CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF HINGES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
REDMUND, of Greek Street, Soho, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-six, in the seventh year of His reign, did, for Himself,
His heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said David Redmund,
His especial licence that I, the said David Redmund, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Redmund, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF HINGES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said David Redmund, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in. His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
iinmediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Redmund, do hereby declare that the nature of my said improvements
in the construction and manufacture of hinges is described and ascertained in
and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and by the following description
thereof, that is to say :-
My said improvements are applicable to that kind of hinges for doors or
gates which are known by the name of rising hinges, and which are so
constructed as to cause the door or gate to be raised upwards a small height
when it is opened and to sink down again when it is shut. This property
causes the door or gate to open freely without dragging over the floor or the
ground, and also the tendency of the door or gate to descend by its own
weight occasions it to shut of itself after it has been opened, and when the
door or gate is shut it offers a slight resistance to being opened, because the
weight of the door or gate must be raised up a small height during such
opening.
And my present improvements are more particularly applicable to a
certain kind of rising hinges of my Invention, for which His present most
Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth was graciously pleased to grant
.me His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November 1821;
and my aforesaid patent rising hinges act by means of two pairs of circular
inclined planes, which are so disposed at the opposite sides of the centre pin
of the hinge as that both pairs of the said opposite circular inclined planes
shall concur or act in concert to cause the rising of the door or gate which is
suspended upon such hinges when the said door or gate is opened, and vice
versa, both the said pairs of opposite circular inclined planes will concur.or
act in concert to cause the door or gate to shut by the tendency of its own
weight to descend. And in some cases my aforesaid patent rising hinges
have a spiral spring applied within the centre pin of the hinge, which is for
that purpose made hollow, like a tube, and the said spring acts in aid of the
weight of the door or gate so as to increase its tendency to descend and shut
of itself.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, of the Drawings hereunto annexed, represents one of my
patent rising hinges with my present new improvements applied thereto.
A and B are the two leaves of the hinge, whereof the lower leaf A, is the
fixed one, which is fastened to the jamb or post from which the door or
gate is to be suspended, and the upper leaf B is the moving one, which is
fastened to the door or gate. a is the lower knuckle of the hinge, which
is made in the same solid piece with the lower or fixed leaf A; and 6 is

page_text: the upper knuckle of the hinge, which is made in the same solid piece with
the upper or moving leaf B. The two knuckles a and b are made hollow
within, like tubes, in order to receive the pieces c, d, and e, which form
the joint, and on which are formed the two pair of opposite circular inclined
planes, to produce the rising of the door or gate; the said pieces d
and e are also perforated through their centres or axis, like small tubes,
to receive the joint pin f, which is fixed fast into the upper joint piece d,
and projects out or downwards therefroin far enough to enter into the hole or
tube within the centre of the other lower joint piece e; and. by means of this
centre pin f, which is thus fixed in the upper joint piece d, and enters into the
lower joint piece e, the two joint pieces are kept truly centrical, and one exactly
over the other in all positions, whether the door be open or shut; and the
weight of the door or gate is borne by the upper joint piece d bearing upon
the lower joint piece e, the bearing being on the two pairs of opposite circular
inclined planes, which are formed or cut out in the adjoining ends of the two
joint pieces d and e, and, consequently, when the door or gate is opened, and
the upper moving leaf B is turned round about the common centre pin f,
through about one quarter of a circle, or rather more, the two opposite circular
inclined planes of the moving or upper joint piece d acting against the two
opposite circular inclined planes of the lower joint piece e, will cause the
upper joint piece d to mount or rise upwards with a sort of spirally winding or
screwing motion, and the upper or moving leaf B, together with the door or
gate which is affixed to and suspended by it, partakes of such rising motion,
at the same time that it opens. And the form of the two pairs of opposite
circular inclined planes is such, that when the door or gate is opened beyond
one fourth of a circle, or thereabouts, the opposite circular inclined planes of
the upper or moving joint piece & will have mounted or risen quite up to the
top of the corresponding opposite circular inclined planes of the lower or fixed.
joint piece e, and then the flat circular end of the upper joint piece d will bear
upon the flat circular end of the lower joint piece e, in which state any further
opening or turning round of the door or gate about its hinges beyond the first
fourth part of a circle, or thereabouts, will not occasion any farther rising of
the door, but it will open at or turn round on a level, in the same manner as
common hinges, and, consequently, the door or gate will have no tendency
to shut of itself, but will remain open, and well stand wherever it is placed,,
until the door or gate is placed within about one-fourth of a circle from that
position in which it is shut; and then the two pairs of opposite : circular
inclined planes which are cut out in the ends of the two joint pieces d and e

