IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS for SuspendinG PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES.”
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkins, of the Firm of Robert Walter
Winfield and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchants and Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS for SuspendinG PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th September 1870.
I, JAMES ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
apparatus for suspending pictures and other articles.
My said Invention is especially applicable to the suspension of
pictures and other articles on walls, but may also be applied to the
suspension of articles not suspended on walls.

page_text: I will describe my Invention as applied to the suspension of pictures
on walls. I take a plate or bar of metal of any desired ornamental
character, and in the said plate or bar‘I make at short distances apart a
series of holes or perforations, the said holes or perforations being oblong,
their greatest length being situated in the direction of the breadth of the
plate or bar; these perforations are enlarged at their middle so as to
have at that part a nearly circular figure. The plate or bar is fixed to
the wall of the room immediately under the cornice. by means of a series
of nails driven into the wall, the middle parts of the perforations in the
-said-plate-being-presented to and passed over the heads of the nails. By
depressing the plate or bar the narrow upper parts of the perforations
engage behind the heads of the nails, and the plate or bar is thereby
securely attached to the wall. There is thus secured to the wall
immediately under the cornice and parallel thereto a metallic plate or
bar having in it a-series of equidistant perforations. In order to suspend
pictures to the said horizontal plate or bar I employ in place of chains or
cords vertical strips of metal ornamental in any desired way, the said
strips having equidistant perforations in them and furnished at top with
hooks. By means of the said hooks the said ornamental vertical strips
are fixed to the horizontal plate or bar at the cornice, the said hooks
being engaged with the perforations of the said plate, and hooks at the
back of the picture frame are made to take into such of the perforations
of the vertical strips as will suspend the picture at the desired height.
The horizontal plate or bar described may form part of the cornice, or
where the room is without a cornice the upper edge of the said plate or
bar may be so formed as to have the appearance of a cornice. The
vertical perforated strips to which the pictures are directly connected
may be used for suspending lamps, chandeliers, and brackets from walls
and from ceilings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said James Atkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
JAMES
ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and Manufacturers, 3.
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Atkins,. Her special licence that I, the
said James Atkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Atkins, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
SUSPENDING PICTURES AND OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Atkins; my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under 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 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.
FOR
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Atkins, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described.in
apparatus for suspending pictures and other articles..
My said Invention is especially applicable to the suspension of pictures
and other articles on walls, but may also be applied to the suspension of
articles not suspended on walls..
I will describe my Invention as applied to the suspension of pictures
on walls.
I take a plate or bar of metal of any desired ornamental character,
and in the said plate or bar I make at short distances apart a series of
holes or perforations, the said holes or perforations being oblong, their
greatest length being situated in the direction of the breadth of the plate
or bar; these perforations are enlarged at their middle so as to have at
that part a nearly circular figure. The plate or bar is fixed to the wall
of the room immediately under the cornice by means of a series of nails

page_text: driven into the wall, the middle parts of the perforations in the said
plate being presented to and passed over the heads of the nails. By
depressing the plate or bar the narrow upper parts of the perforations
engage behind the heads of the nails and the plate or bar is thereby
securely attached to the wall. There is thus secured to the wall imme-
diately under the cornice and parallel thereto a metallic plate or bar
having in it a series of equidistant perforations. In order to suspend
pictures to the said horizontal plate or bar I employ in place of chains
or cords vertical strips of metal ornamented in any desired way, the
said strips having equidistant perforations and furnished at top with
hooks. By means of the said hooks the said ornamental vertical strips
are fixed to the horizontal plate or bar at the cornice, the said hooks
being engaged with the perforations of the said plate and hooks at the
back of the picture frame are made to take into such of the perforations
of the vertical strips as will suspend the picture at the desired height.
The horizontal plate or bar described may form part of the cornice, or
where the room is without a cornice the upper edge of the said plate
or bar may be so formed as to have the appearance of a cornice.
t
The vertical perforated strips herein-before described may be used
without the horizontal cornice plate for suspending pictures, maps,
lamps, chandeliers, brackets, and other articles from walls and from
ceilings.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation apparatus constructed according
to my Invention for suspending pictures on a wall, and Figure 2 is a
vertical section of the same. The same letters of reference indicate the
same parts in the several Figures of the Drawings.
a is a horizontal plate or bar fixed under and parallel to the cornice b
of the room, to which plate or bar the pictures are to be suspended. The
said plate or bar a is of a hollow or trough form (see the section Figure 2)
for the purpose of leaving between the said plate and the wall against
which it is fixed sufficient space to receive the hook or fastening of the
suspending strips herein-after described. In the said plate or bar a is a
series of equidistant oblong holes or perforations c, c, their greatest length
being vertical or in the direction of the breadth of the plate or bar a, as
represented. The said perforations c, c, are enlarged at the middle, the

