AN IMPROVED CLASP-BOARD TO HOLD DOCUMENTS FOR REFERENCE."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Kopke, of Hackney, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CLASP-BOARD
TO HOLD DOCUMENTS FOR REFERENCE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Kopke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th October 1856.
I, WILLIAM KOPKE, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex; Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CLASP-
BOARD TO HOLD DOCUMENTS FOR REFERENCE," to be as follows; and consists of
a small tablet, or flat piece of wood, pasteboard, papier maché, or any other
material, made of dimensions nearly or fully corresponding to the usual size of
said documents, or any other, used by people in business and general pro-
fessions, folded in the ordinary form or otherwise.
This tablet is supported by small feet at the corners. The under side of said
tablet is traversed by a metal shaft, the ends of which branch out close to the
sides of the tablet into arms or levers, of a length about equal to the usual
thickness of papers in bundles. These arms or levers stand paralel to each
other and at right angles to the shaft.
From one extremity to the other of said arms (opposed to the end joining
the shaft) is attached a common band of india-rubber, or a string of the same or
of any other very elastic substance capable of securing the papers to the tablet.

page_text: I avail of the elasticity of the india-rubber band, in order to attach this band
to the arins or levers without adopting any common means. This is effected by
passing the band in a stretched form through narrow passages leading into one
or more perforations in the end of each arm, from which it cannot escape
unless forced out as when first put in.
The shaft is confined to its proper place by staples or by any other equally
efficient means. One of the means I shall adopt will be a case of metal or
of wood, to hold at the same time the springs employed in this instrument
when they should not be directly fixed to the board; these control tho
position the arms are required to remain in, as hereafter mentioned.
I shall adapt my Invention, by various modifications of the shaft and
springs, to the kind of papers the board is intended to hold, and to the
expediency of saving time in using it or otherwise. These modifications will
consist of three kinds; one for bank cheques, bills of exchange, and other thin
unfolded papers; another for stout doubled papers, and the last for un-
answered letters. The shaft for a board of the first has a collar, or only part
of one, placed half way of its length, notched across, where it forms a right
angle with the arms. A metal spring square with the shaft, bent upwards at
the end under the collar, will enter the notch for the purpose of keeping the
arms umoveable when the papers are fastened by the india-rubber band; the
other end of the spring is fixed to the board or to the box. A stud passing
through the board rests on the spring. By pressing with the fingers across the
papers on the stud the spring is depressed, disengaging itself from the notch.
A band or a string of indin-rubber, which has been coiled round the shaft by
one end and fastened by the other to the board or to the box, will then raise
the arms perpendicular, leaving the clasping board first mentioned clear of the
papers. To fasten these again, the arms are turned down by the fingers
towards them, when the notch will be caught by tho spring, and thus kept
stationary with the band tight over the papers. When the india-rubber
spring is not made use of round the shaft as a means to raise the arms,
its effect will be obtained by a steel spring pressing on a bit (similar to that
of a latch key) placed on the shaft. The shaft for the second class of papers
has one or two collars placed near the end or ends of the shaft, not in
the middle as the other mentioned shaft, and springs will also operate upon
this or more collars, as last described, but instead of being pressed upon
through the board, they will be moved by a latteral car, shaped out of them,
passing beyond the sides of the board or the box in which they will be
confined. In all other respects the arms will be raised as the first-described
shaft, either by the india-rubber coil or by the metal spring and bit. The shaft

