Improvements in Apparatus for Holding and Distributing Paint.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Sept., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 5th Mar., 1900-Accepted, 14th Apr., 1900 -
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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Holding and Distributing Paint.
I, THOMAS EDWARD HEATH, of 53, Park Place, Cardiff, Manager to the Star
Patent Fuel Co. Limited, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
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I construct a tray or dish which is about as wide as the length of the largest
tube of paint which it is desired to use and sufficiently long to hold the required
number of tubes when they are laid side by side and squeezed flat. As some of
the tubes will probably be greater in diameter than other tubes I arrange that
the bottom of the tray shall vary in height so that the nozles of the tubes are
on the same level.
I have a thin metal plate attached to one side of the tray and make holes in
it at the required distances apart to allow the nozles of the tubes to project
through the holes outside the tray. The ordinary caps which are supplied with.
the tubes can be screwed on the nozles outside the plate and when they are
unscrewed they may be hung on small pegs which stand up from the tray between
each tube, or I may have special nozles which will screw on the tubes instead
of the ordinary caps and these may be stopped by suitable valves or plugs.pressed
against the mouths of the nozles by springs or all the nozles may be pressed.
simultaneously against a strip of cork, indian rubber or other elastic substance
supported against a rigid backing which may conveniently be attached to or form
part of the box in which the tray is kept so that the act of taking the tray from
the bar opens all the nozles and putting it back closes them.
I have diverging pegs attached to the tray between each tube and. round these
and over the tubes I stretch indian rubber bands or the tubes may be kept in
place in any other convenient manner.
The foregoing method of applying my invention can only be conveniently
applied when the tubes of paint purchased for use are comparatively small, so
that for painters who buy paint in large tubes, or in any other large way I have
another arrangement, the first cost of which is greater, but by the use of which
greater economy of paint is possible.
This arrangement is as follows; instead of placing the ordinary, tubes of paint
side by side on a tray I have a number of cylinders side by side. They may be
of aluminium cast in one piece. These cylinders may vary in diameter so that
the larger ones can be apportioned to those paints of which a greater quantity is
generally required.
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The cylinders are screwed on the inside and have pistons fitted so that they
can be screwed from the top to the bottom of the cylinders by turning the piston.
rod which projects outside the cylinder and forms a handle which may be of any
convenient shape. Or the piston rod may be cylindrical and screwed through a
back piece which is attached so that it can be removed from the cylinder thus
allowing a smooth cylinder & piston to be used.
Each cylinder has a nozle which may be closed by a screwed cap or by a plug
br valve er by being pressed against a strip of cork as already described

page_text: When the pistons are removed the cylinders can easily be filled with paint but
before filling them I prefer to run in melted wax or other suitable material so
as to leave a thin film over the metal. At the end of the days work the painter
can put back any good unused paint into its proper cylinder.
The set of cylinders should not be quite so long as the palette and it is desirable
to have a second set of cylinders in which colours which are seldom used may be
kept and which may also be used for mixed tints, for it is evident that the painter,
when he has to use much of a particular mixed tint, will save much time by
mixing up a quantity and storing it in a cylinder.
The apparatus is used by holding it over the palette and squeezing out the
required colours which will therefore always be deposited on about the same place
on the palette, unless the painter purposely arranges them in any other order.
This is a great convenience and in a short time the painter will be able to set
his palette without looking to see what the colours are, but I may have labels
which can be attached to any cylinder to give the name of the contained colour-
or the outside of the cylinder can be painted with the colour.
Dated this 26th day of September 1899.
I, THOMAS EDWARD HEATII, of 53, Park Place, Cardiff, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its principal object to provide means whereby the whole
of a series or any desired number of paint tubes or containers can be held so that
they can be all held over the palette and the colours squeezed therefrom as
desired and so also that when desired the whole of the tubes or containers so
held can be simultaneously closed, and simultaneously opened, by providing
them with a closing device common to all, for example a closing device com-
bined with the box or receptacle, so that when the tubes or containers connected
or held together are placed in the box or receptacle in which they are kept when
out of use, the said tubes or containers are simultaneously closed and when they
are removed from the said box or receptacle they are simultaneously opened.
The invention will be understood from the following description with refer-
enco to the accompanying drawings in which like letters refer to similar parts.
