IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MOUNTING OF VARIOUS KINDS OF BRUSHES AND BROOMS
Year: 1841

page_text: THOMPSON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,. I, WILLIAM
THOMPSON, of Upper North Place, Gray's Inn Road, Middlesex, Brush
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of January, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Thompson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Thompson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Thompson, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during, the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND MOUNTING OF VARIOUS KINDS OF BRUSHES AND BROOMS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Thompson,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Thompson, do hereby declare that my Invention relates to the
various kinds of brushes or brooms which have handles placed obliquely in the 5
blocks or heads, such as house brooms, side and wall brooms, long-handled
dairy scrubbing brushes, long-handled dry rubbing brushes, long-handled deck
brooms, clamp brooms, bass or street brooms, and other oblique-handled
brushes or brooms.
And the first part of my Improvements consists in making a perforation
through the middle of the broom or brush head perpendicular to the face or
part in which the hairs are inserted, and in so forming a socket or intermediate
piece attached by a tang or pin to the lower end of the handle that the direc-
tion of its obliquity in respect of the head or block can be changed at the
pleasure of the person using it.
And the second part of my Improvements consists in applying a sliding tube
upon the handle of any of the brushes or brooms herein-before mentioned, and
also on the handle of bed-furniture brooms and turk's-head brooms, in manner
herein-after shewn and described, by which means the handles may be
elongated when a broom is wanted to reach a high ceiling or other lofty
object. And the manner in which I by preference carry my said improve-
ments into effect is shewn and exemplified in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, as explained by the description herein contained, reference being
had to the figures and letters thereon marked in correspondence with the
figures and letters herein inserted; these Drawings. being intended as
samples of the principle upon which my Invention is founded, and not
as including all the various modifications of which my improvements are
susceptible.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

page_text: Figure 8, plan of the middle part of the broom head.
Figure 4, front view of the broom head, the intermediate piece, and part of
the handle.
Figure 5, view of the intermediate piece, the tang, and studs, scen as
detached from the head.
The letters of reference signify the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
a, the block or broom head perforated to receive the tang, the intermediate
piece, and the nut. 6, the tang or pin. c, the nut, with wings to be
tightened with the finger and thumb. d, the studs. e, the intermediate piece.
f, the handle fixed obliquely in the intermediate piece. 9, four shallow holes.
in the bottom of the recess to receive the studs. There may be six, eight, or
more such holes, if it be required to have the handle placed in as many
different directions. h, the hairs.
Figure 6 represents another example or modification of the manner of fixing
the handle in four oblique positions in the broom head, shewing also the mode
of applying the sliding tube upon the handle for the purpose of its being
elongated at pleasure.
Figure 7, vertical section of the same through the middle of the handle, the
tube, the socket, the tang, and the head.
Figure 8, front view of the broom head, the socket, the handle, and the
tube.
Figure 9, plan of the middle part of the broom head.
Figure 10, view of the lower part of the handle, shewn as detached from
the head.
The same letters refer to the same parts in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
k, the block or broom head perforated to receive the tang, the nut, and a
perforated plate. 1, the tang or pin, made square at the neck or upper end,
and round at the lower, where a screw is cut for the nut to turn upon. m, the
nut. n, the metal ferrule or socket, to which the tang is affixed by soldering,
or by being cast in one piece, or by other firm attachment, into which socket
the handle is securely fixed. p, the perforated plate fastened to the block by
screws, the perforation being fitted for the reception and secure holding of the
upper end or neck of the tang or pin. This perforation, together with the
neck of the tang, may be hexagonal or octagonal, in order to allow of six or
eight different directions of the obliquity of the handle. r, the handle. s, the
tube sliding on the handle. t, a piston fixed on the end of the handle, and.
wrapped around with cotton or other fit elastic substance, to slide easily within
the tube, but with friction enough to hold the tube firmly at any required
length of handle. u, a cap screwed upon the upper end of the tube to keep
.

page_text: .
out dirt, and to afford a termination of the handle feeling pleasant to the hand.
v, the hairs.
"
4
Figure 11, view of a scrubbing brush, with its block and part of the handle.
w, the brush and block. x, the ferrule or socket and part of the handle.
y, the tang or pin and nut, represented by dotted lines.
I would here remark, that in order to avoid complication in the description
I have mentioned, the intermediate piece. of wood between the handle, and the
block. as partly-cylindrical and partly hemispherical,. the cylindrical part.passing
into a cylindrical..recess. in.the. block in four positions; but it is obvious.that
the same effect..would be produced if the lower part.of the piece were made
square, and. a square recess formed. in. the block for. its réception,.. or the
upper part of the intermediate piece made of any other figure, than hemi-
spherical, and that the lower part of the piece, together with the. recess,
might be made hexagonal or octagonal; giving the power of fixing. the
handle obliquely in. six or eight directions; such and many other, modifica
tions. being fairly included in. my.principle without. the necessity of particu
larising them.
And I hereby further declare, that I do not claim the Invention of the
external form of the blocks or broom heads, nor the mode of fixing the hairs
into them, as shewn in the Drawings.
But I claim the right of making a perforation through the block or broom
head perpendicular to the face or that. part in which. the hairs are inserted,
and of passing through that perforation a screwed tang or pin fixed obliquely in
the lower end of the handle of the various kinds of brushes or brooms herein-
before enumerated, the tang being put through the block in any of four or
more. positions, and held firmly in its place by a nut turned on upon the end
of the tang, and thus that the obliquity of the handle may be placed in four or
more.different.directions. at.. the. pleasure of the person, using the brush or
broom, as herein-before shewn and described.
J
. And I claim the combination of the sliding tube and piston applied to the
handle of any.long-handled broom or. brush, for the purpose of allowing the
elongation of the handle at. pleasur.. whenever it may be required to sweep or
clean an object at an extraordinary height or distance, as herein-before shewn
and described..
-
'In witness whereof, I, the said William Thompson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this twenty-second day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-one.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid William Thompson came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.