AN IMPROVED SELF- ACTING CURTAIN OR WINDOW BLIND RACK
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
SUTTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Brassfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Ralph Sutton, have invented "AN IMPROVED SELF-
ACTING CURTAIN OR WINDOW BLIND RACK," and whereas His Majesty King
George the Third, by Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the
Second day of July, in the fifty-first year of His reign, after reciting my
said Invention, and my petition for the said Letters Patent for it, for the
term of fourteen years, hath given and granted unto me, the said Ralph
Sutton, my exors; adiñors, and assigns, especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority that I, the said Ralph Sutton, my exors, adiñiors, and
assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Ralph
Sutton, my exors, adiiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend my
said Invention within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said Ralph Sutton, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, or any of them, should in my or their discretions seem
meet; and it is by the said Letters Patent provided, that if I, the said Ralph
Sutton; should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the
High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, then the said Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and
become void, anything therein contained to the contrary in anywise notwith-
standing, as in and by the said Letters Patent, inrolled in the High Court of
Chancery, may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Ralph Sutton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention or im-
provement, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described in the Diagrams and Specification following (that is to
say):―
Fig. 1 represents a rack fixed for use. A is the cord which passes over the
pully of the roller blind and under the pulley box C, Fig. 3; B is the spiral or
worm-spring, Fig. 2, formed of steel wire, hardened, of which one end is fixed
near the top of the outward or ornamental box D (Fig. 4), and the other in the
pulley box C, which pulley box slides just in proportion to the compression of
the spring in grooves in the inside of the ornamental box D. In this Figure
the spring B appears compressed. In Fig. 5 is shewn the rack in the act
of being fixed for use. A is the cord; B, the spring at its utmost degree
of extension; C, the pulley box; and D, the outward, or ornamental box,
grooved to admit the passage of the pulley box up and down as the spring
contracts or dilates.
Now, by the mere inspection of these two Figures the action of the spring
will be obvious; for the cord being of such a length as when passed over.
the pulley of the roller blind at A and under the pulley box C to com-
press the spring, the elasticity or reaction of the latter will necessarily keep
the cord tight, and of course the blind, at any degree of suspension which
the person using it may desire. The pulley box, and outward or ornamental
box, may be made of brass or any other metal. In Fig. 6 and 7 the cord
passes under a pulley, secured in front by the ornamental rose F, attached to a
moveable tube E, which plays in the outward or ornamental box D, and the
spring, having one end inserted in its lower extremity and the other loose, coils.
round this tube, and being compressed by the motion of the rose upwards
against the under side of the top of the ornamental box D, acts in a manner
similar to that shewn in Figs. 1 and 5. These specimens have this advantage:
the cord may remain over the pulley of the roller blind and be removed from
and replaced on the pulley of the rose without being severed, and the spring

page_text: being enclosed in the ornamental box, is secured against external accidents.
From these specimens part of the ornamental box has been removed to shew
the spring and tube. The forms, sizes, and materials of these racks may be
varied at pleasure, but I claim the exclusive privilege of manufacturing all
curtain or window blind racks, of whatever shapes, dimensions, or materials,
which must act by means of a spiral or worm spring.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Sutton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eloven.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eleven.