IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Boyle, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Tool Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS."
Sealed the 24th June 1859, and dated the 28th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Boyle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th April 1859.
I, ARTHUR BOYLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tool Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention of improvements in the manufacture of certain parts of
umbrellas and parasols relates, in the first place, to a novel arrangement of
machinery whereby the ribs and stretchers of umbrellas and parasols may be
made from wire. By means of my improvements the stamp or fly presses
usually used for forming or shaping the ends or tips of the ribs may be
dispensed with, and the ribs prepared with greater facility and accuracy than
heretofore.
In my improved arrangement of machinery, sets of sliding bolts are arranged
to work either horizontally or vertically, and to these bolts suitable dies or
tools are affixed, and the bolts and dies are acted upon by cams, levers, or
cranks, which derive their motion from a shaft provided with a fly wheel, and

page_text: driven by any suitable gearing. The dies will then be made to perform the
operation of flattening the tip and notch ends of the ribs, and also forming the
indentation for the middle bit or joint (to which the stretchers are affixed)
simultaneously or in rapid succession. The latter mode I prefer, as the
stretching of the wire will then be allowed for.
The object of the Invention is to obtain greater regularity in the length of
the ribs, also greater cheapness in working than can be obtained by the
ordinary mode of manufacture by means of the ordinary stamps and fly presses.
The bolts work in suitable beds placed on a frame, and such beds are moveable
at pleasure, either to increase or diminish the length of the ribs, and if it be
desired to make two or more ribs at one time, the number of bolts are
increased in proportion. The dies do not materially differ from those com-
monly used, and the ribs when flattened and prepared for punching are finished
in the usual manner.
My next improvement relates to a novel form and construction of guides to
be used in the manufacture of umbrella and parasol ribs, either according to my
improvements above described, or in the manufacture of umbrella and parasol
ribs when made by fly presses or otherwise in the usual manner. My improved
guides consist of flat pieces of metal provided with a flange which is turned up at
right angles thereto, and in which is made or cut a V flange. These guides or
pieces are mounted on centres affixed to ordinary bolsters, and have springs placed
beneath them. The wire to be operated upon is placed in the angle of the
V guides, and consequently the wire must always be exactly over the centre
of the dies. The top dies are fixed in bolts, and when they are brought down
they press the wire to the extreme point of the angle of the V. Under this
pressure the springs beneath the guides give way and the guides recede, and
the points or angle of the V, V, being in exact line with the centre of both the
top and bottom dies, the wire will always be accurately struck. The operation
of pressing being completed, the cam or crank shaft having made one revo-
lution, the V guides are relieved from pressure, and they are caused by the
springs beneath them to rise and lift the rib from the lower dies, and by means
of an arm or other suitable contrivance, the stamped rib may be lifted out of
the machine, and deposited in any convenient receptacle. By means of these
guides I am enabled to use the saine dies for wires varying several gauges in
size. The ribs are fed into the V guides either by hand or by a table, to
which a to-and-fro motion is given from the driving shaft.
The next improvement relates to the manufacture of the joints or middle
pieces, whereby the stretchers are connected to the ribs, and consists in rolling,
pressing, or crimping suitably grooved brass wire into half round indentations

page_text: in the back, for the purpose of forming lengths of material, from which the
middle pieces or joints may be easily cut off. By this means greater regularity
in the form of the middle bits or joints of ribs of umbrellas and parasols is
obtained than when these middle pieces are produced by pressing or stamping
them separately after the wire shall have been cut off into required lengths.
and fixed on the ribs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Boyle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
BOYLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tool Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Arthur Boyle, Her special license that I, the said Arthur Boyle, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Boyle, 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 MANUFACTURE
OF CERTAIN PARTS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Arthur Boyle by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly 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 Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Boyle, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of certain Parts of

