Improvements in the Manufacture of the Frames of Brace, Belt, Garter, Suspender, and like Fittings or Furniture.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 26th Nov., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of the Frames of Brace, Belt,
Garter, Suspender, and like Fittings or Furniture.
I, THOMAS WALKER of Brook Street Works, St. Paul's Square, in the City of
Birmingham Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the metallic fittings or furniture of braces, belts,
garters, suspenders and the like, and is an improvement upon, or an amplification
of, two several Letters Patent granted to me and bearing date respectively the
22nd day of October 1888 No. 15143, and the 2nd day of December 1889
No. 19315.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents partly in front elevation, and
partly in section, a brace buckle, with the frame made from wire, and according to
one form of my present invention.
The pivot centres, upon which the prong bar is mounted, are made from the
solid of the inetal of the inner sides of the said frame, whilst the terminal end of
the loop part has a branch, which makes joint within a gap, cut out of the solid
metal, near the termination of the metal framing at the other part of the frame,
and is there enclosed and encompassed by a rolled-round sheet metal clip.
Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the said buckle frame upon the dotted
lines A. B. Figure 1.
Figure 3 represents a length of wire, suitably gapped or shaped, and from which
the said solid frame is made.
Figure 4 represents a partly shaped frame, made from the said wire length
Figure 3.
Figure 5 represents the same shaped, and the branched end of the loop part
made joint, or inserted within the gap of the other part, and with the pivot
centres for the carrying of the ends of the prong bar cut out from the solid metal
of the sides of the frame.
Figure 6 represents the blank from which the clip, which encircles the lower
bar of the frame, and unites the terminal ends of the metal, is made.
Figure 7 shows the same turned up to the figure of a trough, prior to the
closing of the same around the parts as aforesaid.
Figure 8 is the prong bar separately.
a is the frame, with opposite sides a², top bar a³, lower bar a', middle and barrel
prong bar b carrying prongs b', and with the ends of the said bar b, turning upon
pivot centres a, cut out of the solid metal of the inside edge of the sides a², as
bearings, and with clearances aº, directed upon the opposite sides of the said
pivots, wherein the extreme outer ends of the prong bar barrel b take.
The lower bar a', comprehends upon one side a short length a', gapped at a³,
and upon the other side, a short bar a³, continued into a loop al, having right
hand angled branch a", adapted to fit within the gap a', and to be there confined
by a barrel clip a¹, closed around the parts a', a³ and a¹¹.
Thus, in making up a frame, I take a gapped or shaped length of wire as
represented in Figure 3, and bend the same into the frame Figure 4. Then by
means of dies and pressure, or by shaping tools, I flatten the same, and give it the
figure as represented at Figure 5, less the pivot centres and clearances aº, aº.
Then by gapping or shearing tools, the pivot centres, with the adjacent clearance,
are cut out from the solid of the metal, as shown at Figure 5.
This done, the prong bar barrel is then inserted within the frame, by the
slightly springing or opening out the latter. Then by taking the clip Figure 7,

page_text: and gathering the same around the lower bar a', the buckle frame (as in Figure 1).
is then completed.
Figure 9 represents another form of solid buckle frame made from wire.
In this form of buckle, the pivot centres of the prong barrel or bar stand out
from the inside edges of the opposite sides, and are produced by squeezing or
spreading a portion of the metal of the frame inwardly into ears or webs as
represented in Figure 10. Then by cutting out tools, the stamping or clipping of
the said ears, or spread metal parts into pivot centres, is performed as shown in
Figure 9.
Figure 11 is an edge view of Figure 9, showing the gap, wherefrom the metal
for the forming of the pivots has been displaced.
In the making of a loop or slide for belts, the loop a¹, is dispensed with, and
the part bars a', a', of the bar a, are continued until the same meet, and are then
united by a barrel clip. The middle bar is made alike unto the prong bar, but
without the prongs.
The application of my invention to the frames of fittings of garters, suspenders
and other articles of a like manufacture, differs in no essential respect from its
application to a brace buckle or belt loop as before described. Instead of the
blank wire being gapped prior to being bent, it may be gapped, and bent
afterwards.
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:
First Making the frames of the fittings or furniture of braces, suspenders,
garters and the like, from a single length or piece of wire, with the ends or the
terminal ends of the same united or connected together, by a branch or a portion
of the one end, taking into a gap or recess sunken within a branch or part of the
other end or by a portion of one end coming against a reduced portion of the
other end and with the said end parts connected together, or united and closed, by
a circumferentially directed barrel or other surrounding sheet metal clip, as set
forth.
Secondly In the frames of the fitting or furniture of braces, belts, garters,
suspenders and the like, making the pivot centres or bearings of the middle prong
bars or middle bars, or inner bars, from out of the solid of the metal of the
opposite inside edges of the sides of the said frames, substantially as described
and set forth in Figures 1, 2, 4 and 5.
Thirdly-In the frames of the fittings or furniture of braces, belts, garters,
suspenders and the like, making the pivot centres or bearings of the middle prong
bars, middle bars or inner bars from out of the solid of the metal of the frames,
by spreading the metal first inwardly into ears or webs, and then subsequently
clipping or shaping the same into pivot centres, bearings or connections as set
forth in Figures 9, 10, and 11.
Dated this 13th day of October 1899
THOMAS WALKER,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.
THOMAS WALKER,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.