CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TAGS FOR STAY AND OTHER LACES, AS ALSO IN THE MACHINERY FOR FORMING AND FINISHING THE SAME
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ferdinand Potts, Tube Manufacturer, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN TAGS FOR STAY AND OTHER LACES, AS ALSO IN THE MACHINERY FOR
FORMING AND FINISHING THE SAME."
Scaled the 23rd January 1857, and dated the 23rd July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferdinand Potts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
July 1856.
I, FERDINAND POTTS, Tube Manufacturer, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, do hereby declaro the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN TAGS FOR STAY AND OTHER LACES, AS ALSO IN THE MACHINERY
FOR FORMING AND FINISHING THE SAME," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
My improvements may be placed under two heads; first, the mode of
applying or forming the tag to stay or other laces; and, secondly, the mode of
securing them to the laces so that they shall not be liable to expand by use
and come off. The manner in which I propose applying or forming the tag
will be understood by the following description :-
A piece of thin sheet brass, tinned iron, or other metal is first cut out by
suitable tools, either the size for one or two tags, one edge of which is slightly
curved, and in this form it is placed in a vertical position on a suitable bed of
à fly or other press, with the curved part of the tag blank resting in a cor-

page_text: responding curved or semicircular groove, the diameter of which must be the
exact size of the finished tag I may desire to make; this groove is formed on
the face of the bed or bed tool of the press, a part of which rises up at right
angles, with the face perpendicular from one edge of the groove, for the
purpose of supporting the tag blank during the operation of applying it to the
lace, which is done by drawing the lace through a small hole concentric with
the semicircular groove in the bed or bed tool before mentioned, which
gives to the lace a circular and compact form ready for receiving the tag.
The tag blank is now placed on the bed tool, supported between the lace
and the part that rises up from the bed when a suitable top tool is made to
descend on the top edge of the tag blank, and continuing to press downward
until the tag blank is lapped tightly around the lace in a circular or scroll form.
If the tag so formed be long enough for two, such tag should be applied
from end to end of a piece of lacing, so that there should be length enough of
such lacing between each tag to form two laces, such laces being subsequently
divided or cut off by the finishing process at or in the middle of the length-
way of the tags, which double lace may be again divided by the retailer or user,
when required.
I do not purpose to confine myself to the application of one single or
double tag at a time, for by suitably forming and arranging the tools, two or
more single or double tags may be applied or formed at each descent or down-
ward action of the press. The tags thus formed are ready for receiving my
improved mode of securing them, named under the second head of my im-
provements, and consists in passing the tags between suitable press tools or
rolls, by which means I form one or more indented grooves around them with
a larger and deeper one in the middle, through which the tag and lace is or
may be divided. This operation being performed with considerable pressure
the whole body of the tag is pressed tight around the lace as well as indented:
the indentations imparting a rigidity to the material of the tag, so that it will
not readily expand or allow of its being pulled from the lace, a desideratum
much required, and which admits of the tags thus applied to boot or other laces
being made much shorter and neater than when applied and finished under
the present plan. Thus, I effect economy of material and time, and so secure
the tag that it is impossible to remove it or pull it off by ordinary use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ferdinand Potts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FERDINAND
POTTS, Tube Manufacturer, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, givo and grant unto me, the said
Ferdinand Potts, Her special license, that I, the said Ferdinand Potts,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho said
Ferdinand Potts, my executors, administrators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TAGS FOR STAY AND OTHER LACES, AS ALSO IN THE MACHINERY FOR
FORMING AND FINISHING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Ferdinand Potts, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to bo performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Offico within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ferdinand Potts, do hereby declaro
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, that is to say :-
The nature and object of my Invention relates to the mode of forming,
applying, and in the subsequent treatment or finishing of the tags as applied to
laces for stays, boots, and other purposes; and as my description will be best
understood by referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed, I will proceed to
describe the same, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1 and 2 represent a side and front view of a press constructed for
working with a foot treadlo, marked A, as also with a counterpoise or reverse
action, that when the foot or pressure is taken off the treadle A, and the top

