IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO DOORS FOR EXCLUDING DRAUGHTS, DUST, AND Rain
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Smith Slater, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE
APPLIED TO DOORS FOR EXCLUDING DRAUGHTS, DUST, AND Rain.”
Sealed the 12th December 1871, and dated the 13th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Smith Slater at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
18th October 1871.
I, SMITH SLATER, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN Apparatus
TO BE APPLIED TO DOORS FOR EXCLUDING DRAUGHTS, Dust, and Rain,” to be as·
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obviate the inconvenience arising
from the aperture or opening at the bottom of the doors of dwelling-
houses and other places, and to exclude the draughts of air, rain, or dust
admitted thereby.

page_text: The Invention consists in the application and use of a bar or lath of
wood or other suitable material for closing such openings, which I
attach to the bottom of the door by means of bolts passing through
the flaps of hinges, which are slotted perpendicularly to enable the bar
or lath to be raised or lowered to any angle according to the height
required and to suit the inequalities of the ground. This bar is kept in
a slightly inclined position from the door, when it is open, to keep it from
rubbing on the floor, by means of a spiral or other spring fixed in between
the bar and the door, but when the door is being closed a metal plate
(slightly bent) attached to the end of the bar comes in contact with the
jamb of the door, which presses the bar from its inclined position down-
wards upon the floor, and thereby prevents the admission of wind, dust,
or rain. The bottom of this bar or lath is covered with listing, india-
rubber, or other suitable material, which acts as a cushion and makes
perfect joint. If necessary an inclined projecting bead may be fixed to
the door so as to hang over the bar or lath and prevent rain from getting
in between them.
In some cases, where it is not convenient to attach the bar to the
outside of the door, I propose to apply it to the inside in a slightly
modified form. The bar or lath is fixed to the door by means of two
inclined levers, which cause the said bar to rise and fall somewhat similar
to a parallel slide rule, and which is kept from rubbing on the floor by
means of a spring, and can be adjusted to any height required so as to
exclude draughts or dust.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 25
filed by the said Smith Slater in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SMITH
SLATER, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 30
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Smith Slater, Her special

page_text: "
license that I, the said Smith Slater, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Smith Slater, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO DOORS FOR EXCLUDING DRAUGHTS, DUST, AND RAIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Smith Slater,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Smith Slater, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :—
The object of this Invention is to obviate the inconvenience arising
from the aperture or opening at the bottom of the doors of dwelling-
houses and other places, and to exclude the draughts of air, rain, or
dust admitted thereby.
The Invention consists in the application and use of a bar or lath of
wood or other suitable material for closing such openings, which I attach
to the bottom of the door by means of bolts passing through the flaps
of hinges, which are slotted perpendicularly to enable the bar or lath to
be raised or lowered to any angle, according to the height required and
to suit the inequalities of the ground. This bar is kept in a slightly
inclined position from the door when it is open to keep it from rubbing
on the floor by means of a spiral or other spring fixed in between the
bar and the door, but when the door is being closed a metal plate
(slightly bent) attached to the end of the bar comes in contact with the
jamb of the door, which presses it from its inclined position downwards
upon the floor and thereby prevents the admission of wind, dust, or
rain. The bottom of this bar or lath is covered with listing, india-
rubber, or other suitable material, which acts as a cushion and makes a
perfect joint. If necessary an inclined projecting bead may be fixed to
.

page_text: the door so as to hang over the bar or lath, and prevent rain from
getting in between them.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improve-
ments in Apparatus to be Applied to Doors for Excluding Draughts,
Dust, and Rain," I will now proceed to describe more in detail the t
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, and in order that the same may be clearly understood I
havo annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and
have marked the same with figures and letters of reference correspond-
ing with those in the following explanation thereof :-
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 is an elevation of the lower part of
a door with my Invention applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal
section of the same, the door being shown as partly open and the bar
or lath raised from the ground. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views with
the door closed and the bar or lath pressed down. Figs. 5 and 6 aro 1
vertical sections in the two different positions.
a, a, is the door and b, b, the door casing or jamb; c, c, is the bar or
lath of wood or other suitable material attached to the bottom of the
door by two bolts d, d. These bolts pass through slots in the flaps of
the hinges e, e, so that the bar or lath can be set to any angle and 2
raised or lowered to suit inequalities in the ground. The lower edge of
this bar or lath is provided with a strip f, f, of india-rubber, leather,
list, felt, or other suitable flexible material to act as a cushion and mako
a good joint, such strip being held by means of a strip of wood g, g,
fastened on by screws, so that it can be casily renewed at any time 2
when required. I would here remark that the lower edge of the
strip ff may be serrated or notched at intervals (if required) to allow
of the admission of air at the same time that it prevents the entrance
of water.
The bar or lath c, c, is kept in an inclined and raised position, as 3
shown at Figs. 1, 2, and 5, by means of a spring h, h, so long as the
door is open, but when it is being closed the curved plate i, i, at the
outer end thereof comes into contact with the door casing or jamb b, b,
which presses down the bar from its inclined position upon the floor, as
shown at Figs. 3, 4, and 6. k, k, is a projecting bead fixed on to the 3
door above the hinge joint to prevent rain from getting in between the door
and the bar or lath c. c. In some cases instead of using the plate i. i at

page_text: the outer end of the bar I use the arrangement shown at Figs. 7, 8, and 9
at the inner end thereof. To this end of the bar (or to the door) I
attach an angular plate 1, 1, capable of turning on a pivot, and having
a coiled spring, which has a constant tendency to turn it into the
position shown at Figs. 7 and 9, and raise the bar c, c, but as the door is
closed the other side of the angular plate 2, 1, is pressed against the door
casing or jamb, as shown at Fig. 8, and the bar or lath either falls or is
pressed on to the ground by a spring.
I may here observe that in the Provisional Specification annexed to
my petition for the Letters Patent herein-before referred to I described'
another arrangement of a bar working on inclined levers like a parallel
slide rule, but since filing the said Provisional Specification I have dis-
covered that such arrangement was not so new at the time as I believed
it to be, and I therefore wish to disclaim and do hereby disclaim all
right to such modification.
Having now described the naturo and object of my said Invention for
"Improvements in Apparatus to be Applied to Doors for Excluding
Draughts, Dust, and Rain," together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I wish
it to be understood that I claim as my Invention, the apparatus herein-
before described and exhibited on the Drawing annexed, or any mero
imitation or modification thereof constructed and operating in substan-
tially the same or a similar manner, and especially I claim, the use of a
bar or lath hinged to the door and raised up at an angle by a spring
when the door is open and pressed down when the door is closed by a
plate or projection coming into contact with the door casing or jamb.
In witness whereof, I, the said Smith Slater, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witnessed by
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
SMITH SLATER. (L.S.)