CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING, MOUNTING, AND SPINDLING KNOBS APPLICABLE FOR DOORS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Whitehouse, jun', of Birchall Street, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Brassfounder, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING, MOUNTING, AND SPINDLING KNOBS APPLICABLE FOR
DOORS AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 16th January 1857, and dated the 19th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Whitehouse at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1856.
I, JOHN WHITEHOUSE, jun", of Birchall Street, Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Brassfounder, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING, MOUNTING, AND SPINDLING KNOBS
APPLICABLE FOR DOORS AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist, first, in the mode of making knobs applicable for
doors, drawers, and other purposes for which knobs are or may be used; and
the manner in which I make such knobs will be understood by the following
description: The large part of the knob (which may be stamped or raised
from metal, or made of glass, china, ivory, bone, wood, or any other suitable
material) is secured to a metallic neck, raised, cast, or otherwise formed, to
which a pin is attached, which, by passing through the body of the knob, before
described, the parts may be held together by a metallic boss or plate in front.

page_text: Secondly, the manner in which I mount such knobs will vary according to
the use for which they may be required; as, for instance, when applied to the
levers of sash fasteners, cloak pins, hat hooks, and such like purposes. The
pin that holds the knob and neck together may be attached to the front boss
or plate, and be long enough to project through the knob and neck, and secured
by screwing or rivetting it to the part to which it is designed to be attached.
Thirdly, the manner in which I apply knobs to spindles, so that they may be
the better adjusted to the various thicknesses of the doors to which they may
be applied, consists in fixing one knob on the spindle so that the bush attached
to the plate of the fixed knob shall be fitted so as to bear nicely against the
follow of the lock, leaving sufficient play for the shoulder or neck of the knob
to work freely in the knob plate; the spindle in this state is pushed through
the door, and of course through the follow of the lock; I then apply the inner
or adjustable bush, the inner end of which must also abut against the lock follow,
taking care that the shoulder of the bush stands sufficiently away from the door
to admit of its working freely in the rose, which must be screwed on to the door
stile. The moveable bush is secured in this position by a screw placed on the end
of the spindle, the neck of the bush being cast hollow for the purpose of allow-
ing the nut to lie in; and the manner in which the knob (described under the
first head) is applied to such spindles is by tapping the neck of the knob on to
the periphery of the shoulder of the bush, which may be there retained by a
small screw or pin passing through it. This mode of spindling is applicable to
any description of knob capable of being tapped at the neck, such as glass or
china knobs, which are usually fitted with a metallic shoulder clipping the base
or neck.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Whitehouse in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITEHOUSE, jun", of Birchall Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, 0
Brassfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Whitehouse, jun', Her special licence that I, the said John Whitehouse,
jun, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Whitehouse, jun', my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MAKING, MOUNTING, AND SPINDLING KNOBS, APPLICABLE TO DOOR AND
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Whitehouse, jun', by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my 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 John Whitehouse, jun', do hereby
declare the nature of my 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) :-
My improvements in the description of knobs named in the title of this my
in part recited Letters Patent, and the mode of mounting and spindling the
same, refers more particularly to knobs that are made in parts, the larger or
globular portion being made of glass, china, bone, ivory, wood, horn, or
other such like suitable material; but as my Invention will be best understood
by referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed, I will proceed to describe
the same, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say-
Figs. 1 and 2 represent a front and top view of that part of a sash fastener
to which the knob A and lever B is attached, and simply introduced here for
the purpose of shewing my improvements in the mode of constructing the knobs
of such like articles. The part A may be composed of any suitable material,
such as china, glass, ivory, bone, wood, &c., through which, by preference, a
square hole is moulded or otherwise formed for receiving the pin marked b, as
seen at Figure 3, which is a section of the knob before referred to; this pin
may be made of square or round iron wire, and in that case I prefer casting
the front or enlarged part marked c on the pin in the same way in which the
brass heads are cast on common brass-headed nails, or the pin may be cast in
brass or other suitable metal with the head on it. d, d, is the neck, which I

