IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Johnson and William Hatchman, both
of Nos. 3 and 4, Little Love Lane, and of Nos. 73 and 74, Wood
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN UMBRELLAS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Johnson and
William Hatchman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 18th May 1869.
We, FREDERICK JOHNSON and WILLIAM HATCHMAN, both of Nos. 3
and 4, Little Love Lane, and of Nos. 73 and 74, Wood Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS," to be as follows:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in umbrellas.
Silk umbrellas are particularly liable to wear in the folds between the
ribs; with a view to prevent this the fabric has sometimes been made
thicker where the folds come than elsewhere, this however does not

page_text: materially increase the durability of the umbrella, for the silk even when
thick forms a sharp crease which by concentrating the wear to a single
line causes the fabric to be rapidly worn through.
According to my Invention I prevent this by employing as the
thickening material a fibre having the property of resisting the formation
of sharp well defined creases; cotton and linen are fibres very suitable
for use for this purpose, and by their use in this manner the durability
of the umbrella is much increased. As respects the remainder of the
fabric prefer to make it entirely of silk as other fibres do not so well
retain their colours and umbrellas made from them soon become shabby.
The silk may however be mixed with other fibre, but in all cases I use
in the manufacture of umbrellas a fabric made thicker where the folds
come than in other parts, and in these thicker parts, consisting partly of
silk and partly of another fibre, having the property of resisting the
formation of sharp creases or folds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Johnson and William Hatchman in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th November 1569.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
JOHNSON and WILLIAM FLATCHMAN, both of Nos. 3 and 4, Little Love
Jane, and of Nos. 73 and 74, Wood Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Eler heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Frederick Johnson and William
Hatchman, Her special licence that we, the said Frederick Johnson and
William Hatchman, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Frederick Johnson and William Hatchman, our
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

page_text: IN UMBRELLAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Frederick Johnson and William Hatchman, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly des-
cribe 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Frederick Johnson and William
Hatchman, 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 thereof, that is to
say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in umbrellas.
Silk umbrellas are particularly liable to wear in the folds between
the ribs; with a view to prevent this the fabric has sometimes being
made thicker where the folds come than elsewhere, this however does
not materially increase the durability of the umbrella, for the silk even
when thick forms a sharp crease which by concentrating the wear to a
single line causes the fabric to be rapidly worn through.
According to our Invention we prevent this by employing as the
thickening material a fibre having the property of resisting the formation
of sharp well defined crcases; cotton and linen are fibres very suitable
for use for this purpose, and by their use in this manner the durability
of the umbrella is much increased. As respects the remainder of the
fabric we prefer to make it entirely of silk as other fibres do not so well
retain their colors and umbrellas made from them soon become shabby.
The silk may however be mixed with other fibre, but in all cases we use
in the manufacture of umbrellas a fabric made thicker where the folds
come than in other parts, and in these thicker parts, consisting partly of
silk and partly of another fibre, having the property of resisting the
forination of sharp creases or folds.
In carrying our Invention into effect we set up the loom for weaving
the covering fabric with which our umbrellas are made with a silk warp
just as for weaving a plain silk fabric, and where the creases are to come
for the width of somewhat more than an inch we double the warp,
adding to the silk warp a cotton warp of about the same substance and

page_text: with these warps the fabric is woven. In place of cotton linen and other
vegetable fibres may be used.
What we claim is, the construction of umbrellas with a covering of a.
silken fabric in which in the folds of the umbrella the silken fabric is
made stronger than in other parts by the addition of cotton or other
vegetable fibre.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick Johnson and William
Hatchman, have hercunto set our hands and scals, this Seventeenth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine.
FREDERICK JOHNSON. (L.s.)
WILLIAM HATCHMAN. (L.S.)