IMPROVEMENTS IN Regulating and Securing THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND OTHER SLIDING WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, AND DOORS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lees, of the City of Manchester, Mer-
chant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN Regulating and Securing
THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND OTHER SLIDING
WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, AND DOORS."
Scaled the 25th February 1873, and dated the 31st December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lees at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
"
1 31st December 1872.
I, WILLIAM LEES, of the City of Manchester, Merchant, do hereby
5 declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REGU-
LATING AND SECURING THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND
OTHER SLIDING WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, AND DOORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the method of securing a railway carriage or
other sliding window, shutter, or door in any position in its framework,
) and consists in the use and application of a rack and spring catch to the
purpose, which rack is by preference fixed upon the edge of the sliding

page_text: window, shutter, or door, whilst the spring catch is disposed in a suitable
fixing in the framework, and has a projecting button or knob to which
pressure is applied when the catch is required to be released from the
rack. As applied to a railway carriage window this Invention admits
of the window being opened or closed from the outside without opening
the door for the purpose, and dispenses with the use of the ordinary
leather strap, roller, and button.
Instead of the rack and spring catch the necessary securing of the
window, shutter, or door, in any position in its framework may be accom-
plished by means of inverted wedges placed between such window
shutter or door and its framework, one of which wedges is a fixture and
the other is arranged to slide loosely in a groove and is actuated by a
sliding projection or button.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the
CIILS
filed by the said William Lees in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LEES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Lecs, Her special licence
that I, the said William Lees, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Lees, 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 REGULATING
AND SECURING THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND OTHER
SLIDING WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, AND DOORS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I; the said William Lees, by an instrument in writing,

page_text: Hou my can stay partyCLING WHASKELL VIC
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 William Lees, do hereby declaro
the nature of my said 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 the method of securing a railway carriage or
other sliding window, shutter, or door, in any position in its framework,
and consists in the use and application of a rack and spring catch to the
purpose, which rack is by preferance fixed upon the edge of the sliding
window, shutter, or door, whilst the spring catch is disposed in a suitable
fixing in the framework and has a projecting button or knob to which
pressure is applied when the catch is required to be released from the
rack. As applied to a railway carriage window this Invention admits
of the window being opened or closed from the outside without opening
the door for the purpose, and dispenses with the use of the ordinary
leather strap, roller, and button.
In order that this my said Invention may be more readily seen and
understood, I have hereunto annexed a drawing of a railway carriage
door and window, having my improvements applied thereto, drawn to a
scale of about one-fourth full size.
Fig. 1 is a front inside elevation; Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in
section; and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan. The section illustrated by Fig. 3
is taken through the line a, b, in Fig. 1.
A represents a railway carriage door, and B a window of the ordinary
construction; C is a metallic toothed rack (either iron or brass) screwed
to one of the edges of the window frame D; E is a catch (seen upon an
enlarged scale in Fig. 4). pivoted or centered upon the pin F in the
fixing G which is let into and securely fixed in the cross frame H of the
door. This catch is guided at one end in the metallic groove I by
which means the weight of the window is supported and prevented
unduly pressing upon and straining the pin F; J.is a projection or
ratchet tooth upon the front edge of the catch E which is caused to

page_text: acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details, relative
proportions, or dimensions, illustrated on the accompanying Drawing,
and herein-before described, as the same may be considerably varied
without departing from the Invention, but what I do claim is,―
1st. The arrangement of spring catch capable of being actuated from
the inside or outside of a railway carriage door in combination with the
metallic rack affixed upon the edge of the window frame as and for the
purposes described.
2nd. The application of the spring catch and rack to other sliding
windows, shutters, and doors, as and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lees, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year
of our Lord 1873.
Witness,
JOHN J. ROYLE,
Clerk with John G. Wilson,
Patent Office,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
WILLIAM LEES. (L.S.)