KOY EMENTS IN TOBACCO PIPES AND CLEANERS THEREFOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Barr, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Hydraulic Engineer, and Machine Maker, for an Invention of
LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Barr, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Hydraulic Engineer, and Machine Maker, for an Invention of
IMP KOY EMENTS IN TOBACCO PIPES AND CLEANERS THEREFOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Barr at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th December 1882.
ALEXANDER BARR, of Glasgow in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Hydraulic Engineer, and Machine maker, "IMPROVEMENTS IN TOBACCO PIPES
AND CLEANERS THEREFOR
"
This Invention has for its object to facilitate the cleaning of tobacco pipes and it
consists principally in the application for that purpose of a strip or blade of thin
steel or other suitable metal which is twisted throughout its length or at one or
more parts of its length. The cleaner consisting in this way of a thin twisted
metallic blade may be fixed to a small handle for the purpose of being used to
clean any pipe the bore of which will admit it; but it is by preference made as a
permanent adjunct to a tobacco pipe, there being a variety of ways in which it and
the pipe can be contrived or arranged with that view.
In one modification a suitable aperture is made at the bowl end of the pipe and
a small plug provided for stopping the aperture is made to serve as the handle of
the twisted cleaner blade or strip The twisted cleaner blade may be made nearly
as broad as the diameter of the bore of the pipe, and it lies in the bore whilst the
pipe is being smoked, the condensible constituents of the smoke tending to become
deposited on the blade which facilitates the cleaning operation. Pipes such as
those made of briar root, having mouth pieces attached by means of screw
couplings or "mountings" may have the twisted cleaner blades fixed or held at the
couplings in any convenient way, and the blade may in each case be made to
extend from the coupling to the bowl only or to extend in both directions. The
twisted cleaner blade is flexible and will operate equally well in the bores of

page_text: curved and straight pipes; and when in a curved bore it can be turned with facility.
It may be made long enough to project a little into the bowl of the pipe, and can
be turned so as to displace any obstruction in the bowl.
A further improvement consists in forming a small cavity in the bottom of the
bowl for the collection of condensed matter. The twisted cleaning blade projects
so as to partly cover this cavity and prevent tobacco getting into it, but on with-
drawing the blade the cavity can be easily cleaned out from the mouth of
the bowl.
When the stem of a tobacco pipe is made in two or more lengths it will be
sufficient to provide one twisted cleaning blade which can be used with any of the
lengths and which may be held in one of the lengths when the pipe is being used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alexander Barr in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th June
1883.
ALEXANDER BARR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Hydraulic Engineer and Machine Maker, "IMPROVEMENTS IN TOBACCO PIPES AND
CLEANERS THEREFOR
"
My said Invention has for its object to facilitate the cleaning of tobacco pipes
and it consists principally in the application for that purpose of a strip or narrow
blade of thin steel or other suitable metal, which is slightly twisted throughout its
length or at one or more parts of its length. The cleaner consisting in this way of
a thin twisted metallic blade may be fixed to a small handle for the purpose of
being used to clean any pipe the bore of which will admit it; but it is by preference
made as a permanent adjunct to a tobacco pipe, there being a variety of ways in
which it and the pipe can be contrived or arranged with that view. The twisted
cleaner blade may be made nearly as broad as the diameter of the bore of the pipe,
and, in several modifications, is intended to lie in the bore whilst the pipe is being
smoked, the condensible constituents of the smoke tending to become deposited on
the blade, which facilitates the cleaning operation. The twisted cleaner blade is.
flexible and will operate equally well in the bores of curved and straight pipes;
and when in a curved bore it can be turned with facility. It may be made long.
enough to project a little into the bowl of the pipe, and can be turned so as to
displace any obstruction in the bowl.
A further improvement adopted in some modifications consists in forming a
small cavity or well in the bottom of the bowl for the collection of condensed
matter. The twisted cleaner blade projects so as to partly cover this cavity and
prevent tobacco getting into it; but on withdrawing the blade the cavity can be
easily cleaned out from the mouth of the bowl.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append two sheets of explanatory drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and representing some of the various modes in which
my improved flexible twisted cleaner blades can be adapted to tobacco pipes. In
these drawings the same reference letters are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated. In all the figures the pipes are shown in section, and
silver or other metal mountings or coupling parts are shown by solid black pigment
where they are in section.