page_text: for the third class board has no collars nor bit. In their place a portion of the
shaft will be made square or four-sided; one or more springs will be placed in
the box or fixed to the board to press against the flat sides of this square
portion of shaft, inducing it to remain stationary (with the arms), in accordance
with the movement imparted by the fingers to the latter, as the intention may
be to release or to fasten the papers held by the board.
The practical working and effect of the machinery I have described may be
likened to the opening of the cover of a hunting watch and closing down
of the same, and (respecting the last-mentioned contrivance) to the opening
and shutting the blade of a pocket knife, the arms or levers of my instru-
ment being similarly acted upon for the purpose of binding the papers on
the board or loosening them from the india-rubber band, the use of which my
Invention facilitates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Kopke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KOPKE, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS er most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 29th day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Kopke, Her special license that I, the said William
Kopke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Kopke, 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
CLASP-BOARD TO HOLD DOCUMENTS FOR REFERENCE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Kopke, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Kopke, do hereby declaro
the naturo of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to bo particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My Invention consists in a novel application of a common band or string of
india-rubber, or other suitable material, to bundles of commercial and other
professional papers, either standing on desks or hanging in files for reference,
whereby they are held together, unattended in the operation by the trouble
arising from the old plan of encircling them entirely with the band, for in my
Invention the tie is made to press only over the papers. The means I employ,
the combination of which constitutes my Invention, and the mode of operation
and effect, are described as follows:-
DESCRIPTION. Fig. 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 an elevation; Figs. 5, 7, 8, 10, 11
aro sections of the collars. A flat piece A, B, C, D, of any suitable material,
such as wood, is made of length and breadth about coresponding to the
aforesaid papers in their folded state, or otherwise. This board is supported
by small feet at the corners, thus forming a small table upon which the papers
are to be placed. A metal shaft E traverses the table in contact with its
under side and near one of its ends; this shaft is supplied with arms F, one at
each extremity, close to the sides of the table; they may be cast with the
shaft or joined to it, and are of a length coresponding to the height of an
ordinary bundle of papers, and aro in position parallel with each other, but
at right angles to the shaft; their shape may be plain or ornamental. One or
two holes G are opened in each of their ends on a line with their length;
these may be comprised in the form artistically adopted. From one extremity
to the other of the arms across the top of the table the band of india-rubber is
attached, and in the holes above mentioned, whereby to secure the papers on
the table. The way I attach the band forms a peculiar feature of my Invention,
and consists in passing it in a stretched form through narrow passages h, h,
leading from the outside into said holes, from which it cannot escape in
the ordinary use of my Invention.
The shaft is confined to its place by staples or other equally efficient means.
The plan I adopt for this purpose consists in making the sides of a small box,
hereafter mentioned, to serve as bearings. The shaft is cast with a thick part
I call the collar I. This collar is coiled round with one or two springs J of
india-rubber or of metal, by which a revolving motion is given to the shaft in
order to impart a vertical position to the arms when required. There are pins
K fixed to or cast with the collar, and others are fixed in the box above men-
tioned, for the ends of the springs to hold by. A groove or recess is opened in

page_text: the under side of the table to receive the upper side of the collar with the coil
of springs to allow the other parts of the shaft to come close with the table.
The box L, already alluded to, is sufficiently capacious to bold the springs and
levers I employ; these shall be described afterwards. By varying the shape
of the collar, and by adopting other modifications in the working parts of my
Invention, I appropriate it to the kind of papers for which it may be especially
required, which I class into the thick and the thin; the former doubled up,
the latter not so; likewise allowing some of the modifications to cost less than
others. And it will be seen that these variations do not alter the principle
of my Invention, as they are limited to the means employed as to their shape
and number and their manner of working. The chief of those modifications
are described as follows: -
First, Fig. 1, for bank cheques, bills of exchange, &c.-The collar shewn
in section, Fig. 8, (commencing on the same side of the shaft from which the
arms are pointing,) increases in thickness in the direction of its circumference,
and does not completely encircle the shaft, but stops short at the under side,
forming a somewhat broad step M in the middle of its length horizontally with
the shaft there is also a small step N projecting from the collar itself, and
about ninety degrees of the circle behind the first step a lever O is placed in
the box, abutting at right angles by one end against the first step, whilst
the other end, reaching to the end of the box, moves and is supported at
middle height of the box by a pivot P for its fulcrum. Over and across this
lever and the box, about middle length, a shaft Q (which, for the sake of
distinction from the one already described, I call the centre shaft), is placed
and extends to the sides of the table, having small arms, Fig. 2, at its
extremities, and in the middle a plain bit or cam S (such as the bit of a latch
key), the arms and cams pointing in a direction away from the principal shaft,
and parallel with the table. Encircling the lever and centre shaft there is a
very small band or tie of india-rubber tending to keep the former continually
suspended and in close contact with both shafts. When the arms of the
principal shaft have to be raised for the purpose of disengaging the band from
the papers
the small arms of the centre shaft have to be pressed down by the
fingers, the cam will then communicate the pressure to the lever, disengaging it
downwards from the first step aforesaid, when the springs of the principal shaft
will turn the latter round, thus lifting the arms and india-rubber band away
from the papers. On the shaft completing the fourth part of a revolution its
progress is arrested (and of course that of the arms also), by the second stop
on the collar meeting the end of the lever. In this manner access is given to
the papers.

