Improvements in Egg-holders.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 27th May, 1899
[Communicated from abroad by LEONARD WOOns, of 211, Locust Street, St. Louis,
State of Missouri, United States of North America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Egg-holders.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, 6, Lord Street,
Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, and
Lower Temple Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer,
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:-
This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in egg-holders,
preferably combined in series of more or less number to form a cabinet.
My object is to provide means for the safe transportation of eggs, facilitate
handling collectively instead of individually, maintain them in a position most
favourable for their safe transportation, and effect their ready discharge from the
individual holders.
To this end my improvements have reference to a pair of spring-clips for an
individual egg and a flexible support or base for the clips, have reference to a
series of strips flexibly connected at or near their edges and forming such base
or support, have reference to springs acting on said base tending to maintain
it normally flat, but allowing it to be sprung out of the normal plane to release
the eggs collectively from the clips carried by said base, have reference to a
special cushion for the eggs, and have reference to other points hereinafter fully
described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings, on which like reference letters indicate corre-
sponding parts, Figure 1 represents an end view of the sectional base and clips
thereon Figure 2, a plain view of the same; Figure 3 a view shewing the eggs
maintained in their holders: and Figure 4 a bottom view of the base, shewing the
spring-strips transversely arranged thereon.
The letter A designates the base or support, formed of strips of wood or other
suitable material laid side by side and maintained in their normal position by
suitable means which will connect them to each other flexibly, and thus provide
the strips with a hinge action at their meeting edges. This connecting means
may be of canvas, as at B, or in the preferred form such means consist of cross-
strips C of spring metal, which hold the strips closely in their relative lateral
position with respect to each other, yet allowing the base to be bent backward and
the strips A to open along their meeting edges like a joint for the purpose presently
to appear.
Upon each strip is secured a loop of spring-wire D like an inverted U, the
upper part curved horizontally with a slight rise in the centre to conform to
the shape of the egg and the legs extending downward and then bent horizontally
and ending in a sharp turn or spur, by which each leg is secured to the base-strip.
These clips are arranged facing each other in pairs on opposite sides of the meeting

page_text: edges of the base A, so that the egg is placed end-wise, preferable with the large
end downwards between each pair of clips and directly over the edges of the strips
as shewn in Figure 1. These clips are arranged in series, as indicated by the
drawings, and the preferred construction is to secure them firmly to the base-strips
by bars E, which are fastened above them along the middle of the strips, as shewn.
They are thus rigidly held by their feet, while their residency as clips to embrace
the eggs interposed between them is unimpaired. The top of the clip extending
up beyond the middle of the egg, as shewn, and the spring of the clips combined
with the back springs C, hold the eggs so firmly that the set may be reversed
without danger of falling out. The back springs C are preferably secured to cach
strip by a screw or rivet at the middle of the base strips, as indicated in Figure 1.
To prevent danger of opening the holder accidentally by careless handling or
ignorance, I also provide a locking bar H pivoted preferably to the back at or near
the middle and extending transversely to the meeting edges of the strips towards
the sides of the holder, when in its locking position. This braces the strips in their
flat or nearly flat position and prevents further bending of the springs C, and
consequent opening of the clips holding the eggs. When the bar is turned
to the dotted position the springs may be readily bent and the clips made to release
the eggs.
<6
A cushion F is also provided for the eggs. Any form of cushion may be used,
but I prefer to employ corrugated paper which by its irregular formation allows
of stretching and the raised surface forms a cushion for the egg. I have also
used with good results a flexible yielding cloth, such as "eider-down," or the soft
cotton fabric known as swans-down" which will stretch when the strips are bent
backward and will then rise in a little ridge above the meeting edges instead of
becoming clamped therein. Any other suitable material may be used; but I have
found by careful experiment that this eider-down material is especially adapted
for this purpose, as it will stretch and the fulness then rise in ridges, which avoids
the meeting edges on their return to their normal flat position and also affords
a cushion for the egg. I have also arranged this cushioning strip across the upper
surface of the base and secured it by the bars E as my preferred construction.
When the eggs are inserted in their respective holders, they tend to shape the
base in a convex or cylindrical curve, as shewn in Figure 3.
strips C on the under side of the base resist this tendency and aid the clips in
The spring-back
holding the eggs. Thus a set of a dozen eggs, for instance, may be mounted and
handled all in one piece, as it were. A number of such sets can be packed in boxes
or barrels or other receptacles and much more safely transported than when there
is more or less movement of the individual eggs or when then contact with each
other. It will be seen that each egg is placed on end and provided with a cushion,
thus resting on its strongest portion and cushioned besides.
When it is desirable to release the eggs, the lower side may be liberated at
once by reversing the set and springing the strips backward, thereby opening the
clips D and allowing the escape of the eggs upon a guarded or sandcovered table
adapted to receive them.
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:
1. A series of spring-clips arranged in pairs, and a flexible base for said strips
adapted to allow the opening of the clips to release the eggs.
2. A series of spring-clips arranged in pairs, a series of strips supporting said
clips and having their adjacent edges located between the clips of each pair, and
means securing said strips transversely in a flexible manner, substantially as
described.
3. A series of strips arranged side by side, constituting a base, transverse spring-
metal strips secured to the under side of said base, and a series of spring clips

page_text: mounted in pairs on the upper side of said base adapted to embrace the eggs
located above the adjacent edges, substantially as described.
4. A base consisting of a series of strips, transverse spring strips on the lower
side of the base secured at the middle of each base-strip, spring-clips consisting of
inverted U-shaped loops having a spur and horizontal strip. a longitudinal bar
fastening said feet to the base-strip, and a cushion for the eggs interposed between
the pairs of clips, substantially as described.
5. In an egg-holder the combination with a flexible base and clips mounted
thereon, of a cushion of flexible, yielding material adapted to stretch and forming
a ridge, substantially as described.
6. In an egg-holder, the combination with a base consisting of strips having a
hinge action along their adjacent edges, spring-clips carried by said base-strips
and a cushion of yielding material secured to the upper side of the base-strip, and
adapted to stretch and then rise above the joints of the base-strips substantially as
described.
7. In an eggholder, the combination with base-strips having a hinge action along
their adjacent edges, clips carried by said base-strips in pairs. and a soft cotton
or other material transversely arranged across said strips and forming cushions
for the eggs, and bars to secure said clips and cushioning strips to the base-strips,
substantially as described.
8. In an egg-holder the strips A, the connecting springs C, the locking bar H,
the clips D secured to the strips A, the cushion F for the eggs, all substantially as
arranged and shewn herein.
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1
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1000
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
322, High Holborn, London, W.C.
Patent Agents for the Applicant.