AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS OR FASTENINGS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Jenner, of the Firm of Jenner and
Knewstub, of Saint James' Street, in the City of Westminster; Dressing
Case Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS
OR FASTENINGS."
Sealed the 29th March 1866, and dated the 2nd October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Jenner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1865.
I, FREDERIC JENNER, of the Firm of Jenner and Knewstub, of Saint James'
Street, in the City of Westminster, Dressing Case Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS OR
FASTENINGS," to be as follows:-
My Invention particularly applies to clasps or fastenings for purses, cigar
cases, bags, albums, books, and similar articles, and my improvement consists
in the introduction of a spring into the hinge by which the clasp is connected
to the side frame or flap of the purse, book, or other article to which it is
applied, the tendency of which spring is to keep the clasp engaged in the catch
on the corresponding flap. The fastening remains closed until the action of
the closing spring is overcome by forcibly disengaging the free end of the
clasp.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederic Jenner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
JENNER, of the Firm of Jenner and Knewstub, of Saint James' Street, in the
City of Westminster, Dressing Case Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederic Jenner, Her special licence that I, the said Frederic Jenner,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederic
Jenner, my executors, administrators, and 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS
OR FASTENINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederic.
Jenner, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederic Jenner, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:-
My Invention particularly applies to clasps or fastenings for purses, cigar
cases, bags, albums, books, and similar articles, and my improvement consists
in the introduction of a spring into the hinge by which the clasp is con-
nected to the side frame or flap of the purse, book, or other article to
which it is applied, the tendency of which spring is to keep the clasp engaged
in the catch on the corresponding flap. The fastening remains closed until
the action of the closing spring is overcome by forcibly disengaging the free
end of the clasp.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents my improvement

page_text: applied to the clasp of a memorandum book. The full lines show the book
closed and the dotted lines open. a is the clasp hinged at 6 to the flap c, and
provided with a catch d to take behind the catch e on a plate f, fixed to the
opposite flap g. I fit a spring in the hinge b, the tendency of which is to
keep the clasp pressed down, so as to engage the catch d into the catch e; the
fastening remains closed until the action of the spring in the hinge 6 is over-
come by disengaging the free end of the clasp by pressing up the button i.
jis a plate fixed to the flap c, to prevent the clasp being pressed too far down
when the book is open. One or both of the hinges k, k, which connect the
flaps c and g to the end piece 7 may have a spring fitted therein, the tendency
of which is to force the flaps apart. Figures 2 and 3 represent any clasp
applied to a cigar case. Letters of reference the saine as those in Figure 1
refer to corresponding parts. Figure 4 shows an arrangement in which the
clasp is prevented by a stop at from being pressed too far down by the action
of the spring in the hinge. The spring in the hinge is by preference con-
structed as follows:-I form the pintle of a strip of steel, one end of which
is fixed to one of the outer gudgeons on the flap c, while the other end is fixed
to the outer gudgeon on the clasp a; thus when the clasp is raised and the
hinge thereby turned the strip of steel becomes twisted, whereby it has a
tendency to return to its normal position. The strip of steel may be fitted
so as to be a little twisted when the clasp is fastened, and to become further
twisted when the clasp is raised; in this case it has a greater tendency to
keep the clasp engaged.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ment in Clasps or Fastenings" the introduction of a spring into the hinge by
which the clasp is connected to the side frame or flap of the purse, book, or
other article to which it is applied, the tendency of which spring is to keep
the clasp engaged in the catch on the corresponding flap, substantially as
herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Jenner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of April, One thousand eight
bundred and sixty-six.
FREDERIC JENNER. (L.S.)