To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Rolla W. Hess, of New York, New York, have made a new and useful Improvement in Mustache-Holders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, substantially as is hereinafter set forth and claimed, aided by the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which—

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the improved holder in position; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the holder, the section being on the line 2 2 of Fig. 3, which in turn is a longitudinal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 a cross-section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. The last four views are upon an enlarged scale.

The same letters of reference denote the same parts.

The improved holder is in effect a two-part clamp, the parts hinged together and adapted to be folded upon each other and inclose the mustache between them.

One of the parts, the part A, may be considered the main or base part. At or toward one of its ends it is perforated transversely to receive the journal or, rather, journals b b of the other part B of the clamp-parts, and it is made hollow to receive portions of the part B and the means used to secure the part B in its folded position.

The leading feature of the holder is making the part B in the form of two bars b′ b′, which, when the holder is folded come, respectively, against or near the opposite sides of the part A, substantially as is represented in Figs. 3 and 4, and thereby cause the mustache to be bound at two points upon the bar A.

The part B in practice may be a wire bent and shaped to form the bars b′ b′, the journals b b, and the tongue b², Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and at the free end of the part having the bars b′ b′, attached to a cross-piece b³, which, when the part B is folded upon the part A, enters the part A, which is perforated at a to receive it, and therein becomes engaged with a bolt C, which is adapted to be moved longitudinally in the part A, and having a projection c, which, in locking the part B to the part A, enters a perforation or recess b⁴ in the part b³, substantially as is represented in Fig. 2. The bolt C is suitably shaped out at c′ to provide for the admission of the cross-piece b³ and to enable the bolt to be moved longitudinally in the part A in locking and unlocking the part B. When the bolt is in position to lock the part B, the end c² of the bolt projects outward from the part A, and to enable the part B to be locked and unlocked the bolt is moved inward and outward in the part A. It can be moved inward by applying pressure to the outer end c² of the bolt or by beveling the bolt at c³, to enable the cross-piece b³; in closing the part B to bear angularly upon it, the bolt C can be moved inward into the part A by means of the part B. The bolt is moved in the opposite direction by means of the spring D, one end of which is sustained by any fixed shoulder, as d, and the other end made to press against the bolt.

To enable the part B to open readily, a spring E, Figs. 2 and 4, is adapted to bear upward against the tongue b², and thereby cause the part B to turn in its bearings in the part A until the tongue end, as indicated in Fig. 2, encounters the shell of the part A. The part B has now opened sufficiently for the purpose of disengaging the holder from the mustache, and the tongue acts as a stop to prevent the further opening of the part B.

In applying the holder, as indicated in Fig. 1, the mustache is passed between the parts A B and the part B folded and secured, as described, to the part A, and to remove the holder it is only necessary to press the bolt C inward in the part A, as described, to release the cross-piece b³, whereupon the spring E acts to open the part B.

I claim—

1. The combination of the part A, the part B, and the bolt C, said part B having the bars b′ b′ and the cross-piece b³ and being journaled in the part A, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the hollow part A, the part B, having the bars b′ b′, the tongue b², and the cross-piece b³, the spring-actuated recessed bolt C, and the spring E, substantially as described.

Witness my hand this 3d of November, 1888.

Rolla W. Hess.

Witnesses:

C. D. Moody,

D. W. A. Sanford.