IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1875

page_text: .
LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Mitchell and Walter Mitchell, both of
Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS."
'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Mitchell and
-Walter Mitchell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd February 1875.
We, JOSEPH MITCHELL and WALTER MITCHELL, both of Sheffield, in
the County of York, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," to be as
follows:-
―:
The object of this Invention is to be able to remove and replace with
facility any rib or broken wire in the framework of an umbrella or
parasol, and also to simplify the construction of the general framework
of these and similar articles.
In carrying out the Invention the ribs should have attached to them
at or near their centre in the usual manner a metallic eye. The top end
}

page_text: of cach rib and also the two ends of the stretchers are constructed in
such a manner that they can be detached with facility from the runners
of the umbrella or the eyes of the ribs as the case may be.
This may
be done in various ways; for instance, the stretchers may be connected
to the eyes of the ribs by means of detachable loops which are formed of
pieces of bent wire which are made to embrace the end of the stretcher
and are temporarily secured thereto by means of movable rings or
When it is desired to detach a stretcher from a rib it will only
be necessary to draw back the ring or small runner so as to loosen the
loop at the top of the stretcher and detach it from the rib.
runners.
As a modification of the above, instead of a looped piece of metal being
employed, the extremities of the ribs or stretchers may be split and the
two ends turned in so as to form a divided clip or eye which may be
compressed or tightened on to the wires or eyes of the runners or ribs by
passing up a small ring or runner, as before mentioned.
As a further modification the rib supports may be made of one piece
of wire bent over so as to form a double rib with a loop at one end,
while the other end may be made to form a divided clip or eye as in the
former instance, and when attached to the stick runner may be secured
by a small ring or runner as before.
A fourth modification is effected by flattening the extremitics of the
ribs or stretchers and turning them over so as to form a hook, the point
of which may be held close to the stem of the stretcher by means of a
small ring or runner as in the other instances. The stick runner is
composed of a piece of metal tube with slits made therein corresponding in
number to the number of ribs in the umbrella, the slit portions being
turned over and made to embrace a metal ring which will serve as a
pivot on which the stretchers work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Mitchell and Walter Mitchell in the Great a
Seal Patent Office on the 3rd August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOSEPH
MITCHELL and WALTER MITCHELL, both of Sheffield, in the County of
York, Engineers, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of February; in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Joseph Mitchell and Walter Mitchell, Her
spécial licence that we, the said Joseph Mitchell and Walter Mitchell,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Joseph Mitchell and Walter Mitchell, our 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND
PARASOLS; upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Joseph Mitchell and Walter Mitchell, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Joseph Mitchell and Walter
Mitchell, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-:
One object of this Invention is so to construct the metal frames of
umbrellas and parasols as to admit of the casy removal of any broken
rib or stretcher in the framework of an umbrella or parasol, and the
substitution of a new rib or stretcher for the broken part without the
necessity of taking the whole framework to pieces.
.
Another object of the Invention is to simplify the construction of the
general framework of these and similar articles so that the several parts
may to a great extent be made by machinery, so that the skilled labor
required in the manufacture of these articles may be considerably
reduced.

page_text: c
In carrying out the Invention the ribs should have attached to them
at or near their centres as usual a metallic eye, which is constructed and
is secured thereto in such a manner that it can be easily adapted to the
rib and so fixed in place on the rib that it will not be liable to shift
thereon. The top end of each rib and also the two ends of the stretchers
are constructed in such a manner that they can be detached with facility
"
from the top notch and the runner of the umbrella or the eyes of the
ribs as the case may be. This may be done in various
for
ways;
instance, the stretchers may be connected to the eyes of the ribs or the
ribs connected to the top notch by means of detachable loops which are
formed of pieces of bent wire which are made to embrace the end of the
stretcher, or rib, and are temporarily secured thereto by means of movable
rings or runners. Or a spring hook or loop. may be formed at the end
of the rib or stretcher. When it is desired to detach a stretclier from a
rib, or from the runner, or a rib from the top notch, it will only be
necessary to draw back the ring or small runner so as to loosen the loop
or release the spring hook or loop at the top of the stretcher and then
the several parts may be taken asunder and removed.
'
As a modification of the above the extremities of the ribs or stretchers
may be split and the two ends turned in so as to form a divided clip or
eye which may be compressed or tightened on to the wires or eyes' of
the runners or ribs by passing up a small ring or runner, as before
mentioned.
As a further modification the stretchers may be made of one piece of
wire bent over so as to form a double rod with a loop at one end, while
the other end may be made to form a divided clip or eye as in the formér
instance, and when attached to the runner may be secured by a small
ring or runner as before.
A fourth modification is effected by flattening the extremities of the
ribs or stretchers and turning them over so as to form a spring hook,
the point of which may, if desired, be held close to the stem of the
stretcher by means of a small ring or runner as in the other instances.
The runner and also the top notch are both composed of a piece of metal
tube; the former is much longer than the tube for the top notch, but
both have slits made therein corresponding in number to the number of
ribs in the umbrella, the slit portions being turned over and made to
Nembrace a metal ring which will serve as a pivot on which the ribs or
stretchers work.
.

