IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN ROLLING BLINDS, MAPS, AND OTHER ARTICLES ON ROLLERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS USED WHEN ROLLING BLINDS, MAPS, AND OTHER ARTICLES ON
ROLLERS." A communication from abroad by Silas Safford Putnam,
residing at Dorchester, in the County of Norfolk and State of Massa-
chusetts, and Harriet Luthera Packer, residing at Brooklyn, King's
County, in the State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th February 1864, and dated the 18th November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bous-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th November 1863.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN ROLLING BLINDS, MAPS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES ON ROLLERS," to be as follows:-
Various articles, such as blinds and maps, have been wound on rollers, and
the blind, map, or other article has been supported in any required position by
friction produced by a spring pressing the end of the roller or its journal
against one of the brackets or supports in which the roller is hung. Where
the necessary friction is thus produced it required considerable care and nicety

page_text: in hanging the blind or other article, as the position of the brackets or the
support against which the end of the roller or its journal presses determines
in a measure the amount of friction produced.
The object of the present Invention is to obviate this objection, and consists
in placing the friction bearing within the roll itself or its cap, independent of
an exact or nice adjustment of the brackets or supports of the roller, so that
the fixture may be hung by other than skilled operatives.
The Invention also consists in a new and efficient method of securing the
blind, map, or other article to its roller without the use of nails, and by means
of which the blind or other article may be quickly put up and as readily taken
down, and may at any moment be adjusted after it is in place without the
necessity of taking down the blind roller. The roller to which the blind or
other article is attached has at one end a journal or pin, which revolves freely
in a round hole in the bracket; to the other end of the roller is attached
(glued or otherwise fastened) a spool or pulley, over which the winding cord
is wound. This spool or pulley is turned out beyond where it is attached to
the roller, forming a bearing or shoulder. A hole or recess is formed in the
end of the roller in its axis, in the inner end of which is placed a spiral spring,
which bears against the end of a pin or shaft. This pin or shaft projects
through the spool or pulley which is free to turn on it, and is formed with a
collar, which bears against a shoulder formed in the spool or pulley to produce
the necessary friction. The shaft or pin should not revolve with the spool or
pulley and roller; I therefore form the outer end of the pulley with a tenon
of a square cross section, which fits in a corresponding hole or slot in the
bracket. The tenon may be of any convenient length, and it is evident that
as the surfaces which produce the friction necessary to hold the roller in
position are within the roller itself or its spool or pulley, and as the brackets
are only employed to support the weight of the roller and prevent the pin or
shaft from revolving, it is not necessary that any nice adjustment of the
brackets or supports should be made either as to their exact distance apart or
their being exactly square or at right angles to the axis of the roller; and this
fixture may be put up by persons purchasing them without requiring the
assistance of a skilled mechanic. The friction shaft or pin may, as preferred,
be applied to either of the ends of the roller within the cap, the bracket being
constructed suitably for receiving the square tenon. A recess similar to the
one at the inner end may be made in the outer face of the spool or pulley,
and the spring may be so applied to the shaft or pin on the other side of the
spool or pulley as to cause a collar to bear against this side of the spool or
pulley, but the arrangement first described is preferred.

page_text: The method of attaching the blind, map, or other article to the roller
consists in a dovetail slot or groove made longitudinally in the roller. The
upper edge of the blind, map, or other article is lapped over or around a small
rod, after which the rod is entered endwise into the groove. The blind or
other article passes through the narrow slit in the roller, and the rod, when the
blind or other article is drawn downward, will be jammed between the inclined
sides of the groove and against the blind or article, by which the latter will
be held tightly and immovably in place, any downward strain tending only to
hold the blind or article more securely to its rod and in the groove. Should
the blind or article be found to hang uneven after it is in place, it may be
adjusted without taking down the roller.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and 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 APPARATUS USED WHEN ROLLING BLINDS, MAPS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES ON ROLLERS," a communication to him from abroad by Silas Safford
Putnam, a person resident at Dorchester, in the County of Norfolk and State
of Massachusetts, and Harriet Luthera Packer, a person resident at Brooklyn,
King's County, in the State of New York, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain

