IMPROVEMENTS IN VENETIAN BLINDS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Christopher Leader, of 71, Opera
Colonade, Haymarket, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VENETIAN BLINDS."
Sealed the 2nd August 1867, and dated the 7th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Christopher
Leader at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th February 1867.
J, FREDERICK CHRISTOPHER LEADER, of 71, Opera Colonade, Haymarket,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENETIAN BLINDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode or method of adjusting with ease and
certainty the laths of Venetian blinds to any desired angle, and of maintaining
them at any angle when so adjusted.
In carrying out this Invention I cause the top bar of the blind to hang
whilst in its normal position at a considerable angle, either by weighting the
same on one side, or by hanging it excentrically, or by attaching a spring to
one side which shall always have a tendency to keep it at an angle; to the
opposite side of this bar a rod or cord is attached provided with as many

page_text: notches or loops as there are angles of adjustment desired, or a single notch
or loop may be provided in combination with one or more hooks fixed as may
be required, the object being to ensure the blind presenting a certain amount
of opening or angle according to the particular notch or hook engaged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Christopher Leader in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CHRISTOPHER LEADER, of 71, Opera Colonade, Haymarket, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the Frederick Christopher Leader, Her special license that I, the said
Frederick Christopher Leader, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as 1, the said Frederick Christopher Leader, my executors, admi-
nistrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENETIAN BLINDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Christopher Leader, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal 'Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Christopher Leader, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what'manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the acccompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
.
My said 'Invention relates to a mode or method of adjusting with 'case and
certainty the lath's of Venetian blinds to 'any' desired 'angle, and of maintaining
them at any angle when so adjusted.

page_text: In carrying out this Invention I cause the top bar of the blind to hang
whilst in its normal position at a considerable angle either by weighting the
the same on one side or by hanging it eccentrically, or by attaching a spring
to one side which shall always have a tendency to keep it at an angle. In
the lower side or edge of this bar or rod or cord is attached provided with as
many notches or loops as there are angles of adjustment desired, or a single
notch or loop may be provided in combination with one or more hooks fixed
as may be required, the object being to ensure the blind presenting a certain
amount of opening or angle according to the particular notch or hook
engaged.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of iny Drawings represents a Venetian blind constructed in
accordance with my said Invention; Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section
of the same showing the laths in the position which they assume when the
blind is hanging in its free or normal condition, the laths being closed or partly
closed; and Figure 3 is a similar view showing the laths adjusted to a
horizontal position or fully open.
A is the fixing bar from which the blind is suspended and by which it is
fitted in the usual or any other convenient manner to the top of a window or
other aperture. The top bar B of the blind is connected to the fixing bar A
by the straps a and b, the shorter straps a being connected to the front inner
edge of the bar and the longer ones to the rear edge in order to allow the rear
edge to hang lower than the front edge, as shown clearly in Figure 2;
but these straps in lieu of passing over rollers in the fixed bar A are directly
secured to such bar by nails or otherwise. To the back or lower edge of the
adjustable bar B there is secured at or about the middle of the blind a
cord c which passes upwards over a guiding sheave d in the fixed bar A, and
thence proceeds along the top of such bar over a sheave e at one end thereof,
and descends along the side of the window frame as shewn at c'. A ring, hook,
or other convenient attachment f is secured to the lower end of the pendent
cord for the facility of connecting such cord to any one or other of a
vertical row of hooks, holes, or notches formed on or in a plate 9 screwed or
otherwise attached to the window frame, or if preferred an adjusting screw
spindle and travelling nut, or fixed nut and travelling screw spindle may be
employed for regulating the position or angle of the laths in lieu of hooks, as
skewn. It is obvious that the pendent portion c¹ of the cord may be replaced

page_text: by an ornamental or other rigid rod or bar, a sufficient portion of the cord c
being left to work freely over the sheave at e.
The general arrangement of the laths C with their "ladders" or tapes and
raising and lowering cords forms no part of my Invention, and need not
therefore be described; I may, however, observe that the ordinary arrange-
ment at present adopted is perfectly applicable to blinds constructed
according to my Invention. In order to adjust the angles of the laths, with
a view to regulating the admission of light or air, it is simply necessary to
attach the ring to one or other of the hooks in the plate 9 when the blind
will remain in its adjusted position without risk of the laths turning over to
any other position than that to which they have been set.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the system or mode of adjusting
the angles of the laths of Venetian blinds substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Christopher Leader, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of
August, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
FRED. C. LEADER. (L.S.)