IMPROVEMENTS. IN FASTENINGS FOR SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS, SHIRT AND OTHER STUDS, CRAVATS, NECKTIES, NECK AND OTHER BOWS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Littlehales, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Engraver, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS. IN
FASTENINGS FOR SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS, SHIRT AND OTHER STUDS,
CRAVATS, NECKTIES, NECK AND OTHER BOWS, AND OTHER ARTICLES.”
Sealed the 20th December 1875, and dated the 24th June 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Littlehales
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th June 1875.
I, ALFRED LITTLEHALES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engraver, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS, SHIRT AND
OTHER STUDS, CRAVATS, NECKTIES, NECK AND OTHER BOWS, AND OTHER ARTICLES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists principally of the arrangement or combination
of parts herein-after described for connecting together and disconnecting
from one another the two parts of solitaires, sleeve links, and other like
articles.

page_text: I will describe my Invention as applied to a solitaire. In a tubular
socket on the inner face of one part of the solitaire I fix a nearly V
shaped spring, the free ends of the arms of the said spring being hook
shaped, the hooks being turned in opposite directions. The hooked
ends of the spring project a short distance from the open end of the
said tubular socket. Across the inner face of the other part of the
solitaire is a flat box, in the middle of which is a cupped part, into
which the end of the tubular socket takes when the two parts of the
solitaire are closed upon one another. At the bottom of the cupped part
in the box is a hole opening into the said box. When the front part
is pressed upon the back part the V spring in the front part is compressed
or flattened in passing through the hole at the bottom of the cupped
centre of the box, and when the hooked ends of the spring have passed
through the said hole the elasticity of the spring causes its hooked ends
to engage under the edge of the said hole, and thereby to securely
fasten the two parts of the solitaire together. In order to release the
fastening two pushers are employed. These pushers work in the box
described on one part of the fastening, the outer ends of the pushers
being situated at the edge of the said part of the solitaire.
By pressing the two pushers inwards their inner ends act upon the i
hooked ends of the spring and remove them from the edge of the hole
with which they are engaged. The fastening is thus released, and the
two parts are disconnected from one another.
In order that the two parts of the solitaire when unfastened may
not be wholly separated I joint them together at their edges. For this
purpose I make at the edge of each part a curved strap or projecting
piece, and hinge or joint the said straps together, so that when the two
parts are unfastened they are connected together at their edges by the
jointed straps or pieces described. The strap or piece on one part of
the fastening may be made in one piece with the disc or shell, and the 8
strap on the other part of the fastening may be made in one piece with
the box in which the pushers or releasers work, the said strap being
made by preference at the middle of one of the longer edges of the said
box.
For the purpose of fastening neckties, cravats, neck and other bows, 8
and other like articles to the dress, I make in the middle of the cravat
or tie an eyeletted hole, through which hole and the hole in the collar

page_text: or other part of the dress the stem or tubular socket part, which is
made longer than usual, passes. By this arrangement the ordinary
neck bands in the case of neckties or cravats are dispensed with. Or
when a neck band is to be used I combine with the said eyeletted hole
in the tie or cravat a double metallic hook fixed to the tie or cravat by
the eyelet of the said hole; and I provide the ends of the neck band,
which I prefer to make elastic, with eyes or loops for engaging with the
double hook on the tie or cravat.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Littlehales in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
LITTLEHALES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engraver,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Littlehales, Her
special license that I, the said Alfred Littlehales, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Littlehales, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS,
SHIRT AND OTHER STUDS, CRAVATS, NECKTIES, NECK AND OTHER BOWS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Littlehales, 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

