AN IMPROVED SAPETY APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONS WHILE PAINTING THE EXTERIOR OF BUILDINGS AND CLEANING WINDOWS, WHICH MAY BE USED AS A BALCONY FOR HOLDING FLOWERS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Tritton, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire,
Esquire, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SAPETY APPARATUS FOR THE
PROTECTION OF PERSONS WHILE PAINTING THE EXTERIOR OF BUILDINGS AND
CLEANING WINDOWS, WHICH MAY BE USED AS A BALCONY FOR HOLDING
FLOWERS."
Sealed the 22nd April 1856, and dated the 25th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Tritton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th October
1855.
I, HENRY TRITTON, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Esquire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS
FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONS WHILE PAINTING THE EXTERIOR OF BUILDINGS AND
CLEANING WINDOWS, WHICH MAY BE USED AS A BALCONY FOR HOLDING FLOWERS,"
to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to prevent accident to the life or limb of
persons engaged in painting or cleaning the exterior of buildings, and to
enable female servants to clean windows from the outside of a dwelling in
security and with decency.
My Invention consists of a jointed framework of iron, forming three sides
of a square, in height from 3 feet upwards. Underneath this framework, or
the part on which a person would stand; are cross pieces or bars, to clutch the

page_text: outside wall, and that part of the frame which is inside the room is made
fast to the wall by means of a vertical pin or other similar arrangement. Or
the iron framing may be secured to the window sill by means of hooks
fitting in eyes, screwed or otherwise fastened to the sill of the window. The
three sides of the frame should be covered with cloth or perforated zinc when
the apparatus is intended to be used by domestics for cleaning windows, but
when meant for the use of painters and glaziers this is not required. The
whole framework is so constructed as to readily fold into a compact portable
form. By placing two of them together, as one side can be easily moved, a
ready means of painting the exterior of houses without the use of scaffolding
or ladders is afforded. And, lastly, the apparatus may be used as a kind of
moveable balcony for holding flowers. I reserve a right to vary the details
of my Invention, of which the foregoing is an outline..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Tritton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
TRITTON, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Esquire, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Tritton, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Tritton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Tritton, 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 "AN IMPROVED SAFETY
APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONS WHILE PAINTING THE EXTERIOR OF
BUILDINGS AND CLEANING WINDOWS, WHICH MAY BE USED AS A BALCONY FOR
HOLDING FLOWERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Tritton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
nuder 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

page_text: 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 Henry Tritton, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement: ·
This Invention consists of a portable apparatus, which may be readily and
unerringly affixed to a window, so constructed as to be perfectly safe for a
person to stand upon, and so guarded as to render it impossible for any accident
to occur by falling. It is well known that accidents arising from the present
mode of cleaning windows are of frequent occurrence; and one of the objects
of this Invention is to render this indispensable operation perfectly safe, so that
female servants may be enabled to do this kind of work without violation of
decency or fear.
Another object of this Invention is, the application of the apparatus for the
purpose of supporting workmen while engaged in painting, glazing, or other-
wise working upon the exterior of houses. The ordinary painters' "machine,"
although perfectly safe as far as its supporting power is concerned, is never-
theless very inconvenient as well as dangerous for the workman, in consequence
of there being no room to move, or for his tools, or anything to prevent his
falling if affected with giddiness, fits, apoplexy, or other disorder of the head,
and no accident arising from these causes could take place if the apparatus
herein-after described were in general use among artizans employed upon the
exterior of buildings.. The portable balcony when not in use for domestic
purposes is admirably adapted for fixing outside a window to serve as a recep-
tacle for flowers.
I will now proceed to describe the construction of the apparatus, referring to
the Drawing forming part of this Specification; and to the letters and figures
marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents a side view of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a front view; and
Fig. 3, a plan of the same. A is a rectangular iron frame enclosing the floor.
or base of the apparatus; cross pieces of iron B, B, are affixed to the framing A.
These cross pieces serve to support the floor Ċ, which is made of wood, firmly
secured by screws to the cross framing B, B. When the balcony. is not
required for the additional purpose of holding flowers, the sides of the frame A,
supporting the bottom, are entire, terminating at the inner ends in hooks D, D,
which clasp the window sill or shelf within side, and the balcony is adjusted to the
thickness of the wall by the sliding shores K, K, without side; but if, on the

