IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS." MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS.
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Holland, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS."
MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Holland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
June 1856.
I, HENRY HOLLAND, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," to be as follows:-
that
My Invention consists of the methods herein-after described of making the
stretcher joints of steel umbrella, and parasol ribs, and also of the methods
herein-after described of making the forks of steel tubular stretchers. When
a tubular rib is required with the longitudinal joint or seam thereof inside,,
to face the stick, I take a strip of sheet steel that has been rolled by
rolls, which are grooved in a lateral direction in such a manner as to leave the
steel about thrice the general thickness in the part where the stretcher joint is!
to be made. If, however, I use a substitute for steel, rolled as above described,
sheet steel, of equal thickness throughout the strip, with which I. construct a
rib, is cut out with flanges or projections sufficiently large to form the stretcher

page_text: joint, when folded inside, either with or without an additional strengthening
piece of sheet steel placed inside the fold. By either of these methods of
construction I obtain a self-joint, which needs no external application of metal
to complete it. Where a tubular rib is of an elliptical shape, with the seam on
one edge of the ellipsis, as described in a Patent granted to me, and bearing
date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty, I insert in such tubes, before the edges are closed, a
piece of iron or steel, cut out to serve both as a strengthening piece to the rib
and as a stretcher joint; when the latter is fixed, the strengthening part
thereof remains inside the tube, and the other part is turned up to form the
stretcher joint. The peculiarity of this joint is, that it only clasps round half of
the tube by passing through it, instead of the whole, as in the common
method. When the rib is made of steel wire, I obtain a self-joint, strong
enough for the stretcher, by thickening that part which is intended for the
joint, by a method similar to that by which wood screws are headed, or by
rolling wire in rolls laterally grooved, the wire before rolling being of such
thickness as to permit sufficient strength in the part which passes in the groove
to form the stretcher joint.
My Invention consists further of the following methods of making the forks
of tubular stretchers. I take a strip of sheet metal and fold over one end,
and then slit the double thickness thus obtained lengthwise, the necessary
distance to form the fork, before it is made into a tube, so that after the tube
is formed, the end thus treated may be opened and formed into a fork, in the
usual manner; such folding of one thickness upon another may be superseded
by using steel rolled in grooved rolls, as much thicker in that part which
is to form the fork as may be necessary to ensure sufficient strength."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Holland in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HOLLAND, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Holland, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Holland,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Holland, my executors, administrators, and 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, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channe!
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC
TURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Holland, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the 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 imme
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Holland, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed;
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists of the methods herein-after described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing of making the stretcher joints of steel umbrella
and parasol ribs, and also of the methods herein-after described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing of making the forks of steel tubular stretchers.
In order to make a 26-inch tubular rib, according to the first part of my
Invention, I take a strip of steel, cut of an inch wide, from a No. 20 guage
sheet; the said steel having been annealed, I reduce the thickness thereof to
No. 27 guage, excepting that part which is intended for the stretcher joint..
This is effected by passing it once through rolls, one of which has a groove in
it, cut in a lateral direction, and this of an inch wide; the width of the joint
part of the strip of steel is then increased from inch to ths of an inch by flat-
tening in
press tools; it is then annealed, and pierced in the joint part for the
stretcher rivet. The next process is to groove or gutter it the whole length
in press tools, the die or bed being grooved, and the punch formed so as to
force the steel into the same shape. The whole of the strip or rib, excepting
the stretcher joint, is then made into a cylindrical tube, of the form represented
in Figures 3 and 4, by using No. 16 round steel wire to act as a mandril, the
ribs above and below the stretcher joint being pressed round upon it by
press tools, the upper and the lower dies having semi-cylindrical grooves of the
necessary size to inect. The mandril wires are then withdrawn.. When this

