AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BROOMS AND SCRUBBING BRUSHES."
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Ludford, of Staveley, in the County
of Derby, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BROOMS AND SCRUBBING BRUSHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Ludford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th July 1861.
I, WILLIAM HENRY LUDFORD, of Staveley, in the County of Derby, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BROOMS AND SCRUBBING BRUSHES,"
to be as follows:-
Instead of arranging the bristles or fibres of the broom or brush in separate
tufts or bundles, secured in rows of holes, I fix the said bristles or fibres in
continuous lines or rows by fixing them in grooves extending from end to end
of the broom or brush. For example, in making a broom according to my
Invention, I make a hollow or trough in the under side of the head of the
broom, and I place the bristles or fibres in a row on each side of the said
hollow or trough. I then insert a block or wedge in the said hollow or trough,
and between the rows of bristles or fibres and by means of screws or rivets
passed transversely through the head of the broom, the block or wedge. is
secured in its place. The bristles or fibres are thus held securely in the grooves
formed between the said block or wedge and the sides of the hollow or trougli.
The ends of the grooves are closed by means of metal plates made to fit on the
ends of the broom head; any required number of rows of bristles or fibres may
be secured in the manner described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Ludford in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY LUDFORD, of Staveley, in the County of Derby, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the sa d
William Henry Ludford, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Ludford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Henry Ludford, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BROOMS AND SCRUBBING BRUSHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Henry Ludford, 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 William Henry Ludford, 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 improvement or improvements herein-after
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing in manufacturing
brooms and scrubbing brushes.
Instead of arranging the bristles or fibres of the broom or scrubbing brush
in separate tufts or bundles secured in rows of holes as is ordinarily practised,
I fix the said bristles or fibres in continuous lines or rows by fixing them in
grooves extending from end to end of the broom or brush, or across the broom
or brush.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention in its application to a broom, from

page_text: which description and illustration the application of my Invention to scrubbing
brushes will be readily understood.
In making a broom according to my Invention I make a hollow or trough
in the under side of the head of the broom, and I take bristles or fibres of
more than twice the length of the bristles of the intended broom, and I place
the said bristles or fibres across the said hollow or trough; I then insert a
block or wedge in the said hollow or trough, the said block or wedge carrying
before it the bristles or fibres laid across the hollow or trough. By the inser-
tion of the said block or wedge the bristles or fibres are doubled and arranged
on either side of the hollow or trough. By means of pins or screws passed
transversely through the head of the broom and block or wedge, the said
block or wedge is secured in its place. The bristles or fibres are thus held
securely in the grooves formed between the said block or wedge and the sides
of the hollow or trough.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents in side elevation a broom made
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the under side of the
same; and Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of the same; Figures 4
and 5 represent portions of the said broom as herein-after described.
a is the head of the broom, in which said head I form, by planing or cutting,
a hollow or trough 6;. this trough 6 is best seen in the plan of the under side
and end elevation of the broom head, Figure 4. Into the said trough or
channel the bristles or fibres c are forced, as herein-before explained, the said
bristles or fibres being pressed against the sides and top of the said trough or
hollow b by the block or wedge d, as seen in Figures 2 and 3. The block
or wedge d is shown separately in side elevation and end elevation in
Figure 5. By the driving of the block d the bristles or fibres c are bent or
doubled, and securely held between the sides and top of the trough b and the
sides and top of the said block d, as best seen in Figure 3, in which Figure 3
the position of the bristles or fibres against the sides and top of the trough b is
clearly shown. The block or wedge d is kept in its place by means of the
pins e, e, or by screws passed transversely through the head a of the broom,
and the said block or wedge d. The ends of the groove or trough b in the
broom head are closed by means of the metallic end plates f, f, made to fit on
the ends of the broom head, as best seen in Figure 2. The end bristles or
fibres of the broom may either be placed on the cut away portions d² of the
block or wedge, the said bristles being tied thereon and bent in the finished
broom into the form indicated in dotted lines in Figure 5 by the end plates f,
or tufts of bristles may be inserted and fixed in holes formed near the ends of
the block or wedge d. When a large quantity of bristles is required in the

page_text: broom, tufts or bundles of bristles may be fixed in holes made a short distance
apart in the block or wedge. When the broom is broad or the bristles are
required to be thick, two or more grooves, troughs, or channels may be made
longitudinally in the broom head, in which grooves or troughs the rows of
bristles or fibres are secured in the manner already described.
In the case of scrubbing brushes the bristles are made shorter than those
for brooms, and several channels or troughs are made side by side in the head
of the scrubbing brush, and the bristles are fixed in the said channels or troughs
in the manner already described with respect to brooms.
Although I prefer to make the grooves, troughs, or channels longitudinally
in the broom or scrubbing brush head, yet where the broom or scrubbing brush
is broad, they may be made transversely in the broom or brush head, and the
bristles or fibres secured therein by means of blocks or wedges.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented in the Drawing,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion;
but I claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in the
manufacture of brooms and scrubbing brushes herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, fixing the bristles or
fibres of the said brooms and scrubbing brushes in continuous lines or rows, by
forcing the said bristles or fibres into grooves, channels, or troughs made in the
broom or scrubbing brush head, and securely holding the said bristles or fibres
in their places by blocks or wedge-shaped pieces driven into the said grooves,
channels, or troughs, and fixed by pins or screws.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Ludford, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
'Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM HENRY LUDFORD. (L.S.)