A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING HANDLES TO COFFINS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Reuben Boyce Wigley, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING HANDLES TO COFFINS."
Sealed the 18th November 1856, and dated the 4th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Reuben Boyce Wigley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th June 1856.
I, REUBEN BOYCE WIGLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING HANDLES TO COFFINS," to be as
follows:-
j
In the ordinary method of attaching handles to coffins two knobs or buttons
are attached to the outside of the coffin, and the ends of the handle turn in
these knobs or buttons. The said knobs or buttons are attached either by
slitting the shank of the said knob or button which passes through the coffin
and clenching it on the inside, or by making the said shank into a screw, and
screwing a nut thereon inside the coffin.
My Invention consists of making the said buttons without stems or shanks,
and aflixing them to. the coffin by means of screws, which said screws pass
from the inside to the coffin through holes therein, and engage in the said
knobs or buttons. By this method of construction, the projection of the end
of the screwed shank into the inside of the coffin, and the difficulty of clenching
and unsightliness of the clenched shank are avoided. My method of attaching
handles to coflins is safer than the ordinary method.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Reuben Boyce Wigley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REUBEN
BOYCE WIGLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Reuben Boyce Wigley, Her special licence that I, the said Reuben Boyce
Wigley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Reuben Boyce Wigley, 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 "A NEW OB
IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING HANDLES TO COFFINS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Reuben Boyce Wigley, my exccutors 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 Reuben Boyco Wigley, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after described and represented
in the accompanying Drawing of attaching handles to coffins. In the ordinary
method of attaching handles to coffius, two knobs or buttons are fixed on the
outside of the coffin, and the ends of the handle turn in these knobs or buttons.
The said knobs or buttons are attached to the coffin either by slitting the
shank of the knob or button, and after passing the shank through a hole in
the coffin clenching it on the inside. Or, the shank is made into a screw
which is passed through the side of the coffin, and a nut is scrowed on the
shank inside the coffin.

page_text: My Invention consists in making the said knobs or buttons in which the
handle turns, as represented in elevation in Figure 1, and in section in
Figure 2 of the accompanying Drawing. The said knobs or buttons a, a, are
without shanks, and are aflixed to the coffin b, by means of screws c, c, which
said screws pass from the inside of the coffin through holes therein, and engage
in the concave screw in the knobs or buttons a, a. The handle g works at its
ends h, h, in holes in the knobs or buttons a, a.
I sometimes modify my Invention in the manner represented in Figure 3
that is to say, I employ ordinary or flat-headed screws d, d, which have the
advantage of projecting a less distance into the interior of the coffin than
round-headed screws. When I use the screws d, d, I prefer to employ metal
washers c, e, as represented in the Drawing, the head of the screw d, having a
better bearing against the washer e, than it would have against the wood fof
the coffin. By the use of my Invention, the projection of the end of the
screwed shank into the inside of the coffin, and the difficulty of clenching, and
the unsightliness of the clenched shank are avoided. My method of attaching
handles to coffins fixes the said handles more securely than the ordinary
method.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details berein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as
my Invention the new or improved method of attaching handles to coffins
herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
forming the knobs or buttons in which the handle turns without shanks, and
passing a screw from the interior of the coflin through a hole in the said
coffin, which said screw takes into or engages in a concave screw formed in
the knob or button thereby attaching the said knobs or buttons and the
handle working in them to the coffin.
In witness whereof, I, the said Reuben Boyce Wigley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
REUBEN BOYCE WIGLEY. (L.S.)