IMPROVE MENTS IN BOXING, FENCING, AND CRICKET GLOVES, AND IN CRICKET PADS OR GUARDS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Emanuel, of Saint Paul's Churchyard, in the
City of London, Gentleman, for the Iuvention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Emanuel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
February 1865.
I, HENRY EMANUEL, of Saint Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN BOXING, FENCING, AND CRICKET GLOVES, AND IN CRICKET PADS OR GUARDS."
to be as follows:-.
The object of my Invention is to construct boxing, fencing, and cricket
gloves, and cricket guards or pads, in such manner that they may be more
light, resilient, and portable than hitherto. Heretofore these gloves have been
made of leather stuffed or padded with horsehair or similar materials, and
pads or guards have been made of such materials or of solid caoutchouc.
Now, according to my Invention I construct a glove or a pad or guard of
caoutchouc, vulcanized or not, or of like substance capable of being inflated
and contracted, and I furnish it with one or more apertures, mouth-pieces, or
tubes, through which it may be inflated with air or filled with other fluid, and
which are fitted with plugs, valves, or similar appliances for retaining and
[Price 8d.]

page_text: discharging the air or fluid. The glove or pad may be covered with leather
or other soft substance or not. Such a glove or pad may be readily inflated,
and will present a light and resilient cushion. When the air or fluid has
been discharged the glove or guard may be folded and packed. Sometimes
I construct the glove or pad without a mouth-piece or tube and without a
valve or plug, but in such manner that it may be inflated and then closed, air
or fluid tightly, so as to remain in such inflated or distended condition. For
this purpose the glove, which is made in other respects like the one above
described, is inflated through an orifice which is hermetically closed when a
sufficient quantity of air has been admitted. I sometimes construct and inflate
the gloves or the guards or pads in sections. For this purpose I form the
H love or guard in parts or sections, each forming a chamber or cell for the
reception of air, which is supplied to it by a common main air passage. Each
cell or chamber has at the side farthest from the feed pipe a disc or circular
valve depending by a hinge or otherwise controlled,which disc or valve when.
the chamber is filled is forced down over the air passage and retains the body
of air under all conditions of pressure. The cells are emptied by adischarging
valve at the end opposite to the feed. The cells may or may not be connected
by membranes or thin strips, which are not inflated but form joints or articu-
lations, and yield with the motions of the hands or limbs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Emanuel, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
EMANUEL, of Saint Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Emanuel, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Emanuel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Emanuel, 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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN BOXING FENCING, AND CRICKET GLOVES, AND IN CRICKET PADS OR
GUARDS," upon the condition (amongst others; that I, the said Henry Emanuel,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals,should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Henry Emanuel, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:
The object of my Invention is to construct boxing, fencing, and cricket
gloves, and cricket guards or pads, in such manner that they may be more
light, resilient, and portable than hitherto. Heretofore boxing and fencing
gloves have been made of leather stuffed or padded with horsehair or similar
materials. Now, according to my Invention I construct a glove of vulcanized
or non-vulcanized caoutchouc, or of other like substance capable of being
inflated and contracted, and I furnish it with one or more apertures, mouth-
pieces, or tubes, through which it may be inflated with air or filled with other
fluid, and which are fitted with plugs, valves, or similar appliances for retaining
and discharging the air or fluid. The glove may be covered with leather or
other soft substance or not. Such a glove may be readily inflated, and will
When the air or fluid has been dis_
present a light and resilient cushion.
charged the glove may be folded and packed. Sometimes I construct the
glove without a mouth-piece or tube and without a valve or plug, but in such
manner that it may be inflated and then closed, air tightly or fluid tightly, so
as to remain in such inflated or distended condition. For this purpose the
glove, which I make in other respects like the one above described, is inflated
through an orifice which is hermetically closed when a sufficient quantity of
air has been admitted. I sometimes construct and inflate the glove in sections,
and I also construct and inflate an improved extensible and collapsing guard
or pad in sections. For this purpose 1 form a glove or guard in parts or
sections capable of being inflated, each part or section forming a chamber or
cell for the reception of air, which is blown into or supplied to it through an
air passage.
When I apply my Invention to guards or pads, each cell or chamber
:

