IMPROVEMENTS IN STRETCHER JOINTS FOR UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Holland, of the Firm of Cox Brothers
and Holland, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STRETCHER JOINTS
FOR UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS."!

page_text: in pairs, that is to say, the holes of the first row are exactly opposite
and equidistant from the holes of the second row, and the holes of the
third row are exactly opposite and equidistant from the holes of the
fourth row, and so on. By means of a press and press tools I cut from
the said pierced sheet metal blanks the longer sides of which are parallel
and the ends semicircular. The blank is so cut from the sheet metal
that each of the semicircular ends has one of the holes at its centre.
Two pegs are made on the under side of the upper tool or punch, which
pegs entering two of the holes in the sheet serve to guide it to the
required position on the lower die. These blanks are next operated on
by means of a press and press tools, by the action of which the edges of
the semicircular ends are slightly raised or turned up.
1
.
When a blank of the kind described is doubled at its middle upon a
rib so as to bring the concave faces of the semicircular ends together
there is formed a middle bit very strong and baving the appearance of a
solid middle bit, the holes described receiving the joint pin which joints
the fork of the stretcher to the said middle bit on the rib. I double and
fix the raised blank on the rib in the following manner:-I employ a
pair of press tools, the lower one consisting of a fixed dic or bed, in the
top face of which a recess is sunk of a figure proper to receive the
raised blank. In the middle of this recess is a vertical slot opening into
a tubular cavity below it, the said tubular cavity extending through the
die from one side to the other. The upper moveable tool consists of a
flat pressing tool somewhat less in thickness than the slot in the lower
die or bed. The tools are so arranged with respect to each other that on
the descent of the moveable tool it enters the slot in the lower die or
bed. In using these tools a raised blank is placed on the lower die with
its concave side upwards, and the rib is placed across the blank and
immediately over the slot in the lower die or bed. The upper tool is
brought down, carrying the rib and blank through the slot in the lower
die into the tubular cavity below the said slot. In entering and passing
through the said slot the blank is doubled and its middle part compressed
tightly upon the rib, and the rib with the middle bit thus fixed to it
may be removed from the lower die or.bed by a lateral motion. The
upper tool has a semicircular portion cut away at its middle to permit of
the folding or doubling of the blank.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Holland in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOLLAND, of the Firm of Cox Brothers and Holland, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Holland, Her
special license that I, the said William Holland, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Holland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 STRETCHER JOINTS FOR UMBRELLAS
AS AND
PARASOLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Holland, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Scal 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 Holland, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in making that part of the stretcher joints of
umbrellas and parasols called the middle bit, and fixing the said middle
bit on the rib in the manner herein-after described.
I take a piece of thin sheet iron or other sheet metal in which rows of
equidistant holes are pierced, the. said rows of holes being arranged in

page_text: pairs, that is to say, the holes of the first row are exactly opposite and
equidistant from the holes of the second row, and the holes of the third
row are exactly opposite and equidistant from the holes in the fourth
row, and so on. By means of a press and press tools I cut from the
said pierced sheet metal blanks, the longer sides of which are parallel,
and the ends semicircular. The blank is so cut from the sheet metal
that each of the semicircular ends has one of the holes at its centre.
Two pegs are made on the under side of the upper tool or punch, which
pegs entering two of the holes in the sheet metal serve to guide it to
the required position on the lower die. These blanks are next operated
on by means of a press and press tools, by the action of which the edges
of the semicircular ends are slightly raised or turned up.
When a blank of the kind described is doubled at its middle upon a
rib so as to bring the concave faces of the semicircular ends together,
and the middle or narrow part of the blank is compressed upon the rib,
there is formed a middle bit very strong, and having the appearance of
a solid middle bit, the holes described receiving the joint pin, which
joints the fork of the stretcher to the middle bit on the rib. 1
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which the same may be performed.
Figure 1 represents the pierced strip of sheet iron or other sheet
metal, from which the middle bits are to be made, the holes in the said
strip being arranged in pairs. By means of a press and press tools the
strip, Figure 1, is cut at the dotted lines, and a pierced blank of the
form represented in plan and edge view in Figure 2 is made. The punch
of the press tools described, by which the cutting out of the blank is
.effected, is provided with two pegs on its under side, which pegs entering
the pair of holes a, a, in the strip, Figure 1, serve to guide it to the
required position on the lower tool. The blank, Figure 2, has rounded
ends b, b, and parallel sides, the centre of each rounded end having a
piercing a in it for receiving the joint pin of the finished stretcher joint.
The middle part c of the blank, Figure 2, is slightly narrower than the
rounded ends b, b. The blank, Figure 2, is operated upon by means of
a pair of press tools, so as to give it the form represented in plan, edge
views, and longitudinal and cross sections in Figure 3, that is to say, by
the operation of the said tools the edges of the semicircular ends b, b,

