IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS."-A
communication from abroad by Charles Horace Noyes, of the City
and State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 10th July 1868, and dated the 6th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th May 1808.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in combs consists in making combs
of sheet metal and then enamelling or japanning the articles to preserve
them from oxidation. Any hard metal of sufficient elasticity may be
used, but sheet steel will be found to be the most suitable substance
for the purpose.

page_text: In carrying out the Invention the steel should be cut up into bands
or strips of suitable width according to the width of comb to be produced,
and the teeth stamped out by a fly press or otherwise. Two combs
are cut out of one width of metal, that is the interstices between the
teeth of one comb will form the teeth of the other or corresponding
comb. Round or curved combs to be used for keeping up ladies' hair
should be very elastic, and should by preference be made of steel, and
are bent into the required curve after the teeth have been cut out, and
are then hardened and tempered, after which they are to be enamelled,
japanned, varnished, or otherwise coated or covered with some substance
which will preserve them from oxidation. Straight combs need not
be so elastic as round or curved combs, and in order to stiffen them
they are provided with a metal back which may be ornamented by
painting, enamelling, or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 1
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton,
Her special licence, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS," being à communi-
cation to me from abroad by Charles Horace Noyes, of the City of
New York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or,
administrators, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):-
It is well known that for children's round combs it is most important
that the material of which they are made should possess not only
sufficient flexibility and clasticity to enable them to be adjusted or to
adjust and conform themselves to the contour and, shape of the head
when placed thercon, and when removed to resume their original shape
or nearly so, but also such an amount of strength and tenacity or
cohesiveness that in their use they will not be liable to break or snap.
apart, which would render them entirely unfit for further use or
service.
Heretofore in the manufacture of these combs india-rubber, vulcanized
horn, and tortoiseshell have been the materials used, as they were
flexible and clastic to the proper degree, but with each and all of them
it has been found in their use that they were and are liable either
to a greater or lesser extent to break or snap apart without they were
handled and put on and taken off with the utmost care by the wearer,
and as they are adapted and intended more particularly for use by
children, it is plainly obvious that it was and is impossible to secure
in their handling that care which is necessary or requisite.
To produce combs that while fiexible and elastic will possess sufficient
strength and tenacity or cohesiveness to resist breakage by use, however
careless the user or wearer may be in handling and in putting it on
and taking it off, is the object of the present Invention, which consists
in making combs of steel suitably tempered for elasticity and flexibility
combined with strength and tenacity or cohesiveness, and in coating
or covering by enamelling or japanning the several surfaces of the

page_text: combs so as to protect them from corrosion, oxidation, or other
deterioration from the atmospheric elements, or from the perspiration,
or from contact with the hair of the head or otherwise.
A round comb thus made possesses all the requisites necessary not
only for the special purpose for which it is used but also for its durability
and permenancy in such use by not being liable to break whether care
is or is not taken by the wearer.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side view of a round
comb made in the manner above mentioned, and Fig. 2 is a transverse
vertical section of the same.
The round comb shewn in the Drawings may (so far as its shape,
width, and length, size of teeth) be similar to any of such combs now
in use and as manufactured by any of the ordinary modes or from
the materials heretofore used, and therefore in these respects needing
no particular description herein.
In carrying out the Invention I first take a plate or strip of steel of
the requisite width, length, and thickness, and in such plate are cut
the teeth in any convenient manner. I then bend the strip into the
proper round or curved shape and temper the same in any manner
adapted to give it the desired elasticity and flexibility as well as strength
and tenacity, the process or mode of tempering forming no part of
the present Invention. The surfaces of the comb are then coated or
curved by enamelling to protect it against corrosion or oxidation or
other deterioration.
I deem it best to cover the surfaces of the comb by enamelling in
the ordinary manner of emamelling metal or any other suitable
process.
Straight combs are cut out of strips of steel of suitable width (in
the same manner as shewn at Figs. 3), but they do not require to be so
elastic as round combs, and in order to give a certain amount of rigidity
or stiffness they are provided with a metal back, which may be
ornamented by painting, enamelling, or otherwise.
Having thus fully described the Invention which has been communi-
cated to me by my foreign correspondent as aforesaid, what I claim
and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, manufacturing combs from
sheet steel, the teeth of which combs are punched out of a single steel

page_text: plate and finished, ornamented, and protected from corrosion by
enamelling, japanning, or otherwise, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.s.)