Midlands Floor Springs Limited - Blog

Sydney Opera House

8/18/2019

I am pleased to announce our involvement is the refurbishing of the floor springs throughout one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic building of the 20th Century, the Sydney Opera House.

The site was given the protection of UNESCO and placed on their list in 2007 "... placing it alongside the Taj Mahal, the ancient Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China as one of the most outstanding places on Earth."

I have been informed I will be receiving the first batch of floor springs next week and shall keep you posted as things progress, they are an interesting design and appear to be bespoke. Here is a link concerning the history of this most fantastic of buildings and the architect who designed it, Jørn Utzon.

I cannot express how proud I am to have been selected to work on their floor springs for them.

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story/world-heritage.html

Wiston Lodge

8/18/2019

Here are two Smiths I recently worked on from the Victorian era Wiston Lodge, Lanarkshire, Scotland. As you can see they were essentially no more, until we repaired them to go back and control the doors once again at the handsome ex hunting lodge built in the 1850's. For more history on the lodge please click the link - https://wistonlodge.com/about-us/history-of-wiston-lodge/

As always feel free to comment.

Hill and Hodges

8/18/2019

Here are a few shots of the completed Hill and Hodges back in the ground, definitive date of the patent and a few shots of the interior of the Quaker House. At the bottom you see a picture of Mr and Mrs Cadbury.

Smith, Major & Stevens Ltd 'Janus Door Springs'

8/5/2019

A quick post of an advert from 1929 showing Smith, Major & Stevens Ltd Janus range of door springs.

Smiths door closer repaired.

7/31/2019

Our old Smithy's (Joseph Smith and Turner) have been returned. From smashed, seized, broken and missing parts to fully functional, snapping to centre with no play whats so ever, usable door closer mechanisms. This design was a hundred years old at the beginning of the First World War, now over two hundred years old, they will live to fight on, With my bespoke springs at their heart it will be a long time before these need any more attention.

Cast iron plate, machined from bar stock.

Bespoke springs manufactured for this traditional door closer.

The decor plates were only cleaned, leaving the rich caramel brown patina.

I wonder what Joseph would make of it, I wonder if while lying their listening to his bedroom door banging he would ever have thought his design would last so long?

Please leave comment if you happen to pass by and take an interest in this bi-centennial beauty.

After further research...

7/23/2019

Whilst continuing on with research for this blog I came across what I now believe to be the first pneumatic device to check or retard the speed at which a door shuts. Long before our American cousins and long before the Ovendens 1864 patent I would like to introduce you to William Bullock, of Newman Street, in the county of Middlesex, Locksmith and Brass-founder, and James BOAZ, of Glasgow, Scotland, Engineer.

The Anglo - Scottish team in 1813 were noted for their mechanical contrivance designed to stop doors (and windows) from being blown in by the wind (a somewhat similar problem that Mr Norton faced) hinted at in a snippet from their patent, below.

"A pneumatic apparatus for preventing the sudden closing of a door. Air is received into a cylinder or collapsible receptacle, and the door cannot be completely shut until the air is expelled or squeezed out."

Here is a link to their patent in its entirety AD 1813 No - 3695 Securing Doors and Shutters found in English Patents of Inventions, Specifications, Volumes 3666-3744.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qlrlE-6wJisC&pg=PA21-IA33&dq=william+bullock+james+boaz+patent+1813&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzkY6UkcrjAhVIecAKHerXAycQuwUISzAG#v=onepage&q=william%20bullock%20james%20boaz%20patent%201813&f=false

As always please feel free to comment.

Floor springs, door springs and more springs...

7/16/2019

A quick post to say I have the twin of the Hill and Hodges to convert to the new piston design, some Earls from the Belgrade Theatre to service and repair along with some 600's and some single action Gibbons I have serviced, repaired and converted to hold open for the Crucible Theatre.

Please feel free to make positive comment.