page_text: The runner and top notch are constructed in exactly the same manner,
and they form a very important part of the Invention, inasmuch as they
can be constructed in the manner herein-after described by means of a
series of tools which will not require the attention of a skilled artizan, and
therefore these parts can be produced not only with great facility but
also very cheaply.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents one mode of forming
a loop or eye at the end of a rib or stretcher a by means of a separate or
detachable spring loop 6 which is held in place on the end of the rib by
means of a runner c.
Fig. 2 is another form of eye for the end of a rib or stretcher. In
this instance the eye is produced by splitting the end of the rib and
bending the split ends into the form of half rings, which when brought
together as shewn in the Drawing constitute a round eye which is made
to embrace the ring of the top notch, the split ends of the eye being
held together by means of the small runner c as in the former instance.
At the lower part of Fig. 1 the cye of the stretcher d is shewn as con-
structed in the same manner.
Fig. 3 represents a stretcher formed by doubling up a length of wire
of suitable section in such a manner as to form a complete solid eye e at
one end (say the lower end) of the stretcher, and a divided eye like that
shown at Fig. 2 at the other end of the piece, the divided or split part
being held together by means of a small runner c as before.
In Fig. 4 the eye is formed by a spring hook f, produced by bending
up the end of the rib a into the desired form and then closing the open
end of the hook f by pressing the point against the body of the rib or
stretcher and holding it there by means of the small runner c. Or the
spring hook fmay be made to keep closed by its own elasticity and the
small runner or ring c dispensed with, as shewn at the lower end of
Fig. 4. When the rib or stretcher is attached to the top notch or
runner (as the case may be) it is secured in place by simple elasticity of
'the hook which will press the point of the hook against the shank or
body of the rib or stretcher and prevent it from becoming detached by
accident.
When it is desired to detach the rib or stretcher from the runner or
top notch it will only be necessary to raise up the pointed end of the
hook when the latter may be easily lifted out of its place.,

page_text: In Fig 1 the stretcher d'is connected to the centre part of the rib a
by means of an eye of the ordinary construction. The eye h is usually
secured to the rib a by soldering, but this operation requires a skilled
hand, and moreover the eye is liable to become loose when it will slide
up and down the riba and will not act properly. In order to prevent
this inconvenience and dispense with the soldering operation, thereby
facilitating the construction of this part of the frame, we construct the
eye in the manner shewn at Figures 5, which represent front and
sectional views of a piece of a paragon frame rib with the eye h attached
thereto. The improvement consists simply in, making a half round
notch in the parallel sides of the rib in order to receive the rivet i of the
eye. By this means the eye is effectually prevented from slipping on
the rib, and the stretcher d may be constructed with any of the forms of
spring hooks shewn in the Drawing.
Fig. 6 is a top view and Fig. 7 is a vertical section of one of our
improved runners constructed with a solid wire ring j, j, which is
secured in place without soldering. The top notch is constructed in
precisely the same manner except that its tube is much shorter and is
fixed in position on the stick by means of a cross pin or in any other
convenient manner.
The manner of constructing our improved top notches and runners
will be best understood by reference to Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
The body of the runner or top notch is formed of a short piece of brass,
German silver, or other metal tube k cut to the proper length, as shewn
at Fig. 8. The next operation is to cut eight notches in the upper end
of the short tube, as shewn at Fig. 9; this is effected either by a circular
saw or by means of a punch in a fly press, after which the split tube k
is placed in a die and the vertical tangs k¹, k³, are forced down into a
horizontal position, as shewn in plan at Fig. 10 and in vertical section
at Fig. 11; the wire ring jis then placed in position on the horizontal
tangs ', and the tube k is then forced into a hollow die whereby the
_tangs are bent up into the position shown at Fig. 12 so as to surround
the wire ring j, which is permanently secured by bending the tangs ¹
over the ring j; as shewn at Fig. 13, by means of another punch; the
runner or top notch (as the case may be) is then complete and ready to
be applied to the stick of the umbrella or parasol.
I
If preferred the runners and top notches may be made of buffalo
horn, gutta percha, papier maché, or other substance which is capable

page_text: of being moulded in dies when in a soft state, and when it becomes hard
will be tough and rigid. The wire ring j is embedded in the substance
at the upper end of the tube, and the notches to receive the ends of the
ribs or stretchers are formed by drilling holes below the ring and cutting
away the corresponding upper parts of the substance by means of a
small circular saw or other suitable tool. Or if preferred the notches in
the runner may be formed in the mould or die.
-
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in Umbrellas
and Parasols," and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we claim as the Invention secured to us by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, constructing the ribs, stretchers, cyes, runners, and top
notches of the frames of umbrellas and parasols, as herein set forth, so
that these parts may be more casily made than heretofore, and the
operation of soldering dispensed with, the several parts moreover being
so combined or connected together that any broken or defective part
may be removed and a new piece put in its place with facility and
without the necessity of taking the rest of the frame to pieces.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Mitchell and Walter
Mitchell, have hereunto set our hands and scals, the Second
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-five.