AN IMPROVEMENT IN COVERS FOR JUGS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO COVERS FOR OTHER ARTICLES."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Thompson, of the Firm of Broadhead &
Co. Britannia Works, Sheffield, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN COVERS FOR JUGS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO COVERS FOR OTHER
ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
July 1860.
I, JOSEPH THOMPSON, of the Firm of Broadhead & Co., Britannia Works.
Sheffield, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN COVERS FOR JUGS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO COVERS FOR OTHER
ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates primarily to that description of jugs to which hinged
covers are applied, but is also applicable to covers for other articles, and
consists in the employment of a lever or levers in connection with the hinge.
one end or ends of which lever or levers acts or act on an abutment formed
on the under side of the cover, or the end of the lever or levers may be formed in
such manner that on gently depressing the outer end or knob of the said lever
or levers the cover is raised sufficiently to allow the liquid to be poured out.
but on giving a quick jerk to the same the cover is wholly opened. The

page_text: cover can be raised without the use of the lever. In jugs with hinged covers
the lever takes the place of the ordinary horn or projection upon which the
thumb is placed to open the cover.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
the said Joseph Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
THOMPSON, of the Firm of Broadhead & Co., Britannia Works, Sheffield,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth 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
Joseph Thompson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Thompson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Thompson, 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 IN.
PROVEMENT IN COVERS FOR JUGS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO COVERS FOR OTHER ARTICLES,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Thompson, 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, tho said Joseph Thompson, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 bereuuto annexed, that
is to say:-
My Invention relates primarily to that description of jugs to which hinged
covers are applied, but is also applicable to covers for other articles, and
consists in the employment of a lever made to act on an abutment on the

page_text: under side of the cover, in such manner that on causing the lever to act the
raised to allow the contents of the jug or
The cover can be raised without the use
mouth or fore part of the cover is
other like vessel to be poured out.
of the lever. In jugs with hinged covers the lever takes the place of the
ordinary horn or projection upon which the thumb is placed to open the
cover..
The accompanying Drawings illustrate the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect. Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2, a section of one part
of the hinge or joint, showing the abutment detached from the cover; Figure 3
is a plan, and Figure 4, a transverse section of the back part of the joint,
videlicet, that part which is a fixture to the jug: Figure 5 is a plan, and
Figure 6, a side view, partly in section, of the lever by which the cover is
raised; and Figure 7 is a plan, and Figure 8, a section through the line X, X,
of Figure 7, of the hinge and lever complete; I call this the "loose thumb
lever" arrangement.
a is an abutment formed in a piece with or connected to the cover; it is
jointed to the fixed part 6 by means of the lugs c, c, and pin f; the long arm
of the lever e, shown at Figures 5 and 6, terminates in a thumb-piece d, of
ivory or other non-conducting material; g is the short arm of the lever of
which the pin f is the fulcrum; the lever is placed between the lugs c, c,
and there held by the pin f, which also unites the parts a and b, as seen at
Figures 7 and 8. To raise the cover, depress the thumb-piece d, which will
bring the short arm of the lever g against the abutment a, and thus raise the
mouth and fore part of the cover; upon releasing the pressure upon the thumb-
piece the cover falls by its own weight. The cover can be wholly raised by
giving the thumb-piece a quick jerk, or by lifting it with the fingers.
Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, are views in plan and section of
a modification of the thumb-piece lever, an internal weighted lever being
substituted for it; the remaining parts are similar to those first described, and
bear the same letters of reference. I term this the "balance lever" arrangement.
The opening of the cover is effected by simply inclining forward the mouth of
the jug or other vessel to which the cover is fitted, the upper part of the
weighted lever being, by such action, brought to bear against and press upon
the abutment a. As soon as the jug is returned to its perpendicular position
the cover closes.
"
Figure 17 shows in sectional elevation the "united thumb and balance
lever arrangements combined. The handles drawn in dotted lines are
intended to show that their position may be varied according to the jug or
other vessel to which the cover is fitted.

page_text: Figures 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, are views in plan and section
respectively of another modification of the arrangement first described, and
which I call the detached thumb lever arrangement, particularly applicable
to the covers of claret jugs and decanters, but it is also applicable to jugs and
similar vessels in general. The lever e passes through a slot formed in the
fixed part 6, and moves on a pin f¹ fixed under it, as seen in Figure 25. The
long arm of the lever is lengthened to suit the position of the handle. When
the decanter or other vessel has no handle the lever may be grasped by hand.
The remaining parts are similar to and bear the same letters of reference as
those first herein-before described.
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 the improve-
ment in covers for jugs, also applicable to covers for other articles, the
employment of a lever, whether in the form of what I have termed a thumb
lever, or of a weighted lever, arranged and caused to act against an abutment
in a piece with or fixed to the under side of the cover in order to raise the
mouth and fore part thereof, substantially in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Thompson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.