Improvements in Stair-rod Eyes,
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Dec., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 19th May, 1899-Accepted, 22nd July, 1899
Improvements in Stair-rod Eyes,
I, CHARLES HARVEY, of The Swifts, Yardley, near the City of Birmingham,
Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to stair rod eyes, and has for its object, to make the eye
piece or socket which receives the 1od, detachable from the carrier part which
is secured to the stairs
Heretofore such eye pieces have been made fast with the carrier or attachment
means, or they have been made hinged so as to admit of the introduction of the
ataur-rod end laterally into the seating of the eye piece
By my invention, the eye piece is made to have a sliding fit within a abate,
groove, dovetail or other race or races formed across the middle of the angle of
the carrier or attachment plate
In carrying out one form of my invention in connection with a sheet metal stair
rod eye, I take a blank of metal and fold the same into an angle plate with part
of the metal of each web folded or closed to form overhanging flanges with their
outer edges presented towards one another and so arranged as to form guides
or keepers or to comprehend an angular seating located at the corner of the plate,
and adapted to receive or be engaged by webs or flanges of the eye piece, the
body or socket part of which is preferably of the same cross section as the rod
with which it is to be used, or in other words, it is alike unto a short length of
open jointed tubing with the metal at the joint extended into two relatively
angular webs, which might be slightly yielding or resilient to admit of it making
a tight sliding fit within the angular seating of the base, whilst the flanges also
Field slightly and thus acts as clips for retaining the eve piece in position.
Either the entrance to the seatings may be opened slightly or the ends of the
eye webs may be shamfered to form a lead to facilitate the introduction of the
one pait into the other
As an auxiliary means for locking the eve piece to the carrier plate, a sping
tongue may be cut out of the plate and engage a sinking or hole in the said eye
part when in position, or a spring catch, knob or stop may be arranged on the
plate, which, after the eye has been pushed into place with one end abutting
against a fixed stop on the plate, may snap over or engage with the other edge,
or with a hole, notch or equivalent formed in the eye piece or the webs of it.
As another part of my invention, I propose to make the carrier plate and
the turned-down flanges or grooves by casting whilst the eye piece webs are
tlightly resilient or yielding to make a tight sliding fit A spring tongue or
catch may be fitted to the one part to engage with the other part in any suitable
way for retaining the sliding eye piece
The angle attachment plates may be made from a long length of drawn, 1olled
or creased sheet metal, as also may the eye pieces, said lengths being cut up
into short pieces.
As a still further form, the outer edges of the angle carrier plate may be turned

page_text: inwards so as to form the guide grooves into which the end edges of the webs
of the detachable eye piece take with a sliding fit and may be there temporily
locked by a projection on the one part engaging-br a spinging action--with
a depression in the other part.
Or the angle carrier plate may have an open jointed socket, into which an eye
piece, threaded on the stair iod end, engages by a sliding movement This eye
piece has one beaded or flanged end, with the other end being screwed to receive
a ring nut for securing the said eye piece in position
As a further modification, the flanges or webs of the eye piece may be made
resilient so that by applying pressure to it, a fastening notch may be sprung out
of a corresponding depression and so be unlocked, whilst, according to another
form, the tension of the carpet may be applied to keep the eve piece locked, in
which case it would be unlocked by pushing the carpet inwards.
Dated this 24th dox of Donamban 1808
improvements in Stair-rou DyеB,
I, CHARLES HARVEY, of The Swifts, South Yardley, near the City of Biming-
ham, Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement.-
1
This invention relates to stair rod eyes, and has for its object, to make the eve
piece or socket which receives the 1od, detachable from the carrier part which
is secured to the stairs
Heretofore such eve pieces have been made fast with the carrier or attachment
means, or they have been hinged to their brackets so as to admit of the introduc-
tion of the stan-rod end laterally into seating of the eye piece, but according to
my invention the eye piece is made separate and detachable from its bracket or
attachment plate and has a sliding fit within abates, grooves, dovetails, or other
guides or races formed horizontally across the said bracket or attachment plate,
which is of an angular figure
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a front elevation of a stair
rod eye or connection fitting having a detachable eve piece in accordance with
one form of my invention, and with both the said eye piece and its angular
bracket or attachment plate made of sheet metal.