Figure 1 is an end elevation, Figure 2 a plan and Figure 3 a side elevation of
a tray for holding tubes or containers of paint which are shewn in position in
Figures 1 and 2 but not in Figure 3. Figure 1 also shews in transverse section
and Figure 3 in plan part of a box in which the tray is placed Figure 4 is a
section (on a larger scale) through the middle of the largest tube or container of
paint and of the tray which holds it.
Figure 5 is an end elevation and Figure 6 a plan of a receptacle which may be
attached to a box or used without.
Figure 7 shews in plan and partial section a row of paint containing cylinders
fitted with pistons, and also the receptacle in which the said cylinders are placed
when not in use.
Referring first to Figures 1 to 4 a tray is provided comprising a base or
bottom A and a side or upstanding plate A¹ having holes A² therein for the recep-
tion of the nozzles of the paint tubes or containers. The said tray is about as
wide as the length of the longest tube or container of paint which it is desired to

page_text: use and is sufficiently long to hold the required number of tubes or containers B
of paint when they are laid side by side and squeezed flat. In Figure 2 some of
the tubes or containers are shewn squeezed flat through part of their length. If
some of the tubes or containers B are of considerably greater diameter than others
the bottom A of the tray may have different levels as shewn, in Figure 3 but if
the variation or diameter be not very great it will suffice if the holes A2 are
elongated as shewn by one of the said holes in Figure 3 so that the nozzles of
the tubes or containers will not be all on the same level. The holes A² are suffi-
ciently large to allow the nozzles B' of the tubes or containers B to project through
them to outside the tray but will not allow the caps which screw onto the tubes
or containers to pass, and the distance of the holes apart is such as to allow of the
tubes or containers being placed side by side.
When ordinary tubes of paint are used, the caps, which are supplied with them,
can be screwed on the nozzles B¹ outside the plate A¹ and when they are unscrewed
they may be placed between contiguous tubes, or the tray may be provided with
pegs on which the caps can be placed or hung. Instead of the ordinary caps I
prefer to provide special nozzles which will screw into the screwthreaded nozzles
of the tubes or containers which special nozzles may be similar to the ordinary
caps but each have a small orifice in the end as shewn at B2 in Figure 4 or the
ordinary screwed cap can be easily converted into a special nozzle by punching a
small hole or orifice through the top of the said screwed cap.
For the purpose of punching holes in the ordinary caps I provide a No. 3
leather punch and a small block of metal having a lever therein a little larger
than the outside of the punch and countersunk sufficiently far to centre any ordi-
nary screwed cap. The screwed cap is placed upside down in the countersunk
opening and the orifice is then punched. The pieces punched from the caps
which remain in the punch can be discharged therefrom by means of a steel peg
which may be conveniently screwed into the metal block so as to stand up there-
from to a suitable distance,
The paint when desired can be squeezed out from the tube or container through
the small orifice in the special nozzle or perforated cap and the orifices may be
stopped by valves or plugs pressed into or against them, but it is preferred to
provide an elastic or yielding substance against which all the nozzles B can be
caused to press when the paints are not in use. The elastic or yielding material
may consist for example of a strip of cork as shewn at C Figure 7 or of india
rubber in the form of a tube as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 or of a stretched strip
of textile or other suitable material as shewn in Figure 5. The said elastic or
yielding material is supported on a rigid backing C which may conveniently form
part of a receptacle as shewn in Figures 5 and 6 which receptacle may be attached
to a box, or the said support C₁ may form part of the box C in which the tray
is kept, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2. When the tray is pressed down between
the elastic or yielding strip or tube Cand stops or guides C all the nozzles or
perforated caps B are pressed against the said yielding strip or tube C so as to
close the perforations in all the said nozzles and by the act of removing the tray
from the box C³ all the perforations in the nozzles are open.
