IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING WINDOW SASHES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Douglas Hopkins, of Bedford Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING WINDOW SASHES."
Sealed the 14th May 1869, and dated the 20th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Douglas Hopkins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th November 1868.
I, JOHN DOUGLAS HOPKINS, of Bedford Square, in the County of
5 Middlesex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING WINDOW SASHES,'
to be as follows:-
The present modes of opening and closing window sashes are incon-

page_text: consists in winding the suspending cords of window sashes round drum
wheels or cylinders placed beneath the sills of the frames, or in any
other convenient situation, the drum wheels or cylinders being operated
upon by gearing worked by a crank handle or otherwise. I am thus
enabled to open or close either sash with great facility, whatever height
they may be.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Douglas Hopkins in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 1
DOUGLAS HOPKINS, of Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Douglas Hopkins,
Her special licence that I, the said John Douglas Hopkins, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Douglas Hopkins, 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, éxercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING WINDOW
SASHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Douglas Hopkins, my executors
executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 monthis next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Douglas Hopkins, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The present modes of opening and closing window sashes are incon-
venient, more especially as regards the upper sash. Now my Invention
consists in winding the suspending cords of window sashes around drum
wheels or cylinders placed beneath the sills of the frames or in any
other convenient situation, the drum wheels or cylinders being operated
upon by gearing worked by a cranked handle or otherwise. I am thus
enabled to open or close the sashes with great facility, whatever height
they may be.
The accompanying Drawings represent the manner in which my
Invention may be carried into effect.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a side view of a sash frame
with a pair of sashes, and having the gearing or raising and lowering
apparatus attached to the sill of the sash frame; Figure 3 is a plan of
the gearing. The arrangement here shown is intended for a pair of
sashes of moderate size glazed with plate glass.
a is the lower, and 6 the upper sash; c, c, are the suspending cords of
the lower sash, they pass over pulleys d fixed at the upper part of the
sash frame, and are attached to the sash and to weights p in the usual
manner; they are also attached to the lower end of the weights, and
then descend to guide rollers e, e, under which they are passed to drum
wheels f,f, to which their ends are connected; these drum wheels f,f,
each carry a spur wheel 9, the two wheels g gearing into each other so
as to rotate simultaneously, but in opposite directions; one of the
wheels g is geared into by a pinion h on a spindle formed to receive a
winch or cranked handle m. When it is required to open the lower sash
the handle m is applied to the spindle and then rotated; the rotary
motion is transmitted by the gearing h, g, to the drum wheels f,f, which
are thus caused to rotate simultaneously, but in opposite directions, so
as to wind up the cords c, c, and raise the sash. To prevent the sash
being moved from the outside or descending by its own weight when

page_text: open
I fit a ratchet wheel n on the spindle 7, this wheel being provided
with a paul or catch o arranged so as to be lifted by the handle m when
the latter is applied to the spindle 1. The gearing for the upper sash b
is similar to that for the lower sash, as just explained, c, c', being the
suspending cords, f, f, the drum wlicels, and y', ', the gearing. 9, 9,
are fasteners applied to the lower sash, as shown, in lieu of the fasteners
usually applied to the meeting rail's.
Figure 4 represents an arrangement of gearing suitable for a pair of
large sashes glazed with plate glass. This arrangement differs from that
previously described in the addition of the intermediate wheels and
pinions i, , and k, k'.
Figure 5 represents an arrangement suitable for small sashes glazed
with crown glass or other thin glass; as less power is required to lift
these sashes the cranked handle is applied directly to the axle of one of
the drum wheels f.
be
is
Figures 6 and 7 represent the manner in which my apparatus may
applied to open and close the window sash in a railway or other carriage
wheels I, I, as
door. ff, are the drum wheels geared together by spur
wheels
spur
in the arrangements previously described; one of the
provided with a band wheel or pulley r, around which a cords from
another band wheel or pulley t is passed; on the axle of the band wheel t
The drum wheels fare
is a spur wheel geared into by a pinion v.
driven by rotating the pinion by means of a handle m or otherwise.
In some cases I dispense with the wheel u and pinion and apply
the handle to the axle of the wheel t. The arrangement represented
in Figures 6 and 7 may also be applied to windows used in some
shop fronts.
It will be evident that the arrangement and form of the
gearing for driving the drum wheels will vary according to the size,
weight, and position of the sashes and the circumstances by which
they are surrounded. The arrangements herein-before described are
merely given as examples which may be conveniently followed in
ordinary cases.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the
eniployment of drum wheels or cylinders for winding the suspending

page_text: cords of window sashes, the said drum wheels or cylinders being driven
by suitable gearing, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Douglas Hopkins, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
J. C. MEWBURN,
Patent Agent,
172, Fleet Street, London.
J. D. HOPKINS. (L.S.)