CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON AND ADDITIONS TO A PULLEY MACHINERY AND APPARATUS USED. AND APPLIED FOR SECURING, FIXING, AND MOVING CURTAINS, ROLLERS, AND OTHER BLINDS
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO.. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
MERRIMAN COOMBS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Ironmonger,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth day. of August, now last past, did.
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Merriman Coombs, my exors,
adiňors, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Benjamin Merriman Coombs, my exors, admors,.
and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion
of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS ON AND ADDITIONS TO A PULLEY MACHINERY AND APPARATUS USED.
AND APPLIED FOR SECURING, FIXING, AND MOVING CURTAINS, ROLLERS, AND OTHER
BLINDS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained, a proviso obliging
me, the said Benjamin Merriman Coombs, under my hand and seal, to cause,
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and, immediately after.
the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Merriman Coombs, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of,

page_text: my said Invention, and the several figures, letters, drawings, and devices made
and drawn in the margin of these Presents will fully explain and illustrate
the principle of my said Invention (that is to say):-
My said Invention or improved apparatus, besides possessing the requisites
usually applied to furniture for blinds and rack pulleys now in use (and to
which as inventions well known I neither do nor can claim any exclusive
right or privilege), possesses several advantages which there will be no
difficulty in distinguishing from the common and well-known component parts
of blind furniture and pulleys hitherto in use. The body of my apparatus,
like those now in use, may be made of metal or of a mixture or composition
of metals, or of wood, ivory, or bone.
Plate 1, Figure 1, represents the roller as fixed in the sockets severally
marked with the letter E. A is the plate or bracket for the centre pin or
axis B to work in. Letters E are the sockets to receive the rollers. F, F,
are the circular racks for the catch G to' drop on. G, the overbalance catch
or lever to drop on the circular racks F, F. H, the pin or screw for G to
work on.
J, J, the line with handles to raise up G. M, M, covered box to
receive the rack F, with a hole in the centre for axis N to work in. 0, 0,
small rollers or pulleys for line J to work on. K, K, K, grooves cut in the
rollers to keep the blinds in the proper position.
C, C, C, pulleys or cylinders
round which the lines D, D, run or wind. L, the round plate to work the
axis B in Figure 3. Figure 2 represents the roller as Figure 1, with the
blind partly drawn up. P, P, roller without the sockets E, E. Q, the blind
with the extra weight R, R, at the bottom to assist the overbalance. Figure
3 represents the socket E to receive the roller, as Figure 1, with the spindle or
axis only, which I sometimes tap for the purpose of screwing into pulley or
cylinder C. By this mode the canvass blind covers more of the window, and
has also the advantage of securing itself in plate L. (N.B.-The socket E
may have half the guide cast on, the other loose part may be made to screw
as already mentioned.) No. 1, letter S is an overbalance weight with pin to
drop in holes, racks, or mortices. No. 2, letter T, an overbalance wedge or
cone. No. 3, letter U, a dovetail wedge. No. 4, letter V, a circular wedge.
to work on a spindle similar to G. No. 5, letter W, same as V reversed.
Plate 2, Figure 1, represents the frame of my new constructed rack pulley,
with letter A a bottom rack. B, B, the overbalance catch. C, C, the slide that
fits the frame Figure 1. D, D, the pulley for line, G, G, to run on. E, E, E,
the top guide to secure the line G, G, in the pulley. G, G, the line connected.
with the roller-blind, which when tightened draws the pulley forwards, and by
overbalancing the catch B forces it into the bottom rack A. H represents the

page_text: front pulley and top guide, with part of the line J, J, to draw the pulley down.
K, the screw for the pulley to act on. L; L, the rose for fixing line J, J, by
pressing the same with the finger. The catch B'is released by the over-
balance and brought out of the rack A. Figure 2' represents a different
action or an overbalance catch to work on a pin or screw at one end, with a
sharp-edged beveled front or point to drop in the racks or holes. As this
application may be obtained by different ways and shapes, I hereby claim the
privilege of conveying my catch either to the right or left hand rack as (a), or
to the back or front rack, as Figure 1, A, not confining myself to any shape or.
size; but I apply any method of fixing my catch so as to obtain the over-
balance, by which means the pulley is secured from running up the frames
either with racks or holes, as circumstances may require. (a) represents the
frame of a rack pulley, with a left-hand side rack (c), the sliding part to fix
the pulley (e), also the catch (b) and the rose or handle (d) to turn the catch
(b) out of the rack (a). It must be clearly seen that the handle (d) and
catch (b) being fixed out of the centre assist each other in the overbalance, and
the catch is always leaning either right or left against the racks or holes.
The same power and principle are calculated to support bed and window
curtains by means of the rack F and catch G, Plate 1, and the different
Drawings, No. 1, letter S; No. 2, letter T; No. 3, letter U; No. 4, letter V.
And moreover, know ye, that the said several particulars, designated by the
letters A, B, C, D, E, L, P, Q, in Plate 1, do not constitute part of my
Invention, but are occasionally used in aid of it. The catch or lever G, at
the top of circular rack F, with a weight at the head which must be greater
than the weight of the line handle J, is my principal claim. I sometimes
reverse the action; in that case I fix the catch at the bottom. The line and
handle must then overbalance the catch, using a return crank to the counter
action to produce the desired effect (that is), by drawing the line the roller is
set at liberty to run down, and is instantly stopped by the catch. or wedge
returning to its proper place; by this overbalance the blind is secured. From
the nature of my Invention, it must be distinctly understood that the circular
or upright weight or wedge, as shewn in the different Drawings in Plate 1,
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, will answer the same purpose, and I occasionally use
springs or weights to accomplish my object.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Merriman Coombs, have here-
unto set and subscribed my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-seven.
B. M. (L.S.). COOMBS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1827, the aforesaid Benjamin Merriman Coombs
came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stainped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.