page_text: contrary, the balcony is required for holding flowers, the frame is constructed so
as to admit the removal of the hooks, by which the balcony is rendered appli-
cable by other hooks to the outside of the window sill, permitting the sash to be
closed. F; Fig. 1, is the wall of the house; G, the stone sill; H, the sash sill;
I, the shelf. The inner or hooked ends of the lengthening pieces E are con-
nected together by a flat bar of wood or iron, covered with leather or other-soft
material to prevent the chafing of the paint work within side the room. Each
of the shores or brackets K which support the balcony at the outer ends is
connected to a sliding clip k by a pin k, upon which the shore turns; on the pin
or axis is screwed or otherwise secured a knob.", by which the clip. ' may
be readily slipped. along the frame A. At whatever part of the frame A the
clip is placed it is firmly held there by the upper end of the shore K, catching in
the ratchet teeth formed on the under side of the frame A, as shown by Fig. 1.
The framing A may, however, be made without the ratchet teeth, if desired;
for when the shore K is pressed by a weight above, it pinches the framing
so tightly as to be quite safe. L is a light iron framing surrounding three
sides of the bclcony, where an ornamental appearance is required; as, for
example, when the balcony is used for holding flowers the lower part may be
filled in with wire work, as shown by the Figures. The sides of the framing L
are hinged, so as to fold and lie flat against the front part; and this framing
being secured to the main frame A by pins.or joints, which permit of its lying
flat upon the floor of the apparatus, the shores K also fold up, so that the
whole is readily folded into a very small compass. The angles formed by the
upper part of the guard or frame L may be strengthened by a short piece of
chain fastened from the side to the front across the angles. When the
lengthening pieces E are removed, the balcony is ready for securing to the sill
of a window sash, where it will have the appearance of an ornamental balcony,
adapted for holding flowers, fern shades, aquariums, or other similar purposes.
Two metal plates with slots cut therein are screwed to the vertical part of the
window sill, and the hooks at the ends of the side frames A are slipped into
the slots, by which the balcony is firmly upheld, either with or without the
.shores K, K. This arrangement is shown in section by Fig. 4; and Fig. 5
represents a front view of the sash sill with the plates screwed thereto. When
.the balcony is used for painters' and glaziers' purposes or for cleaning windows,
the wire work at the lower part of the guard L may be dispensed with. Fig. 6
shows a modification of the side frames A, A, in which the ends e³, Fig. 1, are
substituted for the hooks D, and made to slide along the frame A by means of
a clip, which is secured by a pin passed through one of a series of holes mado
In the frame. Fig. 7 represents a modification of the slide k attached to

page_text: the shores K, Figs. 1, 2. In this arrangement two pins, , are used in
addition to the central ones ³, making the whole much stronger than the
arrangement before described. The pin binds the cheeks of the slide
together, the pin passes through the shore K, and moves in a curved slot
cut in each cheek of the slide. The foregoing arrangement is particularly
applicable to balconies used for external repairs, where they would be required
to support a considerable weight; for example, in nearly all cases of external
repair of houses two or three of these balconies would supersede the use of
scaffolding or ladders reared from the ground, and thus far avoiding expence,
delay, and obstruction in streets.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine.
myself to the precise arrangement of the details of the apparatus hercin-before
described and shown, as the same may be varied without departing from the
Invention; but what I claim and desire to secure by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the construction of a portable folding balcony or
apparatus, as herein-before described and shown, or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Tritton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
HENRY TRITTON.
(L.S.)