IMPROVEMENTS IN FORMING OR APPLYING TAGS TO LACES
Year: 1854

page_text: Sealed the 12th May 1854, and dated the 31st January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Hollingsworth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st January 1854.
I, THOMAS HOLLINGSWORTH, of Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FORMING OR APPLYING TAGS TO
LACES" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the application of a material not heretofore
used in the making lace tags. Hitherto the ends of laces have been bound
round or tipped with metal, which it is well known is very liable to come off
before the laces are worn out.
Now, my improvement consists of forming tags on laces by the use of gutta
percha or such like plastic material, and for this purpose the ends of laces are
first coated with dissolved or softened gutta percha or such like plastic material,
and then formed or moulded into tags.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Hollingsworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 31st July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HOLLINGSWORTH, of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in. the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Hollingsworth, Her special licence that 1, the said Thomas
Hollingsworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Hollingsworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
FORMING OR APPLYING TAGS TO LACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Hollingsworth, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Thomas Hollingsworth, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof (that is to say) :-
This Invention has for its object the application of a material not hitherto
used in the making lace tags. Hitherto the ends of laces have been bound
round or tipped with metal, which it is well known is very liable to come off
before the laces are worn out. Now, my improvement consists of forming tags
on laces by the use of gutta percha or such like plastic material, and for this
purpose the ends of laces are first coated with dissolved or softened gutta percha
or such like plastic material, and then formed or moulded into tags.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same. In order to form or make the
tags I employ gutta percha in a warm plastic state, which is introduced into a
suitable mould, and when compressed it forms or shapes the tag, leaving at the
end of the tag a hole or cavity to receive or admit the end of the lace.

page_text: In preparing the lace to attach it to the tag, it is placed within a mould,
leaving out the ends, which are covered over with a strong solution of warmed
gutta percha, then drawn within the mould, which compresses and forms the end
of the lace to fit the hole or cavity at the end of the tag. To complete the tag
and attach the lace the end of the lace is dipped into a strong solution of warm
or heated gutta percha, and is then placed within the hole or cavity at the end
of the tag affixed in a hot mould, which is then compressed, and it securely
attaches the tag to the lace and forms it into its proper size and shape.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner, of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I employ.gutta percha
alone or mixed with coloring or other matter, believing it to be the best and
most suitable for the purpose intended, but do not confine myself thereto,
nor to the exact details herein shown and described, so long as the peculiar
character of my Invention be retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hollingsworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO. COOK,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
THOMAS HOLLINGSWORTH. (L.S.)