CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SAIL GROMMETS
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ALEXANDER HENRY REED, of 90 Cannon Street, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SAIL GROMMETS and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention relates to a grommet which is made entirely of sheet metal, the
cap plate being formed on its outer edge with a rolled rim and with spurs
projecting from the inner edge of this rim, while the flange of the eyelet is also
formed with a rolled rim, so that when the cap plate is brought down upon the
cloth supported by the flange of the eyelet, the spurs of said cap plate will penetrate
the cloth at such a distance from the edge of the hole in the cloth that they will
take a firm hold and that the grommet is not liable to come off. The rolled rim of
the flange of the eyelet is slightly open, so that the points of the spurs of the cap
plate can turn down beneath said rim. On the inner edge of the cap plate is also
formed a rolled rim with spurs to give additional hold to the grommet.
In the accompanying Drawing
Fig. 1 represents a central section of the grommet before the eyclet is clinched,
the cap plate being provided with spurs at its outer rim only.
Fig. 2 is a similar section when the eyelet has been clinched.
Fig. 3 is a side view of the cap plate.
Fig. 4 is a plan of the blank from which the cap plate is made.
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the blank used for forming a cap plate with spurs at its
inner rim as well as its outer rim.
Fig. 6 is a section of the grommet having both sets of spurs, the plane of section
being indicated by the line xx, Fig. 5.
Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.
In this Drawing the letter A dosignates the eyelet with its flange a.
This flange
is provided with a rolled rim b which is slightly open as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
B is the cap plate which is made of sheet metal and which when provided with
spurs at its outer rim only, is prepared from a blank such as shown in Fig. 4. The
outer edge of this cap plate is provided with a rolled rim c, and from the inner

page_text: edge of this rolled rim project spurs d, and if desired, the edge of the hole in the
cap plate may also be provided with spurs as hereinafter explained. The eyelet is
passed through a hole in the cloth C, so that the cloth rests upon the rolled rim of
the flange a.
The cap plate B is then applied, so that its spurs & will penetrate
the cloth as shown in Fig. 1, and when the eyelet is clinched, the spurs are also
clinched as shown in Fig. 2. By referring to this Figure it will be seen that the
spurs & penetrate the cloth at a distance from the edge of the hole in the cloth, so
that they are enabled to take a firm hold of the cloth, and in order to allow the
spurs d to clinch, the rim b of the flange of the eyelet is left slightly open, so that
the points of the spurs can turn under the inner edge of the said rim.
In order to give to the grommet additional hold, the inner edge of the cap
plate B may be provided with a rolled rim g, (see Figs. 6 and 7) and on this rolled
rim are formed spurs h, which also penetrate the cloth as shown in Fig. 6.
The spurs hare by preferenco located on radial lines intersecting the spaces
between the outer spurs d, and they need not be quite so long as said outer spurs.
By forming the spurs on the inner edge of the rolled rim g, these spurs are
thrown off from the outer surface of the barrel of the eyelet a sufficient distance
to enable the samo to take a firin hold in the cloth as indicated in Fig. 6.
By these means a grommet is obtained which can be made comparatively cheap
and which when properly applied-to-a-sail,-is-not-liable to come off
Having now particularly described and ascertained-the-nature_of_the_said_
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The combination substantially as herein-before described, with the eyelet A
and-its-flange-a-of-a-cap-plate B-made-of-sheet-metal, and provided with a rolled
rim-c, and with spurs & projecting from the inner edge of the rolled rim.
2. The combination substantially-as-herein-before- described, with the eyelet A
and its flange a formed of sheet metal and provided with an open rolled rim b, of
a cap plate B, made of sheet metal and provided-with-a-rolled-rim_c_and_with_
spurs & projecting from the inner edge of the rolled rim.
3. The combination substantially as herein-before described, with the eyelet A
and its flange a, of a cap plate B, made of sheet metal and provided on its inner
edge with a rolled rim g, and spurs h, projecting from the inner edge of the
rolled rim.
4. The combination substantially as herein-before described, with the eyelet A
and its flange a, of a cap plate B, made of sheet metal, and provided on its outer
edgo with a rolled rim c, and spurs d, and on its inner edge with a rolled rim g,
and spurs h.
Dated this Twenty-sixth day of August 1884.