IMPROVEMENTS IN TONGS FOR SERVING SALADS, ASPARAGUS, AND OTHER EDIBLES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Browne, of the Firm of Browne and
Company, Patent Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TONGS FOR SERVING SALADS, ASPARAGUS, AND OTHER EDIBLES."—A com-
munication from abroad by Auguste Léopold Lenoir, of Paris, in
the French Republic.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Browne at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th April 1874.
I, ALEXANDER BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent
Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TONGS FOR SERVING SALAD, ASPARAGUS, AND OTHER EDIBLES," a,
communication from abroad by Augusto Léopold Lenoir, of Paris, in the
French Republic, to be as follows:-
―:
This Invention consists in constructing tongs for serving asparagus,
salad, andother edibles which when not in use shall always be open,

page_text: thus allowing any article to be easily seized by simply bringing together
the two handles.
Figure 1 is a full size front view of the tongs and the side view of the
handles which may be made of metal with bowls of ivory, bone, wood,
or other suitable material for serving salad or asparagus. The dimensions
of the tongs will vary according to the use to which they may be applied,
such, for instance, for serving hors d'œuvres, sugar, or such like articles.
They may also be made entirely of ivory, bone, wood, or other suitable
material, in which case the handles must be made stronger than when
made of metal.
Figure 2 is a side view of the tongs and front view of the bowls.
Figure 3, a front view of the socket of the handles in which is fixed
the spring d.
Figure 4, socket of the handle a in which is placed the pivot e, the
spring, and pivot 9 which acts on the spring d.
g
Figure 5 is a side view of the spring d.
Figure 6, a longitudinal section of pivot e and of spring f; Figure 7,
a cross section of the pivot e and the spring f; Figure 8 is a side view
of the spring f; Figure 9, a front view of the spring f; Figure 10 is a
spoon for preparing the seasoning of salad; Figure 11, the pivot e and
spring f; Figure 12, an end view of the pivot e and spring f.
Figure 13, a side view of the socket of handle with spring d.
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 show the movable pivot e which
serves as axle and the spring ƒ by means of which the handles of the
tongs are brought together when used for serving salad. The spring f
serves to detach the handles of the tongs when the head thereof and the
projecting part of the pivot e are pressed between the fingers, and the
handle is pushed away to detach it from the other handle; the handles
thus detached serve to mix the salad. They are brought together again
by placing them crosswise with the bowls facing each other; when in
this position the pivot e and the spring fare inserted in the socket to
which a slight pressure is applied and a rotary motion given to bring
the bowls together; by this means the spring & bends and allows the
pivot to pass, the sockets come in contact with each other, and the
spring stands out of the socket to hold the handles together.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Browne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent Agents, of 5,
Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Browne, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Browne, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Browne, my execu-
tors, 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 TONGS FOR SERVING SALAD, ASPARAGUS, AND OTHER EDIBLES," a communica-
tion from abroad by Auguste Léopold Lenoir, of Paris, in the French
Republic, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
Browne, 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 Alexander Browne, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
"
This Invention consists in constructing tongs for serving asparagus,
salad, and other edibles, which when not in use shall always be open,"
thus allowing any article to be easily scized by simply bringing together
the two handles.

page_text: Figure 1 is a full size front view of the tongs and the side view of the
handles, which may be made of metal, with bowls of ivory, bone, wood,
or other suitable material, for serving salad or asparagus. The dimensions
of the tongs will vary according to the use to which they may be
applied, such, for instance, for serving hors d'œuvres, sugar, or other such
like articles. They may also be made entirely of ivory, bone, wood, or
other suitable material, in which case the handles must be made stronger
than when made of metal.

page_text: and other Edibles," I would remark in conclusion that I hereby declare
this Invention to consist in and I claim,―
Firstly. Keeping tongs for serving salad and other edibles opened by
means of a spring near the axle and placed inside or outside the handles,
which may be made of any suitable material.
Secondly. The mode of arranging the pivot e and spring ƒ so as to
allow the two parts of the tongs to be separated from each other, the
said tongs being composed of a spatula and spoon with which edibles
may be served and salad mixed, substantially as described and
represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Browne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.