A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CURTAIN RINGS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Clements, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Warehouse Clerk, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CURTAIN RINGS."
Sealed the 6th May 1859, and dated the 2nd February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Clements at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd February 1859.
I, ISAAC CLEMENTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Warehouse
Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CURTAIN RINGS," to be as follows:-
In making curtain rings according to my Invention, I proceed as follows:-
I cut the said rings from sheet brass or other metal or alloy by means of a
pair of cutting tools of the kind ordinarily employed for cutting sheet metals,
the said tools being worked in a press, as is well understood. The rings
when thus cut from sheet metal are square or rectangular in cross section, and
require to be operated upon so as to round the edges of the metal, and make
the said rings of a circular or nearly circular figure in cross section. I effect
this by subjecting the said rings to the action of a pair of dies, which by
closing upon the said rings, compress or round the edges of the metal, and
give them the curved figure required. The pair of dies I employ are of the
kind ordinarily employed for shaping metals, and are worked in a press or

page_text: stamp. The figure of the dies is such that when brought together or closed
upon one another, the space included between them has the figure of the
ring to be produced. By engraving the dies with any device, inscription, or
ornament, the rings may be impressed therewith.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Clements in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
CLEMENTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Warehouse Clerk,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Isaac Clements, Her special licence that I, the said Isaac Clements, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isaac
Clements, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF
MANUFACTURING CURTAIN RINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Isaac Clements, 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 Isaac Clements, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists in manufacturing curtain rings by first cutting
rings from sheet brass or other suitable metal or alloy, and afterwards shaping
or finishing the said rings by suitable dies, as herein-after described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.

page_text: In carrying my Invention into effect, I proceed as follows:-I take a plate
of metal of a thickness equal to the thickness or strength required in the
curtain ring to be manufactured. By means of a pair of cutting tools, I cut
from the said plate rings, which said rings have in cross section a square or
rectangular figure. The said cutting tools are of the kind ordinarily employed
for cutting sheet metal, the said tools being worked in a press, as is well
understood. The thickness of the metal plates from which the rings are to be
cut varies according to the strength required in the rings to be made. I take
the rings produced as described, and operate upon them so as to round the
edges of the metal, and make the said rings of a circular or nearly circular
figure in cross section. I effect this rounding of the edges of the said rings
by subjecting them to the action of a pair of dies, which by closing upon the
said rings, compress or round the edges of the metal, and give the said rings
the curved figure required.
I will now describe my Invention with reference to the accompanying'
Drawing.
Figure 1 represents, in section at a, edge view at b, and plan at c, a ring
cut from sheet metal, according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents, in
section at d, side view at e, and plan at f, the said ring Figure 1 after the
edges of the same have been rounded, so as to convert it into a curtain ring;
Figure 3 represents in vertical section the pair of dies by which the edges of
the ring, Figure 1, are rounded so as to give the said ring the form represented
in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a plan of the lower die of the pair of dies, Figure 3;
The said dies, Figures 3 and 4, are worked in an ordinary press or stamp, the
upper die being fixed to the screw or ram of the said press or stamp, and the
lower die being fixed on the bed of the press or stamp. The upper die of the
said pair of dies has in its under surface an annular depression g, which
depression has, in cross section, a semicircular or nearly semicircular figure,
as represented. The surface of the lower die has also a depression h, corre-
sponding in size and shape to that in the upper die, so that when the said dies
are brought together, the space included between them has the figure of the
ring to be produced. The ring i to be shaped being placed upon the lower
die, as best seen in Figure 3, the upper die is brought down, and the said
ring i forced into and made to take the figure of the said dies, as seen in
Figure 5, which said Figure 5 represents the pair of dies, Figure 8, after the
upper die has been brought down upon the lower die. By engraving the
dies, Figures 3, 4, and 5, with any device, inscription, or ornament, the rings
may be impressed therewith. The rough edge or burr which is sometimes

page_text: produced on the stamped rings by the junction of the two dies may be removed
by burnishing or otherwise.
I prefer to cut the rings used in carrying my Invention into effect con-
centrically from the sheet metal, that is to say, I first cut from the sheet metal
a ring of the smallest size I wish to use, and next cut from the same sheet,
and concentric with the hole first cut, a second ring of the required size, and
so on until a series of concentric rings of progressively increasing size have
been cut.
Figure 6 represents in plan a series of concentric rings cut from sheet metal
to be used in manufacturing, in the manner before described, various sized
curtain rings.
By cutting the metal rings as described, great economy in the metal plates
from which the said rings are cut is secured.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention, the new or improved method of manufacturing metallic rings of the
kind commonly called curtain rings, herein-before described, and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing curtain rings by first
cutting rings from sheet brass or other suitable metal or alloy, and afterwards
completing the said rings by subjecting them to the action of a pair of dies, so
as to round the edges of the said rings, and give them a circular or nearly
circular figure in cross section.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Clements, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight, hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ISAAC CLEMENTS. (L.S.)