Improved Curling Tongs or Irons.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 16th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 16th Jan., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Curling Tongs or Irons.
ARTHUR HENRY WATSOx 4 Pall Mall S.W. Electrician FRANK EMANUEL
ANTONINI 12 Park Lane London W. do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The said tongs or irons are constructed of thin metal cylinders or tubes so as to
allow of the heating material (such as patina wire or other suitable substance)
being placed inside in such a manner that when a current of electricity is allowed
to pass through, the platina wire (or other material) inside becomes intensely
hot & imparts its heat to the surrounding metal which in its turn also becomes
heated, the current of electricity is controlled i.e. allowed to pass through or stopped
at will by means of a suitable switch or contact maker fitted into the handle or
other part of said tongs or irons.
Dated this 16th day of February 1891.
ARTHUR HENRY WATSON.
FRANK EMANUEL ANTONINI.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Curling Tongs or Irons.
We ARTHUR HENRY WATSON of 4 Pall Mall S. W. Electrician and FRANK
EMANUEL ANTONINI of 12 Park Lane W. Gentleman 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 :-
The invention relates to an improved method of heating tongs or irons for curling
or goffering by the application of a current of electricity to one or both jaws of the
tongs or irons.
Hitherto it has been customary to heat such tongs or irons by placing them in a
flame or fire of some kind until the requisite temperature is attained and the
curling or goffering process had to be completed before the irons or tongs had
cooled or the latter had to be reheated from time to time as might be required.
According to our invention the curling or goffering process can be arranged and
the tongs or irons heated as required and the temperature maintained at will by
means of an electric current passing within the tongs or irons and controlled by the
operator: the means by which this is effected is as follows:--One or both of the
jaws of the tongs or irons is or are made tubular in such manner as to allow
the heating material such as platinum wire or other suitable substance to be placed
inside in a suitable manner so that when a current of electricity is allowed to pass
through such heating material the latter becomes intensely hot and imparts its heat
to the surrounding metal; the current of electricity is controlled, that is to say,
allowed to pass through or stopped at will by means of a suitable switch or contact
maker fitted in the handle or other part of said tongs or irons.
Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is an exterior view of a pair of tongs or irons for curling or goffering
having one cylindrical jaw and one trough shaped jaw.
Figure 2 is a view of the switch and parts connected therewith removed from the
hollow handle of the tubular jaw.
Figures 3 and 4 are perspective views of the fixed contact pieces of the
switch.

page_text: Figure 5 is a side view and Figures 6 and 7 are end views of the insulating
carrier for the heating wire, and
Figure is a side view and Figure 9 is an end view of a modified form of
insulated carrier for the heating wire.
a is the cylindrical jaw, a' is its handle, is the trough shaped jaw and 6' is its
handle, the two jaws are pin jointed together at c; the jaw a is made tubular in
order to allow an electrical conductor to be placed inside it; this is conveniently
accomplished in the following manner. An insulator d is constructed of porcelain,
earthenware or other non-conducting material and of such form and dimensions as
to pass inside the tube, a, of the tongs or irons and to carry with it the electric
conductor e for which purpose we construct the insulator d of cylindrical form as
shown at Figure 5 and with spiral grooves d' of such proportions as will allow the
conductor e to lie within them and to be near to but not touch the walls of the
tube a as shown at Figure 7 or we preferably form the insulator d as shown at
Figures 8 and 9 of a flattened cross section and form holes therein at intervals so
as to allow the heating conductor to be threaded to and fro through such holes as
shown.
In either form of insulator the heating conductor e passes through one of the
holes in the head of the insulator, then to and fro through holes along the
length of the insulator then over the small end thereof and returns by passing to
and fro through holes in the head of the insulator where it passes out through the
second hole d. We place within the handle a' an insulator f of porcelain or
other suitable material formed with channels to receive the conducting wires g h and
fitted with the metallic conductors i, j. The end of the conducting wire g is
attached to the terminal and the end of the heating conductor e is attached to
the terminal, the end of the heating conductor e being connected with the
conducting wire h. The conductor i is formed with a spring contact and the
conductor with a fixed contact piece and for the purpose of permitting
the current of clectricity to pass to the heating arrangement above described and
to be cut off therefrom with facility we construct a switch or contact maker and
breaker within the handle a¹ as follows:-
A press button ¹ at the end of the handle a' or at other suitable position is
attached to the outer end of the rod k the inner end of which acts upon the short
arm of a bell crank lever contact pin jointed at 1* to the conductor i. The end
of this short arm is constantly in contact with the spring contact piece and the
long arm is capable of being placed in contact with the fixed contact piece ³ and
of being removed therefrom.
A spring acts on the rod k to keep it pressed normally outwards in which
position the long arm of the bell crank lever would be held free of the contact
piece but when the press button k¹ and rod k are pressed inwards to the position
shown at Figure 2 the long arm of the bell crank lever is pressed against the
fixed contact piece thereby completing the circuit from the conducting wire g,
through the heating conductor e to the conducting wire h. The end of the spring
contact piece is made of V form in order to hold the bell crank lever firmly
in position either at contact or vice-versa and the form of this spring contact piece i
is such as to accelerate the movement of the bell crank lever after it has been
started by the press button k¹ and rod k. The conductors i jare shaped to fit and
slide on to the insulator in such relative positions as to enable the bell crank
lever, to bridge from one to the other and such conductors are fixed in position
by the terminal screws i¹, j¹.
It will be evident that both jaws and handles of the tongs or irons may be formed
and fitted with electric conductors insulators heaters and switch as above described
with respect to the jaw a and handle a¹ and that the tongs or irons may be used for
curling goffering, crimping, or other like purpose and we would here remark that
we do not confine ourselves to the peculiar construction of heater insulators, con-
ductors and switch herein shown and described as they are given only as an example
of one method of putting our invention into effect.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The combination with tongs or irons for curling goffering &c. of an electrical
heater, conductors, insulators and switch apparatus for the purpose of heating them
at the times required substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The combination with tongs or irons for curling, goffering &c. of electrical
heater conductors, insulators and switch placed inside the curling or goffering jaws
and handles for the purpose of imparting heat to them while in use substantially as
herein shown and described.
3. The combination with tongs or irons for curling goffering &c. heated by
electricity of a switch arrangement in the handle of heating jaw substantially
as herein shown and described for the purpose of controlling the supply of
electricity.
4. The combination with tongs or irons for curling goffering &c. of insulator
placed inside the curling or goffering jaw for the purpose of carrying the electrical
heater substantially as herein shown and described.
5. The combination with tongs or irons for curling, goffering &c. of heating
means heated by a current of electricity passing within them substantially as herein
shown and described.
1001
M
ARTHUR HENRY WATSON.
FRANK EMANUEL ANTONINI.
By Harris & Mills,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.