CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS AND BRUSHES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HANCOCK, junior, of Amwell Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
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 Twenty-first day of March, in the fifth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hancock, junior, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Hancock,
junior, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William
Hancock, junior, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS AND BRUSHES;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Hancock,
junior, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, under my band and
seal, to be inrolled in Her 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 and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hancock, junior, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
ascertained and described in and by tlie following Specification thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto aunexed.
And firstly, as to my improvements in combs, I declare that the same
relate to that class of combs which are employed in grooming horses, commonly
called curry combs, and consist in making the backs or stocks thereof flexible,
instead of stiff and unyielding, as heretofore, and this I effect by taking a piece
of wire card (such as used for carding machines) of the required shape, and
do over the back of it with two or three coats of a solution of caoutchouc, or
any other strong flexible cement (but preferring the former), and when it is
in a sticky state I lay on a piece of leather, or felt, or thin veneer of wood, to
the under side of which I have previously given a coating of the same solution,
and while that coating is also in a sticky state, and press the whole together;
when the cement has settled, and the junction of the parts, of which the back
is thus composed, is complete, I insert, for greater security, a number of small
pins all round the edges, or sew the edges together with wire or strong
thread.
And as regards my improvements in brushes, I declare that these improve-
ments are of two sorts: one relating to those descriptions of brushes which are
chiefly employed in what may be termed dry brushing, as hair brushes, cloaths
brushes, horse brushes, machine brushes, &c.; and the other relating to brushes
employed for painting, coloring, varnishing, whitewashing, plastering, and other
like purposes.
And to describe, secondly, the class of brushes chiefly employed in dry
Brushing, I declare that my improvements consist principally in making
the backs, like those of the curry combs, flexible; instead of stiff and un-
yielding, as heretofore; or in making the brushes of a circular or other
curvilineal form, by fixing the bristles or hairs in a flexible back; formed in
manner after mentioned, and then attaching that flexible back to a solid back,
made of the particular curvilineal form desired. When the whole of the back
is to be made permanently flexiblo, the mode of proceeding is the same gene-
rally as that before specified with respect to the flexible backs for curry combs,
only, that in the case of hair and other brushes, to which it is desirable to give
is much springiness as possible, I insert a thin piece of metal, or whalebone,
ir horn between the under and top pieces of the back, or make the top piece
to diminish gradually in thickness from the handle to the outer extremity. In

page_text: making brushes of a circular or other curvilineal form, the solid back
may be
either of wood, or metal, or any other sufficiently strong substance. If the
brush is of the sort called a wheel brush, the solid disk should have a groove
cut out all round its periphery for the reception of the flexible back, which
may be composed of leather, canvas, felt, or other firm but yielding substance;
and have the bristles or hairs attached to it by the usual method of drawing;
or if it is a cylindrical brush, the solid cylinder should have a spiral groove cut
out on its external surface, with such distances between the threads that when
the flexible belt of bristles or hairs is wound round it the whole surface of the
cylinder may be equally covered, with the bristles or hairs; and in every case,.
whether the brush is of the wheel, or cylindrical, or any other curvilineal-form;
I recommend that grooves should be made in the solid back for the reception
of the flexible back, as being a more secure mode than any other of connecting
the two together. The flexible back may be secured in the grooves either by
any suitable cement, or by nails, or pins, or screws. It is sometimes of
importance to be able to expand brushes or parts of brushes when inserted
in particular situations, as boilers, flues, cannon, &c. and under circumstances
which cannot be met by any determinate form, or any degree of flexibility
which can be previously given to the brushes; and to provide for such cases,
I attach to the under piece of the back of a flexible backed brush, or to the
part or parts of the back requiring to be occasionally expanded, a piece or pieces
of sheet caoutchouc, or of cotton varnished with a solution of caoutchouc, by
uniting the edges of such piece or pieces to the back in such manner that the
inclosed space or spaces shall be air-tight (at least sufficiently so for practical
purposes), and then connect the included space or spaces with a tube or tubes
leading to a screw plug in the handle of the brush, by opening and introducing
air, through which the brush can be inflated, either wholly or in parts only,
according to the arrangements made for the purpose; where there are two or
more parts of the brush having such distinct tubular communications with the
screw plug in the handle there must of course be separate stop-cocks to each.
Other brushes there are which have habitually or occasionally to be used
in water, as bath brushes, hatters' brushes, &c., and to protect these from being
loosened by the water I attach to the under side of the flexible backs, before
drawing, the hairs or bristles, a piece of india-rubber waterproof cloth, and
that by means of a solution of caoutchouc, or any other efficient cement. It
sometimes happens that the flexure required to be given to a brush, when
using it, is in a direction opposite to that which results from pressing the face
of a flexible backed brush against any other body, that is to, say, inwards

