Improvements in Angle Clamps for Boxes, Cases, and the like.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Sept., 1895-Accepted, 30th Nov., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Angle Clamps for Boxes, Cases, and the like.
I, CHARLES ARTHUR ALLISON, Patent Agent, of 52 Chancery Lane, London,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been communicated to
me from abroad by Spencer Cone Cary, Manufacturer, of 5 and 7 Elm Street, in the
City of New York and State of New York, U.S.A.) and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention comprehends a fastening such as is frequently used to hold covers
on boxes or cases of merchandise, such for instance as tobacco boxes or cases, or
to hold the sides of a box together or any other analogous use and may be called a
box or case hook or a box fastener as may be proferred, both being included in
the more generic term Fastening Device, and the especial novelties are these.
They consist in twisting the prongs, in cutting out the central part of the device
and in arranging the prongs so that they shall not cut the wood fibres for the
entire width of the device and shall bind or hold the uncut fibres so that they more
firmly hold the inner prongs.
These improvements present an acceptable whole but I do not limit myself to a
device embodying them all.
In the drawings which form part of my Specification ;-
-
Figure 1, represents a blank such as I prefer to use when I prepare the goods
for use on boxes or cases;
Figure 2, represents such a blank as I use for goods for use on boxes;
Figure 3, represents the first form bent up into shape, the prongs at the left
being twisted and those at the right being straight;
Figure 4, represents the second form with its prongs or tangs struck up;
Figure 5, represents the second form with the prongs twisted, some (at the left)
with a short twist, the others with a long twist; and
Figure 6, is a view of such a fastener applied to a box, a part being shown in
section to more fully illustrate the invention.
To make an acceptable fastener by merely cutting out a blank such as Figure 2
and turning up the prongs as shown in Figure 4 requires a heavier gauge metal
than I prefer to employ, as a lighter gauge is sufficiently strong in the parts other
than the prongs and more easily bent to accommodate it to the exigency of its use.
Again the merely straight prong usually takes at right angles with the grain of
the wood and cuts the fibres off, or with them and then does not hold well and
moreover has a great tendency to buckle and bend if one attempts to drive it
in tough wood-for instance a piece of elm.
I have found however that a much more acceptable article is produced by taking
the fastener in the form of Figure 2 or any other form having straight prongs and
twisting those prongs say a quarter turn round. I may do this with a short twist
close up to the body of the fastener (as seen at the left, Figure 5) or with a long
twist (as seen at the right, Figure 5).
I prefer the long twist, as it goes down further in the wood.
The twist greatly strengthens the prong and it will not bend nearly so readily as
the plain one. Again the point being (preferably) on the quarter, starts in the
wood neither exactly with nor exactly across the grain. It enters readily and
being somewhat yielding goes in with a somewhat screw like action, twisting under
fibres or merely forcing them momentarily aside instead of cutting them off and

page_text: they spring back above the curve and to some extent lock the prong in, as seen
plainly in Figure 6, for though not cutting the fibres for the width of the prong
still when they are formed with the long twist (which results in their edges having
the appearance of a spiral curve) the part in the wood will in its length be nearly
or quite across the grain and approximates the holding power of a screw without
its expense or inconvenience of application.
When however it is to be used as a box or case hook or clasp, it is desirable
that it should be more readily bent to accommodate itself to the shape of the
package, the bend usually taking place somewhere near, but not always at, the
center. It must not split the wood yet the prongs must hold well and it must be
cheap. I then prefer to use fewer prongs-say three-and to so arrange them
that two shall bind the fibres which are at the respective sides of the third when
it has been driven and so hold it tightly in place, the interior prong being narrower
than the space between the two outer ones to ensure that there shall be uncut
fibres left in position to be thus bound.
Now that necessitates considerable width to the device, but this width gives a
considerable body of metal at the center and I have conceived the idea of making
it flexible at or about that part by cutting a slot along its central part which
accomplishes the end sought. If the slot be quite long, as in the hook shown,
I leave bridges between adjacent slots, which gives lightness, the required flexibility
and yet such strength as is needed and where it is needed. If then the prongs be
twisted, a most serviceable and yet light hook is produced.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
1. A new article of manufacture consisting of a metal fastening device provided
with prongs struck up from the body of the device and twisted, substantially as set
forth.
2. A new article of manufacture consisting of a box or case hook having one.
or more prongs at or near the ends and a slot between the side edges of some
portion of that part between the ends, substantially as set forth.
3. A new article of manufacture consisting of a box or case hook having one
or more prongs at or near the ends and two or more slots in the portion
intermediate the ends, separated by one or more bridges of metal which connect
the side portions of the hook substantially as set forth.
4. A new article of manufacture consisting of a box or case hook having three
or more prongs at each end or near each end, one of said prongs being located
nearer the center than two others at the same end, and on a different longitudina!
line and its width being less than the space between said other prongs, all
substantially as set forth.
Dated this 24th day of September 1895.
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.