Improvements in Medicine Cabinets and Chests.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 12th May, 1896-Accepted, 27th June, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Medicine Cabinets and Chests.
We, ALFRED STEER of No. 14 Florian Road, Putney, in the County of Surrey,
Commercial Traveller, and GEORGE HENRY GIBBS of No. 27 Chatsworth Road,
West Norwood, in the same county, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in medicine cabinets and chests, and the
main object of it is to throw obstacles in the way of taking poisonous medicines
out of the cabinet or chest, without specific care and thought being concentrated
upon the act of selection; and more especially in the way of replacing a poisonous
medicine in the chest or cabinet, lest it be replaced amongst the non-poisonous
medicines.
In carrying our invention into effect, we provide two compartments. These
are hinged or otherwise connected together by pivots, slides, or other devices of
any type adapted to provide for one being moved away from before the other and
replaced in front of it or in front of its door, so far as to prevent access to the
latter.
.
The nature of our invention will be clearly understood from the following
description of it as embodied in an upright cabinet.
We provide two cupboards of the same size and shape. They are of markedly
different colours externally. One is hinged by its back right hand edge to the
front right hand edge to the other.
An automatic device is provided capable of holding the door of the front
cupboard locked until the latter is swung up to the back cupboard; and a
second one capable of then holding the front cupboard in the position last
described until after the door of the said front cupboard shall be closed and locked
upon its contents.
The invention does not limit us in respect of the mechanical details of the above
mentioned automatic device. Both may advantageously be substantially the same
as the well known pivotted locking bar by which the first to be closed of a pair of
folding doors, is locked in consequence of the engagement with it of a hook or
tooth on one end of the lever being swung into a socket in the said door as soon
as the closure of the second door of the pair, moves it over an incline or the
opposite end of the lever.
It is proposed to hypothecate the back cupboard to non-poisonous medicines,
and the front cupboard, to poisonous medicines. The front cupboard is divided
into two compartments-one for ordinarily poisonous and the other for deadly
poisonous medicines. The opening of the cupboard door gives access to the
former, but second door is provided to guard the deadly poisonous compart-
ment. Each has or may have a gong of a different tone and mechanism for
actuating it, to be operated before or at the moment of access to the contents
of the respective compartments. The gong or alarm of the ordinary poison
compartment may be removable or capable of disengagement from the sounding
mechanism.
Both cupboards and compartments bear suitable labels or other legible
indications of their respective contents.
Further, there are provided compartments for pills, powders, and other non-Auid
medicaments. These are, preferably, external addenda to the cupboards abovė

page_text: described. As we prefer to make the latter in the shape of square bottles, the
necks are wide and the stoppers hollow whereby the latter are adapted to serve as
the last mentioned compartments.
The cupboards above described are mounted upon a base of an area not less
than that of them both when standing side by side.
Dated this 12th day of August 1895.
p
Tapets and nests.
We, ALFRED STEER, of No. 14 Florian Road, Putney, in the County of Surrey,
Commercial Traveller and GEORGE HENRY GIBBS, of No. 27 Chatsworth Road,
Norwood, in the same county, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to improvements in medicine cabinets and chests, and the
main object of it, is to remove the obstacles in the way of taking poisonous
medicines out of the cabinet or chest, without specific care and thought being
concentrated upon the act of selecting, and more especially replacing, a poisonous
medicine in the cabinet or chest, lest it be replaced amongst the non-poisonous
medicines.
According to our said invention we provide two cupboards which are hinged
or otherwise combined by pivots, slides or other devices of any type adapted
to provide for one cupboard being moved away from before the other and replaced
in front of it or in front of the door, so far as to prevent access to the latter.
The nature of our invention will be readily understood from the following
description of it as embodied in an upright cabinet, reference being made to the
accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a cabinet, one of its cupboards being
swung sideways.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same, in which the second cupboard is placed by the
side of the first, the position occupied by the same as shown in Figure 1 being
indicated by dotted lines.
Figure 3 is a front view showing the second cupboard when placed in front of
the first cupboard, its door being open.
Figure 4 is an elevation of one cupboard when closed, and a vertical section of
the second cupboard when open.
Figure 5 is a plan of the cabinet, showing how one cupboard may be slid in front
or by the side of the second cupboard.
Like letters denote corresponding parts throughout the several figures.
In carrying our invention into effect we provide a cabinet having a cupboard a
firmly secured to a base plate i and a moveable cupboard b of the same size and
shape, these cupboards being by preference of markedly different colours externally.
The cupboard bis hinged by its back right hand edge to the front right hand edge
of the cupboard a, Figure 1, so that b may be swung in front of a, Figure 3, or by
the side of same, Figure 2. When the cupboard is swung in front of a it is
automatically held in that position by a catch for other locking device. Thus,
the door of the cupboard cannot be opened until it is swung to the front of the
cupboard a, so that the door of the fixed cupboard a cannot be opened before the
door of the moveable cupboard bis closed and swung to the side of the fixed
cupboard a. In this manner we obtain means for automatically keeping the door
of one cupboard blocked until it is swung to the front of the other cupboard a, and

page_text: for holding the cupboard 6 in position until it is closed and locked upon its
contents.
It is proposed to use the fixed or back cupboard a for non-poisonous medicines,
and the moveable or front cupboard b for poisonous medicines. The latter cup-
board may be divided into two compartments, one for ordinarily poisonous
medicines and the other for deadly poisonous medicines, Figures 3 and 4. By
opening the door of the cupboard 6 comprising the two compartments access is
gained to the ordinarily poisonous medicines, a door c being hinged to the partition
so that it will close the compartment for the deadly poisonous medicines when the
Each
compartment for the ordinarily poisonous medicines is open, and vice versa.
of these two compartments has, or may have, a gong or alarm of a different tone,
and a mechanism for actuating it, to be operated before, or at the moment of,
access to the contents of the respective compartments. The gong or alarm of the
compartment for the ordinarily poisonous medicines may be removeable or capable
of disengagement from the sounding mechanism.
Both cupboards and the compartments of the same bear suitable labels or other
legible indications of their respective contents.
At the top of the cupboards we provide compartments or boxes de designed for
Of course the
the reception of pills, powders, and other non-fluid medicaments.
cupboards may be furnished with any further useful or convenient addenda.
In lieu of hinging or pivotting one of the cupboards to the other as above
described we may make the two cupboards separate, in which case, as illustrated in
Figure 5, we provide the base plate i with grooves g adapted to receive suitable
projections or pins h furnished at the bottom of the cupboard b, which latter may
thus be slid at will either to the front or to one side of the fixed cupboard a so
that the same object will be achieved as in the case of a fixed cupboard and a
hinged or pivotted cupboard, as hereinbefore explained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. A cabinet or chest for medicines, having a fixed cupboard a and a moveable
cupboard b, one of the rear edges of which is hinged or pivotted to one of the front
edges of the fixed cupboard, so that it may be placed in front of the latter or
by the side of the same, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set
forth.
2. In cabinets or chests for medicines the combination, with a fixed cupboard,
of a hinged or pivotted cupboard having an upper and a lower compartment
for ordinarily poisonous and deadly poisonous medicines to the partition of which
is hinged a door c adapted to close either of the two compartments, while it renders
the other compartment accessible, substantially as set forth.
3. In cabinets or chests for medicines the combination, with a fixed cupboard, of
a moveable cupboard furnished at its bottom with pins or projections fitted to slide
in corresponding grooves formed in the base plate i of the said cabinets or chests,
substantially as set forth.
4. A cabinet or chest for medicines constructed and operated substantially as
and for the purposes hereinbefore specified with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
1000
4
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.