AN AYROVEMENT IN TAL FRAMES OF DATANDING TABLES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ker and Matthew 'Ker, both of Tottenham
Court Road, in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet Makers, for the
Invention of
AN AYROVEMENT IN
TAL FRAMES OF DATANDING TABLES.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ker and Matthew
Ker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 18th August 1854.
We, WILLIAM KER and MATTHEW KER, both of Tottenham Court Road,
in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet Makers, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE FRAMES OF EXPANDING TABLES
to be as follows:
In frames as now generally constructed, one part has a groove, in which a
tongue on the corresponding part of the frame is free to slide. The tongue
has its bearing along the whole length of the groove; much friction is thus
caused, and in damp weather the frames, tongues, and grooves, being made of
wood, are liable to stick. Now, our Invention consists in fixing to one part of
the frame a or other suitably shaped tongue in metal, and in' forming a
corresponding shaped groove in the corresponding part of the frame, in which
we fix at intervals friction rollers or clips in metal. These rollers or clips, or
a combination of rollers and clips, forní so many bearing surfaces' for the

page_text: tongue on the corresponding frame to slide on, and keep the two parts of the
frame together. By this improvement friction is materially reduced, and
the frames are enabled to be extended and closed with facility in all states of
the atmosphere.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Ker and Matthew Ker in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
KER and MATTHEW KER, both of Tottenham Court Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Cabinet Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Ker and Matthew Ker, Her special licence, that we, the said
William Ker and Matthew Ker, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Ker and Matthew Ker, our 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE FRAMES OF EXPANDING TABLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Ker and Matthew
Ker, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 we, the said William Ker and Matthew Ker,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:
In frames as now generally constructed, one part has a groove, in which a
tongue on the corresponding part of the frame is free to slide. The tongue

page_text: has its bearing along the whole length of the groove; much friction is thus
caused, and in damp weather the frames, tongues, and grooves, being made of
wood, are liable to stick. Now, our Invention consists in fixing to one part of
the frame a T or other suitably shaped tongue in metal, and in forming a
groove in the corresponding part of the frame, in which we fix at intervals
friction rollers or clips in metal. This groove is of sufficient size to admit of
the tongue sliding freely within it. These rollers or clips, or a combination of
rollers and clips, form so many bearing surfaces for the tongue on the corre-
sponding frame to slide on, and keep the two parts of the frame together. By
this improvement friction is materially reduced, and the frames are enabled to
be extended and closed with facility in all states of the atmosphere.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed we have shewn so much of the framing
of a table as is requisite to explain the manner in which we carry our Inven-
tion into effect. Figure 1 represents a plan of a portion of the framing with
rollers attached thereto; Figure 2 shews the corresponding framing or sliding
piece with the T shaped tongue or slide screwed thereon; and Figure 3 is a
section taken through the two frames, indicating their relative positions when
placed together, and shewing the manner in which the T shaped tongue piece
fits into and between the groove and rollers. A and B are the frames;
C, C, are metal plates, secured by the screws a, a, to the frame A; D, D, are
friction rollers, of the shape separately represented in Figure 4. These rollers
are formed with flanges b, b, and are connected to the plates C, C, by the
studs E, E, upon which the rollers are free to revolve, being prevented from
coming off by the collars c, c. The studs are rivetted or otherwise fixed to the
plates. F is a T shaped tongue, formed of a strip of metal G, attached to
the frame B with another strip of metal or wood H, of less width behind it,
so as to form an edge on each side, which edges rest upon the flanges of tho
rollers when the tongue is inserted between them, as shewn in Figure 3; or
this tongue and slip may be formed in one T piece, as represented in the
section, Figure 5. The plates C, C, and friction rollers are let into recesses
in the frame A; the tongue slides in a groove I, also formed in the frame A.
By this means the two frames are held close to each other, as indicated in
Figure 3, and are capable of sliding the one upon the other with but little
friction. Metal clips may be employed in lieu of friction rollers, but we prefer
the arrangement shewn in the Drawings. We do not confine ourselves to
any particular number of rollers or clips.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as our improve-
ment in the frames of expanding tables, the forming of one set of the frames

page_text: with a
other suitably shaped tongue piece, and fitting the corresponding
frames with friction rollers or clips, placed at intervals, and between which
the tongues are free to slide, in the manner and for the purposes herein-
before described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Ker and Matthew Ker, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM KER.
(L.B.)
MATTHEW KER. (L.s.)