In the arrangement shewn in Figures 1 to 4 the tubes or containers of paint
are firmly held in position in the tray by the special nozzles or perforated caps B³
being screwed onto the ordinary screwed nozzles of the containers up against the
outer surface of the plate A² the said tubes or containers being further held in
position by india rubber bands F or bands of other suitable material passing
through holes in pegs or hooks 1) attached to the tray A between each tube or
container, the said india rubber bands stretching partly round so as to bear upon
the said tubes or containers. Or the tubes may be kept in position, in any other
convenient manner. The foregoing method of applying this invention is more
especially applicable when the tubes or containers of paint are comparatively
small. When large quantities of paint are used the following arrangement may
be employed. Instead of placing the tubes or containers of paint side by side

page_text: on a tray a number of cylinders or containers are arranged side by side and con-
nected together by being attached to a bar or in any other convenient way. The
cylinders or containers may be of aluminium, glass, celluloid or other suitable
material, and they may be screwed on the inside and the pistons screwed to fit, so
that by turning the piston rod the piston may be screwed down in the cylinder,
but I prefer to have the cylinders G smooth on the inside as shewn in Figure '7
and the pistons H smooth and packed to fit paint tight' in the cylinders, and to
provide each piston rod J with a screw thread screwing into, a corresponding screw
thread in a plug or stopper K, which closes the end of the cylinder: This plug or
stopper K is attached by screwing it into an opening in the support or connecting
bar L the cylinder G being first passed through the circular opening u
until the
flange on one end of the cylinder bears against a shoulder in the circular opening
and the plug or.stopper K being then screwed up against the cylinder, the plug
or stopper K and piston H-being easily removed when it is desired to fill the
cylinder with, paint.
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Each cylinder G has a nozzle G₁ which may be closed when required by
screwed cap or by a plug or valve or by being pressed against a strip of cork C
attached to a rigid back C which forms part of the receptacle in which the
apparatus is kept substantially as explained with regard to Figures 1 to 6 or the
series of cylinders or containers' may be secured to a bar L mounted on trun-
nions L in a bracket or frame C³ which may be screwed to an easel or to any
convenient support, and the strip of cork C be pressed against the nozzles G¹ by
springs C (or in any other convenient way). When the strip of cork C is pulled
back from the nozzles G! the cylinders G will automatically swing through a
quarter of a circle so that the nozzles G¹ will point downwards and the palette
can be conveniently placed below them and the pistons operated.
When the pistons are removed the cylinder or containers can easily be filled
with paint but before filling them, if a screwed cylinder be 'used, it is preferred
to run in melted wax or other suitable material to leave a thin film thereof over
the metal. When desired any good unused paint can be replaced in its 'proper
cylinder.
The set of cylinders or containers, or the tray of tubes should not be quite so
long as the palette and it is sometimes desirable instead of a single long tray to
provide two or more short trays which together will contain the required number
of paint tubes the receptacle for the trays being also made in two parts, one of
which is shewn for example in Figures 5 and 6. The two parts can when not in
use be conveniently placed together with the paint tubes between them so as to
form a. small parcel which can be carried in the pocket; and it is desirable to
provide spare cylinders or containers which can be substituted for any of those
containing paint which are not. at the time required, or in which colours which
are seldom required, or in which mixed tints, may be kept.
When the apparatus is in use it is held over the palette and the tubes or con-
tainers compressed, or the pistons operated as the case may be, to force out the
required paints which will always be deposited on or about the same place on the
palette unless the painter purposely arranges them in any other order. This is
a great convenience and in a short time the painter will be able to arrange the
paints on his palette without looking to see what the colours are, but if desired
labels can be attached to the cylinders or containers giving the names of the con
tained colours, or the outsides of the cylinders or containers can be painted with
the colour contained therein, but when transparent cylinders or containers are
used, the colours will shew therethrough.
7r,
Having now particularly described and ascertained. the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what 'I
claim is:-
1
1. For holding and distributing paints, a tray, bar, or equivalent support, and
means for securing the paint tubes aulindone an santainang thanais

page_text: so that their nozzles project therefrom and so that they can be all simultaneously
brought over the palette substantially as herein before described.
2. For use with paint tubes, or containers, having the ordinary screwed nozzles
on which an ordinary screwed cap fits, a special screwed nozzle capable of being
screwed onto the ordinary nozzle, in place of the ordinary screwed cap, and having
therein an orifice, through which the paint can be forced; or converting the
ordinary screwed cap into a nozzle by punching a hole through the top thereof
substantially as herein before described.
.3. For holding and distributing paints, a tray, bar, or equivalent support, and
means for securing paint tubes, cylinders, or containers, therein, or thereto, so
that their nozzles project therefrom and a box, or receptacle, having a yielding
device in it which closes all the discharge orifices of the tubes, cylinders, or con-
tainers, when the tray, bar, or support is put in place in the box or receptacle,
the orifices of the said tubes, cylinders, or containers being opened when they are
removed from the said box or receptacle, substantially as hereinbefore explained.
4. The several arrangements or devices for containing and distributing paint
hereinbefore described and illustrated in the several figures of the accompanying
drawings.
Dad thi h
Sh 1000
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX.
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.