page_text: said middle parts having a nearly circular figure. The horizontal plate
or bar a is fixed to the wall d under the cornice 6 by a series of nails,
some of which are marked e, driven into the wall d.. After the nails e
have been driven into the wall d at the proper distances apart to corre-
spond with the distances between the perforations c, c, in the said plate
the enlarged middle parts of the perforations c, c, are presented to and
passed over the heads of the nails e. By then depressing the plate or
bar a the narrow upper ends of the perforations c, c, engage behind the
heads of the nails e, and the said plate or bar is thereby securely attached"
to the wall. The space between the top of the plate a and the cornice b
is filled up after the said plate has been fixed in its place by the
ornamental beading f. The vertical metallic strips g by which the
pictures are suspended to the horizontal plate a are provided with equi-
distant perforations h, k, of the same shape as those in the horizontal
plate a under the cornice. The upper ends of the vertical strips g are
connected to the horizontal plate a by loose hooks i, one end of each
hook being engaged with the top perforation of the strip, and the other
end of the hook being engaged with the required perforation of the
horizontal plate a, as represented. The frame k of the picture to be
suspended is secured to the bottom or other part of the strip g by means
of a hook fixed at the back of the picture frame, the said hook being
engaged with one of the perforations / of the strip g according to the
height it is wished to hang the picture on the wall. Two or more of
the strips are used to suspend the picture, each strip being secured to
the horizontal plate under the cornice and to the picture frame in the
manner already described.
In place of hooks at the back of the picture frame to engage with the
perforations of the vertical strips g studs, screws, or other like fastenings
may be used.
Figure 3 represents a stud plate to be used in place of the hook 1,
Figures 1 and 2. In using the stud plate m the stud is passed through
the nearly circular part of the perforation h of the strip g, and then
depressed so as to engage its neck or stem with the narrow bottom of the
said perforation.
Figure 4 represents in front elevation and Figure 5 in section the
arrangement of apparatus in which the horizontal plate or bar a forms
part of the metallic cornice b. In this arrangement the combined
cornice and horizontal plate is fixed to the wall in the way in which

page_text: ordinary metallic cornices are fixed, but additional security may be
given to the horizontal plate a by fastening it to the wall by means of
nails e as described with respect to the separate horizontal plate, Figures.
1 and 2.
When the pictures to be suspended' are of great weight I prefer to i
use perforated strips of the kind represented in Figures 1, 2, and 6;
that is, continuous strips of strong metal, from the middle of which the
perforations are cut or pierced. When, however, light pictures are to
be suspended the strips may be made of a skeleton form or of a series
of continuous rigid-ornamental-links-or-pieces. Several-forms-of-strips-1
of the kind last described are represented in Figures 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and
10, the perforations of the said strips being different in shape to those:
of the strips Figures 1, 2, and 6.
Instead of employing hooks with which to connect the upper ends of
the vertical strips g to the horizontal plate a ornamental or plain studs 1
may be used.
Figure 7 represents a metallic strip 9 connected to the horizontal
plate a by a double-headed stud n, one of the heads being made of au
ornamental form. In fastening the strip g to the horizontal plate a,
by the stud n the stem of the said stud is first engaged with the narrow 2
end of the top perforation h of the strip g, the ornamental head being
outwards. The plain head of the stud n is then passed through the
circular part of the perforation c of the plate a, and depressed so as to
engage the stem with the lower narrow part of the said perforation as
illustrated in the section Figure 8. The strip g is thereby connected 2
securely to the horizontal plate a, the junction of the two parts being
concealed by the ornamental head of the stud n. In Figures 4 and 5
the ornamental strip g is connected to the horizontal plate a of the
cornice 6 by a plain double-headed stud p in the manner last described.
Figure 11 represents the stud P detached.
The horizontal perforated cornice plate a herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings may be dispensed with and
the vertical perforated metallic strips g may be used alone for suspending
the picture, map, or other article. In this case the top of the vertical
strip is engaged with a nail, screw, hook, or other fastening driven into
the wall, and, the article to be suspended to the said strip is engaged
with one of the perforations of the strip, so as to suspend the article at
the desired height.
2

page_text: In place of connecting the picture or article directly to the vertical
strips cach vertical strip may have connected to it oblique strips, to the
ends of which oblique strips the picture frame or article is connected.
This arrangement of my Invention is represented in Figure 9, where
9 is the vertical strip secured to the horizontal plate a under or forming
part of the cornice, or to the wall, and q, q, are the oblique strips to
which the picture or article is connected by hooks, studs, or other
fastenings as herein-before explained. The vertical and oblique strips
9, q, q, are secured together by an ornamental double-headed stud r of
the kind represented in Figures 7 and 8.
In order to join lengths of the suspending metallic strips together
I employ double-headed studs in the manner represented in Figure 10,
where the ends of the two strips 9, 9, are joined together by the studs,
the said strips being engaged between the two heads of the said stud, so
as to bind the ends of the strips together.
In applying perforated metallic strips of the kind represented in the
accompanying Drawings to the suspending of lamps, chandeliers, and
brackets from walls and from ceilings, I connect one end of the strip
to the wall or ceiling by a hook, stud, or other fastening, and the other
end or part of the strip I connect to the lamp, chandelier, or bracket by
means of a hook, stud, or other fastening on the said lamp, chandelier,
or bracket taking into such of the perforations of the vertical strip as
will suspend it at the desired height.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in apparatus
for suspending pictures and other articles herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, apparatus
consisting of a perforated horizontal metallic plate or bar fixed under
the cornice, or used in place of a cornice, or forming part of the
cornice, and a series of vertical perforated metallic strips or vertical and
oblique perforated metallic strips, to which the pictures or articles are
directly connected, the said perforated plate or bar and perforated strips
being constructed, combined, and used, substantially as described and
illustrated.

page_text: Also, suspending pictures, maps, lamps, chandeliers, brackets, and
other articles from walls and from ceilings by. means of perforated
metallic strips of the kind heréin-before described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand. eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
Clerk to H. H. Murdoch,
.7, Staple Inn,
W.C.
JAMES ATKINS. (L.S.)