A CLASP OR FASTENER FOR BELTS, BANDS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Walsh and John Henry Brierley, Small
Ware Manufacturers, carrying on business under the firm of Walsh and
Brierley, at Stannary Works, Halifax, and 25, Noble Street, Cheapside,
London, for the Invention of "A CLASP OR FASTENER FOR BELTS, BANDS,
Sealed the 15th October 1855, and dated the 21st April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Walsh and John
Henry Brierley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 21st April 1855.
We, SAMUEL WALSH and JOHN HENRY BRIERLEY, Small Ware Manufac-
turers, carrying on business under the firm of Walsh and Brierley, at
Stannary Works, Halifax, and 25, Noble St., Cheapside, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A CLASP OR FASTENER FOR BELTS,
BANDS, OR STRAPS, " to be as follows:-
We employ a plate of metal of any shape or figure, a portion of which wo
cut away to enable us to insert a piece of leather or any other material used
for dress purposes. We attach a hook of metal to the inner surface of the
plate, and by means of holes cut in the leather or other material used, and
slipp'd over or upon the hook, the length of the belt, band, or strap is adjusted.
When we say we attach the hook to a plate of metal, it is simply to shew

page_text: the principle of our Invention. We may attach the hook either to a plate or to
a bar, over or under which the belt, band, or strap passes, and then is slipp'd
over or upon the hook, so that the hook passes thro' the belt, band, or strap;
or the bar, having a hook attach'd, may be attach'd to a plate of metal
afterwards.
We do not confine ourselves to any particular part of the plate to which to
attach the hook, neither to attach the hook to the plate, but we make use of
the hook to adjust or regulate the length of the belt, band, or strap, as before
described. What follows refers to the connecting or fastening together the
two ends of the belt, band, or strap, one end of which is attach'd by any
means we may afterwards devise to plate A, the other end to plate B. In
plate A is a groove or slot, as shewn, D, S, E, into which groove or slot at D, S,
falls a raised part of plate B, viz., C, R, which raised part is then drawn down
to E part of groove or slot in plate A, so that the F part of plate B is under K.
part of plate A, and G part of plate B is under H part of plate A. C, R, part
of plate B rests upon one side of plate A, and G and F part of plate B on the
other side of plate A.
The groove or slot in plate A is covered or faced on one side with a plate.of
glass, metal, or other material of any design.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Walsh and John Henry Brierley in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
WALSH and JOHN HENRY BRIERLEY, Small Ware Manufacturers, carrying on
business under the firm of Walsh & Brierley, at Stannary Works, Halifax,
and 25, Noble Street, Cheapside, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Samuel Walsh and John Henry Brierley, Her special licence that we, the
said Samuel Walsh and John Henry Brierley, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Walsh and John Henry
Brierley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during 3

page_text: the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A CLASP OR FASTENER FOR BELTS,
BANDS, OR STRAPS, OR FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS CONTAINED THEREIN,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Walsh and John Henry
Brierley, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samuel Walsh and John Henry
Brierley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, refference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
Our Invention relates to a clasp (or to certain improvements contained
therein) to be used for belts, bands, or straps.
Our first improvement consists in the means by which we lengthen or
shorten the belt, band, or strap by the use of a hook attached to a bar,
or a bar with a projecting point or hook in the centre, being attached
to a plate of metal, as shewn in "plate O;" or a hook attached to a plate
of metal, a portion of which is cut away to allow the insertion of the
material, used for the belt, band, or strap; the material used, having holes
cut in the centre at respective distances, is passed over the bar and slipped
upon the hook, as shewn by "plate O." By slipping the hook through a
hole further from the end of the belt, we make the belt shorter, and by
slipping the hook through a hole nearer the end of the belt we make the
belt longer.
Our second improvement consists in the following:-One end of the belt,
band, or strap being attached to bar on "plate O," as before described, the
other is attached to a plate of metal, as shewn in "plate P." In "plate P"
two holes are cut, as shewn; one end of belt, band, or strap is cut in like
manner; the holes in the belt, band, or strap are then laid over the holes in
the plate and fastened together by means of eyelets.
Our third improvement consists in the manner in which "plate A" and
plate B" are connected together. In "plate A" is a groove or slot, as
shewn, D, S, E, into which groove or slot at D, S, falls a raised part of
"plate B," namely, C, R, which raised part is then drawn down to E part
of groove or slot in "plate A," so that the F part of "plate B" is under K

page_text: part of "plate A," and G part of "plate B" is under H part of " plate A."
C, R, part of "plate B" rests upon one side of "plate A," and G and F part
of "plate B" on the other side of "plate A." The groove or slot in "plate A"
is covered or faced on one side with a plate of glass, metal, or other material
of any design. "Plate O" and "plate P" are connected in the same manner
as "plate A " and "plate B." "Drawing R" shews "plate O" and "plate P"
connected as seen when worn on the person, the part D, S, E, being covered
with a plate rivetted over it.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim are,-
First, the method of adjusting the length of belt, band, or strap, as herein-
before described, and represented in the Drawings hercunto annexed.
Second, the principle so far as it is applicable to dress or other purposes.
Third, the method of attaching one end of the material to the plate by
means of eyelets, as herein-before described, and represented in Drawing
hereunto annexed.
Fourth, the method of connecting the two seperate parts, as herein-before
described, and represented by the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fifth, the principle so far as applicable to any description of clasp.
Sixth, to ornament part of "plate B," and leave D, S, E, part of "plate A"
uncovered.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Walsh and John Henry
Brierley, have hereunto set our hand and seals, this Eighteenth day
of October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
SAMUEL WALSH.
(L.S.)
JOHN HENRY BRIERLEY. (L.S.)