page_text: will come into action, whereby the weight of the door pressing the said plains
of the upper joint piece d downwards upon those of the lower joint piece e,
their mutual oblique action one against the other will give the door or gate
a tendency to shut, as before described. The two joint pieces d and e are
firmly fastened into their sockets within the hollow knuckles a and b, by
driving them into their places, and they are rather taper or conical that they
may jamb fast, and are held in by screws g and h, which are screwed into each
end of the central hollow through the joint pieces in which the centre pin f is
inserted; the heads of the screws bear upon the ends of the knuckles a and b,
and those heads are formed with projecting knobs of any ornamental form;
and, further, to prevent the said joint pieces d and e from turning round
in their sockets within the knuckles a and b, screwed steady pins are inserted
through the socket of the knuckles, and they penetrate through the tube part
of the joint pieces, as is shewn at i, i. By these means each of the joint pieces
is fixed into its respective knuckle as firmly as if it were in one solid piece
therewith, but the making of those joints pieces in separate pieces and
fastenings them into the knuckles, in the manner herein-before described,
constitutes one of my present improvements.
Another of my present improvements is in making the opposite circular
inclined planes at the adjoining ends of the joint pieces d and e in the form
shewn in the Drawings, so as that the back side of the opposite circular inclined
planes (videlizet, those sides which do not bear any pressure or contact from the
weight of the door,) shall have a corresponding inclination, (or spirally winding
curvature to the front or bearing sides, whereby the greatest possible portion
of the flat circular ends of the said joint pieces d and e are preserved for the
flat bearings which are to sustain the weight of the door or gate when it is so
far opened as to be fully raised and fully opened, and the extent of the said
opening may be a complete half circle, or even a little more than that.
And another of my present improvements is in making the knuckle a of the
lower leaf A with an enlargement at the upper part, as shewn at c, with a
sufficient hollow socket within that enlargement to receive and surround those
parts of the two joint pieces d and e where the opposite circular inclined planes as
formed so as to entirely conceal those inclined planes within the said socket
in the knuckle a of the lower leaf A, which socket is deep enough and large
enough within side to receive the larger parts of both the joint pieces d and e
within it, and to allow the upper joint piece to turn round and to rise up
within the socket without obstruction. And in order to carry my last-
mentioned improvement into effect, and to give strength to the hinge at the