page_text: .
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
montbs next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Littlehales, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained 5
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
My Invention consists principally of the arrangement or combination
of parts herein-after described for connecting together and disconnecting
from one another the two parts of solitaires, sleeve links, and other like
articles.
1
I will describe my Invention as applied to a solitaire:-In a tubular
socket on the inner face of one part of the solitaire I fix a nearly V
shaped spring, the free ends of the arms of the said spring being hook
shaped, the hooks being turned in opposite directions. The hooked
ends of the spring project a short distance from the open end of the 1
said tubular socket. Across the inner face of the other part of the
solitaire is a flat box, in the middle of which is a cupped part, into
which the end of the tubular socket takes when the two parts of the
solitaire are closed upon one another. At the bottom of the said cupped
part in the box is a hole opening into the said box. When the front 2
part is pressed upon the back part the V spring in the front part is
compressed or flattened in passing through the hole at the bottom of the
cupped centre of the box, and when the hooked ends of the spring have
passed through the said hole the elasticity of the spring causes its
hooked ends to engage under the edge of the said hole, and thereby to 2
securely fasten the two parts of the solitaire together. In order to
release the fastening two pushers are employed. These pushers work
in the box described on one part of the fastening, the outer ends of the
pushers being situated at the edge of the said part of the solitaire.
By pressing the two pushers inwards the inner ends act upon the 8
hooked ends of the spring and remove them from the edge of the hole
with which they are engaged. The fastening is thus released, and the
two parts are disconnected from one another.
In order that the two parts of the solitaire when unfastened may not
be wholly separated I joint them together at their edges. For this 3
purpose I make.at the edge of each part a curved strap or projecting

page_text: piece, and hinge or joint the said straps together, so that when the two
parts are unfastened they are connected together at their edges by the
jointed straps or pieces described. The strap or piece on one part of
the fastening may be made in one piece with the diso or shell, and the
strap on the other part of the fastening may be made in one piece with
the box in which the pushers or releasers work, the said strap being
made by preference at the middle of one of the longer edges of the said
box.
For the purpose of fastening neckties, cravats, neck and other bows,
and other like articles to the dress, I make in the middle of the cravat
or tie at the part where it is to be fastened an eyeletted hole, through
which hole and the hole in the collar, or other part of the dress, the
stem or tubular socket part, which is made longer than usual, passes.
By this arrangement the ordinary neck bands in the case of neckties
or cravats are dispensed with. Or when a neck band is to be used I
combine with the said eyeletted hole in the tie or cravat a double,
metallic hook fixed to the tie or cravat by the eyelet of the said hole;
and I provide the ends of the neck band (which I prefer to make
elastic) with eyes or loops for engaging with the double hook on the tie

page_text: .
The front part of the solitaire is marked A. and the back part is
marked B. A portion of the part A is shown separately in Figure 8, and a
portion of the part B is shown separately in Figure 7; c is the tubular
socket on the part B, in which socket ca V shaped or double spring d
is secured, the free ends of the arms of the said spring being hook-shaped
and turned in opposite directions. The hooked ends of the spring are
marked ď³, ďª, the said spring d is represented separately in Figure 14,
and also the blank from which it is made.
By an examination of Figures 2 and 5, it will be seen that the hooked
ends ď, ď, of the spring d in their normal position project a short
distance from the ends of the cap e³ on the tubular socket c of the
part B; is the flat box fixed to the inner face of the part A of the
solitaire. In the middle of the said box f is a cupped part f' into which
the cap e² of the tubular socket c of the part B takes when the two
parts A, B, are closed upon one another, as seen in Figures 3, 4, 5,
and 6. In the centre of the cupped part ƒ is a hole ƒ³ opening into
the box f; 9, 9, are the pushers or releasers (shown separately in
Figure 13) working in the box f, the inner ends of the said pushers
being situated near the inner edge of the hole f³ in the cupped part ƒ³,
and the outer ends 9³ projecting from the ends of the said box f. After
the tubular stem c of the back part B has been passed through the holes
in the sleeve or cuff or article of dress, the front part A is shut down or
· pressed upon the said back part B. As the cap e³ of the tubular socket c
enters the cupped part f*, and the hooked ends ďd", d³, of the spring d
enter the hole f³ of the front part A, the said hooked ends ď³, ď³, of i
the arms of the spring d are pushed inwards so as to compress or flatten
the V or double spring d, and when the said hooked ends of the spring
have passed completely through the hole f, the elasticity of the spring
causes the said hooked ends d³, d, to engage with or snap upon the
inner edge of the said hole f, and thereby to securely fasten the two {
parts A, B, of the solitaire together, as illustrated in Figures 3, 4, and 5.
The manner in which the hooked ends d², d, of the spring & engage
with the edge of the hole f³ in the box f of the front part A is best seen
in the section Figure 5. To release the fastening the two pushers g, g,
are pressed inwards by applying the thumb and finger to their projecting
ends g³, g³. The inner ends of the said pushers g, g, are thereby made
to press upon the hooked ends d³, &, of the spring and remove them
from the inner edge of the hole ƒ³, as illustrated in Figure 6, when the