Figure 2 18 a vertical section of Figure 1 upon the dotted line r
Figures 3 and 4 respectively represent, in front elevation and vertical section,
the sheet metal detachable eve piece separately, and
Figures 5 and 6 represent like views of the attachment plate or bracket part
In carving out this form of the invention, I form the bracket or angular
attachment plate a, by first taking a blank of metal and fashioning the same
into an angle plate with the edge part of the nietal of each web folded or turned
to form overhanging flanges a', whose outer edges a³, are presented towards one
another and so arranged as to form guides or keepers or to comprehend an angular
seating and adapted to receive or he engaged by webs or flanges 1, of the eve
piece b. which 18 separately formed from another sheet metal blank and has its
eve, body or socket part 6, preferably of the same cross section as the rod with
which it is to be used, or in other words, it 18 alike unto a short length of open-

page_text: jointed tubing with the metal at the joint extended into two relatively angular
webs, which may be slightly yielding or resilient to admit of it making a tight
sliding fit within the angular seating of the base, whilst the flanges may also yield
slightly and thus acts as clips for retaining the eye piece in position. Either the
entrance to the guide grooves or seatings may be opened slightly or the ends of
the eye webs may be shamfered to form a lead to facilitate the introduction or
engagement of the one part into or with the other
In order to provide a means for locking the eye piece in its proper relative
position to the bracket, projections or outward bulgings of the metal 63, are
formed on the engaging edges of the flanges , adapted to snap into corresponding
holes or sinkings a, in the turned over edges of the angle plate, or as another
auxiliary means for locking the eve piece to the carrier plate, a spring tongue
may be cut out of the plate and engage a sinking or hole in the said eye part
when in position, or a spring catch, knob or stop may be arranged on the plate,
which, after the eye has been pushed into place with one end abutting against a
fixed stop on the plate, may snap over or engage with the other edge, or with a
hole notch or equivalent formed in the eye piece or the webs of it.
Figure 7 represents an edge view of a modified form of bracket in which the
flanges 61, to constitute the guide grooves for receiving the webs a', of the detach-
able eve a³, are formed out of the middle of the vertical and horizontal webs b³,
of the angle plate b, instead of by turning over the extreme edges of the said
webs as in the preceding arrangement
As another form of my invention I propose to make the carrier plate with the
overhanging parts or tuined-down flanges forming the guide grooves by casting
whilst the eye piece with its webs may be made from sheet metal so as to be
slightly resilient or yielding to make a tight sliding fit within the said grooves
A spring tongue or catch may be fitted to the one part to engage with the other
part in any suitable way for locking or retaining the sliding oye piece in its
assigned position
Or the angle attachment plates may be made from a long length of drawn.
rolled or ceased sheet metal, as also may the eye pieces, said lengths being out
up into short pieces
As another modification of my invention I propose to provide the angle carrier
plate with an open fronted socket into which an eye piece or ferrule, threaded
loosely upon the stair rod is engaged by imparting a lateral movement to the
Baid ferrule This eve piece has one beaded or flanged end, with the other end
being screwed to receive a ring nut for securing the said eye piece in position.
Figuie represents a stan od having fittings constructed according to this
form of my invention, the bracket and loose eve piece at one end being shown
in elevation, and at the other end, in section. This view shows the parts in the
positions in which they are placed when in use
Figure 9 18 another view showing the eye pieces or ferrules disconnected from
the open-fronted sockets of the brackets
Figure 10 is a transverse vertical section of one of the brackets separately.
Figure 11 is a section of Figure 10 upon the dotted line r¹
Figure 12 is a longitudinal section of one of the loose eye pieces or sliding
ferrules, separately
Figure 13 is a transverse vertical section of Figure 8 upon the dotted line a.
In the said Figures 8 to 13, c 18 the stair 1od and are the attachment brackets
or angle plates, having open-fronted sockets or seatings b, with the mouths or
openings 68, of the front sufficiently wide to admit of the introduction of the
stair rods directly into them, but of a less width than the diameter of the eye-
pieces or ferrules a, which are loosely threaded upon, and admit of longitudinal
movement along the stair rod Thus, after the stair rod has been introduced
into the seatings or sockets of the attachment plates or brackets through the
gaps or open fronts thereof, the eves or ferrules, which are at this time in the
positions shown in Figure 9, are slid in opposite directions along the rod and

page_text: introduced end-wise & screwed into the sockets, with which they engage prefer-
ably with a tight fit, and when the stop collars a¹, at the inner ends of them abut
against the opposed ends of the sockets, the said ferrules with the stau rod, are
locked to the brackets by screwing the ring nuts d, onto the wormed parts a³, as
shown in Figure 8
As a modification of this form of my invention, and in order to provide inci-
dentally a means for preventing longitudinal movement of the rod within its
eye-pieces or ferrules when the latter are engaged with the bracket sockets, the
said eye pieces are split longitudinally and made of a conoidal figure and the
sockets or seatings are inside coned to correspond, so that when the ferrules are
forced home into the sockets they are contracted around the rod, which is thus
gripped and held in its adjusted position.