page_text: 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 George Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 :-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the window frame, curtain, and fixture;
Figure 2, a section through part of the roller and spool; Figure 3 is a
transverse section through the curtain, its roller and rod, shewing the
manner in which the curtain is attached to the roller; Figure 4, a section
of the roller separate from the rod; Figure 5, a section of the curtain and
rod, shewing the manner in which the former is lapped around the latter.
Various curtain fixtures have been made in which the weight of the curtain
was supported in any required position by friction produced by a spring
pressing the end of the roll or its journal against one of the brackets or sup-
ports in which the roll was hung; where the necessary friction was thus pro-
duced it required considerable care and nicety in hanging the fixture, as the
position of the brackets or the support against which the end of the roll or
its journal pressed determined in a measure the amount of friction produced.
The object of the present Invention is to obviate this objection, and consists
in placing the friction bearing within the roll itself or its cap, independent
of an exact or nice adjustment of the brackets or supports of the roll, so that
the fixture may be hung by other than skilled operatives.
The Invention also consists in a new and efficient method of securing the
curtain to its roller without the use of nails, and by means of which the
curtain may be instantaneously put up and as readily taken down, and may
at any moment be adjusted after it is in place without the necessity of taking
down the curtain roller.
To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use the Invention,
I will proceed to describe the manner in which it is carried out.
In the said Drawings A is the window frame, to the sides of which are
attached the brackets a, b. The roller B, to which the curtain is attached,
has at one end a journal or pin which revolves freely in a round hole in the
bracket a; to the other end of the roll is attached (glued or otherwise
fastened) the spool C, over which the winding cord c is wound. This spool
is turned out at e beyond where it is attached to the roll, forming a bearing
or shoulder i. A hole or recess m is formed in the end of the roll in its

page_text: axis, in the bottom of which is placed a spiral spring f, which bears against
the end of a pin or shaft D, of the form shewn in Figure 2. This pin or
shaft projects through the spool C, which is free to turn on it, and has a collar
d which bears against the shoulder i of the spool to produce the necessary
friction. It is of course necessary that the shaft D should not revolve with
the spool and roller; I therefore form its outer end with a tenon r, which
is a square or parallelogram in cross section, and fits in a corresponding hole
or slot in the bracket b. The tenon r may be of any convenient length,
and it is evident that as the surfaces which produce the friction necessary to
hold the roll in position are within the roll itself or its spool, and the brackets
a, b, are only employed to support the weight of the roll, and prevent the
pin D from revolving, it is not necessary that any nice adjustment of the
brackets or supports should be made either as to their exact distance apart
or their being exactly square or at right angles to the axis of the roll; and
this fixture may be put up by persons purchasing them without requiring
the assistance of a skilled mechanic. The friction shaft D may, when pre-
ferred, be applied to the other end of the roll within the cap g, the bracket
a being changed to receive the square tenon r. A recess similar to e may
be made in the outer face of the spool C, and the spring f may be so applied
to the shaft D on the other side of the spool as to cause a collar similar to D
to bear against this side of the spool, but I prefer the arrangement first
described.
The method of attaching the curtain to the roller will now be described.
A dovetail slot or groove is planed or otherwise made longitudinally in the
roller B. The upper edge of the curtain is lapped over or around a small
rod o, after which the rod with the curtain attached is entered endwise into
the groove, as shewn in Figure 8. The curtain passes through the narrow
slits in the roll, and the rod o, when the curtain is drawn downward, will
be jammed between the inclined sides of the groove / and against the curtain,
by which the latter will be held tightly and immoveably in place, any down-
ward strain upon the curtain tending only to hold it more securely to its rod
and in the groove. Should the curtain be found to hang uneven after it is
in place, it may be adjusted without taking down the roll. This may be
accomplished by simply raising the rod o at any particular point with the
5 blade of a penknife, and pulling the curtain one way or the other as may
be required. When it is desired to remove the curtain from its roller, it is
only necessary to withdraw the rod o when the curtain will fall out. The
above is the method I prefer of attaching the curtain to its roller, but if
desired the curtain may be attached to the roller in the ordinary manner

page_text: (by nails), and the advantages described in the first part of the Specification
still be retained.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above-recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the above-described curtain fixture, in which the friction necessary
for holding the weight of the curtain is produced between the roller B or its
spool or cap and the friction shaft D, which is held from revolving substantially
as set forth.
Second, I claim securing the curtain to its roller by means of a rod o and
groove with inclined or dovetailed sides substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.s.)