The Transom Lifter: A Notched Rod and an Arm Set at Forty-Five Degrees

"This invention relates to devices for opening, closing, and locking transom-windows". "A suitable handle, h, being formed on the bottom of the rod, the transom may be operated by one hand only by pulling the rod outward against the force of the spring s to disengage the notches n from the projection p, and then sliding the rod up or down, as may be desired. When the rod is released the spring throws it inward, and the projection p enters the nearest notch, fixedly holding said rod from further vertical movement." "The lever thus secured to the center plate projects downward at an angle of about forty-five degrees, so that the extremities of its arc of movement in swinging the transom-sash from a vertical to a horizontal position will be equally distant from the frame." The upper eye has "an oblong aperture ... to permit the rod to move outward and inward as its end follows the arc". "When the pivots of the transom-lights are external to the sash, as herein shown, the sash will naturally fall open by its own weight, and the rod R will act only to restrain its fall or to pull it shut. The strain upon the rod may therefore be only that of tension, wherefore it may be very light and inexpensive."

Make a small frame from pine strips and a plywood 'sash' that pivots on two screws at the middle of its sides. Screw a strip to the sash as the arm, set 45 degrees down with a protractor. Use a dowel for the rod: file notches in it every 15 mm. Guide it with two screw eyes on the frame, the upper one opened into an oval so the rod can move in and out. At the lower eye, fix a small nail as the projection and a rubber band to press the rod onto it. Work the sash open and shut, lifting the rod off the nail and letting it drop into a notch. Mark how far the rod's top moves sideways. Re-fix the arm level and repeat: compare with the notebook.

**Francis V. Phillips** of Chicago, assignor to George H. Dayton, filed US 243,079 on 5 April 1880; it is dated 21 June 1881. He filed a second transom-lifter, US 243,613, the following year. **Honest limits.** The patent gives no sizes. Arm length, sash mass and offset in the notebook are examples.