IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EYES OR FASTENINGS FOR STAIR RODS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Buncher, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Brassfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF EYES OR FASTENINGS FOR STAIR RODS."
Sealed the 1st April 1859, and dated the 2nd February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Buncher at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd February 1859.
I, JOHN BUNCHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brass-
founder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EYES OR FASTENINGS FOR STAIR RODS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of the methods herein-after explained of making the
eyes or fastenings of stair rods from sheet brass, or other metal or alloy. In
carrying my Invention into effect, according to one of the methods constituting
my improvements, I proceed as follows:-I take a strip or band of sheet metal,
of a length equal to about five or six times its breadth, the dimensions, however,
varying to suit the dimensions required in the finished eye or fastening. I
first bend the said strip at or near its middle, and then round a cylindrical rod,
the said rod being of the size of the stair rod, with which the eyes are to be
used. There is thereby made a nearly cylindrical loop or eye near the middle
of the strip, and by bending the uncurved portions of the strip, so that they
shall stand at right angles with one another, the loop being situated at and
within the angle, the eye or fastening is completed in all essential respects.

page_text: It may have holes made in its ends for fastening it to the stairs, or it may be
.finished in any other required manner.
According to another of the methods constituting my improvements, I
proceed as follows:-I cut strips or bands of sheet metal, as before
described, excepting that at the middle and on either side of each .strip I
:leave pieces of a nearly circular form, the said pieces being perforated with a
circular opening, so as to give the said pieces a ring-like figure. The said
pieces being.bent up until they are parallel with each other, have a piece of
tubing inserted and fixed in them, which said tubing constitutes the eye
through which the stair rod is passed. The other parts of the said eye or
fastening are made as herein first described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Buncher in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BUNCHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brassfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Buncher, Her special licence that I, the said John
Buncher, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Buncher, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EYES OR FASTENINGS FOR STAIR RODS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Buncher, 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 per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Buncher, 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 methods herein-after described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing of manufacturing the eyes or fastenings of stair
rods from sheet brass, or other suitable metal or alloy, that is to say, manufac-
turing the said eyes or fastenings by piercing or drilling and bending strips or
bands of rolled or drawn sheet metal, or flat or other shaped wire, instead of
casting the said eyes or fastenings as in the ordinary manufacture.
In carrying my Invention into effect according to one of the methods con-
stituting my Invention, I proceed as follows:-I take a strip or band of sheet
metal having the form represented in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing.
The dimensions of the said strip or band are varied, to suit the dimensions
required in the finished eye or fastening. I bend the said strip, Figure 1, at
or about its middle round a cylindrical or other shaped rod, having the size
and shape of the stair rod with which it is to be used. There is thus formed
the nearly circular or other shaped loop or eye a, seen in the side and front
elevations of a finished eye or fastening in Figures 2 and 3. By bending back
the ends or arms c, d, of the strip, as represented at 6, 63, in Figure 2, so as to
bring the said ends or arms c, d, at right angles to one another, the eye or
fastening is completed, excepting the finishing and lacquering, or otherwise,
of the said eye or fastening. The arms c, d, of the eye or fastening have
holes e, e, pierced in their ends, through which said holes pins or screws are
passed for securing the said eye or fastening to the stairs. Figures 4 and 5
represent, in section and front elevation respectively, an eye or fastening con-
structed according to my Invention secured to a stair, and carrying a stair
rod, as represented. Instead of securing the eye or fastening to the stairs by
passing pins or screws through the arms of the same, I sometimes make the
end of one of the said arms of a pointed figure. Figures 6 and 7 represent,
in side and front elevation respectively, an eye or fastening constructed
according to this modification of my Invention. The eye or fastening,
Figures 6 and 7, is made in exactly the same way as the eye or fastening
represented in Figures 2 and 3, excepting that one end of the strip or band
from which it is made is pointed, so that when the said strip or band is bent,
the pointed end shall. assume the position represented in Figures 6 and 7.
In fixing the eye or fastening, the pointed end is inserted in the horizontal
portion of the stairs, and the other arm is fastened by a pin or screw to the
vertical part of the stairs. When I use flat or other shaped wire in making

