IMPROVEMENTS THE CONSTRUCTION OF VENETIAN BLINDS OR SHUTTERS."
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Ironside, of, Westminster, in the County of
Surrey, Coach Body Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
THE CONSTRUCTION OF VENETIAN BLINDS OR SHUTTERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Ironside at 'the'
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1867.
I, PETER IRONSIDE, of Westminster, in the County of Surrey, Coach Body
Maker, do hereby declare.the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VENETIAN BLINDS OR SHUTTERS," to be as follows:
My Invention consists in the construction of Venetian blinds or shutters as
hereafter described, whereby motion is communicated to the slats without the
use of cords or strings as heretofore. Each slat carries an arm passing
through a rod which is laid in a groove or guide, and has a to-and-fro motion
imparted to it, as hereafter described. The arm carries a disc or plate in the
rod, and a pin passes through the disc and the rod, so that when motion is
communicated to the rod, whether causing it to rise or fall so the disc
revolves, turns the arm of the slat, and alters the position thereof as desired.
To communicate motion to the rod I fit on the lower end thereof a nut,
which takes into a screw mounted on a spindle, carrying at its lower end a
toothed wheel in gear with another wheel on a spindle, to which motion is
communicated by a key; sometimes I fit a second toothed wheel on the key
spindle, which takes into a rack working horizontally to prevent the liability
of the blind being lowered when not in the proper position for so doing,

page_text: Of course I do not limit myself to the exact arrangement of wheels as
before described, although I believe it to be a good arrangement, my Invention
essentially consisting in the employment of a rod carrying slats to which a
to-and-fro motion is capable of being imparted, and so to alter and regulate
the position of the slats, all substantially as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Ironside in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st
December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
IRONSIDE, of Westminster, in the County of Surrey, Coach Body Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One-thou
sand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter
Ironside, Her special licence, that I, the said Peter Ironside, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Ironside, my
executors, administrators, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF
VENETIAN BLINDS OR SHUTTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Peter Ironside, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Patent Seal Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
:
• NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Ironside, do hereby declare 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,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
. Hitherto the position of the laths or slats of Venetian blinds have being
capable of being moved by pressing on or raising the said laths or slats.

page_text: The chief object of this Invention is to maintain the slats or laths of
Venetian blinds in any desired position, and in such manner that they cannot
have their position altered by touching the laths or slats as heretofore, except
when it is desired to do so.
The Invention is as follows:-A vertical rod is laid in a groove or guide,
and each slat or lath carries an arm which besides passing through the
vertical rod also rests in bearings formed in the sides of the groove or guide.
The vertical rod has a slot or aperture at its central part for each slat or latb,
and each slot receives a disc, eccentric, or plate, and through which each arın
of each slat passes, pins also pass through the projecting points of each disc
or eccentric, therefore the arm of each slat is tied as it were in two places to
the vertical rod, thus when motion is communicated to the vertical rod
whether causing it to rise or fall, so the discs turn the arms of the slats and
alter the position thereof as desired.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view in front elevation of one
side, and Figure 2 is a similar view of the other side; and Figure 3 is an
end elevation of so much of a Venetian shutter as will be necessary to illus-
trate the manner in which I prefer to carry my Invention into effect.
3
a, a, a, are the arms to which the laths b, b, are screwed or otherwise
attached; each slat carries an arm c passing through the frame d and rod é,
and as best shown at Figures 4 and 5; f, f, are cam or eccentrics, one
mounted on each of the arms c, as seen clearly in Figure 4. The rod e is
slotted to receive the eccentrics f, f, each of which carries a pin 9 passing
through the said eccentrics and the rod e, so that as the rod e has an up or
down motion imparted to it, and as will be presently described, the eccentrics
in turning by reason of the pins g being secured to the rod e cause the arms'c
on which the slats are fixed to at the same time move and consequently to
simultaneously alter the position of the laths. To communicate motion to the
rod e I fit on the lower end thereof a nut h, which takes into a screw i mounted
on a spindle, carrying at its lower end a toothed wheel k in gear with another
wheel 1, to which motion is communicated by a key o, a detached view of which
is given at Figure 6; sometimes I fit a second toothed wheel p on the key
spindle m, which takes into a rack r working horizontally to prevent the liability
of the blind being lowered when not in the proper position for so doing.
In many cases the rack may be dispensed with; it is however useful for
shutters which are to rise or fall in a frame, as for those fitted to carriage
windows, for when applied thereto the shutter will not descend until the end
of the rack is flush with the metal frame, and consequently the slats and laths
must be banging vertically at the same. time, so that they cannot be injured

page_text: in their descent.
By inserting the key and turning the same motion is
communicated to the rod e through which the arms of the slats or laths pass,
and as the rod e, for example, rises motion is also communicated to the discs
or eccentrics f. f, and at the same time to the slats a; it will be thus seen that
in whatever position the slats or laths are placed they cannot be moved until
motion is again communicated to the rod e and eccentrics f by means of the
key, as before described.
When the shutter or blind is fitted to a window all the working parts are
bidden and occupy a very small space.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the precise arrangement of wheels as before described for communicating
motion to the rod carrying the slats, although at the same time I believe it to
be a good arrangement, nevertheless it can be altered without departing from
the essential features of my Invention; neither do I claim as of my Invention
the employment of a vertical rod through which the arms of the slats pass;
but I do claim as my "Improvements in the Construction of Venetian Blinds
or Shutters,"
-
First, the employment of discs or eccentrics in combination with a vertical
rod through which the arms of the slats pass, whereby the slats or laths when
once moved cannot have their position altered until motion is again communi-
cated to the vertical rod, all substantially as herein-before described .aud
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the employment of a nut attached to the lower end of the vertical
rod and running on a screw for communicating a to-and-fro motion to the
vertical rod, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
Third, the employment of a rack for preventing blinds being lowered into
a frame except when the laths all hang vertically, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter: Ironside, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
PETER IRONSIDE. (L.S.)