IMPROVEMENTS IN HANGING AND DRAWING WINDOW AND OTHER CURTAINS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Ker, of No. 69, Mansfield Road, in the
Parish of Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet Maker,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HANGING AND DRAWING WINDOW
AND OTHER CURTAINS."
Sealed the 14th April 1870, and dated the 18th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Ker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th October 1869.
I, MATTHEW KER, of No. 69, Mansfield Road, in the Parish of Saint
Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet Maker, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HANGING AND
DRAWING WINDOW AND OTHER CURTAINS," to be as follows:-
In carrying out this Invention the ordinary pine cornice lath to which
curtain rods or runners are attatched is used. A strip or strips of wood

page_text: are provided of suitable width and thickness, ordinarily about two inches
wide by one inch thick; these strips are straight or curved according to
the shape of the lath to be fitted up and will be rebated on one edge
about half an inch in depth and width, they will then be screwed on the
under side of the lath with the rebated side next the lath. I then screw
a strip of brass or other suitable metal upon the projecting edge of the
strip formed by the rebate, the top edge of the metal strip being kept
sufficiently far from the under side of the lath to allow of a hook being
hung on the top edge of the strip, but not far enough down to admit of a
curtain cord to pass between. By this means a channel is formed along
the under side of the lath in which the cord by which the curtains are
drawn can lie and run. I then provide a piece of metal to form a guide;
this will be shaped like a hook and will hang on the edge of the metal
strip; it will be attatched to the cord which lies in the channel, by which
it will be drawn back and forward on the top of the strip, and on the
outside will have a hook, eye, or other suitable arrangement by which
the front end of the curtain can be attatched to it. Metal hooks are then
provided to hang and run on the top edge of the metal strip; these must
be entered at the end of the strip, as from thier form and size they cannot
get off the edge of the strip or out of thier arrangement when once run
on the strip. To prevent them from falling off when they are once on
a pin is inserted through the metal strip in front of the place where they
are hooked on; these hooks may be sewn on to the curtains or provided
with eyes by which hooks sewn on to the curtains may be attatched to
them. The curtains will be arranged in the usual manner with guide
pullies to draw it back & forward by means of the cord.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Matthew Ker in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW 3
KER, of No. 69, Mansfield Road, in the Parish of Saint Pancras, in the
County of Middlesex, Cabinet Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Matthew Ker, Her special licence that
I, the said Matthew Ker, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Matthew Ker, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agrec 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN HANGING
AND DRAWING WINDOW AND OTHER CURTAINS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Matthew Ker, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Matthew Ker, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascortained in and by
the following statement, referenco being had also to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:
In carrying out this Invention the ordinary pine cornice lath to
which curtains are attached is used. A. strip or strips of wood of suitable
width and thickness are provided; these strips will be straight or curved
according to the shape of the lath to be fitted up, and will be rebated
on one edge about half an inch in depth and width; they will then be
screwed on the under side of the lath with the rebated side next the
lath; I then screw a strip of brass or other suitable metal upon the
projecting edge of the strip formed by the rebate, the top of the metal
strip being kept a short distance from the under surface of the lath. By
this means a continuous channel is formed along the whole of the
underneath side of the lath. I then provide a piece of metal suitably
shaped with a hook on one end of it so that it may hang on the upper
edge of the strip and move freely along it. Upon the end hanging in

page_text: the groove or channel an arrangement is made by which it can be attached
to the cord, and on the other end will have a hook, eye, or other suitable
arrangement by which the front end of tho curtain can be attached to it.
Metal hooks are then provided to hang and run on the upper edge
of the metal strip. These must be entered at the end, as from their
form and size they cannot get off the edge of the strip or out of their
arrangement when run on to it. These hooks may be sewn on to the
curtains or provided with eyes by which hooks sewn on to the curtains
may be attached to them. The curtain cord will be arranged in
the usual manner with guide pulleys to draw back and forward.
Figure I. shows the end of a lath with the rebated strip of wood and
the metal strip screwed on. This metal strip is shown with a small roll
on the top edge, the use of which enables the strip to be used thinner,
and is also advantageous in giving the hooks more play.
Figure II. shews the hook or guide to which the cord is attached,
also a simple method by which the guide can have its position on tho
cord casily shifted. The bottom end of the guide is shown with a fork
projecting from cach side, but these forks may sometimes be dispensed
with.
If
Figure III, shows the form of the hook preferred. These hooks are
sewn or otherwise attached to the curtain at suitable distances.
two hooks are attached to the curtain near the front end, and a third
hook so far behind as just to leave space for the guide, as shown at
Figure IV., it is obvious that when the guide is drawn back or forward
by the cord the curtains will be drawn with it, and the guide being thus
kept a short distance from the front edge of the curtain will enable the
curtains to be drawn close together in the centre. A pin inserted at tho
end of the strip when the curtain hooks are run on will prevent them
from falling off when the curtains are drawn back.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention for "Improvements
in the Hanging and Drawing Window and other Curtains," I wish it to
be understood that under the above recited Letters Patent I claim, tho
use of a strip of metal on the edge of which the hooks to which the
curtains are attached will hang, the arrangement by which the cord
is attached to the guide and is preserved in its place whatever may
be the curve which the curtain to be drawn is required to take, the

page_text: use of hooks to facilitate the fixing and unfixing of the curtains, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Ker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
(L.s.) MATTHEW KER.