IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO COMBINED INKSTANDS AND PEN Trays, STATIONERY CASES, TRAVELLERS' SAMPLE CASES, AND OTHER CHAMBERED DEPÔTS REQUIRING MORE THAN ONE LID OR COVER." LIKE UNITED
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Ricketts at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
November 1871.
I, JOHN RICKETTS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, to be as follows (that is to
say),
“ IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO COMBINED INKSTANDS AND PEN Trays,
STATIONERY CASES, TRAVELLERS' SAMPLE CASES, AND OTHER
CHAMBERED DEPÔTS REQUIRING MORE THAN ONE LID OR COVER."
LIKE UNITED
This Invention has for its object the application of a simple and
inexpensive arrangement of levers or cranks, and rods or beams to
articles such as boxes or cases used for containing writing materials,
stationery cases, jewel cases, dressing cases, travellers' sample cases, or
other like cases or depôts which are divided into compartments and
require seperate semi-united or collective lids or covers, so arranged that
on opening or closing one of the said lids or covers the whole or any
part of the other lids or covers act automatically.
In applying this Invention to say a combined inkstand, pen tray,
wafer box, and stamp depot, the pen tray or the other depots may be

page_text: formed in the base, and the ink and other compartment, ink depots or
pot being moulded therein, or seperate as in ordinary ones and detached
at will, may be constructed on the top of the rear of the base so that the
lower lid or lids being opened up and folded back will not project above
the edge of the upper depot or depots. The hinge pins in most cases are
secured to the portion of the joint in the several lids and turn in
stationary bearings. The automatic action may be accomplished by
simply connecting the several axles or pins of the joints together by a
connecting rod jointed to a rigid arm or crank projecting from the rear
on the axis on which the lids turn, or the connecting rod may be jointed
in front of the joint pin of the lids. In some cases I use an intermediate
beam lever working on a fixed axis to enable the crank or rigid arm on
one of the spindles to be placed in an opposite direction, in which case
the beam is connected to the cranks or rigid arms on the spindles by
small link rods. In some cases it is preferred to use a semicircular
cover or covers, which on being folded over recede beneath the pen tray
or other hollow which they are intended to cover, in which case it is
preferred to use a connecting rod jointed to a crank arm on the outer
end of the hinge spindles, and it is preferred to fit cranks and
connecting rods on each end of the joint spindles.
When it is not desirable that all the covers or lids should be opened,
and remain so, at one and the same time, such portions thereof which
are not required to be opened for use are connected to the spindle of the
joint in such a manner that they may be turned thereon, or the spindle
may turn in the whole length of the joint of the cover; when the said
cover is held down by the hand or otherwise so that the other covers are
free to act, this may be done by a short spring or springs, flat spring
lever attached to the cover, and the free end of which spring takes into a
hollow or flat bottomed recess in the joint spindle so that on the said
spindle being rotated in the sleeve of the lid joint the spring will yield,
allowing the spindle to turn, by which arrangement on the other lids
being closed the spring again takes into the notch so that when the lids
are again opened the lid so fitted will open with the others unless held
down by force.
In applying this Invention to a traveller's sample case or dressing case
or other like article the chambers are arranged in rows across the
interior of the box, each row having one common joint spindle fitted at
the ends with crank arms or their mechanical equivalents, and are

page_text: connected together by a common rod on each side which is jointed to
the lid of the external case, so that on opening this lid which covers the
whole the connecting rods are thrown forward or drawn back according
to the way the cranks on the ends of the spindles are arranged, the
whole of the covers are thrown open at the same moment that the major
lid is lifted. In some cases a helical or other springs are applied to one
or more of the hinge spindles so as to cause the box to open or close by
the action thereof, in which case a drop catch is used to hold the lids
open or closed as the case may be.
By the foregoing arrangements it will be seen that the article may be
so arranged that the whole may be secured by a single lock or catch.
When this Invention is to be applied to cases having a drawer or
drawers, each hinge spindle is fitted with one or more cranks which may
be connected together by a common connecting rod, the last of which
set of cranks are of a form known as the bell crank, having one of the
said arms projecting above the axis of the lids or covers, so that when
the drawer is pulled out the upper arm of the bell crank coming into
contact with a fixed stud, or its mechanical equivalent, will cause the
whole set of lids or covers to be thrown open, and in some cases it may
be desirable to attach one or more small drawer springs to the side of the
drawer by a fixed stud, and at the other to the crank arm or arms,
which has the effect of holding the covers in position whether open or
closed. The cavity at the back of the drawer is fitted with a small
buffer spring to force out the drawer when released from a vertical bolt
which passes down through the side of the case taking into a recess in
the upper edge of the drawer; this bolt is formed with a collar and
surrounded by a helical spring which abuts on to a ledge or collar at the
bottom of the hole in the side of the case through which the lower end
of the locking bolt passes. The object of the spring is to make the bolt
a self-acting withdrawing bolt which is locked into position on the
drawer being run in, and the lid of the box closed which depresses the
bolt, causing the point thereof to take into the hole in the upper edge of
the drawer, so that the drawer is securely locked when the lid of the box
is closed.
To prevent the drawer being drawn out above a certain distance the
under side of the rear end is formed with a recess or recesses, in which

page_text: is turned downwards or formed with a stud on the under side, so that
when the drawer is pulled forward it travels on a level surface for a
given distance, when it slides down an inclined plane formed in the
bottom of the box, after which it abuts against the vertical side of the
recess and prevents the drawer from being further withdrawn untill the
outer end or ends of said spring lever or levers are elevated, so as to
release them from the inclined slot which can be done by the upward
pressure of the finger or fingers passing through a suitable opening
through the bottom of the outer casing, which said opening or openings
may be covered and concealed by any suitable flexible fabric. In place
of the spring catch described a pawl tooth with or without a spring may
be substituted therefor, thus the drawer may be removed from the recess
in which it works.
The improved cases may be formed of metal or other suitable
material or combination of materials; when formed of porcelain it is
preferred in some cases to surround the lids or covers with a metallic
frame as a protection to the same.
Under certain circumstances in place of the cranks and connecting
rods I substitute small groove pulleys on the ends of the hinge spindles,
and connect them together by endless bands of india-rubber, or other
suitable material which is acted upon in the same manner as the rods
and levers described.