IMPROVEMENTS IN CROCHET HOOKS OR NEEDLES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dangerfield, of Chalford, in the County of
Gloucester, Timber Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CROCHET HOOKS OR NEEDLES."
ealed the 19th March 1878, and dated the 28th September 1877
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dangerfield at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th September 1877.
WILLIAM DANGERFIELD, of Chalford, in the County of Gloucester, Timber
Merchant. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CROCHET HOOKS OR NEEDLES."
The object of my Invention of improvements in crochet hooks or needles is
to secure the hook in the handle in a more effective and better manner than
heretofore.
The handles of these articles are usually made of bone, ivory, or hard wood,
and the shank or shaft of the hook or needle passes through the handle from
end to end, and terminates at the butt end in a head which is intended to prevent
the hook from being drawn out by the work when in use.
In order to fit the instrument into the handle a hole of about the diameter of the
shank or shaft of the needle or hook is drilled down the handle from end to end
thereof, and the hook when inserted is usually secured therein by means of rosin
or other cement. It has been found, however, that crochet hooks or needles when
secured in the handles in this manner are very liable to become loose, and the
instrument will therefore be useless until the hook is again secured tightly in the
handle. Moreover, the operation of drilling a long hole of such small diameter is a
difficult one.
The object of my improvements is to obviate these defects and to facilitate the
fixing of the hooks in the handles, and to this end I shorten the shank or shaft of
the hook by making it somewhat less than two-thirds the usual length, but with a
head at the butt end as heretofore; but instead of allowing the shaft of the instru-

page_text: ment to extend right through the handle from end to end, I drill a hole from the
butt end of the handle up the latter for about two-thirds or three-fourths of its
length, but of sufficient diameter to allow the enlarged butt end of the hook to
pass up into the handle and rest or stop against a shoulder at the upper end of
the hole.
The remaining portion of the handle is bored with a hole of a diameter sufficient
only to allow the hook and shank or shaft to pass through, but not the enlarged
butt end. When the hook is inserted the larger hole as the butt end of the handle
is plugged up with a pice of hard wood or other material, which bears against the
butt end of the hook and holds it in place. The butt end of the handle is thus
rendered solid again, and may be trimmed off smooth and varnished.
If desired the large hole may be made of two different diameters for the facility
of drilling.
The crochet hooks may be made either of bone, ivory, or metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Dangerfield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
March 1878.
WILLIAM DANGERFIELD, of Chalford, in the County of Gloucester, Timber
Merchant. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CROCHET HOOKS OR NEEDLES."
The object of my Invention of "Improvements in Crochet Hooks or Needles" is
to secure the hook in the handle in a more effective and better manner than
beretofore.
The handles of these articles are usually made of bone, ivory, or hard wood, and
the shank or shaft of the hook or needle passes through the handle from end to end
and terminates at the butt end in a bead which is intended to prevent the hook
from being drawn out by the work when in use.
In order to fit the instrument into the handle a hole of about the diameter of the
shank or shaft of the needle or hook is drilled down the handle from end to end
thereof, and the hook when inserted is usually secured therein by means of rosin
or other cement. It has been found, however, that crochet hooks or needles when
secured in the handles in this manner are very liable to become loose, and the
instrument will therefore be useless until the hook is again secured tightly in the
handle. Moreover, the operation of drilling a long hole of such small diameter is a
difficult one.
The object of my improvements is to obviate these defects and to facilitate the
fixing of the hooks in the handles, and to this end I shorten the shank or shaft of
the hook by making it somewhat less than two-thirds the usual length, but with a
head at the butt end as heretofore. Instead, however, of allowing the shaft of the
instrument to extend right through the handle from end to end, I drill a hole from
the butt end of the handle up the latter for about two-thirds or three-fourths of its
length, but of sufficient diameter to allow the enlarged butt end of the hook to
pass up into the handle and rest or stop against a shoulder at the upper end of
the hole.
The remaining portion of the handle is bored with a hole of a diameter.
sufficient only to allow the hook and shank or shaft to pass through, but not

page_text: the enlarged butt end. When the hook is inserted, the larger hole at the butt end
of the handle is plugged up with a piece of hard wood or other material, which
bears against the butt end of the hook and holds it in place. The butt end
of the handle is thus rendered solid again, and may be trimmed off smooth and
varnished.
If desired the large hole may be made of two different diameters for the facility
of drilling.
The crochet hooks may be made either of bone, ivory, or metal.
In the accompanying Drawing,
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, taken through the handle of a crochet hook,
constructed according to my Invention.
Fig. 2 is a view of the metal or other hook a (Fig. 1), detached from the ivory,
bone, or wooden handle b.
It will be seen, on referring to Fig. 1, that a hole of greater diameter than the
thickness of the shank or shaft of the hook is drilled longitudinally from the butt
end of the handle b up towards its other end.
The shaft of the hook a is made with a conical butt end as at a', or it might be
made with a flange or shoulder, provided the latter be not too large to pass down
the hole made in the handle. The hole at the upper end of the handle (for the
passage of the shaft of the hook) is made of the same diameter as the latter, or
nearly so, and the hook shaft when inserted in the handle is driven forward by
the wooden or other plug c (shown detached at Fig. 3) until the enlarged butt
end a¹ of the shank a bears firmly against the handle, as shown in the Drawing, so
that it will be firm in the handle, and will not shift about.
In order to hold the plug c in its place, and to finish off the end of the handle
neatly, a small bone, ivory, or other plug d, rounded at its outer end, may be
inserted in the butt end, as shown in the Figure, and secured there by glue or
cement. By this means of making the crochet hooks and handles not only is
their manufacture facilitated, but there is a saving of material by reducing the
length of the shank of the hook.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Crochet Hooks or
Needles," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim
as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, securing the shanks
or shafts of metal or other crochet hooks or needles in their handles by means of
wooden or other plugs, as and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dangerfield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
WILLIAM DANGERFIELD. (L.S.)