Improvements in Fastenings for Casters, Door-knobs, and the like.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 9th Jan., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 9th Jan., 1891-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fastenings for Casters, Door-knobs, and the like.
I, JACOB THINNES, of 247, De Kalb Avenue, Brooklyn, in the County of
Kings and State of New York, United States of America, Confectioner, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR
CASTERS, DOOR-KNOBS, AND THE LIKE, 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 improvements in fastenings for such articles as casters,
door-knobs, and the like; and the invention consists in the details of construction
set forth in the following Specification and claim, and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings, in which-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a fastening containing my invention.
Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a section along a x, Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a detail view of a screw-rod and sleeve.
Fig. 5 is a section along y y Fig. 4.
In the drawings, the letter a indicates a screw-rod having a square or angular
head or end b. The rod is fitted into a slit sleeve c, so as to leave the screw part
projecting for the reception of a screw or nut g. In Fig. 2 is shown a screw, and
in Fig. 4 a nut. The sleeve is placed into a suitable recess or hole in a piece of
furniture such as the leg of a table or a hole in a door-and when now the screw g
is tightened the head or enlarged end is drawn into the sleeve so as to expand the
slit portion of said sleeve and clamp the sleeve firmly in place. The square end or
head of the rod prevents the rod from turning in the sleeve. The screw g, besides
acting on the rod a, may also be used to secure a caster, knob, or other article to
the rod, so that when the rod is fastened in place it will also retain the caster or
knob. If the rod is to be removed, the screw is loosened and the rod pushed inward,
so as to allow the sleeve c to contract, whereupon the sleeve and rod can be withdrawn
from their place.
I do not claim anything shown and described in the Letters Patent of the United
States, issued to myself, Frederick Thinnes, and Charles Schueller, April 20, 1875.
No. 162,433.
In the invention set forth in said Letters Patent the screw-rod is cone-shaped
from where the screw-threads terminate to its end, so as to expand or force
outwardly the slitted sleeve when the adjusting-nut is properly manipulated, and
thereby cause the projections or fins on the exterior of the sleeve to penetrate and
seat themselves in the wood-work. The connection thus made between the
projections or fins and the wood-work are so firm and tight, caused by the action of
the cone-shaped head and weight of the article of furniture, that it is extremely
difficult to disconnect the sleeve from the wood-work when it is desired to detach
the same.
Considerable expense and difficulty are sustained in forming the
projections or fins on the exterior of the sleeve, and also in forming the cone-shaped

page_text: portion of the screw-rod. The cost and difficulty of forming both the cone-shaped
screw-rod and projections on the sleeve are obviated by my present invention. The
sleeve being free of projections on its exterior enables its removal, when desired,
with comparative ease and facility and without resorting to the use of tools or
marring of the furniture. The head of the screw being angular, it can be produced
more cheaply than if cone-shaped, and as each angle-point of the rod bears in the
slit between each section of the sleeve the rod exerts great positive pressure upon
each section of the sleeve when the nut on the rod is operated, causing a firm
binding contact between the sleeve and the wood-work without the aid of pins or
projections on the exterior of the sleeve, which prior to my present invention were
deemed absolutely essential. By forming the rod with the angular head each of its
angles enters and seats itself between the sections of the sleeve, forcing each
member thereof apart, thereby expanding the sleeve and with certainty preventing
the rotation of the sleeve when the nut on the rod is properly turned to draw the
angular head within the sleeve, and likewise prevents the rod from turning within
the sleeve. By this construction neither the sleeve nor the rod can turn when the
nut is operated to draw the rod within the sleeve for the purpose of expanding the
members of the slitted sleeve.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The improved fastening for casters, door knobs and the like, herein shown and
described, combining in its structure the rod a, having at one end the enlarged
angular head and at its other end a screw-thread, the nut g, and the tubular slitted
sleeve c, having a plane exterior surface, each angle of the head of the rod having
a seat in the recess between the sections of the slitted sleeve to prevent turning of
the rod when drawn within the sleeve for expanding its sections, all substantially as
herein set forth.
Dated this 8th day of January 1891.
F. W. BARKER,
Applicant's Agent.