Figure 14 represents a stair rod and its fittings constructed according to this
form, the ferrules being shown engaged with their sockets or seatings in the
brackets
Figure 15 is another view showing the ferrules disengaged and with the ferrule
and bracket at the right hand end in section
Figure 16 is a longitudinal section with the parts in the same positions as
represented in Figure 14
Figure 17 is a transverse vertical section of Figure 16 upon the dotted line 3
Figure 18 represents an elevation and edge view of one of the cones and split
ferrules separately
In the said Figures 14 to 18, c is the stair rod, bits attachment brackets, with
inside-coned sockets or seatings b with the larger ends coming innermost and
having gaps or openings 62, wide enough to admit of the introduction of the stair
rod therein from the front, but less in width than the narrowest part of the loose
coned ferrules a, which are split at a', and have a small stud or turn a³, for
convenience in pushing them into and withdrawing them from the sockets. Or
the said ferrules may be made as shown at Figure 19 with a collar at the larger
end.
As a further modification of the arrangement Figures 8 to 13, I may secure
the loose ferrules to the brackets by means of a stud or other projection on the
former engaging in notches in the latter
Figure 20 represents, partly in elevation and partly in section, such an arrange-
ment, with the ferrules engaged into and locked with the brackets.
Figure 21 1s a similar view, but showing the ferrules withdrawn from the
sockets
Figure 22 is a transverse vertical section of Figure 20 upon the dotted line 4.
Figure 23 represents an elevation and an end view of one of the ferrules
separately
is the stair rod, 6 the angular brackets with open fronted seatings 61, having
a notch b³, at one edge of the gap 69 and a are the loose eve pieces or ferrules, which
are adapted to be introduced end-wise into the sockets and locked thereto against
longitudinal displacement by imparting to them a partial rotation in order to
engage the shanks a³, of the studs a¹, with the notches b
As a further modification, the flanges or webs of the eve piece (when formed
from sheet metal) may be made resilient, so that by applying pressure to it, a
fastening catch may be sprung out of a corresponding depression and so be
unlocked
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is -
First: stair-rod eve consisting of an open-fronted attachment plate or
bracket, and a loose or detachable end-sliding fitting, eve or closure, adapted to
either enclose a rod within the said bracket, or to form a means for connecting
a rod to the said bracket, substantially as described and set forth.

page_text: Secondly. A stair rod eye consisting of an open-fronted bracket attached to
the stairs and a loose or detachable eye or fitting threaded upon the rod, with
the latter having flanges or webs adapted to be slid end-wise into grooves or like
guides on the former, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 1 to 7.
Thudly. A stair rod eye consisting of an open-fronted and grooved bracket
or angular attachment plate, and a loose or detachable eye piece or fitting threaded
upon the 1od and having flanges or webs adapted to shde end-wise into the grooves
of the bracket, with both the bracket and eye piece being made from sheet metal
substantially as herein described and as set forth in Figures 1 to 7
Fourthly A stair rod eye, consisting of an open-fronted bracket or attachment
plate and a loose eye or feiiule, threaded upon the stair rod and of the same cross
section as the seating of the said bracket, with which the said ferrule 18 engaged
by an end sliding movement, substantially as and for the purpose described and
set forth.
Fifthly A stair iod eye consisting of a bracket or attachment plate having
an open fronted seating or socket, and a loose ferrule or eye threaded upon and
free to slide along the rod and adapted to be introduced end-wise into the said
seating and be there secured by a ring nut worming onto one end, substantially
as described and set forth in Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13
Sixthly A stair 1od eye consisting of a bracket or attachment plate having
an open fronted seating or socket, and a loose he-coned eye piece or ferrule or a
loose he-coned and split eye piece or ferrule, threaded upon a stair rod and
adapted to engage end-wise with the said seating, which may be either she-coned
o1 plain, substantially as herein described and as set forth in Figures 14 to 19
Seventhly. A stair rod eye consisting of a bracket or attachment plate having
an open-fronted seating or socket and a loose eye piece o ferrule, threaded and
free to slide longitudinally upon the 1od and adapted to be introduced end-w180
into the said socket and theie secured by a projection or equivalent engaging
within a notch or depression, substantially as herein described and as set forth
in Figures 20 to 23.