IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER BLIND FURNITURE OR APPARATUS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bayley, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Iron Founder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROLLER BLIND FURNITURE OR APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bayley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th November 1871.
I, WILLIAM BAYLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron
Founder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROLLER BLIND FURNITURE OR APPARATUS," to be as follows :—
My Invention refers to that part of roller blind furniture or apparatus
by which the blind cord is held in a state of tension and the blind
thereby retained in any position to which it may be brought. As ordi-
narily arranged the said cord is held tight by means of a rack pulley.
The object of my Invention is to dispense with the ordinary rack
pulley and to keep the blind cord in a state of uniform tension upon the
pulley of the blind roller notwithstanding the lengthening or shortening

page_text: of the blind cord due to its expansion or contraction. In addition to
these advantages the use of my Invention permits of the ready removal
of the blind cord from and its replacement on the roller blind.
According to my Invention I suspend in the bottom of the loop or
doubled part of the blind cord a weight for the purpose of keeping the
said cord in the required state of tension, and I use in combination with
the said suspended weight a staple or guide fixed to the window frame,
the said guide being situated on either side of or made to embrace the
blind cord and prevent its oscillation or lateral motion. I make the said
weight of an ornamental form and provide it at top with a hook by
which the said weight may be hooked to or unhooked from the loop of
the blind cord. The staple or guide of the cord is also made of an
ornamental form.
When the weight described is suspended to the blind cord by its hook
a uniform state of tension is maintained in the cord, and the cord is
made to preserve its bite or pressure on the pulley of the roller blind
furniture. By pulling down or raising the blind cord the said blind cord
works under the hook of the suspended weight after the manner in
which a cord works under a pulley, and the blind may be adjusted as
required. When it is wished to remove the cord from the blind roller
it is only necessary to unhook the suspended weight from the loop of the
blind cord when the said cord may be lifted from the pulley of the roller
blind.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bayley in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 29th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BAYLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron Founder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date 'the Tenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Bayley, Her special
licence that I the said William Bayley, my executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Bayley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
3 use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER BLIND FURNITURE OR APPARATUS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Bayley, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Bayley, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
My Invention refers to that part of roller blind furniture or apparatus
by which the blind cord is held in a state of tension and the blind
thereby retained in any position to which it may be brought. As ordi-
narily arranged the said cord is held tight by means of a rack pulley.
The object of my Invention is to dispense with the ordinary rack
pulley and to keep the blind cord in a state of uniform tension upon the
pulley of the blind roller notwithstanding the lengthening or shortening
of the blind cord due to its expansion or contraction. In addition to
these advantages the use of my Invention permits of the ready removal
of the blind cord from and its replacement on the roller blind.
According to my Invention I suspend in the bottom of the loop or
doubled part of the blind cord a weight for the purpose of keeping the
said cord in the required state of tension, and I use in combination with
the said suspended weight a staple or guide fixed to the window frame,
the said guide being situated on either side of or made to embrace the
blind cord and prevent its oscillation or lateral motion. I make the said
weight of an ornamental form, and provide it at top with a hook by
which the said weight may be hooked to or unhooked from the loop of
the blind cord. The staple or guide of the cord is also made of an
ornamental form.

page_text: When the weight described is suspended to the blind cord by its hook
a uniform state of tension is maintained in the cord and the cord is made
to preserve its bite or pressure on the pulley of the roller blind furniture.
By pulling down or raising the blind cord the said cord works under the
hook of the suspended weight after the manner in which a cord works
under a pulley and the blind may be adjusted as required. When it is
wished to remove the cord from the blind roller it is only necessary to
unhook the suspended weight from the loop of the blind cord when the
said cord may be lifted from the pulley of the roller blind.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which the same is to be performed :-
Figure 1 represents in elevation a window provided with roller blind
furniture or apparatus constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2
represents a horizontal section of a portion of the same drawn to a larger
scale.
Figure 3 represents in elevation, and Figure 4 in plan (partly in
section) drawn to a larger scale a modification of the staple; and
Figure 5 represents in plan another modification of the staple.
The same letters indicate the same parts in each Figure of the Drawing.
a is the loop or doubled part of the blind cord, and b is the weight
suspended by its hook c in the said loop a. By means of the said
suspended weight 6 the blind cord a is maintained in the required state
of tension to preserve its bite or pressure upon the pulley d of the blind
roller; e is the staple or guide fixed to the window frame f for preventing
the oscillating or lateral motion of the weighted cord a. The said staple or
guide e consists of a rectangular frame situated horizontally, and pro-
vided with a middle bar or tongue piece e² (see Figures 2 and 4). The
looped end of the blind cord a passes round or on either side the middle
bar or tongue piece e³, in the manner represented in the Drawing. Or
the staple may consist of a plate e having holes e³, e³, in it for the
passage of the blind cord.
This construction of staple is shown in
Figure 5. The staple may be fixed to the window frame by means of a
screw h, as seen in Figures 2 and 5; or the staple may be rivetted or
otherwise connected to an ornamental base plate i, and the said plate
screwed to the window frame, as seen in Figures 3 and 4.

page_text: Although I find the staples represented to answer well in practice yet
staples of other constructions may be used with the same effect.
The suspended weight 6 is made by preference of a hollow porcelain
body or shell filled with lead, the metal hook c being connected to the
said porcelain body by turning or bending the edge of the disk or plate
c³ over a flange on the top of the said body. The weight may, however,
be made wholly of metal, and the hook may be rivetted, screwed, or
otherwise connected to the weight, or the hook may be capable of
swivelling or turning on the weight. On pulling down or raising the
blind cord a for adjusting the blind the said cord works under the hook
c of the suspended weight b after the manner in which a cord works
under a pulley, as will be understood by an examination of the Drawing.
To remove the cord a from the blind roller the suspended weight 6 is
unhooked from the loop a of the said cord.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention. But I claim as my Invention the improvements in roller
blind furniture or apparatus herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, keeping the blind cord of
roller blind furniture in a state of uniform tension upon the pulley of the
blind roller by means of a weight hooked to the loop of the said cord,
and combining with the said suspended weight a staple or guide for
preventing the oscillation or lateral motion of the weighted cord, sub-
stantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bayley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM BAYLEY. (L.S.)