page_text: tool marked B shall rise from the bed tool, the counterpoising action is effected
by the ball C, which being fitted on the screwed lever, is capable of any
desired adjustment as to its counteracting force; this lever works on the
fulcrum D, but is extended for the purpose of taking into a slot or projection
formed in or on the guide rod to which the top tool B is attached; but the
working details of this press are well understood, having been the subject of a
Patent granted to Henry Knight, of Birmingham, on the Seventh of June,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, entitled "Improvements in
Apparatus for Printing, Embossing, Pressing, and Perforating," nor do I
wish to confine myself to this particular arrangemont, as a press worked by
hand, steam, or other power would answer the purpose, if arranged and fitted
with the proper tools, and which tools are represented full size in a front and
sido view at Figs. 3 and 4. E is a bolster to be held by the set pins on the
bed of the press; and F is what is called the bed tool secured to the same;
G is the top tool, secured to the guide rod by the pin II. I prefer applying
the tags to the material of which the lace is composed in double lengths, and
to apply two double tags at one time, as will be understood hereafter from the
description of the tools. The braid or cord of which the laces are composed
is usually woven or braided in long lengths, and wound upon reels. When I
propose applying two double tags at a time, I take two reels, charged with the
material intended to be tagged, and I place these reels in any situation con-
venient for drawing off the braid, say as represented at Fig. 1, the braid being
represented by the red line, which before passing through the hollows i, i, of
the bed tool F, Fig. 3, the lace is conducted through a guide hole which
makes it tight and round for receiving the tag, which I apply in the following
way I tako a suitable picco of tin, or thin sheet metal of the required
length and width, say as represented in a flat view at Fig. 5, and end view at
Fig. 6, the form represented in the end view being given to it at the time of
cutting out, or by a subsequent operation with suitable tools; this tag blank
is represented by a blue line on the left-hand side of the bed tool F, ready
for receiving the lace, which is represented by a red dot; and supposing
another tag blank and lace were on the other side of the tool, the top tool G
may be made to descend, and in its descent the tag blanks would take the
circular form of the groove i in the bed tool, coiling round like a scroll,
holding the lace in its centre; but great attention must be paid that the
width of the tag blank, the bulk or size of the lace to be encompassed, and
the size of the circular grooves i, i, are in unison with each other, for it is
evident that the diameter of the tag will depend upon the size of the circular
groove.on which it is dependent for its form; therefore, the bed tool must be

page_text: altered according to the size of the tag and braid to which it is to be applied.
This comprehends my mode of forming and applying tags to laces, for the
material has only to be drawn through the desired length, when the operation
may be repeated, and so on until all the material is drawn from the reel or
reels. My further improvement in tags is to form around them a series of
indented grooves, which will have a somewhat analagous effect to that im-
parted to sheet iron by corrugating it, which gives it great rigidity in the
direction of the corrugations. The common defect of the ordinary tags on
laces is their great liability to pull off with ordinary use, and the reason
of their doing so is in consequence of the thinness of the metal of which
they are composed springing apart at any slight internal pressure; this
tendency is entirely remedied by the additional lateral strength imparted to
the tag by the grooves above referred to. A double tag of this description I
have exhibited at Fig. 7, the dotted line k, k, shews where the tag is to be
divided, thus leaving a part attached to the lace on either side. These circular
grooves may be formed in various ways; but the following plan is arranged
that they may be formed by the same description of tools and press as herein-
before described.
The top part of the bed tool F, that works up in the cor-
responding groove in the top tool G, is made applicable to this purpose, having
a semicircular groove formed from front to back, as shown at 1, and in a top
view of the same part, at I, 1, Fig. 8; and on this part of the bed tool a series
of slots or cuts are formed at right angles to the groove 2, in which small pieces
of steel are inserted, marked m, m, the thickness of the steel being the same
thickness as the groove; these bits of steel are cut out with a small semi-
circular indentation, so placed that it shall be concentric with the semicircular
groove 1, 1, and round this small semicircular indentation I prefer the edges
to be filed off, so as to make the bits of steel at this part smooth and some-
what thinner, so as to give the proper indentation; these bits of steel are
retained in the bed tool by two angular pins passing in through an angular
groove running from front to back of the form shewn in the end view at n, n,
Fig. 3.
The counter tool to this is formed in the same way, and is repre-
sented in a side, end, and bottom view at Figs. 9, 10, and 11; this part being
fitted to the top tool G by a square pin passing through a square groove, one
half being shewn at p, p, on the top tool G, Fig. 3, and the other half in the
end view at r, r, Fig. 10, which will also have the effect of holding in the bits of
steel in the same way in which they are retained in the lower tool, and which
bits of steel are identically the same shape in each tool for the convenience of
renewal when worn out or damaged; and I will observe, that when the tools
are arranged for performing this operation, the applying of the tags is dis-

page_text: continued, as the arrangement of the tools as here exhibited will not allow the
two operations, namely, the applying and finishing of the tag, to be done at the
same time. The lace, with the tag on it, is brought through from the back
and laid in the groove 1, 1, Fig. 8, when the corresponding top tool is brought
down upon it by the foot pressing on the treadle and the indentations formed
around it. It may in some instances be necessary to give the tag a quarter
turn, and again squeeze it between the tools, and as this will have the effect
of thoroughly uniting the tag to the lace, it admits of the tag being made
much shorter than they are now used, a great advantage where neatness is
required; and should it be desirable that the tags should be cut in two at the
same time they are indented, the two bits of steel used in the centre must not
in that case be indented.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it understood that I do not
confine myself to any of the details as here represented, as the whole may be
altered and varied in many ways; but what I do claim as my Invention is, the
mode of applying tags to laces, as herein described, whether such tools be used
singly, vertically, horizontally, or in any other way, and without any reference
to the means by which such tools may be put in motion.
Secondly, I claim the herein described and exhibited means of better
securing tags to laces by indenting them transversely with a circular groove or
grooves, as represented at Fig. 7, without any regard to the number of such
grooves, or to the size of the tag on which they may be formed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferdinand Potts, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. S. COCKINGS, Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
FERDINAND POTTS. (L.S.)