IMPROVEMENTS IN RACKS OR HOLDERS FOR WHIPS, CANES, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
June 1867. A communication from abroad by Edward Richmond, of
New York, in the United States of America.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RACKS OR HOLDERS FOR WHIPS, CANES, AND OTHER LIKE
ARTICLES," a communication to me from abroad by Edward Richmond, of
New York, in the United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to racks for holding whips and other articles, and
consists mainly in the combination with a skeleton or perforated frame of wood
or other suitable material of an elastic binding or holding device arranged in
the perforations of the said frame in such manner as to hold any object
placed or inserted in the perforated frame. The rack thus constructed can be
put to various uses, it may be employed to hold brooms, whips, canes, and other
like articles, or when made smaller it can be used as a pen or pencil rack.
The frame is composed of two perforated plates of wood or other suitable
material, between which a sheet of vulcanized rubber is interposed, which
in this case constitutes the elastic binding device. In that portion of the
rubber which extends across each of the circular perforations in the frame
a series of radial slits is cut so as to allow a cane or the handle of a whip
or broom to be forced through.

page_text: To facilitate this operation perforations smaller than but concentric with
the perforations in the plates may be formed in the rubber. When the whip
or other article is thus placed in the rack the rubber closes tightly around it
and holds it securely and firmly. It is often desirable to suspend a whip by
its tip or lash so as to keep it perfectly straight when not in use; to this end
I form Vor wedge-shaped openings in the edge of the plates, a smaller
opening or slit being formed in a corresponding manner in the rubber which
is thus uncovered. The lash may be forced or jammed back in these openings
until it is tightly grasped by the rubber, which holds the whip suspended in
this position. When the rack is placed some distance above the ground it is
very difficult if not impossible for any one holding the whip by its butt to
force the lash into the openings; I therefore employ in this connection a wire
or other suitable guiding device, which is formed of two parts, the shank and
the guide prop, the two being bent so as to be at right angles with each
other. The shark is inserted in the top of the rack so that the guide will
extend across, above, or traverse the opening. When it is desired to suspend
the whip by its top the operator holding the butt of the whip slips or throws
the upper end or lash between the wire guide and top of the rack; as soon
as this is done he pulls directly downwards upon the whip, and the lash being
.now prevented from springing away from the rack by the guide under which it
is theld is gradually drawn into the slot or opening until it is clasped tightly
by the rubber. The guide part may turn upon its shank as a pivot so as to
increase.or lessen the angle at which it crosses the opening, and in order to
guide the lash more surely into the opening that part of it immediately over
the said opening may be bent or corrugated so as to receive the lash and
direct its movement. The rack may be attached to the wall either by brackets
or by screws; when made smaller and of circular or other suitable form it
can be supported on a stand or pedestal and used for holding pens, pencils,
and other similar articles. Instead of using rubber as the holding device,
wooden or other suitable plates backed by springs may be arranged arround
the sides of the perforations in the plates so as to encircle and grasp any
article inserted between them. In some cases I employ split pins, somewhat
like clothes pins, inserted in a board which is fast to the wall, the whip
being grasped between the sides of the split pins and suspended as before
described.