IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNITURE CASTORS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Walker, George Walker, and Alfred
Albert Walker, all of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
. Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNITURE
CASTORS."
Sealed the 27th January 1871, and dated the 29th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Walker, George
Walker, and Alfred Albert Walker at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th July 1870.
We, THOMAS WALKER, GEORGE WALKER, and ALFRED ALBERT
WALKER, all of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNITURE CASTORS," to be as follows:-
The first part of our Invention relates to an improvement in the
castor horn. Hitherto this has been cast in one piece, and the ears

page_text: being of cast metal are frequently broken, and the castor is thus rendered
. useless. We propose instead of casting the whole horn in one piece
to cut out of sheet metal a blank which may form the ears, and which
when properly shaped is laid in the mould and then cast into the
bosom of the horn.
The second part of our Invention consists of an improved method
of attaching or securing the horn to the peg of the castor. Our im-
provements over the old method consist in providing a double bearing
for the horn, and also providing at the bottom part of the bosom of the
horn a chamber or groove for a washer in which chamber or groove
the said washer is afterwards placed. In castors made according to the
old method the washer being placed round the pin at the bottom of the
horn without any protection, such as the chamber or groove before
mentioned must necessarily give, is liable to crack and give way, and
thus the usefulness of the castor is destroyed. Over the secret washer
before described we secure another. metal washer to keep the former
washer in position, and by preference to give the castor an ornamental
appearance the latter washer may be of a similar metal to the body of
the castor,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Walker, George Walker, and Alfred
Albert Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th January
1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
WALKER, GEORGE WALKER, and ALFRED ALBERT WALKER, all of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Thomas Walker, George Walker, and Alfred
Albert Walker, Her special licence that we, the said Thomas Walker,
George Walker, and Alfred Albert Walker, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Walker, George

page_text: Walker, and Alfred Albert Walker, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNITURE CASTORS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Walker, George Walker, and
Alfred Albert Walker, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, 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 we, the said Thomas Walker, George Walker,
and Alfred Albert Walker, 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
(that is to say)
The first part of our Invention relates to an improvement in the
castor horn. Hitherto this has been cast in one piece, and the ears
being of cast metal are frequently broken, and the castor is thus
rendered useless. We propose instead of casting the whole horn in
one piece to cut out of sheet metal a blank which may form the ears,
and which when properly shaped is laid in the mould and then cast into
the bosom of the horn.
The second part of our Invention consists of an improved method
of attaching or securing the horn to the peg of the castor. Our im-
provements over the old method consist in providing a double bearing
for the horn, and also providing at the bottom part of the bosom of the
horn a chamber or groove for a washer, in which chamber or groove
the said washer is afterwards placed. In castors made according to
the old method the washer being placed round the pin at the bottom of
the horn without any protection, such as the chamber or groove before
mentioned must necessarily give, is liable to crack and give way, and
thus the usefulness of the castor is destroyed. Over the secret washer
before described we secure another metal washer or knob to keep the
former washer in position, and by preference to give the castor an

page_text: ornamental appearance the latter washer or knob may be of similar
metal to the body of the castor.
That our Invention may be fully understood we have annexed
Drawings thereof, which we now proceed to describe.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation; Fig. 2, a plan; Fig 3, an elevation;
and Fig. 4, a plan of complete castors made according to our Inven-
tion. The same letters of reference refer to similar parts in all the
Figures.
The first part of our Invention relates as before mentioned to an
improvement in the castor horn. a is a blank cut out of sheet metal
(shewn in detail in Figs. 5 and 6), which forms the ears of the castor
horn, and which when properly shaped is placed in the mould and cast
into the bosom of the horn b, thus rendering the ears less liable to
break off than when the horn and ears are cast in one piece, as in the
old method of manufacture.
The second part of our Invention relates as before mentioned to the
method of attaching or securing the horn 6 to the pege of the castor; c, d,
are double bearings provided in the horn b, and the peg e has corresponding
shoulders resting upon the bearings c, d; f is a chamber or groove in
which a secret washer 9 is placed instead of as in the old method
occupying an external position at the bottom of the horn and losing
the protection which the chamber affords. h is another washer or
nut placed over the secret washer g to keep it in position and which
may be made of the same metal as the body of the horn b.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be performed, we desire it to be understood
that what we claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, -
First. Instead of casting the whole horn in one piece to cut out of
sheet metal a blank which may form the ears, and which when properly
shaped is laid in the mould and then cast into the bosom of the horn,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Second. The improved method of attaching and securing the horn
to the peg of the castor (by means of which we provide the double

page_text: bearing) herein-before described and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Walker, George Walker,
and Alfred Albert Walker, have hereunto set our hands and
seals, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
GEORGE WALKER.
(L.S.)
ALFRED ALBERT WALKER. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered.
by the within-named George
Walker, and Alfred Albert
Walker, in the presence of
G. R. HOLLAND,
Patent Office,
Birmingham.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within-named Thomas
Walker, in the presence of
FRED. WOODALL.
THOMAS WALKER. (L.S.)