IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR AND OTHER PINS USED AS DRESS OR ORNAMENT FASTENINGS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR AND OTHER PINS USED AS
DRESS OR ORNAMENT FASTENINGS." A communication from Eugene
Bourdon, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Mechanical Engineer.
-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1855.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR AND OTHER PINS USED
AS DRESS OR ORNAMENT FASTENINGS," a communication from Eugene Bourdon,
of Paris, in the Empire of France, Mechanical Engineer, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved form or forms of shanks of hair pins,
and pins used in securing garments, whether such pins be fitted into brooches, or
rendered ornamental, or used simply as common dress-securing pins, whereby
a greater security is obtained, and the pin rendered to become accidentally
displaced than those constructed in the ordinary manner. This improved form
of pin consists in making the shank or a portion of the same undulating

page_text: instead of straight; and in hair pins with the shanks, either one or both
may be made undulating. In place of forming or bending the shanks into
an undulating form, they may be made straight, and have a series of irregular
undulating projections formed round the sides thereof.
The undulations or projections herein-before described may either be made
on the wire before its manufacture into pins, or they may be made during the
process of the manufacture, or formed after the pin is constructed, by any
suitable mechanical contrivance, and may be applied to wire of any desired
section whatever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that J, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HAIR AND OTHER PINS USED AS DRESS OR ORNAMENT FASTENINGS," a
communication from Eugene Bourdon, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Mechanical Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said
John Henry Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describo 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to an improved form or forms of shanks of hair
pins, and pins used in securing garments, whether such pins be fitted into
brooches, or rendered ornamental, or used simply as common dress-securing
pins, whereby a greater security is obtained, and the pin rendered less liable to
become accidentally displaced than those constructed in the ordinary manner.
This improved form or forms of pin consists in making the shank or a portion
of the same undulating instead of straight; and in hair pins with two shanks,
either one or both of such shanks may be made undulating; or, in place of
forming or bending the shank into an undulating form, they may be made
straight, and have a series of irregular undulating projections formed round
the sides thereof. The undulations or projections herein-before described may
either be made on the wire before its manufacture into pins, or they may be
made during the process of the manufacture, or formed after the pin is con-
structed, by any suitable mechanical contrivance, and may be applied to wire
of any desired section whatever.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed particularly to describe the same; and for that purpose I shall refer to
the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents an ordinary pin, with the undulations
herein-before referred to formed upon the greater portion of its shank. Theso
undulations may either be formed during the process of manufacture of the
pins, or upon the wire destined for their manufacture, or upon the shank of
the pin after it is completed. Figure 2 represents one of the modes of forming
the undulations, which consists in the employment of a matrix A, having an
undulated surface a in conjunction with a die B, also having an undulated
surface, but so disposed that the projections on such surface shall correspond
to the hollows of the matrix. This die is fixed to any suitable press, and a
range of straight pins having been placed on the surface of the matrix at right
angles to the undulations, the die B is brought forcibly down on to the pins,
thereby obliging them to assume the form of the die and matrix. Figure 3
represents another form of pin, the shank of which, in place of being undu-
lated, has a number of projecting knobs formed on its surface, such knobs
having precisely the same effect as the undulations herein-before referred to.
Figures 4 and 5 represent two forms of undulated double hair pins, the
first form having both its shauks undulated, whilst the second one has

page_text: only one shank so formed. These hair pins are formed in a somewhat
similar manner to the undulated pin shewn at Figure 1, only that as two
shanks are undulated. I employ the intermediate plate C, Figures 6 and 7,
undulated on both its upper and lower surface, and over which the two shanks,
having been previously bent, are laid. The plate C with the pins upon it
is then laid upon the surface of the undulated matrix A, and the undulated
die B is brought down, thereby effecting the undulations on both shanks
simultaneously.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or
restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had
occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom
without deviating from the principles or main features of the said Invention;
but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,
First, the application and use of hair pins, or pins for dress fastenings,
whether ornamental or otherwise, formed with undulations on their shanks, as
herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of pins having projections or irregularities
formed on the surface of their shanks, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of undulating the shanks of pins by means of
undulated dies and matrices, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventh day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.