AN IMPROVED HAIR CUTTING OR CLIPPING APPARATUS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th July 1880. A communication from
abroad by the Firm of "Les fils de Peugeot Frères," of Paris, France.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED HAIR CUTTING OR
CLIPPING APPARATUS." [A communication from abroad by the Firm of "Les fils
de Peugeot Frères," of Paris, France].
The clippers or shearing apparatus having a cutting comb or cutting teeth for
clipping horses and other cattle or animals, the results of which are at present so
generally appreciated, have also been adapted for cutting the hair of the human
head, that is to say, instruments or appliances of this kind, and of small
dimensions, have been heretofore constructed, and have been provided with springs
in such a manner as to allow of their manipulation by one hand, or have been so
arranged as to be operated by two hands.
It will be understood that these instruments or appliances, however elegant and
easy to be handled or manageable they may be, cannot attain the degree of utility
of horse clippers, as heretofore there has been this objection to their extensive use,
namely, that all clippers based upon the principle of horse clippers cut too close for
the human head.
Attempts have heretofore been made to obviate this inconvenience by constructing
an apparatus to be operated by two hands, in which apparatus the cutting
comb is isolated by the addition of a second comb of horn, wood, boxwood, or
other light or non-metallic material. The teeth of this comb, which is fixed to the
plate of the instrument or device, exactly coincide with the metallic teeth of the
cutter.
The object sought in isolating the cutting comb, and consequently obtaining a
less close cut, would be attained if it were possible to give to the teeth of the
supplementary comb the fineness of metallic teeth, but experiments show that this
is impossible, and these teeth, which have for their object to push forward the hair,
however fine it may be, in order to bring it regularly in front of the teeth of the
cutting comb, partly force it back without cutting it, which cutting necessitates
repeated movements.
Moreover the addition of this supplementary piece has a further disadvantage by
reason of its adding to the weight of the instrument.

page_text: This Invention has for its object an improved clipper or shearer, in which these
dieadvantages are avoided; and to enable the said Invention to be clearly
understood, I have represented in the accompanying Drawing, as an example only,
one of my improved clippers.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the said clipper and shearer; and
Figure 2 is a plan or top view of the same.
Like letters indicate the same parts in both of these Figures.
This Invention consists in prolonging or extending the comb of the lower
plate A at an angle which may be varied as desired. This bent part may be of
any form desired, such for instance as straight or curvilineal on the inside or
outside according to the different purposes for which it is to be employed.
This arrangement, which may be equally as well applied to horse clippers as to
human hair clippers, offers the following advantages, that is to say, the bent
portion a, a, Figure 1, which constitutes the prolongation of the lower plate A
above described, is provided with teeth as narrow as desired, which enables it to
enter the finest hair without any fear of turning up or forcing down a single hair.
Being placed in fact in front of the cutting comb D, it serves as a guide, and the
hairs are regularly brought or caused to pass between the shears or cutting teeth
as required. By this arrangement I provide a device, which is very simple, light,
and more economically manufactured than devices for the same purpose as
heretofore constructed.
The length of the bent part or portion a, a', may be varied at will according to
the cutting to be effected, and the said part may be so arranged that it can be
readily adjusted to vary the height or depth of the cut. This adjustment may be
effected by means of a sliding plate which will permit the said bent portion to be
extended as desired. When the bent portions are attached to or arranged upon
the extremity of the comb, instead of forming a part of the same, they may be
formed of any suitable material, such for instance as metal other than that of
which the fixed comb is constructed, or of bone, ivory, horn, hardened india-rubber,
gutta-percha, or the like.
This Invention may be equally well applied to clippers or shearers to be operated
by one hand as to those operated by two hands, whatever the method of operating
the movable comb or cutter may be.