows can be turned in any position for
cleaning, ventalating, or for any other purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Askew in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ASKEW, of No. 27, Charles Street, Hampstead Road, N. W., in the County of
Middlesex, Coppersmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Askew, Her special licence that I, the said John Askew,
iny executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Askew, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN WINDOW SASHES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Askew, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Askew, 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:-
The nature of this Invention and the principle of construction which forms
the basis thereof, consists in certain new mechanical combinations and arrange-
ments of parts hereafter mentioned and described, constituting the apparatus
of this my Invention for improvements in window sashes and fastenings, which

page_text: said improvements are described and contained in the following Specification
and Drawings.
In Figure 1 is a vertical section of a window and sash frame fitted according
to my Invention; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same; Fig. 8 is a detached
view of part of the lower sash frame, and Fig. 4 is a cross section of the same;
Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, are detached views of the screw bottom plug centre
I employ, and on which the windows swing or vibrate.
Figs. 11, 12, 13, are views of the various kinds of bars I employ for locking
the windows, so as to render them in every respect, both in appearance and
action, like ordinary sash windows.
And Figs. 14, 15, and 16, are views of an improved mode of window lock,
and draught and dust excluder.
Instead of making the rails of the sash of one piece as is usual, I construct
them in two separate and distinct pieces, whereof the outer or false piece
is moveable and can rotate on a brass or other metal pin, screwed or otherwiso
attached to the standing rail of the frame; this is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and
4, where a is the false piece, and b, the standing rail of the frame; the sash
line is attached to the false piece a in the ordinary way, and when the sash is
not required to be moved out of its vertical plane, it is kept in position in the
following way: A narrow groove c' about inch broad by inch deep (I do
not confine myself to these dimensions, as they may vary according to
the size of the window) is ploughed the whole length of the standing rail,
6 of the frame, about inch from the inner face of the frame, and a cor-
responding groove is also ploughed in the false piece a of the same width,
but of greater depth, to allow the whole depth of a flat bar of metal d
about inch broad being recessed or bedded into it; this is shown at c, c
Figs. 3 and 4; this bar may be made either to take out entirely or merely
to recess in the false piece a, when it is desired to swing the windows. In
the first case the groove both in false and standing sash rail may be of equal
depth, and the bar pulled out from the top of each frame by means of a ring
or knob provided for the purpose. In the second case the grooves must be as
before described, and the bar d is not pulled out but merely lifted; in so doing
it slides on fixed metal pins or screws e, e', driven into the wood of the false
piece, (the bar can if required be recessed into the standing sash rail, but I
prefer the false piece) and passing through inclined slots cut in the bar, as
shown in Figs. 3 and 4 at f, f, it will be perceived that by raising the bar it
is forced by the inclined slots working against the pins e, e³, to recede from
the groove in the standing rail and bed itself entirely in the false piece a
thereby unlocking or unfastening the two, and allowing the frame to swing for

page_text: the purpose of glazing, cleaning, or ventilating as before described; by bringing
the sash into a vertical position, and pushing down the bar d, the false piece and
sash rail become locked, and the window may be raised up and down in the
ordinary way. Besides locking or fastening the sash rails and false piece
together, the sliding bar forms a most perfect dust and draught excluder. At
Fig. 1 a window is shown with the sashes placed at reverse angles to each other.
At Fig. 11, I have shown another method of working the locking bar in
which, instead of the bar being drawn quite out of the groove or sliding on
fixed pins, it is made to ride on two or more radial rods 9, g', one end of which
are pinned to the wood, the other to the bar; the action is similar to that of
an ordinary parallel ruler; at Figs. 14, 15, and 16, I have shown a method
of fastening or locking windows at the middle bars in which Fig. 14 is an
elevation; Fig. 15, a plan, and Fig. 16 a cross section through the centre of
the sash. The middle bars h & l in both upper and lower sashes are ploughed
similarly to the sash rails and false pieces, the groove in the inner or
lower sash 7 being the shallowest, and the groove in the outer or top sash h
being deep enough to allow the whole of the locking bar i to be recessed; the
action is similar to that of the side bars, but is actuated by a crank pin k
screwed into the lever ; of the spring latch or fastening generally in use, which
is fixed on the meeting bar h of the top or outer sash in the usual way. The
pin works through a quadrant cut out of the wood to allow its action into a
slot m cut in the locking bar. By bringing the lever j forward in the usual
way, the pin k acting against the sides of the slot in forces the locking bar
partially out of the groove into which it recesses in the top sash bar into the
corresponding groove in the lower sash bar 1, thereby forming a perfectly
secure fastening and dust and draught excluder.
I do not confine myself to the use of the ordinary window latch, but in
windows fitted with it, it may be retained and adapted to work the locking bar
by the simple addition of the crank pin k before mentioned; in cases of fitting
or constructing new windows with this fastening I should employ any other
similar or suitable method.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would would wish it to be particularly
understood that, although I have by the foregoing description fully set forth
the details and particulars of this Invention, I reserve to myself such im-
material variations of form and construction of the parts as practice may suggest,
and that I do not confine myself to the precise details set forth in this my
Specification and Drawings, so long as the peculiar character and principles of
either part of my Invention be retained; but what I claim is,―

page_text: Firstly, connecting the false pieces to the sash rails by means of my screw-
bottom plug centres, so that they (the sashes) may freely swing round on their
axis or centres.
Secondly, locking or fastening the false piece with the sash rails by means
of a metal or wooden strip, which I term a locking bar, fitting into grooves cut
in both false and standing rail of the sash, and which locking bar may bo
drawn out entirely or made to recess into one of the opposite grooves by the
means abovo described.
Thirdly, the use of the locking bar as described in Figs. 14, 15, 16, as a
fastening for windows, affording additional security, and for excluding dust and
draught.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Askew, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
CHAS. EDMUND GOLD,
2, Whitefriars St., E.C.
JOHN ASKEW. (L.B.)