page_text: instead of outwards, and when a brush of this sort is required I construct it
in the manner represented in Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
A is a solid back of wood or other sufficiently strong substance; and B
a straight flexible back with the bristles or hairs fixed in it, which is attached
by the two ends to the ends of the solid back, exactly after the manner of the
cord of a bow, so that when the face of the brush is pressed against anything,
the yielding takes place upwards or outwards towards the solid arched back
of wood.
And now, thirdly, to describe my improvements in that class of brushes
which are employed for painting, coloring, varnishing, whitewashing, plaster-
ing, and other like purposes, I declare, that whereas the brushes most
commonly used for these purposes (the plastering excepted) are made of a
round form, and with wooden handles, round which the hairs or bristles are
secured by string; and whereas in consequence of the liability of the wood
to contract and expand, according to the degrees of heat and moisture to
which it is exposed, the hairs or bristles become frequently loose and drop out,
and brushes which manufactured in a cold or temperate climate are perfectly
tight and sound, fall to pieces when exported to hot and warm climates.
Now, my improvements consist in so constructing all such brushes that the
handle and brush shall remain firmly fastened together under all variations
of temperature, and whether exposed or not exposed to wet and damp, that is
to say, in so far as such fastening depends on the mechanical construction of
the articles; with this view 1 make the brush of the form and in the manner
represented in the sectional view, Figure 2, of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
A is a round socket, of tin or other suitable metal, in which I place the knot
of hairs or bristles of which the brush is to be formed; and B is a taper-ferulo,
also of tin or other suitable metal, which I pass down the centre of the knot of
hairs or bristles, and through the orifice a in the centre of the socket A (to
the extent shown in the Drawing), taking care so to proportion the quantity
of hairs or bristles in the knot to the dimensions of the socket A and ferule B,
that when the ferule B has been pressed down as far as it will go, the ends of
the surrounding hairs or bristles will be so firmly compressed between the
sockets and ferule so as to require no farther fastening (except as is herein-
after excepted). C is a taper handle, which may be either of wood or metal,
which fits into tho ferule B, and can be detached from the bush when not in
use. The socket and ferule should be externally soldered together at the
orifice a; and for the sake of greater security, in the case of brushes of a large
diameter, the ends of the hairs or bristles, besides being compressed laterally
'

page_text: 5
between the ferule and socket, may also be imbedded or set in pitch or other
suitable cement (according to the ordinary. pan method of construction):
Instead of making the brush as before directed, it may be made in all respects
like the ordinary brush, with the exception of substituting a tin or other metal
handle for that of wood; or the hairs or bristles may be bound round a tin or
other metal ferule, similar to the one before described (B), by means of string,
as usual, and a wooden handle be passed through the ferule. But I do not
consider either of these methods of construction so good as that which I havo
first herein-before described.
Brushes for plastering, and other similar purposes, which are required to be
of a flat form, I manufacture in the manner illustrated by Figures 3 and 4 of
the Drawings hereunto annexed. Figure 3 is an elevation of a brush of this
description, and Figure 4 a plan.
A and B are two parallel plates of tin, or other suitable metal, joined at
the two ends; and C, C, cross pieces or stays inserted between them for the
sake of greater stability. The circles D, D, (Figure 4) represent the ends
of the hairs or bristles. F, F, are holes punched in the sides of the plates
A and B, through which the binding string or wire is passed; and G is the
handle which is firmly secured by screws or otherwise to the plates A and B.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,-
Firstly, as regards the class of combs called curry combs, the making of the
same with flexible backs, such as herein-before specified.
Secondly, as regards those brushes which are chiefly used for dry brushing,
the making of them with flexible backs, such as described under the second
head of this Specification.
And, thirdly, as regards that class of brushes which are employed for painting,
coloring, varnishing, plastering, or other like purposes, the making of them
with metal stocks or foundations and handles such as herein-before described;
or with metal stocks or foundations only, combined with wooden handles; or
with metal handles only, combined with wooden stocks or foundations; and
whether such stocks consist of a socket and ferule connected together, such
as herein-before described, or of a metal ferule only.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wiliam Hancock, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
WILLIAM (L.s.) HANCOCK, Ju'.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED,-that on the Twenty-first-day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid William Hancock, junior, came
before our said Lady the Queen in Iler Chancery, and acknowledged, the
Specification 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-first day of September, in the year. of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.