page_text: are slightly raised or turned up, forming a rim to the said ends, a
depressed or sunken part c being left between the raised edge or rim.
The partly made middle bit, Figure 3, is now ready to be doubled or
folded at its middle, and closed and fixed upon the rib. This is effected
in the following manner:-For the purpose of doubling or folding the
bit upon the rib I prefer to employ a pair of press tools, the lower onė
consisting of a fixed die or bed, in the top face of which a recess is sunk
of a figure proper to receive the raised blank, Figure 3. In the middle
of this recess is a vertical slot opening into a tubular cavity below it,
the said tubular cavity extending through the die from one side to the
other. The upper moveable tool consists of a flat pressing tool somewhat
less in thickness than the slot in the lower die or bed. The tools are so
arranged with respect to each other that on the descent of the moveable
tool it enters the slot in the lower die or bed. In using these tools the
raised blank, Figure 3, is placed on the lower die with its concave side
upwards, and the rib is placed across the blank and over the slot in the
lower dic or bed.
The position of the rib d upon the raised blank is represented in plan
in Figure 4, and section in Figure 5. The upper tool is brought down,
carrying the rib d and blank b, c, through the slot in the lower die into
the tubular cavity below the said slot. In entering and passing through
the said slot the blank b, c, Figure 4, is folded or doubled around the
rib d, the concave faces of the semicircular ends 6 being nearly brought
together, and the narrow part or neck c being .closed partly around the
rib d. The rib d with the middle bit attached to it may now be removed
from the lower die or bed by a lateral motion. The upper tool has a
semicircular portion cut away at its middle to permit of the folding or
doubling of the blank. The middle bit after it has been folded or
doubled upon the rib and its ends nearly brought together is represented
in end elevation, side elevation, and section in Figure 6, where the rib is
marked d, the folded sides of the middle bit are marked b, and the
The double bit,
narrow part or neck between the sides is marked c.
Figure 6, is next placed in a pair of tools having together the shape of
the finished middle bit. By the operation of these tools the sides 6 of
the partly made middle bit, Figure 6, are closed upon one another, edge
to edge, the neck part c being compressed tightly upon the rib d so as to
fix the middle bit firmly on the said rib. The middle bit after the last
.described treatment is represented in side elevation and section in Figure 7.

page_text: There is thus formed a middle bit very strong, and having the appearance
of a solid middle bit, the holes a pierced in the blank receiving the joint
pin for jointing the stretcher fork to the said middle bit on the rib.
Figure 8 represents in side and edge view a stretcher fork e, jointed
to the middle bit 6 fixed on the rib d by a joint pin f passed through
the holes a in the sides of the middle bit, and its ends rivetted.
The edges of the raised part of the blank, Figure 3, may be toothed
or serrated, the teeth on one edge interlocking with the teeth on the
opposite edge of the finished middle bit. Instead of symmetrically
arranging the marginal metal of the blank from which the raised edges
are made, as in Figures 3, the metal from which the raised edges are
made may be situated on one side only of the blank.
Figure 9 represents a blank, a raised blank, and a complete. middle
bit, made from the said raised blank, the marginal metal of the blank
being arranged as last described.
Although I prefer to finish the middle bit by completely closing its
raised edges or sides and compressing its neck part completely around
the rib, as represented in Figure 7, yet the middle bit may be used in
the form represented in Figure 6, but an inferior joint is made by it,
and although I prefer to perforate the sheet metal for forming the joint
pin holes before the blanks, for the middle bits are cut therefrom, yet
the said joint pin holes may be made in the blanks after they have been
cut from the sheet metal.
The closing or doubling and compressing tools, herein-before described,
are such as are commonly employed, and I therefore do not consider it
necessary to represent the same.
By my Invention a very firm joint is made in consequence of the
middle bit passing completely round the rib, and that part of the joint
which comes in contact with and wears the fabric is very smooth; and
as thin metal is used in the construction of the joint the said part is
very neat or less bulky than that of ordinary joints.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in

page_text: stretcher joints for umbrellas and parasols, herein-before described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the
middle bits of the said stretcher joints hollow or shell like by taking
blanks having raised or turned up edges and operating upon the said
raised blanks so as to double or fold and compress them upon the ribs,
and close or partly close.them edge to edge, substantially as described
and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Holland, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Eighteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
•
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
WILLIAM HOLLAND. (L:s.)