IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING HINGES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Douglas Mole, of the British Iron Foundry,
Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING HINGES."
Sealed the 31st March 1871, and dated the 5th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Douglas Mole at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th October 1870.
I, DOUGLAS MOLE, of the British Iron Foundry, Blackfriars Road, in
the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING HINGES," to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to box springs, such as are now employed and
applied to the bottom pivots of swing doors for rendering them self-
closing after they have been opened, and for bringing and retaining the
edge of the door opposite to the part where it is intended to come when
the door is closed, if a single swing door, or for bringing and retaining
the edges of double swing doors opposite to and in a direct line with
each other.

page_text: Now, whereas in practice it is difficult and tedious in fixing the above
description of springs to the floors of halls and other places to get the
doors to come in the desired position when closed, and further, when by
frequent use the parts in the box become worn, and cause the door not
to close properly, it is desirable to have a ready and simple mode of
adjusting the parts in the box to bring the door or doors again into
proper position without removing the said box for that purpose.
I propose to accomplish the above object by the following means:-
One improved method is to fit a loose or sliding shoe within the box that
contains the springs and other mechanism that operates them; into this
shoe I fix the stud that serves as the fulcrum of the levers against
which the springs press, instead of fixing the said stud in the bottom of
the box, as formerly practised in box springs made according to Smith's
well-known Patent. The above-mentioned sliding shoe I connect by a
flange to the inside of the box by screw bolts, which take into screwed
holes formed in the end of the box; I also form long holes in the afore-
said flange part of the shoe, through which the aforesaid screw bolts
pass, so that by moving the said shoe piece sideways, either to the right
or left, as the case requires, the door may at any time be adjusted and
held in proper position. The other mechanism being well known and in
common use it is unnecessary to describe here, this Invention consisting
solely in the use of the above-described improved adjusting mechanisin
in combination with the other well-known parts of box springs for swing
doors, as above stated.
Another improved method of adjustment, and which I prefer as being
more simple than that above described, is to adapt a moveable piece of
metal to the inside of the box at the hinge end thereof.
In this case I
leave the fulcrum of the spring levers fixed in the bottom of the box, as
commonly practised, and I obtain the adjustment of the piece which
carries the door, and secure this piece and the door in proper position
when closed by means of an upright projecting rib fixed to or formed
about midway of the length of the aforesaid movable piece of metal.
The ends of the aforesaid spring levers embrace the aforesaid rib at each
side thereof, so that according as the said movable piece is moved and
fixed to the end of the box in like manner the door may be adjusted, so a
as to come into proper position when closed, and further, by making the
curved parts or jaws of the aforesaid spring levers of a particular shape
the door may be made to remain open when desired without using a

page_text: wedge or catch for that purpose. The movable piece above mentioned
may be fixed by screws to the end of the box, as before described in the
former method of adjustment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Douglas Mole in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DOUGLAS
MOLE, of the British Iron Foundry, Blackfriars Road, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, 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 Douglas Mole, Her special licence, that I,
the said Douglas Mole, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Douglas Mole, 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 SPRING HINGES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Douglas Mole, 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 Douglas Mole, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to box springs, such as are now employed and
applied to the bottom pivots of swing doors for rendering them self-
closing after they have been opened, and for bringing and retaining the

page_text: edge of the door opposite to the part where it is intended to come when
the door is closed, if a single swing door, or for bringing and retaining
the edges of double swing doors opposite to and in a direct line with
each other.
Now, whereas in practice it is difficult and tedious in fixing the above
description of springs to the floors of halls and other places to get the
doors to come in the desired position when closed, and further, when by
frequent use the parts in the box become worn, and cause the door not
to close properly, it is desirable to have a ready and simple mode of
adjusting the parts in the box to bring the door or doors again into
proper position without removing the said box for that purpose.
I propose to accomplish the above object by the following means:-
One improved method is to fit a loose or sliding shoe within the box
that contains the springs and other mechanism that operates them; into
this shoe I fix the stud that serves as the fulcrum of the levers, against
which the springs press, instead of fixing the said stud in the bottom of
the box, as formerly practised in box springs made according to Smith's
well-known Patent. The above-mentioned sliding shoe I connect by a
flange to the inside of the box by screw bolts, which take into screwed
holes formed in the end of the box; I also form long holes in the afore-
said flange part of the shoc, through which the aforesaid screw bolts
pass, so that by moving the said shoe piece sideways, either to the right
or left, as the case requires, the door may at any time be adjusted and
held in proper position. The other mechanism being well known and in
common use it is unnecessary to describe here, this Invention consisting
solely in the use of the above-described improved adjusting mechanism
in combination with the other well-known parts of box springs for swing
doors, as above stated.
Another improved method of adjustment, and which I prefer as being
more simple than that above described, is to adapt a moveable piece of
metal to the inside of the box at the hinge end thereof. In this case I
leave the fulcrum of the spring levers fixed in the bottom of the box, as
commonly practised, and I obtain the adjustment of the piece which
carries the door, and secure this piece and the door in proper position
when closed by means of an upright projecting rib fixed to or formed
about midway of the length of the aforesaid moveable piece of metal.
The ends of the aforesaid spring levers embrace the aforesaid rib at each
side thereof, so that according as the said moveable piece is moved and

page_text: fixed to the end of the box, in like manner the door may be adjusted, so
as to come into proper position when closed, and further, by making the
curved parts or jaws of the aforesaid spring levers of a particular shape
the door may be made to remain open when desired without using a
wedge or catch for that purpose. The moveable piece above mentioned
may be fixed by screws to the end of the box, as before described in
the former method of adjustment.
And in order to explain more clearly my said Invention, I will now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative
Sheet of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral
figures and letters of reference marked thereon respectively as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
:―
Figure 1 represents a top plan view of one form of construction of
my improved spring hinge; Figure 2 is a section through the line A, A,
at Figure 1; Figure 3 is a top plan view of another form of construction
of my improved spring hinge; and Figure 4 is a section of Figure 3
through the line B, B, at that Figure. At each of the above Figures
the cover that encloses the mechanism is not shewn. Similar letters of
reference are employed to denote corresponding parts at each of the
above-mentioned Figures.
A marks the box of the spring%; B is the pivot on which the door
swings or moves, and to which the door is fixed in the usual way. The
dotted lines at Figure 1 shew the shoe piece which carries the door;
C marks a strong stud or pin shewn fixed into the bottom of the box A
at Figure 1, and into a movable shoe piece D at Figure 3; E mark
three powerful tempered steel springs, the ends whereof embrace and
hold close together the jaw pieces G which embrace the stud C at one
end, as shewn, and the opposite ends of the jaw pieces G embrace a
projecting rib a cast on the box A at Figure 3, but at Figure 1 the rib a
is formed on a separate piece of metal H, which may be connected and
adjusted inside the box A by screw bolts b. The rib piece a is employed
to keep the jaw pieces G in proper position, as commonly practised;
I marks a short lever carrying a roller c, which is embraced by the jaw
pieces G. The action of one or other of the pieces A when the door is
moved on its pivot is the same as in Smith's spring hinge above referred
to, and the principal difference between my improved spring hinge and

page_text: Smith's and other Patentees of the above description of spring hinges
consists in making the pieces D and H adjustable in the box A. I
propose to effect this adjustment by making long holes d through the
said pieces at those parts thereof where the bolts & pass through, as at
Figures 2 and 4, by which I am enabled by simply taking off the cover
of the box A to adjust the doors when they require it, one end of the
jaw pieces G remaining stationary while the other end is moved into the
required position, the bolts 6 are then tightened up, and the jaws and
door held in proper position.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my
said Invention for "Improvements in Spring Hinges," together with
my improved manner of constructing them, I would remark, in con-
clusion, that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim,
the adjustable pieces D and H in combination with the other parts of
spring hinges, as above described and represented by the accompanying
Drawing, for the purposes above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Douglas Mole, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.