CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HOPPER CANEY, of Aylesbury Street, in the Parish of Saint John, Clerkenwell,
in the County of Middlesex, Goldsmith and Jeweller, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-nine, in the ninth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Hopper Caney, His
especial licence, that I, the said John Hopper Caney, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Hopper Caney, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said John Hopper Caney, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Hopper Caney, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My improvements in the construction of umbrellas and parasols consist, in
the first place, in a new mode of forming the joints connecting the ends of the
expanding ribs of an umbrella or parasol to the cap at the top, and also the
joints connecting the stretchers with the sliding tube.
Secondly, in a new mode of constructing the joints, by which the outer
extremities of the stretchers are connected to the expanding ribs.
And lastly, in the adaptation of several rings intended to slide upon the
umbrella stick, for the purpose of receiving severally the inner joints of
stretchers of various lengths, by which I am enabled to construct umbrellas of
a square or any other form requiring the length of the several expanding ribs
to vary in their dimensions.
The accompanying Drawing shews the several parts of my Invention.
Fig. 1st represents the tube a, a, to be affixed at top of the umbrella; b, b,
are two of the expanding ribs; c is the box or socket piece in which the joints
are made. The upper side of this socket piece is shewn in the horizontal
view, Fig. 2, in which one of the ribs is seen inserted into one of the recesses
of the socket piece, having a small piece of steel or other wire d passed through
an eye in the stem of the cap e at the end of the rib (see Fig. 3), which s
constitutes an axle or fulcrum for the end of the rib to turn upon. I
prefer making the extremities of the pin d wedge-shaped, and letting it into
corresponding recesses in the socket for the purpose of preventing the wire
from turning, which keeps the joint firm and does not allow the pin to
wear. Fig. 4 shews the under side of the ring cap f, which, when placed s
upon the socket piece c, secures all the joints as at Fig. 1, and is made fast
by screws or pins passed through the ring cap f and the socket piece c.
Fig. 5 shews the mode of connecting the stretchers to the sliding tube, which
is by precisely the same contrivance as that described above, the socket piece c
being in this case inserted. The mode of attaching the outer extremity of
the stretcher to the expanding rib is shewn in Figs. 6 and 7, the latter of
which exhibits the whalebone stretcher & cut across in section. A piece of thin
plate brass or any other metal, about half an inch broad, is bent up, forming

page_text: three sides of a square, as shewn at g, (and coloured red for distinction,)
and another piece of thin plate brass or other metal h, h, h, (coloured yellow)
is bent round the whalebone rib b, and folded in over the sides of the piece g.
Through the doubles of these pieces and through the stretcher i a pin k is
passed, which forms the outer joint that the stretcher acts upon. Figs. 8
and 9 exhibit the sliding rings to which the inner extremities of the stretchers
are attached when the umbrella is to be made square, or of any other form
deviating from the ordinary circular shape. Fig. 10 represents the interior of
a square umbrella, expanded; such a one I propose as suited to a chaise
or other open carriage. The expanding ribs of this umbrella are made of
different lengths, that is, those ribs which extend to the corners of the
umbrella are longer than those which extend to the straight sides. The
stretchers also which support the ribs, when expanded, are of different lengths,
and, therefore, when the umbrella is closing, their inner joints must be per-
mitted to slide down the stick. This is effected by attaching the joints to
separate sliding rings, as shown at Fig. 9, which rings, when the umbrella is
expanded, are brought up and lock together as seen in Fig. 8.
Having described my improvements in the construction of umbrellas and
parasols, I wish it to be observed that I claim as my Invention,-
First, the mode of constructing the joints at the inner extremities of the
stretchers and the ribs by means of a small pin passed through the end of
each stretcher and each rib or the cap piece attached to such rib, which pin
is held fast in a socket piece by means of a cap piece in the manner shewn in
the several Figures of the Drawings relating thereto, and which construction
of joints is more firm and secure than any joints of umbrellas heretofor
made.
Secondly, in the contrivance of a socket to be attached to the whalebone rib
by bending plate metal round it in the manner shewn, for the purpose of
receiving the outer extremity of the stretcher and making a firm joint.
And, lastly, the adaptation of several sliding rings to which the inner joints
of certain of the stretchers are to be attached when an umbrella is required to
be made of square or oblong figure.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hopper Caney, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.
JOIN HOPPER (L.s.) CANEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of March, in
the tenth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Fourth, the said
John Hopper Caney came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of March, One thousand eight hundred and