IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1852

page_text: Fox, of Stocks Bridge Works, Deepcar, near Sheffield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Her-
self, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Fox,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Samuel Fox, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Fox, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND
PARASOLS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Samuel Fox, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited 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
Samuel Fox, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the same, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: and parasols of steel, formed into hollow trough-like shapes; and in order
that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into
effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a portion of a narrow fillet or sheet of steel, such as I
employ.
Figure 2 shows a like fillet or narrow strip of steel plate, partially bent
into a trough-like form, and this bending I perform by rollers, one having a
groove around it and the other a corresponding projection, so that by passing
a narrow fillet or sheet of steel through between such rollers, the same is
bent into the form shewn.
Figure 3 shows the metal as having been further bent by passing it between
another groove and a corresponding projection in another pair of rollers, and
it is of this shape that I employ the steel in making the ribs and stretchers of
umbrellas and parasols, whereby I obtain great strength and lightness. I
would remark, that I am aware that solid ribs and stretchers of steel, and
also stretchers and ribs of steel tubes, have heretofore been used in the making
umbrellas and parasols, but not with such advantages as result from the use
of open trough-like ribs and stretchers of steel, or it may be other metal,
according to my Invention. The strength of the metal ribs will vary according
to the size, length, and strength desired for particular sizes of umbrellas and
parasols. In making ribs of twenty-six inches long, I have employed steel
wire of No. 13 wire guage, and having annealed the wire, I pass it between
a pair of plain rolls and make it flat, thus producing narrow strips or
pillets, bringing it to a width of about No. 6 of the wire guage. Before passing
such narrow strips or fillets through between the rolls above mentioned for
producing the open trough-like form, I anneal them, and having produced
the trough-like form, I again anneal the metal, and having straightened the
lengths I cut off the sizes for ribs and stretchers. If heavier and stronger
ribs be desired, whether for the same sizes or otherwise, I use thicker wire, and
produce thicker and wider fillets or strips, and when lighter and weaker ribs
and stretchers are desired, I employ a less size of wire, and roll it into less
thickness and width of strips. Having obtained the suitable lengths of
trough-like metal, as above explained, I proceed to make them up into ribs
and stretchers, and this I prefer to do in the following manner :-
Figure 4 shows two views of the lower end of a rib, the sides of which have
been somewhat pressed towards each other, by means of tools, in a fly or other

page_text: press. Into the end of the rib a is then introduced the wire eye b, shewn
separately at Figure 5. The rib is then subjected to a second pair of tools in
a suitable press, by which the edges of the metal are shut, and a knob or
proper tip form is given to the end, as is shewn at Figure 6. This end of the
rib is then submitted to another pair of tools to press in the sides, so as to
close them into the eye, as shown at Figure 7. In order to form the other
end of a rib so as to render it suitable for entering the top notch, I cause the
sides to be flattened between a pair of tools, as shown at Figure 8, a small
piece of steel or other metal c having been introduced, and the end is again
subjected to pressure between a pair of tools, by which it is caused to assume
the form Figure 9, and by means of a file the end is to be rounded off as
shown at Figure 10, and a hole is to be pierced as shewn at Figure 11.
In order to obtain a convenient means of connecting a rib to a stretcher I
apply a plate or strip of metal d, Figure 12, which, being bent into the form
shewn, I place within it a rib, and then, by placing these parts between a pair
of pressing tools or otherwise, I bend the plate into the form shewn at Figure 13,
and then, by means of a pair of tools, I raise the side, and force the ends of
the plate of metal d tightly into the trough, as shewn at Figure 14, after which
the projections are to be perforated as shewn at Figure 15, and the stretcher
is to be pin-jointed to it as shewn at Figure 16. The ribs and stretchers are
hardened and tempered before affixing the plate d for connecting them
together.
I would remark, that I have not thought it necessary in the Drawing to
show the rolls or the pressing tools, as their construction will at once be
understood from the forms of metal produced thereby, and which are shewn
in the Drawing.
In making the stretchers of open trough-like metal I make the two ends
alike, and similarly to what has been above described in respect to the top
ends of the ribs.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details herein given, as the same may be varied without departing from
my Invention; but what I claim are, the improvements in the manufacture of
umbrellas and parasols herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fox, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
SAM (L.B.) FOX.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Samuel Fox came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specifiel, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two.