IMPROVEMENTS IN CHARCOAL BOX IRONS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Frederick Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1872.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK CLARK, of the Firm of T. and C. Clark and
Company, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Ironfounders,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CHARCOAL BOX IRONS," to be as follows:-
―:
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
charcoal box irons.
I fasten down and release the hinged lids or covers of charcoal box
irons by means of a fastening, the parts of which are constructed and
arranged as follows:-
The fastening I employ consists of a lever turning on a centre on the
back of the chimney of the lid or cover held in its place by a spring or
balance weight. The said lever fastening stands nearly vertical, and its
upper end is furnished with a knob terminating a little above the front
end of the handle of the lid, and within reach of the thumb when the

page_text: hand is grasping the said handle. The lower or acting end is hooked,
the bottom of the hook being curved. The lower or hooked end of the
fastening lever engages with a catch on the edge or middle of the box
or body of the iron. The upper edge of the said catch is inclined so
that on shutting down the lid or cover the curved bottom of the hook of 5
the fastening lever by coming against the said upper edge of the catch
is pressed back, and by means of a spring the said hooked end is made
to engage with or snap into the said catch. The lid or cover is thereby
very securely fastened down.
Instead of employing a spring to press the hooked end of the 1
fastening lever into the notch, a balance weight may be combined with
the fastening lever for that purpose.
In order to unfasten the lid or cover the handle end of the fastening
lever is pressed upon so as to withdraw its hooked lower end from out
the catch on the box or body. This may be done by pressing the lever 1
knob by the thumb without the removal of the hand from the handle
of the iron.
By my improvements the fastening of the lid or cover to the iron is
effected by the act of shutting down the said lid or cover, and the lid or
cover unfastened with one hand without removing it from the handle.
I construct the damper at the heel end of the iron in the following
manner-Instead of making the damper in the form of a flat plate
which opens and closes the opening in the heel of the iron by turning
on a pin or centre, I make the damper in the form of a frame or case,
the upper part of the said frame or case being open. The damper made
in this way while permitting of the entrance of air into the iron prevents
sparks and ashes from the iron from falling on to the clothes, the said
sparks and ashes being caught in the said frame or case.
In order to regulate the draught through the iron I place in the
hollow or frame-like damper described a disc carried by a screw, the said 3
screw working in a screw box in the face of the damper. By turning
the said screw by means of a head or plate on its outer end the disc may
。 be moved nearer to or further from the hole in the heel, and the
quantity of air entering the iron thereby regulated with great nicety.
2
The damper described is connected to the iron by means of a screw a
or centre on which it turns. By turning the damper aside it may be

page_text: wholly removed from before the hole in the heel of the iron, when the
iron may be placed upon a stand carrying a fan or blower, by working
which blower a current of air may be forced into the box iron and the
combustion of the charcoal therein quickly raised to the desired point.