page_text: .
.
front part A may be raised from the back part B, and the fastening
disengaged from the cuff, sleeve, or other article of dress.
1 The hooked spring d, d³, is secured in the tubular socket c by a cap
composed of a collar e (shown separately in Figure 10), which is closed
upon the outer end of the tubular socket c (shown separately in
Figure 9), and a trough piece e³ (shown separately in Figure 11) in
which the hooked ends of the spring work. The combined collar e and
trough piece e³ constituting the cap and tubular socket e is represented
in Figure 12. The hooked ends d³, d", of the spring being compressed
) are passed through the hole in the collar e. On releasing the said
spring its hooked ends engage with the outer face of the collar e. The
trough piece e³ is next placed over the hooked ends and fixed to the
collar e. The cap e, e', with the spring d, d³, secured to it is next fixed
to the tubular socket o by closing the edge of the said cap e upon the
5 expanded end of the socket c. The spring is thereby secured in its
place in the socket o, the said spring being incapable of sliding in the
said socket, but its hooked ends can be compressed or flattened and
expanded in the said trough plate, the said trough plate serving as a
guide for the said hooked ends of the spring.
Figures 14, 14³, and 14° represent a modification of the fastening
already described. In this modification I make the spring and pushers
or releasers in one piece, and secure them in the shell of the front part
of the solitaire, so as thereby to dispense with the box at the inner face
of the said front part, and I make the hooked ends of the spring engage
3 with an inner shoulder at the end of the tubular socket of the back
part.
In the said Figures 14ª, 14³, and 14º, d³, d³, are the hooked ends of
the spring d, the said spring having the general figure of a bow, and
d, d³, are the pushers situated at the angles of the bow-shaped spring.
› The spring and pushers are placed inside the shell of the front part A,
and the pushers project from the edge of the said part A. The hooked
ends d³, dª³, of the spring d are bent at right angles to the blank (see
Figure 14°), and the said ends project from the centre of the part A.
On the open end of the tubular socket c of the part B is a collar, having
an inner shoulder c³, under which shoulder the hooked ends of the

page_text: *Fastenings of other construction than that constituting part of my
Invention may be used in combination with the eyeletted hole m in the
cravat or tie for fastening the said cravat or tie to the dress; or the
cravat or tie may be fastened by a neck strap or central fastening at
the pleasure of the wearer by combining with the eyeletted hole ma
double metallic hook p, p, as represented in the back elevation of a
cravat or tie in Figure 18, the said double hook being fastened to the
back of the cravat or tie by the eyelet of the eyeletted hole m. On
each end of the neck band q is an eye or loop for engaging with the
hooks p, p. By this arrangement either a neck band 9. may be used for
fastening the cravat or tie to the person, or a central fastening passed.
through the sveletted hola m

page_text: -
and illustrated in Figures 15, 16, 17, and 18 of the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Littlehales, have hereunto
"set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- Ď
five.
ALFRED LITTLEHALES. (L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.