page_text: the blanks of the eyes, illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, the said
blanks have parallel sides throughout their length, that is to say, they are
without enlargement at their ends.
A
According to another of the methods constituting my Invention, I proceed
as follows:-I take strips or bands of metal of the form herein-before described
and represented in Figure 1, excepting that at the middle and at each side of
each strip or band I leave pieces of a nearly circular figure, the said pieces
being perforated with a circular opening, so as to give the said pieces a ring-
like figure. Figure 8 represents a plan of one of these strips or bands. The
said strip or band, Figure 8, is bent at or near its middle, so as to bring the
two arms of the eye or fastening into a position at right angles to one another,
and the ring-like pieces fif, are also bent until they are parallel to one another,
as seen in the front and side elevations of the unfinished eye in Figures 9
and 10. When the eye has assumed the form represented in Figures 9 and
10, a piece of tubing represented in Figure 11 is inserted and fixed in the
rings ff, which said tube constitutes the eye through which the stair rod is
passed. A finished eye or fastening is represented in front elevation in
Figure 12, and side elevation in Figure 13.
I sometimes modify the last described eye or fastening in the following
manner-Instead of making the two arms of the fastening from one strip of
metal, as before described, I make the said arms from separate strips of metal,
as herein-after described.
I take a strip or blank, having the form represented in Figure 14, and I
bend the said strip at or near its middle into the form represented in Figure 15;
I now take two of the bent plates, having the form represented in Figure 15,
and insert and fix in the perforated rings g of the said plates a piece of tubing,
similar to that represented in Figure 11; the said plates, Figure 15, being so
situated on the said tubing that they are at right angles to one another, as
shown in the finished eye or fastening represented in side elevation in
Figure 16, and plan in Figure 17. The parts marked h, h, of the said bent
plates, constitute the arms by which the eye or fastening is secured to the
stairs, and the tube fixed in the flanges or rings g, g, of the said bent plates
constitutes the eye or loop through which the stair rod is passed.
When the eyes or fastenings are to be fixed in stone stairs, I carry my
Invention into effect in the following manner :-I take a strip or band of metal
having the form represented in Figure 18, the said strip or band having at its
ends perforated rings i, i, as represented. I bend the said strip, Figure 18, at
or about its middle, and bring the bent parts nearly parallel with one another,
as represented in front and side elevations in Figure 19. When the partially

page_text: formed eye or fastening has assumed the form represented in Figure 19, a
short piece of tubing, represented in Figure 20, is inserted and fixed in the
flanges or perforated rings i, i, as shewn in Figure 21, and the eye or
fastening is complete. In fixing this eye or fastening in the stone stairs, a
hole or cavity is made in the said stairs, and the tail k of the eye or fastening
placed in an upright position in the said hole or cavity. By pouring lead, or
other easily fusible metal, in the said hole or cavity, the said lead or metal
effectually fixes the said eye or fastening in its place, and prevents the with-
drawal of the said eye or fastening.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, 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,―
Firstly, the improvements in the manufacture of eyes or fastenings for stair
rods herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7,
of the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing the said eyes or
fastenings by piercing or drilling and bending strips or bands of metal, whether
the said strips or bands be cut from sheet metal, or consist of flat wire, plain
or ornamental, and either rolled or drawn.
Secondly, the improvements in the manufacture of eyes or fastenings for
stair rods herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21, of the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, manufacturing the said eyes or fastenings from strips or bands of metal,
or flat or other shaped wire, by piercing or drilling and bending, and afterwards
inserting and fixing short metal tubes in the said pierced or drilled and bent
portions.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Buncher, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM COSTEN AITKEN.
JOHN BUNCHER. (L.S.)