page_text: rib has been submitted to these processes it has. the shape of that which is
made by the method next described, and represented in. Figures 3 and 4
of the accompanying Drawing, and takes the stretcher.shewn in Figure 5. In
order to make a 26-inch tubular rib by my.second method, I cutrout fromia
No. 27 guage sheet of steel that has been annealed a blank, having! the joint
part of the form represented at a, a, in Figure 1 of the Drawing. The pro-
jecting parts a, a, are then partly folded in and pierced, as represented at b,b,
in Figure 2. The joint part is then grooved and the. tubular part formed; 'as
herein-before described. Figures 3 and 4" represent the rib and joint coin-
pleted, and Figure 5 represents that end of the stretcher. which is rivetted to
the joint of Figures 3 and 4. In order to make ȧ.26-inch elliptical tubular
rib according to my method of construction, I take.a strip of steel cut of an
inch wide from a No. 27 guage sheet that has been. annealed, and. form it into
an elliptical tube in press tools, as herein-before described, the shape in the
grooves of such tools being made to accord with that. to be given to the rib.
In the formation of the tube, care should be taken that the edges thereof,shall
finally meet on one of the curves through which the longest diameter of the
ellipse passes, but before they are quite closed a punch is passed betwen them
to pierce a slit in the middle of the blank, or at a point opposite to where the
edges of the tube meet and join, the said punch being shaped to perforate
away just steel enough to permit of the insertion of a blank of the form
represented in Figure 6, cut out from annealed No. 24 guage sheet steel,
and which is intended- to form the stretcher joint, and to strengthen that part
of the rib in which the joint is situated.. Figure 7 represents the tube with
the blank, Figure 6; inserted therein and pierced; and.:Figures..8 and 9
represent the tube after the blank, Figure 6, has been pressed into the,shape
required for the reception of the stretcher. The blank, Figure, 6, is marked c
in Figures 7, 8, and 9. Figure 10 represents the stretcher adapted for the
joint c, in Figures 8-and-9, and which is made by flattening. one end of a
piece of wire, annealing and bending the same round a steel peg slightly
larger than the. wire-used. for, rivetting the stretcher and rib together. The
coiled part thereof is marked d-in Figure 10. In order to make.a 26-inch
solid wire rib-with a self-joint; I take a piece of annealed steel wire No. 14
guage, and thicken up that part which is intended. for the stretcher joint; upon
the principle upon which wood-screws are headed, excepting that both ends
are grasped instead of one end by grooved tools and screw pressure, both
above and below, where the joint is intended. to be, before the force is applied:
The part so thickened is then flattened. and: pierced or drilled for the stretcher
rivet. To make a 26-inch solid wire!rib with a self-joint: by. the aid of

page_text: rollers, I take a piece of annealed steel wire drawn about 9 by 14 guage,
and pass.it once through rolls, one of which has a groove in it cut.in:a: lateral
direction, so as to permit that part of the wire which is intended.for. the
stretcher joint. to pass without being reduced, the other part of the wire being
reduced by the pressure of the rolls, which have semi-cylindrical grooves. to
meet, passing round them to about No. 14: round by the wire guage..
In order to make a steel tubular stretcher, according to another part of
my. Invention, suitable for à 26-inch rib; I take a strip of steel cut of an
inch wide from No. 26 guage sheet steel that has been annealed, and of the
necessary length, and taper one end thereof, double it over, and slit it, as
represented in Figure 11. By drawing, the whole is then made into a cylin-
drical tube, in the same manner as the cylindrical ribs, herein before described,
excepting that end where the metal is double, and from which the fork is
formed,as. represented in Figures 12 and 13. The drawing is effected by
processes well understood: In order to make a steel tubular stretcher with-
out folding over the steel to form a fork, I take a strip of No. 20 guage sheet
and roll it in rolls, as herein-before described, to No. 26 guage, except that
part which is intended for the fork, which is left of the original thickness.
As the sizes, herein-before given and represented in the accompanying
Drawing, are those adapted for. 26-inch ribs,-and for stretchers for such ribs;
it will be easily understood that the dimensions for longer or shorter ribs and
stretchers should be increased or diminished proportionally. The ribs and
stretchers described are hardened and tempered in the manner described in
the Specification of a Patent granted to me, bearing date the Twenty-second
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but
I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, the method of manufacturing umbrella and parasol tubular ribs
with the stretcher joints of the said ribs as herein first described, that is to
say, reducing the thickness of the strip of steel of which the said rib and
joint are to be made in all parts excepting that from which the joint is to be
made, and afterwards expanding laterally the part from which the joint is to
be made by pressure, and forming the whole into a tube, excepting that
part from which the said joint is to be made, the said part being folded into
two parallel portions to form the said stretcher joint.

page_text: Secondly, the method of manufacturing umbrella and parasol tubular ribs
with the stretcher joints of the said ribs, as herein described, and illustrated
in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawing.
Thirdly, the method of manufacturing umbrella and parasol tubular ribs
with the stretcher joints of the said ribs, as herein described, and illustrated
in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the accompanying Drawing.
Fourthly, the methods herein described of manufacturing umbrella and
parasol solid wire ribs with the stretcher joints formed of the same wire, as
herein described.
Fifthly, the method of manufacturing umbrella and parasol tubular stretchers
with forks, as herein described, and illustrated in Figures 11, 12, and 13 of
the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Holland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
HENRY HOLLAND. (L.S.)