AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Woodcock, of Edinburgh, North
Britain, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS
FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES."
Scaled the 9th October 1868, and dated the 11th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Woodcock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th April 1868.
I, ALEXANDER WOODCOCK, of Edinburgh, North Britain, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
AND APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to suspend or hang pictures on walls
without the use of cords made of fibrous substances, which after a time
are liable to decay and give way under the weight of the picture,
thereby risking the doing of irreparable injury to the picture.
By the use of my Invention the hanging operation is much facilitated,
and any desired change in the position of pictures on the wall may be
effected with ease.

page_text: The Invention cousists in the use of corrugated metal bands, either
suspended vertically from a rod or bar secured to the upper part of the
wall or to a strong nail or screw fixed therein. These corrugated metal
bands serve as racks, up and down which attaching hooks are free to
slide, but to which they will hold fast when sustaining a weight. These
bands may be either painted or electro-plated so as to have a neat
appearance. If desired the bands may also be secured at bottom. To
suspend the band from a fixed bar or rod its upper end is folded over
to form a hook and secured by means of a clasp or ring. Moveable
hooks provided with transverse slots in their shanks are adapted to the
vertical corrugated bands, on which they may be moved up or down by
hand according to the position in which it is desired to hang the picture.
These hooks take into eyes which are screwed into the back of the
picture frame to suspend it by, and are made flat instead of round. In
combination with these hooks and eyes I propose to use connecting links
of various lengths, so that the picture may if desired be tilted forward
more or less in order that it may be better seen. One end of tliese
connecting links is placed over the hook which is attached to the
vertical corrugated band and the other end is hooked onto or into the
eye which is screwed into the back of the picture frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Woodcock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WOODCOCK, of Edinburgh, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Woodcock, Her special
licence, that I, the said Alexander Woodcock, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Woodcock,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and all times thereafter during the

page_text: 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
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Woodcock, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the 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 Oflice within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Woodcock, do hereby
declare 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:-
The object of this Invention is to suspend or hang pictures on walls
without the use of cords, which after a time are liable to decay and
give way under the weight of the picture, thereby risking the doing of
irreparablo injury to the picture.
By the use of my Invention the hanging operation is much facilitated
and any desired change in the position of pictures on the wall may be
effected with case.
over to form a
With the above object I use corrugated metal bands, either suspended
vertically from a rod or bar secured to the upper part of the wall or to
a strong nail or screw fixed therein. These corrugated metal bands
serve as racks, up and down which attaching hooks are free to slide, but
to which they will hold fast when sustaining a weight. These bands
may be either painted or electro-plated so as to have a neat appearance.
If desired the bands may also be secured at bottom. To suspend the
band from a fixed bar or rod its upper end is folded
hook and secured by means of a clasp or ring. Morcable hooks
provided with transverse slots in their shanks are adapted to the
vertical corrugated bands, on which they may be moved up or down by
hand according to the position in which it is desired to hang the picture.
These hooks take into eyes which are screwed into the back of the
picture frame to suspend it by, and are made flat instead of round. In
combination with these hooks and eyes I propose to use connecting
liuks of various lengths, so that the picture may if desired be tilted

page_text: forward more or less in that it may be better seen.
lessin
One end
of tlftse connectingasis placed over the look which is attached
to the vertical corrugated band, and the other end is hooked onto or
into the eye, which is screwed into the back of the picture frame.
Thus far I have confined myself to describing the object, nature, 5
and character of my Invention, and I will now proceed to par-
ticularly describe and ascertain in what manner the same is to be per-
formed which I shall do by referring to the accompanying Drawings, as
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, section of apparatus for hanging pictures shewing position
when picture is suspended; Fig. 2, front view of same; Figs. 3 and 4,
respectively front and side elevations of the hook; Figs. 5 and 6, eyes
for screwing into picture frame; r, rod or band; c, corrugated band;
h, hook; e, cyc.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I
would have it understood that I do not claim the constituent parts per se
and apart from the purposes of my said said Invention, what I do claim
being the Invention of "An Improved Mode of and Apparatus for
Suspending Pictures," as described and illustrated above.
7
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Woodcock, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
1
1
Witness,
JAMES MCPHERSON.
ALEXR. WOODCOCK. (L.S.)