Robert Adams "Queen Victor" Patent (Single action)

7/16/2019

The single action version of the "King Victor" is known as the "Queen Victor" using only a single action volute spring.

Robert Adams "King Victor" Patent

7/16/2019

The "King Victor" Patent Floor Spring Hinge interestingly uses two volute springs in its design and is one of Robert Adams larger floor springs.

Volute springs are conical in shape and are designed to compress in a shorter distance than perhaps a conventional coil spring would.

The Dawn of the door closer...

7/6/2019

The door closer may be far older than you first thought and have had more of an impact on our daily lives than ever could have been imagined, when looking back to prehistory devices to close all manner of "doors" have probably been around since the very first doors were "invented." They may have been developed from devices and simple spring mechanisms to close access to a trap of some sort. A little later perhaps when our nomadic life style came to an end and we began to trap and rear animals for food, labour and transport these mechanisms may have been scaled up to automatically close gates once animals had been driven into a fenced area for instance, closing off their route of escape.

We simply may never know the exact route by which the very earliest or first door closing devices were invented and I suspect the door closer in some way shape or form has been invented and reinvented over and over throughout history.

Arguably not as an important a discovery as fire, when fully considered you may agree however they deserve far more recognition than they have ever previously received and could well be in the top 100 of all time most important mechanical devices ever invented, behind the wheel or the lever but nearly equal of the lock, affecting our daily lives in ways you may have never even thought, achieving the rare position of being practically indispensable and yet to all intents and purpose invisible to all but the most inquisitive of us.

Whilst not exactly a door closer the reference below shows that we were inventing machinery and devices to control doors long before any patents were issued for such devices, below is the earliest reference I have been able to find of a "machine" or device to control a door. Monsieur Delanois displayed his Mathematical Statue, at the White Swan in Stamford 1736. It is reported to open and close his door himself among bringing sugar, coffee and all sorts of spices to I expect the delighted on lookers who came to view the spectacle of the "Merchant Grocer."

Stamford Mercury Thursday 21st December 1738

The Works of Jonathan Swift Dean of St Patricks D.D., Dublin Volume 12, 1755.

As you can read above Jonathan Swift discusses a simple door closer as early as 1755 almost identical to the one first patented.

The 'modern' door closer industry can be said to have begun officially in England on a Tuesday in the summer of 1786, for it was on Tuesday June 13th in 1786, that a linen draper named Francis Moore living in Cheapside, London, was awarded the first English patent for a device to close doors, which consisted of weights, a line and pulleys. This was followed four years later by Henry Downers 1790 patent that used a spring to overcome the weight of the door to return it to the closed position.

Patents are of course important they do not however reflect the entire door closer story as not all inventions are patented. Along with Jonathan Swifts description of a door closer, it can be shown through advertisement ironmongers were selling door spring/door closers up and down the country before and around the time Moore and Downers patents were granted.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal - Monday 19 June 1775

Chester Chronicle - Thursday 07 March 1776

Edward Morris Ironmonger Northampton Mercury 1794

John Sibbald Smith and Ironmonger Caledonian Mercury 1794

Adding to the confusion for those wanting to trace the history of the door spring door closer is the fact a spring when used on its own to close a door is known as a door spring as are the various components when combined together into one device.

In whatever form the various component parts are combined for most of their 250 plus year history they have been known as door springs.

To be continued...

"THE WINDSOR" Hill and Hodges

7/6/2019

Just a quick post about another of Hill and Hodges fantastic range of "hinges." I recently worked on Hill & Hodges Patent Hydraulic Check Action Floor Spring Hinge for the Quaker House in Bournville (I am please to say they want another modifying) and tonight I will introduce you to its brother The Windsor.

As you can see there are slight differences to the one I worked on, the circular collar for one, it being at the pivot end rather than at the furthest point away from the pivot, also appearing slightly smaller but no less robust in its design and construction. You will also note they made a heel spring The "WONDER" which I have yet to come across.