page_text: prefer (for economy) raising from thin metal, and the knob thus put together
is united to the lever B by tapping, as here shewn, or riveting, if desirable..
Fig. 4 represents in front and sectional view a knob similarly constructed;
but the pin that holds the parts together is in this case put through from the
back of the knob, and held together by the part c screwing on the front end of
the pin and Fig. 5 also represents a front and sectional view, differing (as in
the last case) simply in the mode of holding the neck and body together, as
well as providing a shank or means, long or short, for attaching or applying
the knob for the uses for which it may be required; in this case the pin is
formed with a solid head on the front end, and the parts retained together by
the nut e, made in such a way that it shall have a length of thread at the same
time formed with a shoulder, which may abut against a metallic or other
suitable rose, represented here in dotted lines; as the knob may be used with
or without this addition, if used with the addition of the rose, it will be neces-
sary in some instances to make the pin or screw longer, for the convenience of
applying such description of knobs to drawers, or they may be made and
applied in the manner as exhibited at Fig. 6, which is drawn more in the
character and form of knobs for this purpose.
Fig. 7 represents as much of a cloak or hat pin required for exhibiting the
manner in which the same description of knobs exhibited at Fig. 3 may be
applied, as a means of finishing the ends of such articles. f, f, is a nut,
soldered or otherwise secured to the end of the tube; and 9,g, is a small, raised,
or otherwise formed cap, that fits over it; and h, h, represents the neck of the
knob, which, in contradistinction to the others, is represented as cast or turned
out of any suitable material, metallic or otherwise, the whole being held
together by the pin in the manner herein-before described.
Fig. 8 represents my mode of mounting and spindling knobs when applied
to mortice door locks; the knobs C and D being composed of glass, china,
ivory, bone, wood, horn, or other suitable material, moulded, turned, or other-
wise formed. E is a metal collar, formed in connection with the bush F,
secured to the knob in the manner exhibited in the section at k, k, by being
lapped over on it, an operation well understood and easily performed by a
skilful workman with an ordinary burnishing tool. The bush F, with its collar
and knobs, being secured to the spindle G by the pin i, to meet the variations
in the thickness of doors, so that a firm contact shall be effected between the
shoulder 1, 1, and the follow of the lock on that side of the doors, I apply
washers in sufficient numbers according to their thicknesses, as represented in
an edge view on the spindle marked n, n, n; and this same principle I apply

page_text: on the other side, so that the other side of the follow of the lock shall be held
between the shoulders of the bush m, m; the variations arising from the dif-
ferent thicknesses of doors, as well as of the locks, I make up by using a greater
or less number of washers according to their thicknesses, as before described.
The bush H, partly shewn in section, is secured in its adjusted position by the
nut I, the knob being fitted with a metallic collar, which collar is tapped on
the inside over the periphery of the large part of the bush H; and when tightly
screwed together the bush H and knob D must be further secured by the
pin p, which will hold the parts together, and prevent them working loose.
Fig. 9 represents the same mode of adjusting the knobs to the bush, as at Fig. 8,
but instead of the metal collar clipping the neck of the knob as there de-
scribed, I form the neck entirely of metal, as shewn in section at J, J, and
which neck is continued into a kind of cup having holes pierced through it, and
which cup fits into a large cavity formed in the knob, which is here represented
as of china or opal glass, the vacancy being filled up with any suitable cement
or soft metal, such as lead, which is here represented sectioned with blue lines;
but if the front of the knob were made of horn it could be applied to the neck
at the same time it is being formed in the mould, and in that case would be
firmly secured without cement or soft metal being applied; but should the metal
collar or neck be objectionable to knobs moulded or formed from horn, a
metallic rim may be applied, as exhibited at r, r, Fig. 10, which rim must be
inserted at the time the knob is being pressed; this rim is tapped on the inside,
and screws over the large part of the bush k, as described and exhibited at
Figure 8, and retained in like manner by the, pins passing first through the
horn and metal collar r, r, and finally through the rim of the bush. I am not
compelled by this mode of attaching or spindling knobs to use a solid substance
in the material of the knob, as the same principle applies to knobs raised in
the ordinary way from thin metal; and a knob so constructed I have exhibited
in section applied to the bush and spindle at Fig. 11, the principle being iden-
tical in every particular as exhibited at Figs. 8, 9, and 10.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it understood that I do not
confine myself in the various details herein exhibited and described to any par-
ticular shape or dimensions, as the whole is capable of considerable modification;
but what I do claim as my Invention is, the mode herein described and exhi-
bited of making, uniting, and mounting the description of knobs exhibited at
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, without regard to the use to which such knobs may
be applied.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the mode herein exhibited and described at Fig. 8, and
its application to various materials, as exhibited at Figs. 9, 10, and 11, of
mounting, spindling, and adjusting door knobs.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Whitehouse, jun', have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the year of 5
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS.
JOHN WHITEHOUSE, JUN³. (L.S.)