IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUSTACHE PROTECTORS OR LIPS FOR CUPS AND OTHER DRINKING VESSELS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Herbert Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th October 1871.
I, WILLIAM HERBERT WILLIAMS, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUSTACHE PROTECTORS OR LIPS FOR
CUPS AND OTHER DRINKING VESSELS," to be as follows:-
་
Moustache protectors for cups and other drinking vessels are ordinarily
made in the form of a fixed lip or cross piece inside the cup or vessel.
My Invention consists in making moustache protectors or lips for cups
and other drinking vessels separable from the cup or vessel, and capable
in the manner hercin-after described of ready attachment to and detach-
ment from the cup or vessel.
In constructing a moustache protector or lip according to my Inven-
tion I prefer to make it from sheet metal, the said protector or lip
consisting of a strip or piece of metal, the outer edge of which is
convex and the inner edge concave, the said lip having such a figure
that when secured to the edge of the cup or vessel there is sufficient

page_text: space left between the edge of the vessel and the concave edge of the
lip for the liquid to pass from the vessel, the moustache resting upon
the protector or lip as the vessel is raised to the mouth. To the ends
of this separable or detachable lip and near the concave edge thereof I
affix to or fashion from the sheet metal of which the lip is made loops
or clips, each of the said loops or clips consisting of a pair of parallel or
nearly parallel arms depending from the moustache protector or lip.
When the moustache protector or lip is placed upon the edge of the
vessel and depressed thereon the said loops or clips drop upon or
embrace the said edge, and the moustache protector or lip is thereby
firmly suspended or fixed inside the vessel for use. By lifting the
moustache protector or .lip from the vessel the loops or clips are with-
drawn from the edge of the vessel. and the lip removed. The fixing
loops or clips of the moustache protector or lip may have a spring
action, so that when placed upon the edge of the vessel they will by 1
their elasticity contract upon and clip the said edge, but the said spring
action of the loops or clips is unnecessary, as the moustache protector
or lip when placed upon the edge of the vessel is fixed thereon by the
force of gravity.
Although I prefer to make the separable or detachable lip or a
moustache protector of metal yet it may be made of china or other
hard non-metallic material.
By providing the separable or detachable lip or moustache protector
with the loops or clips described great convenience in its use is secured
by the facility with which the said lip can be attached to the cup or 2
vessel for use or detached therefrom for cleaning or when the lip or
protector is not required to be used on the cup or vessel.
Besides convenience in use my Invention is readily manufactured
and is not liable to get out of order, and is also much more cleanly than
ordinary moustache protectors.
Moustache protectors constructed according to my Invention may bo
applied to tea and coffee cups, wine and other glasses, and other
drinking vessels.
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