New or Improved Appliance for Holding Wire, Pins, and other Accessories used by Gardeners, Florists, and the like.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Jan., 1890--Accepted, 29th Mar., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Appliance for Holding Wire, Pins, and other
Accessories used by Gardeners, Florists, and the like.
We, WILLIAM BLAKE, HENRY BLAKE and JOHN ALEXANDER BARTHOLOMEW
trading as Blake & McKenzie of School Lane, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster,
Printers, 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:-
:-
Hitherto wire, string or like material, when used in the cultivation of plants and
flowers, for mounting and binding cut flowers, and for other purposes, has been liable
to become accidentally entangled and knotted when unwound from a coil, reel, or
ball, thus involving loss of the operator's time, besides often involving waste of
inaterial.
The object of this invention is to provide an appliance for holding, in an orderly
manner and in the parts allotted to them, wire, string, nails, pins and other accessories
used by gardeners, florists, etcetera, and in such a way that the said accessories are
not liable to be lost, injured or destroyed.
The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, in which―
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the appliance, and
Figure 2 a plan of the same with a portion of the lid removed to display a part of
the wire spools in the box beneath.
The appliance comprises a box or case A, having a hinged cover or lid B, a
trough C, and tubular or other shaped holders D. In the box B are mounted
the spools or reels E, on which is wound pliable wire, string, thread, tape, or the
like, adapted for binding together the stems of flowers or plants, for securing them
to sticks or other supporting devices, and for other purposes. The said spools or
reels are mounted axially in bearings in the sides of the box A or in other suitable
manner so as to be capable of being easily rotated, and they can be removed from
the box for rewinding when the lid B is raised, by means of the diagonal
grooves e. The ends of the respective wires, etcetera, are passed through holes in the
box A or lid B, and, by pulling the ends of said wires, a sufficient length can be
unwound from the spools to meet the operator's requirements without raising the
lid, and without entangling or knotting the wire. The portion thus drawn forth
can then be broken off or otherwise severed.
The trough C is adapted for holding pins, nails, hooks, or other accessories used
by horticulturalists, and the holders D for holding stem wires d employed for
mounting flowers for floral wreaths, making bouquets, or the like.
We do not limit our invention to any particular size or shape of box, trough,
or holder, also, the number of holders D) may be varied, and the box or trough
may be duplicated or subdivided by one or more partitions. Balls of string,
thread, etcetera, may be used instead of the spools or reels.
In some cases it is convenient to provide loops or eyes through which a belt
may be passed for fastening the appliance to the operator's waist, thus leaving his
hands free to manipulate the work.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. An appliance such as described, consisting of the combination of a, trough or
roughs D, for holding pins, nails, hooks or other horticultural accessories; a holder
or holders D for stem wire or the like, a box or receptacle A, and one or more
otatable reels or spools E or balls of wound thread or the like so mounted in the

page_text: said box, (the former having binding thread, tape, or other like material wound
thereon) that a length of the said material can be withdrawn from the box to meet
the requirements of the operator without entangling or knotting the material, sub-
stantially as set forth.
2. The appliance for holding wire, pins, and other accessories used by gardeners
and florists, combined and arranged as a whole, substantially as described and
shown.
Dated this 25th dose ст.
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicants.