IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS, COLLAR AND OTHER STUDS, FASTENINGS FOR ARTICLES OF DRESS AND JEWELLERY, BAGS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Richards and James Tandy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th October 1870.
JOHN RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Jeweller, and JAMES
TANDY, of Birmingham aforesaid, Jeweller. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES,
SLEEVE LINKS, COLLAR AND OTHER STUDS, FASTENINGS FOR ARTICLES OF DRESS
AND JEWELLERY, BAGS, AND OTHER ARTICLES."
Our Invention consists of the arrangement or combination of the parts of
mechanism herein-after described for connecting together and disconnecting those
kinds of solitaires, sleeve links, fastenings for articles of dress, bags, and the like,
which consist of two detachable parts, namely, a front part carrying the stone or
ornament and a plain back part, the article of dress or other article being held
between the two parts when the latter are connected together.
We will describe our Invention as applied to a solitaire.
The connecting mechanism of the solitaire is carried in the front part, the said
connecting mechanism being constructed as follows:-To the back face of the shell
of the said front part a short tube is fixed, within which tube two catches parallel to
the axis of the tube work. The said catches are situated in their normal position
at opposite sides of the tube, being held in that position by a V spring between
them. The outer ends of the said spring catches are provided with rounded heads
or expanded parts, the said heads or expanded parts being situated outside the
mouth or open end of the tube of the front part of the solitaire. To the upper or
inner ends of the catches described pushers or releasers are connected, the said
pushers working in the shell of the front part of the solitaire, and their outer ends
projecting a short distance from the edge of the said shell. The catches and pushers
are kept in their places in the tube and shell by means of a covering disc provided
on its inner face with guides between which the pushers work.
The back part of the solitaire consists of a hollow shell or head, to the inner face
of which a short tube is fixed, the diameter of the said tube being a little less than
the diameter of the heads or expanded ends of the two catches in the tube of the
front part.
In using the solitaire the tube of the back part is first passed through the holes
in the cuff, sleeve, or article of dress to be fastened, and the tube of the front part
(containing the fastening mechanism) is passed into the said tube of the back part.
The heads of the spring catches in the tube of the front part are thereby made to
approach one another, and the spring between them is compressed. On the front

page_text: part of the solitaire being completely pushed home in the back part, the heads of
the catches are expanded or pressed outwards by the action of the spring between
them, and the said heads are made to snap upon or engage with a shoulder formed
by the bottom of the tube and the inner face of the hollow shell or head of the back
part of the solitaire; the two parts of the solitaire are thus connected together. To
disconnect the two parts of the solitaire, the pushers at the edge of the front of the
solitaire are pressed between the thumb and finger, the spring catches are thereby
compressed and their heads removed from the shoulder at the bottom of the tube of
the back part, when the two parts of the solitaire may be separated.
By our improvements the fastening mechanism is very simple, durable, and
secure.
We apply our improvements to sleeve links, studs, fastenings for dress and
ornaments, and other like articles, substantially as described with respect to a
Bolitaire.