Improvements in and connected with Scissors.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1898-Accepted, 11th Mar., 1899
Improvements in and connected with Scissors.
I, NELLIE OLIVE HENAULT, Milliner, of Butte, Montana, United States of
America, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
My invention has relation to combination tools designed especially for the use
of milliners.
The object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive tool, by
means of which the wires of a bonnet frame may be easily cut to allow of parts
being removed and the remaining parts twisted together in order to permit of
fashioning and trimming the frame to suit the taste of the purchaser.
With this object in view, the invention consists in certain features of construc-
tion and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings:
Figure 1 is a perspective view, showing the top concentric wire of a hat frame
in the act of being severed in order to remove the same and permit of an opening
being made through the crown of the frame for the purpose of applying a certain
style of trimming or ornaments;
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the tool;
Figure 3 is a similar view, taken from the other side; and
Figure 4 is a sectional view on line - of Figure 2.
In said drawing, 1 denotes the blades of a pair of shears pivoted together at 2.
3 denotes the shanks, and finger-loops or handles. These parts may be of any
well known or approved construction, and further detail description of the same
is not deemed necessary.
One of the blade shanks has, projecting laterally from its outer side, a fixed
wire cutter 5, while the opposite shank is provided with a hook 6 having projecting
laterally and in an inclined direction therefrom, a wire cutter 7, the cutting edges
of which extend directly below and parallel with the cutting edges of the cutter 5.
In operation, when it is desired to cut one of the wires of the frame, say for
instance, the upper concentric wire, the tool is placed over said wire, drawn down-
ward with its hook under said wire, which guides the wire between the cutters,
thus enabling the wire to be severed by the cutters and removed from the frame.
In my device, all that is necessary is to draw the hook down under the wire to be
severed, thus guiding the cutters to their work, and preventing the wire becoming
accidentally disengaged from the cutters before they have performed their duty.
In order to remove all strain from the pivot 2 in the act of cutting a wire--the
strain tending to bend or break the pivot-I provide one of the shanks of the blade
with a guide lug 8, which is so arranged that at the instant the wire is engaged by
the cutters, the opposite shank shall have passed between the guide lug and the
shank to which it is secured, thus preventing the twisting of the shanks and the
consequent bending or breaking of the pivot 2.
The finger rings or handles of the shanks are provided with two co-acting
pinchers which are designed for the purpose of twisting the ends of the wire to-

page_text: gether in the various stages of the manufacture or modification of a bonnet frame.
From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompany draw-
ings, the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood
without requiring further description.
The device is exceedingly simple, may be made at small cost, and will be found to
be very useful for the purpose for which it is designed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim
is:-
1. As an article of manufacture, scissors including two pivoted blades having
integral shanks and handles, one of said shanks having projecting laterally from
its outer side and extending parallel therewith, a fixed cutter, and the other shank
being provided with a rearwardly extending hook which has projecting laterally
from its inner side and under the lower edge of the aforementioned shank, a fixed
cutter which is parallel with and co-acts with the aforesaid cutter, substantially
as set forth.
2. As an article of manufacture, scissors including two pivoted blades, having
integral shanks and handles, one of said shanks having projecting laterally from
its outer side and extending parallel therewith, a fixed cutter, and the other shank
being provided with a rearwardly extending hook which has projecting laterally
from its inner side and under the lower edge of the aforementioned shank, a fixed
cutter which is parallel with and co-acts with the aforesaid cutter, one of said
shanks being provided with a guide-lug to receive the opposite shank at the
instant the cutters engage the wire to be severed, thereby removing the torsional
or lateral strain from the pivot connecting the blades, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 1st day of December 1898.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.O.,
Agents.