IMPROVEMENTS IN VENETIAN BLINDS FOR WINDOWS AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Howard Busby Fox, of Oxton, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENETIAN BLINDS FOR
WINDOWS AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
Sealed the 2nd December 1870, and dated the 16th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Howard Busby Fox
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th June 1870.
I, HOWARD BUSBY Fox, of Oxton, in the County of Chester, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VENETIAN BLINDS FOR WINDOWS AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Venetian blinds as at present constructed are expensive, heavy, and
cumberous articles of furniture; they are generally of one form, pattern,
colour, and shape, and allow no room for artistic embellishment or
decoration. The blind in the poorest cottage is similar to the blind in
the nobleman's castle in consequence of the difficulty of varying the
form or style in the present mode of manufacture.
This Invention has for its object improvements in Venetian blinds and
in the material used in the construction, whereby the cost of manu-

page_text: facture is greatly reduced, the weight is lessened, and blinds are enabled
to be made of any pattern, shape or configuration; they can be made
gilt, enamelled, embossed, or otherwise ornamented, or they can be
made plain and simple suitable for cottage houses.
The material employed in the construction of Venetian blinds according
to this Invention is laths or strips of, especially, rolled millboard, papier
maché, or cardboard, plain or faced with linen. These strips or laths
may be rolled flat or at a bevel having two convex surfaces, or they may
be corrugated to give additional strength; they can be used plain,
painted, enamelled, or varnished, as required.
Blinds thus constructed may have the laths seolloped on the lower
edge, or any suitable device or ornamentation may be stamped or cut
thereon; they may also, for the sake of ornament be of different colour,
and stamped, painted, or embossed with figures and devices such as
wreaths of flowers or similar patterns. The laths may be plain, white,
enamelled, with gilt edges, or of various pattern and device, as desired.
The lower lath of the blind can be made stronger and have a lock,
bolt, or other means of fastening to attach the blind to the window
frame, so that when closed and locked they will give additional security
to the windows. These locks may also be attached to Venetian blinds as
at present constructed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Howard Busby Fox in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HOWARD
BUSBY Fox, of Oxton, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Howard Busby Fox, Her special licence,
that I, the said Howard Busby Fox, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Howard Busby Fox, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
'

page_text: and no others, from time to 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VENETIAN BLINDS FOR WINDOWS AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Howard Busby Fox, 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 Howard Busby Fox, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
:―
Venetian blinds as at present constructed are expensive, heavy, and
cumberous articles of furniture; they are generally of one shape, form,
pattern, and colour, and allow no room for artistic embellishment or
decoration. The blind in the poorest cottage is similar to the blind in
the nobleman's castle in consequence of the difficulty of varying the
form or style in the present mode of manufacture.
This Invention has for its object improvements in Venetian blinds and
in the material used in the construction, whereby the cost of manu-
facture is greatly reduced, the weight is lessened, and blinds are enabled
to be made of any pattern, shape, or configuration; they can be made
gilt, enamelled, embossed, or otherwise ornamented, or they can be
made plain and simple suitable for cottage houses.
The material employed in the construction of Venetian blinds according
to this Invention is, especially, rolled millboard, papier maché, or card-
board in strips or laths, plain or faced with linen. These strips or laths
may be rolled flat or at a hevel having two convex surfaces, or they may
be corrugated to give additional strength; they can be used plain,
painted, enamelled, or varnished, as required.
In manufacturing millboard, papier maché, or cardboard, the same
may be coloured or stained in the pulp green, blue, red, white, or other
suitable colour, and afterwards the strips or laths glazed by rolling, thus
dispensing with the necessity for painting or after colouring.

page_text: Blinds thus constructed may have the laths scolloped on the lower
edge, or any suitable device or ornamentation may be stamped or cut
thereon; they may also, for the sake of ornament be of different colour,
and stamped, painted, or embossed with figures and devices, such as
wreaths of flowers or other similar patterns. The laths may be plain,
white, enamelled, with gilt edges, or of various pattern and device, as
desired.
The lower lath of the blinds can be made stronger and have a lock,
bolt, or other means of fastening to attach the blind to the window
frame, so that when closed and locked they will give additional security
to the windows. These locks may also be attached to Venetian blinds as
at present constructed.
Having now described and ascertained the nature, object, and purposes
of this my Invention, together with the manner in which the same is to
be or may be carried out, I wish it to be clearly understood that I do
not limit myself to any particular shape, form, pattern, configuration, or
colour of the blinds, as herein-before described, or any proportions or
relative dimensions of the construction, as it will be readily seen that
the same may be considerably varied without departing from my Inven-
tion; but what I claim as new and the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid is,―
The construction and manufacture of Venetian blinds for windows and
other like purposes of strips or laths of millboard, papier maché, or
cardboard, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein-
before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Howard Busby Fox, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
-Witness,
FREDERICK J. CHEESBROUGH,
of 43 Castle Street,
Liverpool.
HOWARD BUSBY FOX. (L.S.)