IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEARS OR SCISSORS CHIEFLY APPLICABLE TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF LACE
Year: 1862

page_text: in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHEARS OR SCISSORS CHIEFLY APPLICABLE TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF LACE."-(A communication from abroad by Pierre Joseph
Henninot and André Carpentier, both of Caudry, France).
Sealed the 27th June 1862, and dated the 1st January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st January 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SHEARS OR SCISSORS CHIEFLY APPLICABLE TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LACE," (communicated to me from abroad by Pierre Joseph
Henninot, and André Carpentier, both of Caudry, France,) to be as
follows:-
This Invention is intended chiefly to be applied for severing the large threads
surrounding net tulle and machine made lace, for which purpose ordinary
scissors have been hitherto used; now this Invention consists in the arrangement
of several pairs of cutting blades in one and the same instrument.
Two plates, the lengths of which are regulated according to the number
of cutting blades employed, are connected to handles, the cutting blades of
the scissors are secured to the plates by screws inserted in slots formed in
them, a guard plate covers the heads of the screws, which secure the upper
cutting blade to prevent the threads catching in them. The ends of the upper

page_text: blades are bevilled, which in combination with guides formed of thin metal
connecting two adjacent cutting blades, guide the threads to be cut between
the two blades; springs between the handles keep the blades apart until
pressure is applied to them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of January in the year of our Lord One
housand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that. I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, adminis-
trators, and 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 SHEARS OR SCISSORS CHIEFLY APPLICABLE
TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE," (a communication from
abroad by Pierre Joseph Henninot, and André Carpentier, both of Caudry,
France), upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, my executors or administrators by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 NOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention is intended chiefly to be applied for severing the large threads

page_text: surrounding net tulle and machine made lace, for which purpose ordinary
scissors have been hitherto used. The Invention consists in the arrangement
of several pairs of cutting blades in one and the same instrument. Two plates,
the lengths of which are regulated according to the number of cutting blades
employed, are connected to handles; the cutting blades of the scissors are
secured to the plates by screws inserted in slots formed in them; a guard plate
covers the heads of the screws which secure the upper cutting blade to prevent
the threads catching in them. The ends of the upper blades are bevilled,
which, in combination with guides formed of thin metal connecting two
adjacent cutting blades, guide the threads to be cut between the two blades.
Springs between the handles keep the blades apart until pressure is applied
to them.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 is a side elevation, of the shears or scissors;
a, a' are the two metal plates united to the handles b, b'; c, c, are slots formed
in each of the plates a, a', to receive and regulate the position of the lower
cutting blades e, as well as the upper blades d, by means of the screw f. The
two plates are united by the screws j, upon which the blades d, e, are pivoted;
h is a guard formed of a bent and pliable metal plate, fixed beneath the lower
plate a¹ to facilitate the sliding motion of the instrument, thereby preventing
the tulle or lace from getting entangled in the heads of the screws which hold
the lower blades. The bevilled form of the ends of the blade d, enables the
large threads which are to be cut to get placed between the blades; i, i¹, are
other metal guides for further aiding the passage of the threads; k, k', are
springs between the handles b, b', to keep the scissors open. To cut several
threads at a time the workman on taking hold of the handles compresses the
springs k, l, and brings the cutting blades together all at one and the same
time, cutting several threads at once.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the construction of
shears or scissors, with two or more pairs of cutting blades substantially in
manner and for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of July One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)