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T W E N T Y T H I R D E D I T I O N
3.3
STRUCTURE & FABR I C :
ME TAL ,
WOOD & GLASS
TIMELINE
1770
Mr Smith of Princes Street, London invents an early door spring
1790
Henry Downer patents a spring for ‘shutting a door’
1811
James Parsons replaces weights with a clock spring to power the closing of a door
1814
Joseph Smith invents ‘spring hinges for doors and gates’
1814
Mr James Stone awarded Silver Medal and five guineas for his door spring invention
1818
Edward Parker’s single door spring (this uses a clock-type spring)
1820
James White’s double door spring invented
1830
Edwin Showell & Sons starts manufacturing door springs
1830s
James Cartland & Sons producing the Climax (patented 1891), the Patent, Reliable and later the Invincible
1833
Alexander Beattie’s chain driven door spring invention
1837
Francis William Gerish granted patent for improvements to door hinges
1837
William Augustus Howell recognised in Newton’s London Journal of Arts and Sciences for his
improvements to the door spring
1840
Edwin Cotterill starts manufacturing door springs
1841
John Whitehouse (the Younger) recognised for improvements in the manufacture of hinges and door
springs (Whitehouse Extra Strong)
1844
Francis William Gerish granted patent for door spring
1849
Webb & Greenway starts manufacturing floor springs
1851
JM Aldridge producing double action spring centres and top pivots
1852
Edward Turner and James Dilkes recognised for improvements to door springs
1868
Benjamin Slater manufacturing floor springs fromWellington Factory, London
1872
Ben Turner’s Edward Turner granted patent for the Silent
1880
Archibald Smith and Stevens manufacturing the floor springs from their Janus Works in Battersea
1891
Robert Adams patents the London Victor and Crown Victor
1897
James Gibbon documented as producing door springs, although probably frommuch earlier (Zenith brand)
1903
WH Newman (later Newman Tonks) patented their first hydraulic door closer, the Imperial Crown
devices used a pneumatic piston, much like a
bicycle pump, although some may have used
a second set of springs to counter the force
stored in the first.
As well as conventional cylindrical springs,
some early 19th-century examples continued to
use flat clock-type coil springs, and there are a
few examples which used leaf springs.
Apart from the addition of the pneumatic
check, floor springs made in the 19th century
tend to be simpler than the early examples,
with fewer moving parts. Cylindrical springs
predominated, mostly working in tension, but
compression springs are not uncommon.
By the late 19th century the hydraulic
piston or ‘dashpot’ had emerged as the most
common type of check device. It uses viscous
friction to dampen the force released from the
springs in the floor closers. Mechanisms for
controlling the strength of the springs, which
had first appeared in the mid 19th century
were refined, allowing greater control over the
closing speed.
By the end of the Victorian era the door
closer business was booming and it continued
to flourish through the Edwardian period.
In an advert from the 1906 edition of
The
Contractors’, Merchants’ and Estate Managers’
Compendium and Catalogue
, Colledge and
Bridgen of Woverhampton was claiming that
over 20,000 of its Perfect floor springs ‘…were
in daily use in many of the largest and most
important buildings in the United Kingdom
and abroad’.
CONSERVATION
Located below the floor, floor springs are
vulnerable to dust, dirt and water from
floor washing. If poorly maintained,
corrosion products and dirt accelerate
wear. Metal fatigue in the springs also
causes them to fail, and ill-considered
interventions add to the problems.
Carpet fitters and flooring contractors
often place washers on top of the pivot to
lift the shoe and hence the door as a ‘quick-
fix’ to accommodate the new height of the
flooring material they have laid. In the long
run, however, this can cause major damage
to the floor-spring pin/shoe combination and
is one of the hardest faults to overcome when
servicing and repairing floor springs. Because
most pins are tapered, lifting the shoe with
washers also lifts the shoe off the tapered pin
and allows the shoe to move about on it. This
will either cause wear to the pins (even though
they are hardened) or, worse, to the square
or oblong hole in the shoe into which the pin
fits. It is very difficult and time-consuming to
fill, drill and then file the hole square again,
especially because of the taper. There are ways
to raise the shoe and therefore the door from
inside the floor spring; washers are not the
way to do it.
It is true that the traditional floor spring
has now been made obsolete by cheap modern
sealed units which are ‘maintenance free’ (in
that they have a relatively short service life and
cannot be repaired). It is not true, however,
that there is nothing that can be done to
a traditional door closer, especially a floor
spring, other than to fit a modern one.
Although parts are no longer available
from companies like WH Newman, several
specialist companies in the UK are now
manufacturing the components required
for the conservation and repair of floor
springs. A specialist engineer should be able
to service or repair any historic door closer,
allowing these pieces of Georgian, Victorian
or Edwardian ingenuity and engineering to
continue faithfully performing their function
for many decades to come.
ROD FATHERS
is a specialist engineer and
the owner of Midlands Floor Springs, a
company specialising in the repair and
conservation of historic door closers
(see page 118).
An Invincible with a pneumatic limiter, before and after repair. Originally
developed by James Cartland & Sons, the Invincible was later made under patent
by WH Newman.
James Cartland & Sons’ Climax floor spring, first produced in the 1830s, with two
springs but no limiter.