AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING SASH FASTENING
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, greeting.
WHEREAS I, JAMES SMITH, of Newark-upon-Trent, in the County of
Nottinghamshire, Cabinet Maker, have obtained His Majesty's Royal Letters
Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of December, in the
fifty-fifth year of His reign, whereby His said Majesty did give and grant
unto me, the said James Smith, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Smith,
my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
SELF-ACTING SASH FASTENING;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso that if I, the said James Smith, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained as follows (that is to say):-

page_text: These improvements consist; first, in placing, through the meeting bar of
the bottom sliding sash frame of a window a bolt A, which is passed into the
meeting bar of the top sash, and by that means confines both. This bolt A
is attached to the end of a spring lever B, which is fixed in a plate C, C, (see
the Drawings) sufficiently large to admit of a screw at each end, to hold
the same in the meeting bar, being about half an inch in breadth, and one
eighth in sickness; across the middle of this plate a pin or pivot D if fixed,
on which the spring lever moves. In a projecting piece behind is a spring E
fastened, acting upon one end of the lever sufficiently strong to force the lever
forward into its right position after it has been pressed inward by the thumb; to
the other end of the lever is attached the bolt, which is drawn back by the act
of pressing the spring end of lever inwards, as obviously seen in the Drawings.
The plate F which receives the bolt is screwed on the front edge of the
meeting bar of the top sash, and is about one inch and an half long, a quarter
of an inch thick or thereabouts on the top edge, and feather edge on the
bottom; a collar G is also fixed in the meeting bar of the bottom sash to
keep the bolt in a proper position, so that the opening or liberating of the
sashes is performed by pressing in that end of the lever that the spring acts
against, which in doing draws on the other end of the lever with the bolt, and
sets, the sashes at liberty to be opened. The shutting is performed by drawing
the bottom sash down and the top one up, which brings the meeting bars
together, into which the bolt immediately springs; the window is then fast,
and cannot be opened again without pressing in the end of the lever, as before
mentioned.
Secondly, the shank of the bolt may have a wire spring twisted round it,
and a knob on the end of the bolt, as Figure IV., instead of a lever, which
answers the same purpose as the lever; the opening is performed by simply
pulling out the knob.
My third improved contrivance for fastening sash windows is shewn by the
Drawings, Figures V., VI., VII., and. following description:-On the top of
the meeting bar of upper sash is screwed the plate and lever, Figure V.,
appearing something as in common fastenings, except the spring in the box
(a) impres the lever towards you when disengaged from the ketch (b), which
is effected by the projecting edge of meeting bar of lower sash (c) coming
-against the end (d) and pulling down the ketch, as seen in Figure VI., which
permits the lever to fly on the plate, as dotted lines, Figure V., and eccentric
segment (e), against which the under side or hasp of the lever moves, causes.
the sashes to be drawn tight together at the same time that the sash is
prevented from rising. To open the window the hand must be applied to the

page_text: knob and the lever drawn back; the window rising enables the ketch to rise
also, and keeps the lever back until the sash is drawn down again. Further
description in writing I deem unnecessary, as the Drawings accompanying
this will fully explain my intentions.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.