IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Holland, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Umbrella and Parasol Manufacturer, for the Invention of
Sealed the 13th March 1855, and dated the 22nd September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Holland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd September 1854.
I, HENRY HOLLAND, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Umbrella
and Parasol Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS" to be as
follows:-
This Invention, under its first head, relates to a mode of strengthening such
umbrellas and parasols as are made with tubular ribs of steel. In the ordinary
process of manufacture, the steel tube is indented whilst in a softened condition
at that part where it is intended to fix the stretcher joint without the previous
insertion of any substance within the tube. Now, according to the present
Invention, a piece of wire is inserted into the softened tube at the part where
the indentation is to take place; this wire is preferred to be of steel, and
thus, on indentation occurring, the substance of the tube is forced down upon
the wire, and the part becomes almost solid.
Under a second head, the Invention consists of a mode of making tubular
stretchers for umbrellas and parasols so as to obtain thereon forks for attach-
ment to the ribs, similar to the forks which are obtained when solid wire is

page_text: used. Instead of inserting a piece of wire, and then flattening the tube and
wire together, as at present practised, this Invention provides for the formation
of the fork, by the insertion into the end of the tube to be forked of a picce
of wire, best charcoal iron wire I prefer, an inch long, for example, and then
slitting up this piece of wire in the usual way. Both the wire and the tube
are slit at once by this process, and the slit is afterwards opened and shaped,
so that each prong of the resulting fork presents a combination of iron and
steel
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Holland in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HOLLAND, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Umbrella and Parasol
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Holland, Her special license that I, the said Henry Holland,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Holland, my executors, administrators, or 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, usc,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Holland, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of tho
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 Holland, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention, under its first head, relates to a mode of strengthening such

page_text: umbrellas and parasols as are made with tubular ribs of steel. In the ordinary
process of manufacture, the steel tube is indented whilst in a softened con-
dition at that part where it is intended to fix the stretcher joint without the
previous insertion of any substance within the tube. Now, according to the
present Invention, a piece of wire is inserted into the softened tube at the part
where the indentation is to take place; this wire is preferred to be of steel,
and thus, on indentation occurring, the substance of the tube is forced down
upon the wire, and the part becomes almost solid.
Under a second head, the Invention consists of a mode of making tubular
stretchers for umbrellas and parasols so as to obtain thereon forks for attach-
ment to the ribs, similar to the forks which are obtained when solid wire is
used. Instead of inserting a piece of wire, and then flattening the tube and
wire together, as at present practised, this Invention provides for the formation
of the fork by the insertion into the end of the tube to be forked of a piece
of wire; best eharcoal iron wire I prefer, an inch long, for example, and then
slitting up this piece of wire in the usual way. Both the wire and the tube arc
slit at once by this process, and the split is afterwards opened and shaped, so
that each prong of the resulting fork presents a combination of iron and steel.
And in order that my said Invention may be more readily understood, I
shall now proceed to describe and refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 represents an enlarged plan and partial section of a portion of
an umbrella or parasol rib, shewing the position of the strengthening wire
therein; and Figure 2 is a corresponding side elevation and partial section of
the same.
A piece of soft steel wire A is inserted into the soft steel tube B, which
forms the rib. This wire is inserted before the tube is quite closed at its edges,
and is pushed therein by slight pressure with a steel pin, the length of which
will regulate the distance to which the wire will be inserted into the tubular
rib. This small piece of steel wire thus inserted is fastened or secured in its
place by press tools, which are grooved in accordance with the diameter of the
ribs. The tube is then indented upon the strengthening piece of steel in the
place where the stretcher joint is to be fixed, and represented by Figure 2.
For this purpose, I prefer the mode described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to me on or about the Seventh day of May. One thousand eight
hundred and forty, for "Improvements in the Manufacture of Umbrellas
and Parasols;" but in place of forming the indentation on the outside of
the ribs, I form it on the stretcher side thereof. Figure 8 is an enlarged
plan, and Figure 4 a corresponding side view, of the two extremities of

page_text: the tubular stretcher with the fork A, strengthened according to my im-
proved arrangement. Before the edges of the tubular stretcher are quite
closed, I insert therein, at the end intended to be forked, a short length of
charcoal iron or soft steel wire B, of sufficient thickness to fit tightly therein;
the end is then submitted to pressure in press tools, the punch and bed thereof
having semicircular grooves formed in them. The end to be formed into a
fork is now split in the manner adopted for splitting common iron stretchers,
care being taken, however, to keep the joint of the tube uppermost. The iron
or steel pin B is split to the required length by one blow of the press, and the
subsequent processes of making the fork are the same as for stretchers of the
ordinary description, except that the end of each prong of the fork is cropped
round after it is flattened. This deviation from the ordinary mode is occasioned
by each side or prong of the fork being composed of two thicknesses of steel,
or one of steel and one of iron. After the stretchers are hardened and tem-
pered, I soften the forks by heating the prongs thereof to a dark red heat.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the system or mode of strengthening the tubular ribs of umbrellas and
parasols at the part where they are connected to the stretchers, by inserting
within each tubular rib a short length of soft steel wire, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of constructing and strengthening the forks of
stretchers of umbrellas and parasols, when such stretchers are composed of
steel tubing, by inserting therein a soft steel or iron pin or short length of
wire, which is afterwards split to the required extent for forming the fork.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Holland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
HENRY HOLLAND. (L.8.)