As always please leave a comment.

What is a door closer, a door closer is... Pt 2

6/28/2019

Following on from my previous blog post (please read in conjunction with this post) when giving it some thought what is it that defines a door closer and why should it be so? I believe a door closer is any device fixed to a door for the purpose of closing it in a controlled manner once it has been opened.

Door closers have had many names over the years, work in many different ways, are fixed in many places, granted some control the closing and opening speed better than others but they all appear to use the same energy as was used to open the door to close it (so this must be a contributing factor in its description/definition). If it opens the door using a motor this is I believe is the exception and is rightly defined as a door opener, not a door closer.

Even if you consider the modern view of a door closer being surface mounted, is only single action and has an arm, why should that only that be thought of as a door closer? A floor spring for instance has an 'arm' (shoe/strap), can be single action (some are double action) are obviously mounted to a door and you can argue to the surface of the door if you take into account a single action shoe and how if fixes to the surface of the door.

A door closer can be simply called a overhead door spring

or a door spring and check

or a door check and spring using hydraulics in their design.

The spring and check can be combined or not

utilising a helical torsion spring or a compression spring and pneumatics.

They can be mounted in the floor and called a door spring

or be called a floor spring and have no damping.

They can use leaf springs and be called a spring hinge

or use compression springs and be called a floor door spring.

They can have many springs and no check or have a single compression spring and hydraulic check mechanism but only called a door spring.

Be single action or double action

and look far more like a hinge than anything you would associate the word spring with.

And just when you thought you knew what a door closer was you come across one set in the floor that has levers and weights

or one that clearly closes doors but looks more like a bar than a spring, so it takes you right back to where you began, with the question what is a door closer?

Does it have a spring? One spring, two springs or more springs or in fact just be a spring? Must it be regulated by air, gas, oil, or just rely on friction to dampen its closing speed? Where does it mount, in the floor, above the door, middle of the door, on the surface, in the door, in the hinges? Does it make a difference if the device is closing a door or a gate?

I know what I consider to be a door closer and who should be credited (or not) as the case maybe with their name at the top of a google search for the question - Who invented the door spring, the door check or the door closer?

I hope you have enjoyed this post and as usual please feel free to leave a comment.

Who invented the door closer? Re-Writing History Pt 1.

6/21/2019

I have recently contacted Google to point out that when googling who invented the door closer and or who invented the door spring the result came back for both as Francis Richards. I pointed out as google is a global search engine should its answer to as specific a question as who was the first not reflect and or take into account the patents/products from all countries?

Having Francis Richards return as the answer to who invented the door spring, is like Alan Shepherd coming back as the answer to who was the first man in space?

They have kindly now changed the answer to direct to a Wikipedia article on door closers (one I have an interest in editing) as the terms door spring and door closer are used interchangeably along with a number of other terms.

My logic was if the terms are used interchangeably and the term door spring was used as early as 1748 as I have pointed out elsewhere the google search cannot correctly return Francis Richards as the first person to invent the door spring, he only received an American patent in the early 1870's.

Since the above I have now noticed that when googling who invented the door closer Lewis (Louis) C. Norton is returned, taken from an article produced by LCN and The American Society of Locksmiths. I also respectfully consider this to be not as accurate as it might, as you can see below the word 'door closer' was used as early as 1850 when referring to George Beattie's door spring/door closer (even earlier uses of the term "door closer" do exist), so again how can Mr Norton be considered the first person to invent the door closer, door closer and door check being one in the same?

I have also contacted google again to ask they also consider amending this, along with the Oxford English Dictionary to put forward and or define the word/words door closer as there appears to be no listing for door closer or door-closer.

Link to news paper article - https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/18500807/059/0003

As you can see the same occurs when you google the question who invented the door check (door check and door closer being the same thing)? The inquiry comes back as a piece written about the inventive, commercially savvy, Mr Lewis, Carey, Norton as you can see in the screen shot below, therefore google at least recognize, "door closer" and "door check" as one in the same thing. However by the same reasoning as above Mr Norton was not the first to invent the door check, door checks were originally designed to check a doors swing at 90 degrees (leather strap type) or later from mechanisms to prevent windows flying open (friction stays).

You can see in the rather gruesome news report of 1826 for example that door checks were mentioned long before Mr Norton turned his inventive mind to the problems at the Boston Church. Creative soul as he undoubtedly was, he should not, in my opinion, on a global search engine be returned in the number one slot for a search of who invented the door check either we have the Bullock and BOAZ for that as I discuss here - https://www.midlandsfloorsprings.co.uk/blog/after-further-research

Here is a link to the fascinating story of Mr Norton and his brilliantly designed door closer.

https://idighardware.com/2011/08/how-i-discovered-door-checks-part-1-by-l-c-norton/

As always feel free to comment and whoever is editing my blog post can you please stop it, if I am doing something wrong let me know?

Monarch from down under.

6/21/2019

I was contacted by Peter, a parishioner from St Stephens in Scorparoo, Brisbane, Australia with regard to their Monarchs that have been faithfully controlling the main entrance doors of their Church since the mid 1950's. They had an intermittent fault that occasionally the doors were either closing too slowly of slamming to. The cost of the flight stopped me from jumping on a plane to assist, so this time I walked and talked Peter through a basic strip down and service.

All the usual signs were good that this Monarch had fortunately had an easy life. There appeared to be very little wear to the components and I am awaiting to hear that everything has been put back together in the right order and she is working correctly.

As always comments are looked forward to and appreciated.

Here is a link to the Church if anyone would like to know more -

https://ststephenscoorparoo.com/

"Yeoman" James Cartwright & Son Floor Spring

5/26/2019

Today I would like to introduce readers to the James Cartwright and Son "Yeoman" floor spring. As you can see below along with the Cartwright produced ever faithful Smiths is their Yeoman double action floor spring which is very similar in design to the later Avon discussed elsewhere on the blog. Also please note the interesting design of the top centre.

Patrick O'Connor's Number 11 Door Spring

5/14/2019

Liverpool Daily Post - Thursday 20 September 1855

Liverpool Daily Post - Saturday 25 April 1857

I have previously shown readers the decor plate of Patrick O Connors Number 12 spring hinge, the number 12 has a large central mounted spring and has a carriage affair that compresses the spring by way of the pin profile (photograph of internals below). The carriage is very similar to a none checking William Newman Invincible and the central spring similar to a Bardsley or the later Avon as can be made out in the picture below of the badly corroded and damaged ones. As far as I am aware O Connor held two patents for his floor springs and the Number 11 is either a smaller version of the 12 or differs entirely and uses a lever and weight system (inside the box) that controls the speed at which the door closes/returns to closed position. Please read on for some further information with regard to Mr O Connor and his number 11 double spring hinge.

I was thrilled to receive an email from Christian Recabarren editor and founder of REDMIN Mining Magazine who has kindly sent me this picture of a floor spring he found (below). This No 11 model had found its way all the way from Patrick O Connors Ironmongery premises on the High Street (Number 11) in Wavertree to Coquimbo. It graces the doors of the Social Club of Coquimbo City in Chile, a distance of 7055 miles or 11353.92 kilometres.

I am not 100% sure but believe below is O Connors No 11, if it isn't, from reading the patent it is very, very similar.

Readers may find that remarkable in of itself, however there is more.

The No 11 is still working some 170 years after it was invented by Mr O Connor further testament to our heritage, Victorian craftsmanship and ingenuity. If that was not enough there is still yet more.

On the back of Mr Patrick O Connors inventiveness and his skill in designing floor springs it brought him wealth, so much so he was able to have a number of houses built in North Drive, Wavertree, number 29 and number 31 (Urn House and Urn Mount). Which leads me on further still.

