AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCISSORS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCISSORS." -A communication from abroad by
Sarah Hogan Brisbane, of Fordham, in the County of Westchester,.
and State of New York, United States of America.
Scaled the 1st April 1869, and dated the 19th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th October 1868.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the.
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCISSORS," (a communication to
me from abroad by Sarah Hogan Brisbane, of Fordham, in the County of "
Westchester, and State of New York, United States of America,) to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in the combination with a pair of scissors of
a gauge or measure by means of which bands or strips of desired
any

page_text: width may be cut from any fabric, paper, or such like material on a
line parallel with the edges of the same. This is accomplished by
attaching to one of the blades of a pair of scissors a gauge or measure,
which may be secured to the blade in any suitable manner so that the
same may be adjusted laterally at right angles with the blade.
In carrying out this Invention one blade of a pair of scissors is
provided on its outer edge with a bevilled slot, the lower width of which
is such as to admit of the gauge or measure being passed through it
longitudinally without allowing it to be taken out vertically; a bevilled
wedge or key is then passed into the slot and is made to hold the gauge
securely in place.
Another mode of securing the gauge to the scissors blade is by
making a slot in the gauge or measure in the direction of its length,
and securing it in place by means of a thumbscrew which passes into
the blade through the slot in the gauge. By means of this device
strips or bands of any desired width may be readily cut from any
fabric, paper, or such like material on a line parallel with the edge of
the same. The gauge may be graduated to any required subdivisions so
as to measure any desired width to be cut.
The improvement may be applied to scissors already made by providing
the blade with the bevilled slot.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
year.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-.
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that I,
the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to

page_text: time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCISSORS," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Sarah Hogan Brisbane, of Fordham,
in the County of Westchester, and State of New York, United States
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Bristow Hunt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the combination with a pair of scissors of a
gauge or measure by means of which bands or strips of any desired
width may be cut from any fabric, paper, or such like material on a line
parallel with the edge of the same. This is accomplished by attaching
to one of the blades of a pair of scissors a gauge or measure, which
may be secured to the blade in any suitable manner so that the same
may be adjusted laterally at right angles with the blade.
.
In carrying out this Invention one blade of a pair of scissors is
provided on its outer edge with a bevilled slot, the lower width of
which is such as to admit of the gauge or measure being passed through
it longitudinally without allowing it to be taken out vertically; a
bevilled wedge or key is then passed into the slot and is made to .hold the
guage securely in place.
Another mode of securing the gauge to the scissors blade is by
making a slot in the gauge or measure in the direction of its length,
and securing it in its place by means of a thumbscrew which passes
into the blade through the slot in the gauge. By means of this device.
strips or bands of any desired width may be readily cut from any fabric,.
paper, or such like material on a line parallel with the edge of the same..

page_text: The gauge may be gratuated to any required subdivisions so as to
measure any desired width to be cut.
The improvement may be applied to scissors already made by providing
the blade with the bevilled slot.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for "An
Improvement in Scissors," I will now proceed. to describe more in
detail the manner in which the same is to be or may," be performed
or carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be
distinctly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings
illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures and
letters of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pair of scissors in the act of
cutting a piece of linen or cloth, with the improvement attached;
Figure 2 is a side view of the scissors; and Figures 3 and 4 are detached
views of separate parts of the improvements.
When the
The blade a of the scissors is provided at its outer edge with a
bevilled slot b, which allows of the gauge or measure c being put in
longitudinally and prevents it being taken out vertically.
measure (which is graduated to any required subdivisions) is put into
the slot a bevilled wedge or key d (Figure 3) is passed into the slot.
and tightened so as to hold the gauge securely in its place.
Another mode of securing the gauge to the scissors is by making
a slot in the gauge or measure c in the direction of its length, and
securing it in its place by means of a thumbscrew e (Figure 4)
which passes into the back of the blade through the slot in the gauge c.
The Invention is not confined to any peculiar construction of the gauge
or to any particular mode of fastening or attaching it to the scissors.
Another method of securing the gauge in the blade of the scissors
consists in the employment of a wedge-shaped block of about half
an inch in length. This block may be composed of a piece of sheet
metal bent to the form of a wedge, or with a flat top and bottom and
bevilled sides, and filled with a hard or clastic material, having room
on the lower or wider portion of the block for the insertion of the
metal gauge, the object being to hold the gauge in any position in
the block, so that it may be set before attaching it to the scissors.
The block should be made tapering a little in the direction of its

page_text: length in order to secure the same more firmly in the cavity of the
blade.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention
for "An Improvement in Scissors," together with the manner in which
the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect,
I would remark in conclusion that, I claim, as the Invention com-
municated to me by the above-named Sarah Hogan Brisbane,-
Firstly. The combination with a pair of scissors of a gauge or measure,
substantially as and for the purpose described and set forth.
And, secondly. A pair of scissors one blade of which is provided with
a slot at right angles to the line of its cutting edge, substantially as
and for the purpose described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.