IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Elijah Atkins at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
August 1875.
I, ELIJAH ATKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLITAIRES, SLEEVE LINKS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES," to be
as follows:
My Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of
solitaires, sleeve links, and other like articles, in the manner herein-after
described, whereby great simplicity of construction and efficiency of
action are secured.
I will describe my Invention with reference to a solitaire. I make
the solitaire in two parts, which I will call the front and back parts
respectively. The front part consists of a box-like. shell, the front of
which carries the stone or other ornament. The back of the shell is
perforated with a central opening, and also with a second larger opening
near the margin, the two openings being connected by a slot. The
metal around the central opening is raised into a conical or dome shaped
projection.

page_text: In the interior of the shell is a broad slightly bowed spring, the
convex side of which bears against the central opening and slot. The
back part of the solitaire consists of a disc with a central stem, the said
stem terminating in a head of a diameter somewhat less than that of
the marginal hole in the back part, but greater than that of the slot and
central hole.
The parts are connected together in use in the following manner :-
The head and stem of the back part are passed through the holes in the
wristband, and the front part is placed upon the head of the stem in such
a way that the marginal hole in its back is presented to the head of the
stem. By pressing the front part, the head of the stem on the back
part enters the marginal hole described, and by then pressing the front
part laterally it is made to.slide on the head of the stem until the said
head is brought opposite the central opening, when by the pressure of
the spring the said head is made to snap into the conical or dome shaped
opening in the back of the front part, and the two parts are thereby
securely fastened together. In order to separate them it is only
necessary to press first. directly and then obliquely, on the front part,
when the head of the back part is released from the central opening in
tlie front part and brought opposite the marginal opening, when by the
pressure of the spring the said head is ejected from the said marginal
opening, and the two parts of the solitaire are separated.
.
My Invention consists further in applying to the back face of the
front part of the solitaire described, and around the central opening, a
ring-like collar, which collar when the said front part is used takes into
the hole in one edge of the sleeve or wristband, so that when the front
part of the solitaire is unfastened from the back part, the said front.part
does not separate itself from the sleeve or wristband, being retained by
the said collar.
The last described part of my Invention, namely the collar at the
back of the front part of the solitaire; may be applied generally to all
such.solitaires and like fastenings as consist of two detachable parts
fastened together by a spring or other fastening.