page_text: Umbrellas and Parasols" relates, in the first place, to a novel arrangement of
machinery, whereby the ribs of umbrellas and parasols may be made from wire
with greater facility and despatch than heretofore. By means of my improve-
ments, the stamp or fly presses usually employed for forming or shaping the
ends or tips of the ribs may be dispensed with, and the ribs prepared with
greater facility and accuracy than heretofore.
In my improved arrangement of machinery, sets of sliding bolts are arranged
to work either horizontally or vertically, and to these bolts suitable dies or
tools are affixed, and the bolts and dies are acted upon by cams, levers, or
cranks, which derive their motion from a shaft provided with a fly wheel, and
driven by any suitable gearing. The dies will then be made to perform the
operations of flattening the tip and notch ends of the ribs, and also forming
the indentation for the middle bit or joint (to which the stretchers are affixed)
simultaneously or in rapid succession. The latter mode I prefer, as the
stretching of the wire will then be allowed for.
The object of the Invention is to obtain greater regularity in the length of
the ribs, also greater cheapness in working than can be obtained by the
ordinary mode of manufacture by means of the ordinary separate stamps and
fly presses.
In order, however, that my Invention may be clearly understood, I have
shewn in the accompanying Drawings various views of my improved arrange-
ment of machinery.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation, shewing the three sets of stamps or bolts required
for producing an umbrella or parasol rib arranged to one machine, so as to be
worked by one and the same shaft; Fig. 2 is an end view or a transverse section,
shewing the improved guides, which form an important feature of my Inven-
tion; Figures 3 represent a sectional elevation and plan view of one of my
improved guides detached from the machine. It will be seen that in the
machine shewn at Figures 1 and 2, the bolts a, a, work vertically in suitable
beds b, b, placed on a frame c, c, and such beds are moveable at pleasure,
either to increase or diminish the length of the ribs, and, if it be desired, to
make two or more ribs at one time the number of bolts are increased in
proportion. The dies d, d, do not materially differ from those commonly used,
and the ribs, when flattened and prepared for punching, are finished in the
usual manner. The striking or pressing bolts a, a, are worked by levers e, o,
which are actuated by cams f, f, or friction rollers on the main shaft g. In
the bolts a, a, worked by the three levers e, e, are affixed the top tools or dies,
by which I obtain the desired impression on the wire intended for the rib.
On the bed part of the framing are fixed the bolsters h, h, on which are placed

page_text: the bottom dies i, i. On each bolster are placed spring guides j, j, shewn
detached at Figures 3; these guides have V-formed notches made therein,
and they work on centres or pins running through the short standards k, k, on
each bolster. Under each guide j is a spring l, which is pressed down when
the rib is operated upon, and which causes the rib to rise out of or away from
the lower die i after the pressure has ceased. The three punches are, by
ineans of the levers e, e, brought down on to the wire almost simultaneously, so
that the rib is stamped or punched ready for finishing by one single rotation
of the main shaft of the machine. In practice, I find it advisable that the
operations of three punches should be in rapid succession, for the reason before
mentioned, but there will be no loss of time by this arrangement. Fig. 4
represents in sectional elevation a machine constructed on the same principal
as that above described, and shewn in Figures 1 and 2, but working horizon-
tally. The same letters are marked on corresponding parts in all the Figures.
The arm f works the levers e, and thereby imparts a to-and-fro motion to the
bolts a, at the ends of which are inserted tools or dies, such as are usually
used in making ribs for umbrellas and parasols. The bottom tool or die i is
placed in the bolster h in the way described in reference to the previous
machine. Ordinarily, three castings, levers, and cams are combined in the
same machine, exactly as are described in reference to the other machine, but
a greater number of parts may be used when it is desired to make more than
one rib from a length of wire. At each end of the bolt, by one revolution, I
obtain one series of impressions on it.
My next improvement relates to a novel form and construction of guides to
be used in the manufacture of umbrella and parasol ribs, either according to
my improvements above described, or in the manufacture of umbrella and
parasol ribs when made by fly presses or otherwise in the usual manner. My
improved guides are shewn detached at Fig. 3, and consist of flat pieces of
metal j. j, provided with a flange which is turned up at right angles thereto,
and in which is made or cut a V, as shewn best in the sectional view, Fig. 2;
these guides or pieces are mounted on or affixed to ordinary bolsters, and have
springs 7, 7, placed beneath them. The wire to be operated upon is placed in
the angle of the V-guides, and consequently the wire must always be exactly
over the centre of the dies. The top dies are fixed in bolts, as above described,
and when they are brought down they press the wire to the extreme point of
the angle of the V. Under this pressure the springs beneath the guides give
way, and the guides recede, and the points or angle of the V, V, being in exact
line with the centre of both the top and bottom dies, the wire will always be
accurately struck thereby. The operation of pressing being completed, the