IMPROVEMENTS IN LABELS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Alfred Varley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd May 1881.
SAMUEL ALFRED VARLEY, of Hatfield, in the County of Hertfordshire, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LABELS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object the overcoming a great defect experienced with
the labels used for horticultural purposes. The labels in most general use are
made of wood or zinc, and the names are written on the wood or the metal.
Labels so constructed, after they have been in use for a time, become always more
or less, and not infrequently quite illegible. This defect has been remedied to
some extent by punching raised letters in the metal by means of a die. This
method involves a fresh die for every name, which is expensive in the first instance.
Also the labels so made can only be used for the special plant whose name they
bear, and if, as often occurs, the plants cultivated are changed, a new set of labels is
required. I remedy this defect by constructing glass chambers made by preference
of flattened tube closed at one end by fusing the glass. In this chamber I place
slip of paper or card containing the name desired, either written or printed thereon,
and then hermetically seal the mouth either with sealing wax or other suitable
cement.
a
The labels are thus completely protected, and as the glass is practically unaffected
by exposure to the weather, the names remain always as legible as when first
made. Moreover the name can be changed at any time by unsealing with the aid
of a little heat the sealed end, removing the slip containing the name, replacing it
with another and resealing the mouth, thus effecting a very great saving in the
actual number of labels required.
For trees or shrubs the fused end of the glass chamber is either bent round in
the form of a hook or a hole made through it to enable it to be hung up by either
a piece of string or wire.
For open borders the fused end of the glass chambers containing the slip with the
name thereon can be inserted a little way in the ground, or the chambers may be
attached to a strip or holder of wood, porcelain, or metal, the glass chamber laying
horizontally to the holder. When so constructed I prefer to fasten the glass
chamber in the following manner :-Four holes are made in the holder at the upper
•

page_text: end. The two upper ones are in a line at right angles to the holder, and the two
lower ones are arranged parallel to these, just sufficient space being allowed for
the glass chamber to lay between the upper and lower holes. Two ends of a piece
of binding wire are now passed from the back of the holder through the two upper
holes over the glass chamber, which is placed between the upper and lower holes,
and then through the lower holes to the back of the holder. The two ends of the
binding wire are now pulled tightly so as to lash the glass chamber to the holder
and fastened. by twisting them together.
A small wedge is then inserted between the wire and the back of the holder to
render it more secure. This wedge can be taken out and replaced at any time, if
for any reason it be desired to remove the glass chamber from the holder.