IMPROVEMENTS IN BILL CASES, LETTER CABES, POCKET BOOKS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES.”
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry King, of Westbury, in the County
of Wilts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BILL CASES, LETTER
CABES, POCKET BOOKS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry King
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th May 1872.
I, WILLIAM HENRY KING, of Westbury, in the County of Wilts,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “ IMPROVEMENTS IN
BILL CASES, LETTER CASES, POCKET BOOKS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in forming bill cases, letter cases, pocket
books, and other like articles with double the usual number of divisions
or pockets, at the same time but slightly increasing the thickness of the
bill case or other article.
To carry out my Invention I form the bill case, letter case, pocket
book, or other article with two closing flaps and locks or other fastenings,

page_text: one at each side. The partitions dividing the pockets from one another
are formed double and connected alternately at top and bottom. The
folding ends of the pockets are also formed with double the usual
number of folds, and are connected alternately to the partitions. By
this arrangement the bill case opens at both sides, and I obtain the same
number of pockets for each flap of the bill case or other article, and
therefore double the number usually contained therein.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry King in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY KING, of Westbury, in the County of Wilts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Henry King, Her special licence
that I, the said William Henry King, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry King, 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
BILL CASES, LETTER CASES, POCKET BOOKS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry King,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry King, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say:
This Invention consists in forming bill cases, letter cases, pocket
books, and other like articles with double the usual number of divisions
or pockets, at the same time but slightly increasing the thickness of the
bill case or other article.
To carry out my Invention I form the bill case, letter case, pocket
book, or other article with two closing flaps and locks or other fastenings,
one at each side. The partitions dividing the pockets from one another
are made double and connected alternately at top and bottom. The
folding ends of the pockets are also formed with double the usual
number of folds, and are connected alternately to the partitions. By
this arrangement the bill case opens at both sides, and I obtain the
same number of pockets on each side of the bill case or other article, and
therefore double the number usually contained in such articles.
To make my Invention better understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1
is an elevation of either side of a bill case constructed according to my
Invention, the case being closed; Figure 2, end elevation of same;
Figure 3, end elevation shewing one flap of the bill case open; and
Figure 4, section of same on line x, x, Figure 1.
a, a¹, are the two closing flaps, one at each side, each flap having a
separate lock 6, 6', or other fastening. The partitions c, forming and
separating the pockets or divisions from one another, are double, as shewn
by the section, Figure 4, and are connected together alternately at top d
and bottom d. The folding ends e¹ of the pockets are also formed with
double the usual number of pleats or folds which are connected
alternately to the partitions.
In Figures 3 and 4, only each alternate pleat is shewn, the others
being enclosed between the double partitions c; f,f¹, are straps, the free
ends of which carry the staples of the locks, and the other ends pass
down behind the locks b, b', as seen by the dotted lines, Figure 2,
(videlicet, one behind the lock b, and the other behind the lock 6') and
are provided with springs; these springs allow of the straps being drawn

page_text: out as the case becomes distended with letters or other papers, and as the
contents of the case are removed the springs draw back the straps which
by this means are kept tight and keep the flaps well closed. By this
arrangement it will be seen that the bill case may be opened at each side,
for if the flap a (shewn open in Figures 3 and 4) be closed as shewn in
Figures 1 and 2, and the bill case turned over, the flap a¹ will then be in
the position of the flap a. If the flap a' be now opened the partitions c
(closed togethed at d by the closing of the flap a) will be opened from
one another at d¹, and form four pockets similar in all respects to the
four pockets of the flap a, shewn in Figures 3 and 4.
The number of pockets may be increased or diminished as required.
Having thus described my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, what I claim is, the peculiar construction of bill and letter
cases, pocket books, and other like articles whereby a larger number of
pockets than usual in such articles is obtained, as herein-before described
and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry King, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this 13th day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.