CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SWING LOOKING GLASSES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Walker, of Old Nickols Street, Church
Street, Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SWING LOOKING GLASSES"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Walker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
May 1859.
I, GEORGE WALKER, of Old Nickols Street, Church Street, Shoreditch, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SWING LOOKING GLASSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in dispensing with the pillars and connections com-
monly employed in swing looking glasses for carrying the silvered plate, and
in substituting in lieu thereof a base piece or pieces connected to the stand of.
the glass by a screw (in some cases placed out of the centre of such said base
piece). The frame containing the silvered plate it is proposed to connect to the
aforesaid base piece by a ball-and-socket joint, so that the glass may be readily
inclined and maintained at any desired angle of inclination as regards its
vertical position, and the base piece aforesaid enables the position of the
reflecting part of the glass to be altered or varied sideways.
By these means, were two glasses thus fitted and placed on one stand, and

page_text: the base pieces aforesaid connected to said stand by screws placed out of the
centre of such said base pieces, the position of the glasses could be
readily changed so as to place them at any angle or in any position with
respect to each other. This Invention applies to cheval glasses and other
swing glasses.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WALKER, of Old Nickols Street, Church Street, Shoreditch, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Walker, Her special licence that I, the said George
Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Walker, 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 Ire-
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SWING LOOKING GLASSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George. Walker, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Walker, 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 :-
This Invention consists in dispensing with the pillars and connections com
monly employed in swing looking glasses for carrying the silvered plate, and in
substituting in lieu thereof a base piece or pieces connected to the stand o

page_text: the glass by a screw (in some case placed out of the centre of such said
base piece). The frame containing the silvered plate it is proposed to connect
to the aforesaid base piece by a ball-and-socket joint, so that the glass may
be readily inclined and maintained at any desired angle of inclination as
regards its vertical position, and the base piece aforesaid enables the position
of the reflecting part of the glass to be altered or varied sideways.
By these means, were two glasses thus fitted and placed on one stand, and
the base pieces aforesaid connected to said stand by screws placed out of the
centre of such said base pieces, the position of the glasses could be readily.
changed so as to place them at any angle or in any position with respect to
each other. This Invention applies to cheval glasses and other swing
glasses.
In order to explain this Invention as completely as possible, I now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, reference being had to the accompanying illustrative Sheet of
Drawings, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon
respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a toilette glass constructed according to my
said Invention, the reflecting glasses thereof being represented inclined.
backwards; Figure 2, a partial side elevation of said glass; Figure 3, a top.
plan view thereof; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, are detached portions herein-after
particularly described and referred to. At each of the foregoing Figures I,
employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding parts, in so far as
such parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures. respectively.
A, A, is the base or stand of the glass, which may either be formed solid or
with drawers at B, B, as denoted by dotted lines at Figure 3; C, C, are base
pieces connected to the stand A by a screw a, as at Figure 2, said screw being
placed out of the centre of each base piece for the purpose herein-after stated;
D is a piece of metal having two pins b, b, fixed therein, same being formed
with spherical heads c, c, as at Figure 4; the piece D. is intended to be
fixed by screws to the piece C, and the heads c, c, of the pins b, b, are
embraced by pieces of metal E, F, shown at Figures 4 and 5; the piece Fis
let into the bottom of the frame G containing the silvered glass, and is securely
fixed thereto by screws, and the piece F connects the heads c, c, of the pins b, b,.
to the frame of the glass by a thumbscrew H, which passes through the plate.
F, and enters a screwed hole formed in the piece E, so that by tightening said
screw the frame G may be held either inclined or upright, as desired, and by

page_text: turning round the base piece C upon its axis. of motion a, said glass or glasses
may be placed at an angle sideways with respect to each other, as desired; the
base pieces C are prevented from rubbing or scratching the stand A on which
they move, by affixing to the bottom of each of such said base pieces a plate
of metal I, which is kept free of the stand A by a washer è, and further the
base pieces are prevented from canting over by the weight of the frames and
glasses by means of a hooked staple K fixed into the stand A, as at Figure 6,
the hooked part of such said staple passing over the edge of the plate I, as
exhibited.
Another mode of connecting the frames G of the glass to the base pieces C
is by means of a novel form of construction of hinge, exhibited at Figures 7
and 8, and where L marks a plate of metal hinged to another plate of metal M
by a pin at passed through both pieces; N is a thumbscrew inserted in a
screwed hole formed in the hinged part of the piece L; the hinged part m of
the piece M has a slot hole formed through the same, to allow this part of the
hinge and also the plate M, which is to be fixed to the under side of the frame
G of the glass, to move freely over the screw N, so as to place said frame at
any desired angle, and by tightening the thumbscrew N, the pin f pressing
against the inner curved surface of the hinge piece at m, will effectually hold
said frame steady in any desired position. The intention of placing the
screws a out of the centre of the base pieces C, C, is to enable the frames to
approach and recede from each other by reason of their excentric motion; this,
however, is only intended to be used when two glasses are mounted on one
stand; when a single glass is used, the axis or screw a of the base piece C
-may then be placed central in such said piece.
The above method of connecting swing glasses to their stands applies to
cheval and other swing glasses, it being only necessary to make the tighten-
ing screws and hinges sufficiently strong to hold the glass in any desired
position.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my
said Invention of "Certain Improvements in Swing Looking Glasses," together
with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical
effect, I would remark in conclusion that I do not claim the mounting of two
toilette glasses on one stand, as I am aware of the same having heretofore
been done; neither do I claim the adjusting of such said glasses sideways at an
angle with respect to each other; but what I do claim as my Invention intended
to be secured to me by the above in part recited Letters Patent is as follows:-
First, I claim the mechanical arrangements above described and represented
by the accompanying Drawing, which I employ for connecting the frames of

page_text: swing toilette looking glasses to their stands, whereby I dispense with the side
supports hitherto employed for suspending the frame of the glass, and also
enable the glass or glasses to be moved sideways on a stand or base indepen-
dently of such said stand.
Secondly, I claim the mechanical arrangements above described in the
construction of cheval and other single swing glasses, for the purpose of
enabling the frames of such said glasses to be inclined either backwards
or forwards, or sideways, or both, on a fixed stand, as constituting "Certain
Improvements in Swing Looking Glasses."
In witness whereof, I, the said George Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
GEORGE WALKER. (L.B.)