Figure, 1, represents a common form of pipe having a straight stem, S, and a
curved mouth piece, M and which is fitted with a single twisted cleaner blade, C.
This blade is fixed to a small handle, H, which is fitted as a plug to an aperture
formed in the part of the bowl, B, opposite to the entrance of the bore of the stem.
A well or cavity, W, is formed at the bottom of the bowl and is covered by the
cleaner blade, C, which prevents tobacco from getting into it; but the cavity can
be easily cleaned out when the cleaner blade is withdrawn.
Figure 2, represents a pipe with stem, S, and mouthpiece, M, straight, and fitted
with two cleaner blades, C, c, one for the stem and one for the mouthpiece. The
mouthpiece has to be unscrewed to get at its cleaner blade c, which has a small
button or head formed on its inner end by which to take hold of it. The cleaner
blade, C, of the stem is fixed to a plug handle, H, as in figure," 1.
Figure 3, represents a pipe with both the stem S, and the mouthpiece, M,
curved. There are two cleaner blades, C, c, as in figure, 2, but the smaller one, c,
is manipulated by means of a small head formed on its outer end but so as not to
close the mouthpiece orifice
Figure, 4, represents a pipe fitted with a single twisted blade, C, for cleaning
the stem, S, the blade being fixed in the inner end of the mouthpiece M

page_text: '
"
Figures 5, 6, and 7, represent pipes each fitted with a cleaner blade held by its
middle at the inner end of the mouthpiece, M, and formed with one part, C, for
cleaning the stem, S, and the other part, c, for cleaning the mouthpiece. The
middle part of the cleaner blade is not fixed but only fitted tightly and when the
mouthpiece is unscrewed, the blade can be loosened and turned in it or drawn out.
Figure, 8, represents a pipe having a single twisted cleaner blade, C, extending
through the mouthpiece M and stem, S, the blade being made with a small head
on its mouthpiece end by means of which head it can be drawn out and turned..
A separate view is given of the complete blade and another view showing the head,
edgeways. An end view is also given of the mouthpiece orifice which is broad but
which is not quite filled by the head of the cleaner blade, C.
In the pipes shown in figures, 9, 10, and 11, the cleaner blade, C, is applied in.
the same way as in the pipe shown in figure, 8. Figure 9, shows a pipe having a
much curved metal stem and illustrates the flexibility of the cleaner blade, C,
which notwithstanding the curvature of the stem can be turned or twisted in it
with perfect facility. Figure, 10, represents a clay pipe which has a notch formed
across the end of the stem, S, to receive the small end of the cleaner blade, C.
Figure, 11, shows a small pipe for holding a cigar,-in other words a cigar holder;
and in a similar manner a cigarette holder or pipe may be fitted with my improved
flexible twisted cleaner blade.
"
".
Figure, 12, shows a pipe of the kind usually put up in what is termed a
kidney case. The mouthpiece M is shown detached also the cleaner blade, C,
In this example a single cleaner blade, C, is used for either stem S, or mouth-
piece M and is formed with a flat head which can be held either in the inner end
of the mouthpiece or in the end of the stem when being used for cleaning the stem
or mouthpiece respectively..
Figure, 13, represents an example of a class of pipe in which the stem S, is
separable from the bowl, B, the latter being of meerschaum or other suitable
material. The head of the flexible twisted cleaner blade C, is formed on the end
which projects from the stem, S, when this is separated from the bowl B. In this
example the cleaner blade extends through the mouthpiece, M.
:
Figure, 14, represents another example of the same class of pipe as that shown
in figure, 13. In this case a smaller cleaning blade, c, is used for the mouthpiece M.
The stem, S, may be extended by screwing between it and the mouth piece one or
more lengths like the one shown in figure, 15, but a single cleaner blade, C, will
serve for all the lengths if these are made with the same size of bore.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and. the manner of per-
forming the same I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated but that what I believe to be novel and original and
claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the bereinbefore in part
récited Letters Patent is :
1. The application and adaptation as a cleaner of tobacco pipes of a slightly
twisted thin flexible metallic strip or blade arranged substantially in any of the
modes hereinbefore described.
2. The well or cavity, W, at the bottom of the bowl of a tobacco pipe in com-
bination with a blade partly covering the same but removable for cleaning out the
cavity substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
In Witness whereof I, the said Alexander Barr, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty-ninth day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three