US34431A

US34431A - Improved match-safe

Info

Publication number: US34431A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1862-02-18
Anticipated expiration: 1879-02-18

Description

A. KLINE.

, Match. Safe.

Patented Feb. 18, 1862.

lnveniar;

N. PETERS. m'mumo n um Wmhinglon, D. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A. KLINE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED MATCH-SAFE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 34,431, dated February 18, 1862.

of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, 1

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Match-Safes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,referencebeinghadtotheaccompanying drawings, making a partof this specification, in which Figure l is a perspective View, and Fig. 2 a central vertical section, of a safe having my improvement applied, like letters indicating the same parts when in both figures.

The nature of this invention consists, substantially as hereinafter described and specified, in providing a match-safe with a selfclosing lid, which while it is constructed to swing inward from the pressure of ones hand or fingers entering the safe will also close automatically by swinging upward or outward on the withdrawal of the hand or fingers, Wherebywhile the safe thus affords ready and easy access at all times to its interior the possibility of its being accidentally or inadvertently left open to the access of flies, cockroaches, mice, and other vermin is effectually prevented in a more certain manner.

The drawings represent the safe as provided in its form and dimensions for matches, A being the body, and B the self-closing lid.

The safe in this instance is made of tinplate and closed permanently at every part except theupper portion of its front, in which portion the lid B is suspended by a hingejoint I), so as to swing clearly between the two sides of the body A, as seen in the drawings. To the inner side of the lid B, near the middle of its upper portion, there is fixed a bent arm or lever 17 which is connected by a spring 0, which in this instance is a ring of vulcanized gum, to ahook a fixed to the back of the body A on the inner side and about opposite to the center of the lid B, so that the action of the said spring 0 will constantly tend to keep the lower edge of the said lid B in contact with the inner side of the upper edge of the front plate a of the body of the safe, as seen in Fig. 2.

In the operation of this invention it will be seen that when the lid B shall be thrust inward by ones hand or fingers introduced to take out one or more of the matches D therein it and its arm 6 will approach the positions indicated by the dotted lines 1 2, and that as the hand or fingers shall be withdrawn the action of the spring 0, through the lever-arm b on the lid B, will close the safe, and there fore it will be manifest that it can never be accidentally or inadvertently left open to the dangerous depredations of mice.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to claim, broadly, the application of a spring and lever-arm or its equivalent to a lid turning upon a hinge, as such devices have before been applied to the doors of dwellings for the purpose of causing them to close antomatically; but,

Having fully described my invention and pointed out its special utility, I claim- The match-safe A, having its lid B applied and arranged to operate in relation to the same in the modes described and set forth, for thepurpose specified.

A. KLINE.

VVitneSSes: I

BENJ. MORISON, JAMES P. DIX.