page_text: has at the side farthest from the feed pipe a disc or circular valve depending
by a hinge, which disc or valve when the chamber is filled is forced over the
air passage so as to retain the body of air. The cells may be emptied of air
by a discharging valve at the end opposite to the feed. The cells, (whether of
the glove or of the guard), may or may not be connected by strengthening
membranes or thin strips, which are not inflated, but form joints or articula-
tions and yield with the motions of the bands or limbs.
The accompanying Drawings exemplify in what manner the Invention may
be carried into effect.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of one face of a glove constructed according
to my Invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the opposite face thereof;
Figures 3 and 3× are vertical sections. A is a leather glove in which orifices
a, a, are punched for ventilation; B is a leather case sewn or otherwise
secured to the part A, and extending beyond it at the top. Between this case
and the glove A is a vessel C, made of vulcanized caoutchouc and attached by
connecting pieces h, h, to the top of the part A; bis a tube or mouth-piece
attached to and leading into the vessel C. The tube is bent and its two limbs
are connected by a tie-piece or membrane t. When air is to be introduced
into the vessel C the tube is straightened and filled with air by blowing
through its free end. When the tube is released to the action of the tie-
piece it returns to its bent condition, and the bend forms a contracted part
which prevents the outflow of air. The vessel C becomes distended by the
injection of air, and forms a cushion, covering and protecting the back of the
hand, fingers, and thumb. The vessel C is emptied of air by straightening
the pipe b and allowing the air to flow out and escape therefrom.
The glove shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 3* is suitable for boxing; but
when I manufacture my glove for cricket or fencing I construct it in like
manner, except that instead of a single air vessel covering C the entire back
of the hand a separate air vessel C is used for each finger and covered with a
separate outer case B, so that the fingers may be used separately or have
independent action. The air feed and discharge pipe b is extended or carried
along the bottom of these air vessels C, in order that the air vessels C of all
the fingers communicate together by this general air pipe 6, so that they may
all be inflated and emptied together.
Figure 4 is a sectional view of a glove in which the air vessel C is made in
three sections, fed through and communicating together by an air feed pipe b.
This arrangement allows of the hand being bent. The vessels are all inflated
and discharged through the pipe and mouth-piece b, and they are additionally
connected by membranes m.

page_text: Figure 5 is a perspective view, partly in section, and Figures 6 and 7 are
horizontal sections, of a legguard or pad constructed according to my Invention,
and composed of a number of chambers, cells, or compartments D, D*, DI,
D", D, D, made of vulcanized caoutchouc and connected and communi-
cating together by air passages e, in each of which is a valve d, suspended to
the side of the air passage. f is a mouth-piece or feed pipe similar to the
pipe b, Figures 1 and 2, for inflating the guard; g is a pipe (closed and
opened by a screw plug) for emptying it. The compartments may be covered
or encased in leather or like substance F. Air blown in through the pipe f
flows through the guard until it is arrested by the closed valve or plug g.
When the compartment DIY is filled, its valve d is closed by the pressure of
the air, and the compartment next above it D" then becomes charged, until
its valve d closes in like manner, and so on till the whole guard is inflated,
when the mouth-piece fis closed; the guard is emptied of air by opening the
pipe 9. In Fig. 6 the valve e is shewn closed, and in Fig. 7 opened.
I prefer the arrangement of feed pipe and mouth-piece shewn at b and ffor
my glove and guard, but other ordinary forms of pipe may be used, and opened
and closed by ordinary valves, plugs, or like appliances.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, in respect of boxing, fencing, and cricket gloves, a glove con-
structed so as to be capable of being inflated and contracted, substantially as
described.
Second, in respect of cricket pads or guards, a pad or guard composed of
chambers, cells, or compartments furnished with valves, and arranged and
combined substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Emanuel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
84, Fleet Street.
HENRY EMANUEL. (L.S.)