SPRING. HINGES POR DOORS. AND GATES
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SMITH, of Little Bartholomew Close, in the City of London, Plater, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty. King George the Third, by His
5.Letters Patent under the: Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at. West-
minster, the Sixteenth day of July, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto. me, the .said
Joseph Smith, my.executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of
years, therein expressed, should and lawfully.might..make, use, exercise, and
0 vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "SPRING. HINGES POR DOORS. AND GATES;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Smith, by
an instrument, in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same.is.to
5 be performed, and to 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 recited-Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had,, will.more.fully.and at large appear.
NOW, KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
0 Joseph Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of..my said Invention,..and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
as follows, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain the shutting of doors by means
of a spring or springs or by an apparatus containing a spring or springs
under the floor. The defect of former Inventions for this purpose has
generally been found that the strength of the springs decrease as the door
closes; consequently they do not accomplish the desired point, and the door
is left ajar or in part open; but in this Invention that defect is entirely
obviated, for the power of the spring is greatest the nearer the door approaches
to being shut. Figure 1 is a section of my apparatus or hinge as it appears
when fixed to the door; a, a, a, is a brass shoe fixed on the bottom of the door,
which has a centre pin or pivot (6) going through the brass plate o, o, fixed to
the top of the box m, m, by four screws,) into the socket c, (see Figure 4.)
This pivot passes also through the lever d, (see the plan, Figure 2 and Figure 7,)
the other end of which is furnished with a brass collar e, and is dropped
between the two levers f and g, (see their situation in the plan, Figure 2, and
their full size and shape in Figures 5 and 6.) h is a spindle with a hook in it,
for the purpose of being fixed about the middle to the interior end of the spring
(Figure 3); the upper end of this spindle is fastened to the lever f; i, i, i, shew
the edge of a plate of iron, containing at one end the brass socket c, and at the
other end an angular picce (p), in which is inserted a screw to regulate the
distance of the levers f and g. A plan and elevation of this plate and its
appendages is shewn in Figure 4; it is fastened to the box m, m, by screws or
rivets; k, k, is a brass top fitted into the top of the inner box n, n, which con-
tains the spring, Figure 3. It has a hole through the centre for the spindle to
pass through; 1, 1, 1, 1, is a brass bottom of the inner box n, n, with a hole in
the middle for the bottom end of the spindle h to pass through into a bottom
of the same metal of the outer box m, m, m, m. The external end of the
spring, Figure 3, is fastened to the inner box n, n, by a screw or rivet, or
otherwise. The leverf is fastened to the top of the spindle h, and the lever g
to the brass top k. This Invention is adapted for doors that open either one-or
both ways; when the door opens to the right, the lever f is forced back by the
lever d, and when opened to its extent, becomes light and easy in consequence
of the spring having lost a great portion of its power, by means of the brass
roller e having passed nearly to the end of the lever f, thus by the door opening
the lever & obtains great power over the spring, and as the door closes, the
spring regains its former strength. When the door is opened to the left, the
lever d forces back the lever g, and the operation has the same effect as before
described. Figure 8 shews another method of effecting the purpose, but not

page_text: so completely as that described above; I do not therefore recommend it. All
the parts are drawn of the full size, and the same letters refer to the same parts
in all the Figures. In fixing this apparatus at the bottom of the door, it will
be proper to fix a centre pin or some other centre hinge at the top perpendicular
to the pivot b.