page_text: junction where the knuckle a or b grows out of the leaf A or B, that junction
part is so formed that it is bounded by flat planes, which if continued would
pass through the axis or centre line of the pin of the hinge, as is shewn in the
end views or plans, Figs. 3 and 4, at n, n; and as this form renders the
junction part as thick as both the leaves A and B of the hinge, it is reduced
or rebated, so as to leave only the proper thickness of the leaf A, and the
rebated part receives the upper part of the other leaf B.
And another of my improvements is in the application of a spiral spring,
made of steel wire, coiled up into the form of a screw, and lodges within-
side of the centre pin of my rising hinge, in order to act in aid of the
weight of the door or gate and cause it to shut itself.
For this pur-
pose the said centre pin is formed hollow, like a tube, and large enough
withinside to receive such spiral spring, see Fig. 6. This tubular centre pin
is fixed fast into the central hole of the lower joint piece e by drawing
it tight into that hole and fixing it by the screw h, which is tapped into the
lower end of the tubular centre pin, and the upper part of that pin rises up
within the central hole of the upper joint piece d to form the guide for
that joint piece in its motion of turning round and rising up.
The upper
end of the tubular centre pin f is partly closed by a plug, which is fastened
into it, so as to stop the spring from passing out at the top, and a hole is
perforated through the middle of the plug to admit a central wire r of nearly
the same size as the interior of the coils of the spring; the wire r passes down
through those coils, and has a projecting knob or head at the lower end of it,
which nearly fills the tube, and the lower end of the spring lodges against that
head. The upper end of the wire r which passes out above the plug in the top
of the tubular centre pin is tapped with a screw, upon which the knob g is
screwed, and the knob rests upon the upper end of the upper knuckle b. The
joint pieces d and e, and the knuckles a and b, and the leaves A and B, are
similarly constructed in this spring hinge as in the others already described.
The consequence of this application of a worm spring is, that when the upper
leaf B with its knuckle b and joint piece d are turned round, and at the same
time raised up by the screwing action of the opposite circular inclined planes of
the joint pieces b and d, the wire r within the spring is drawn upwards, so as
to compress the spring, which by the effort that it makes to recover itself
presses the upper joint piece down upon the lower one with an additional
force to that of the weight of the door or gate itself, so as to give the door a
greater tendency to shut itself.
And another of my improvements is to apply a spiral wire spring within

page_text: the tubular centre pin in the same manner as above described, but such
spring is applied to a hinge such as is shewn in Fig. 5, and which is made
without any circular inclined planes to cause it to rise when the door or
gate is opened, but that rising of the door or gate is produced by means of
another hinge, which is constructed on the plan of that shewn in Fig: 1,
without an internal spring, and which rising hinge, Fig. 1, without a
spring is to be applied to the same door or gate in concert with the spring
hinge, Fig. 5, which is without inclined planes. By this means the spring
hinge may be made smaller in the knuckles than if it had circular inclined
planes as well as a spring, in the manner of Fig. 6; and by thus applying one
rising hinge and one spring hinge to the same door or gate, the effect of both
is attained the same as if both hinges had been made on the plan of Fig. 6.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew the manner of constructing or projecting or off-stand-
ing hinge according to my present improvements. The knuckles a and b
project out to a distance from their respective leaves A and B, being united
thereto by the parts R and S, which for large hinges may have openings
through them, to diminish the weight of metal, and to give the hinges a
lighter appearance. The knuckles a and b, and the enlargement 7, which con
ceals the joint pieces and their circular inclined planes within it, are
constructed in the same manner as the same parts in the other hinges herein-
before described. The external parts of the knuckles a, b, and of the
enlargement, as well as the projections R and S, and all such other parts of
the hinge as are exposed to view, may be chassed in relief, or embossed or
engraved with any such ornamental design or pattern, as is desired; and I
make the joint pieces d and e of cast iron, which may be moulded from an
accurate metal pattern, and cast with the opposite circular inclined planes so
correctly formed as, to require very little fitting up after they are cast, and
when they are fitted the acting parts may be hardened to enable them to resist
wearing. The leaves and knuckles of the hinges may be also cast either in
iron or in brass or gun metal, and either plane or with ornamental patterns.
The central pin f may be made of iron wire; in the spring hinges the spring
should be made of steel wire, coiled up into a worm, and hardened and
tempered; the tubular centre pin f, within which such spring is lodged, may
be made of sheet iron, rolled up to form a tube, and the edges brazed together.
The materials of which hinges may be manufactured according to my improve-
ments as herein-before set forth, as well as the dimensions, form, and
appearance of such hinges, admit of great variation, at the discretion of the
maker, and according to the kind of doors or gates to which they are intended

page_text: to be applied. In cases where it is required to construct hinges of the same
external appearance as my afore-described hinges, but not to rise, the same
may be made by adapting the external parts as above described, omitting only
the circular inclined planes.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Redmund, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.