The reason why number 29 and number 31 are called Urn House and Urn Mount are because while these houses and another (number 27) were being built in the late 1860's some 8 prehistoric terracotta burial Urns (dating back 3000 years to the Bronze Age) containing human remains and arrow heads were discovered by workman digging the footings, two of which are now in the Liverpool Museum and are known as the Wavertree Urns, others are built into the walls of the properties above, number 27, Urn House and Urn Mount built for Mr O Connor on the back of his door spring inventions and the money generated by the sale of them.

Please feel free to leave positive comment if you have enjoyed reading about Irish born, Patentee, Ironmonger, Manufacturer, Inventor, Chair of Wavertree Local Health Board and Liverpolitan Patrick O Connor or his number 11 door spring.

Further reading can be found here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavertree

here - http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/visit/galleries/history/burial-urn.aspx

here - http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/mrlhp/local/calders/calders.htm

here - Liverpool Daily Post - Wednesday 13th March 1867 Page 5

and finally here - https://books.google.co.id/books?id=wZ3NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=mr+o+connor+wavertree+urns&source=bl&ots=VVhsBaLHPk&sig=ACfU3U04jG8MJk3WHwNkYam8wBz6IdPU6g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2jLydxKPiAhUPY6wKHU8UBxoQ6AEwCXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=mr%20o%20connor%20wavertree%20urns&f=false

Gold plated Briton B

5/12/2019

As I am writing elsewhere about the Briton B I thought I would show readers this example, a gold plated Briton B given as an award.

I will make this only a short post as I hope to write further about the Briton B and the other models in more depth in the future. In the meantime here is a link for a little more information - http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/2001F162.7

Smith and Gibbs

5/2/2019

Repair or should I say in this case restoration of the Smith and Turners continues and as you can see, this is going to be rather a task to get these back to being fully functional. The front wall is broken and missing some pieces, the flange on both is broken, completely on the one on the left, there is major wear to all components, minor parts are missing and the springs are seized solid, possibly snapped.

While on the subject of Smith and Turner I have discovered Joseph Smith started out as a Silver Smith from 2 Bartholomew Close an address I have shown on a decor plate previously (https://www.midlandsfloorsprings.co.uk/blog/ben-turners-the-silent-patent-door-spring). I have also found mention of possibly the inspiration that lead him from Silver Smith to inventing his door spring, that being Thomas Gibbs a spring blind manufacturer. I have also set out below to show the Smith side of Smith and Turner along with, I suspect, the meeting place of the Smiths' and the Turners,' the forming of Smith and Turner, plus the earliest reference yet to 50 Bartholomew Close (John Bull and Co), which admittedly I do not know if they have any connection to Smith/Smith and Turner other than the address.

First reference above to 50 Bartholomew Close 1774 taken from A Handbook of London Bankers With Some Account of Their Predecessors The Early Goldsmiths Taken By F.G Hilton-Price F.R.S.A.

Joseph Smith 2 Bartholomew Close (1810 to 1816) Silver Smith (Old London Silver By Montague Howard Published 1903 - Page 340).

1814 Joseph Smith, Silver Smith, 2 Little Bartholomew Close (Post Office Annual Directory 1814 - Page 297).

1818 Johnstone's London Commercial Guide and Street Directory Published 1818 page 25/26). Thomas Gibbs trading from the 50 Bartholomew Close along with Joseph.

John Smith 1837 Accounts and Papers Fifteen Volumes, Volume 10 Railway Subscription Contracts, page 123.

(Post Office London Directory 1843 Page 375) John Smith Door Spring and Hinge Manufacturer.