page_text: I will at once state, that to close the arms and band again down on the
papers, not only in respect to this, but all the other modifications of my
Invention, the hand will accomplish it by forcing the arms down until the
lever has been forced to resume its contact with the first step, securing thereby
the horizontal position of the arms, with their band overlapping the papers.
Second modification, Fig. 3.-This, also applicable to thin papers; is not
so costly as the last described. Its lever O has its fulcrum like the last men-
tioned, but extends in length beyond tho shaft, under which it has a square
hole to receive therein the steps of the shaft. The collar is similar in shape to
the last mentioned, and so are the steps, with the only differenco that the first
is narrow or equal to the second. The centre shaft is superseded by a stud T,
about an inch in diameter, passing through the table, and fixed on the lever at
any convenient distance between the fulcrum and shaft. Even this stud
can be dispensed with by bringing the lever to reach the outside of the box,
.and beyond the end of the table. On the stud (when admitted) or on the end
of the lever the fingers have to press over the papers, in order to produce the
effect attained in the last modification by the centre shaft, for raising the arms
and india-rubber band away from the papers to admit reference to or adding
to the bundle. The small india-rubber band which, in the first modification,
passes over the centre shaft to hold up the lever, will in the present case
be suspended from the under side of the table.
Third modification, Fig. 4.-This and the following are adapted to stout or
doubled-up papers. The collar of the shaft, commencing like the preceeding
two, instead of forming one, as described, has two first steps, seperated one
from the other by the collar extending between them a little way; and on the
side of each first step (ninety degrees of a circle behind them) another step is
formed, being the arresting step to the revolution of the shaft, as in the
previous mentioned modifications. The lovers in this caso are two U, U,
Figs. & 11, each abutting on the first steps and standing parallel with each
other; their fulcrums, however, are at middle length, whilst their other ends
on reaching the ends of the box are bent sideways at right angles, each
extending on their respective sides beyond the box, and reaching a little
beyond the table, in order to receive the pressure of the fingers, whereby
motion is imparted to them and the shaft when access is had to the papers.
The angle above mentioned, when not of a piece with these levers, may be
formed seperately by the appendage of wooden bars to the end of the levers,
to answer the purpose of their bent parts mentioned, on the like conditions for
their use. These lovers, unlike the former described, in their motion, as in
description of power, have a sideway action, as inferred from what I have said.

page_text: A small band is lapped from one to the other at about half way between the
shaft and their pivots or fulcrums, for the purpose of keeping them constantly
ready to engage with their steps on the shaft. It will be perceived that when
these levers are pressed at their outside extremities V for the purpose of raising
the arms, the other ends will thus get disengaged from the first steps; the
revolution of the shaft will then bring the second steps into their contact. At
this point it will be also seen that they remain stationery, the arms having then
arrived upon the vertical position; and it will be also evident that, upon the
arms being again forced down towards the papers, the levers will again resume
their former position with the first steps. In both cases of engagement with
the first or second steps, their power of direction towards each other by the
collapsing tendency of the small band of india-rubber is circumscribed by
the sides of the collar W, Fig. 17, where the two sets of steps have been
formed by the latter.
The fourth or last modification, Fig. 16, the cheapest of all, has a square
collar, but no levers and no coiling springs. In order to keep the arms
stationery a flat spring is applied under the shaft, pressing against the collar.
Its action will be felt upon any of the four sides of the collar as the arms aro
brought by the hand to correspond with it, there to remain in the same way
that the blade of a pocket knife is moved. It is evident that this modification,
divested of the other machinery I have described, is entirely dependant on the
action of the fingers for its action, whereas in the other three modifications
their working capabilities and superior advantages resemble, in point of
economy of labour and time, to the expeditious movements of the cover of
a hunting watch.
In witness whereof, 1, the said William Kopke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM KOPKE. (L.8.)