1851 John Smith, 50 Bartholomew Close, Patent Spring Hinge & Patent Swing Spring Hinge. Great Exhibition Catalogue Page 42

From the same 1851 Catalogue T, Turner 33 East Street, Marylebone Door Spring and Centre

1860 Henry Smith Door Spring Maker (Blower's Architects, Surveyor's, Engineer's and Builder's Directory) Page 90.

1869 Henry Smith and Thomas Turner (Smith and Turner 50 Bartholomew Close) English Mechanic and Mirror of Science and Arts Volume 8 Page 180.

Laxtons Builders Price Book 1873 Mentioning 1872 Report of Ben Turners Door Spring and Top Centre Page 517.

1876 Ben Turners New Patent (Irish Builder and Engineer, Volume 18 Page 116.

Tantalizing glimpse of Smith and Turner 50 Bartholomew Close, August 1904, photographed by Walter L Spiers.

Front and side cut out ready to weld in pieces machined from cast iron bar stock.

As you can see things progress with the Joseph Smiths patent Smith and Turners.

G. F. Hipkins & Son Patent Double and Single Action Door Springs

4/29/2019

Collectors of cork screws will no doubt have heard of G. F Hipkins as many cork screws are highly collectable.

Readers and cork screw collectors may however not know he also manufactured and patented door springs as can be seen in the advertisement below.

As usual comments are appreciated.

Hill & Hodges Patent Hydraulic Check Action strip down.

4/28/2019

30 years or so after Rowland Hodges argued over his "Accumulator" Door Spring trade mark case, the firm of Hill and Hodges were manufacturing the extremely robust floor spring you see in the picture below. In this blog entry I will show readers the well engineered parts that make this a particularly fine example of late 19th century 'Brummie' technology.

After the amount of time this unit has been in use there is some inevitable wear to the piston, this will be re-manufactured and brought up to date with a custom valve, giving it control from 1 through to 105 degrees as this is a stand open model.

The Hill and Hodges is now complete and ready to be re-fitted, the customer has decided not to have the decor plate polished so it has only received a light clean and been straightened.

The two part piston that utilised a leather washer was modified when machining a new piston to incorporate our bespoke valve design, the leather washer that had perished is now redundant.

This handsome floor spring is possibly a 120 years old and it is apt that the unit has been repaired and not thrown away, considering it will go back to grace the doors of the Quaker House in Bourneville, built by George Cadbury, as he himself was a Quaker, with one of their core beliefs being to live in a sustainable world. By repairing and up-grading rather than renewing, regardless of its heritage value, the Quakers and George Cadbury's ethos has been upheld because it is quite reasonable to assume the Hill & Hodges will continue on for another 120 years, maybe even longer as it has no perishable parts in it whatsoever now.

Here is a link to the Quakers. - https://www.quaker.org.uk/about-quakers/our-values

Here is a link to further reading about George Cadbury and the village of Bourneville, Birmigham. - https://www.cadbury.co.uk/about-bournville

Please feel free to comment if readers so choose.

Early Smiths (Smith and Turner)

4/27/2019

These are some early Smiths (Smith and Turner) showing I believe symbols of the United Kingdom (Lion & Unicorn) etched into the decor plate along with Ben Turners BT emblem, more to follow as work on them continues...

Smiths Patent

4/27/2019

Here are a couple of Smiths that we repaired for Matrod Frampton Ltd coming from a 1930's property I was informed. These particular ones had a really nice coppery hue to their brass decor plates and shoes.

Evered and Co, Ltd.

4/24/2019

Just a quick post this evening with more to follow...

James Chesterman & Co Single and Double Acting Door Spring.

4/23/2019

Anyone measuring a good few feet distance will be aware of Chestermans tapes for which James Chesterman is famous, less famous are his single and double action door springs.

Hill & Hodges Patent Hydraulic Check Action

4/23/2019

Today I would like to introduce readers to another of Hill and Hodges floor springs that being Hill and Hodges Patent Check Action.

This one comes from the Quaker House in the village of Bournville, the village set up by George Cadbury. A car had hit the doors these were fitted to...more to come.

Link to George Cadbury - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cadbury