IMPROVEMENTS IN CURTAIN FIXTURES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Williamson Pycock, of Southolme, Gains-
borough, in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CURTAIN FIXTURES."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Williamson
Pycock at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th August 1855.
I, BENJAMIN WILLIAMSON PYCOCK, lo hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CURTAIN FIXTURES" to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to the apparatus for raising, lowering, and securing
curtains or blinds. The curtain is wound upon a horizontal roller, at the end
of which is a pulley, which may be of the same or a less or greater diameter
than the roller; a cord is wound round this pulley, to which its end is attached.
The other end of the cord is connected to a tassel, by pulling which the blind
is wound up upon the roller. If the tassel were then released, the curtain
would run down again by its own weight; this is avoided in the following
manner-A cord or line is stretched in a vertical position and fixed at the two
ends; this cord is passed through the tassel, which can thus slide up and down
upon it. The cord by which the curtain is raised or lowered is not attached
directly to the tassel, but to a small cam lever contained within the tassel.
The strain upon the curtain cord causes this lever to press against the fixed
cord, and thus to produce so much friction as to prevent the tassel from sliding
on the fixed cord; the curtain is thus held at any required position. The end
of the lever projects a little, so that when the tassel is grasped by the hand to

page_text: raise or lower it, the lever is released and the tassel can be freely raised or
lowered. On removing the hand the lever immediately acts and fixes the
curtain in the position in which it is left. The action of the lever may be
assisted by a spring if desired. The tassels may be made of wood, or metal, or
porcelain, or other suitable material, and they may be covered or ornamented
with fringe or otherwise, as required. The cords or lines may be of hemp,
wool, wire, or other suitable material, and the position of the apparatus may be
varied. When the weight of the curtain is not sufficient to cause it to run
down when the tassel is released, it may be drawn down by hand by means of
a cord attached to the curtain itself, or the bottom of the curtain may be
loaded with a heavy rod to cause it to descend.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Williamson Pycock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
WILLIAMSON PYCOCK, of Southolme, Gainsborough, in the County of Lincoln,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, ler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Benjamin Williamson Pycock, Iler special licence that I, the said Benjamin
Williamson Pycock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Benjamin Williamson Pycock, 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, 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 CURTAIN FIXTURES," (communicated to me
from abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin
Williamson Pycock, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Williamson Pycock, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Draw-
ing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention relates to apparatus for raising and lowering and securing
curtains or blinds.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a front view of a window
franie with a curtain hung in it. A is the window frame; and B is the
curtain or blind, arranged on a roller a, whose journals or pivots are supported
at b, b, in any of the usual well-known ways; D is a tassel attached to the
curtain; c, c, are flanges on one end of the roller, between which a cord d
is wound or unwound as the curtain falls or rises; C is a tassel or bob for
raising, lowering, and securing the curtain, and consisting of a small box or
hollow piece of inetal, wood, porcelain, or other suitable material.
Figure 2 is an edge view of the piece C, of the full size; and Figure 3 is
a section of the same, also of the full size. The box or piece C has aper-
tures at top and bottom, and another aperture at the side, through which
passes the tail f of a cam lever e, which is pivoted in the box. The cord d
is attached by one of its ends to the roller a, and by its other end to the
cam lever e, as shown in Figure 3, the said end first passing through the
aperture at the top of the piece C, and out at the lateral aperture, in which
the cam lever e is situated. Another cord g has its upper end fastened to the
window frame at h, and is then passed through the hollow piece C, and has its
lower end fastened at i. The point or curved part of the cam lever e within
the box C presses against the cord 9, and clamps or pinches it against a stop or
pink, thus holding the box C and the curtain, through the cord d, at any
required position.
In the Drawing, Figure 1, the curtain or blind is represented as being
partially rolled up.
To let it down, the tassel or piece C is taken in the right hand with the
thumb pressing upon the lever at f, and then by taking the tassel D (which is
attached to the curtain) in the other hand, it may be drawn down to any
required point, while the other tassel C is at the same time drawn up on the
cord g by the winding up of the cord d on the curtain roller. Both hands
being then removed, the weight of the curtain, acting through the cord d,
draws the cam lever against the cord g, and holds everything firm at that
point.
To wind up the curtain, the lever f is again pressed down, and the tassel or

page_text: piece C is drawn down, thus drawing the cord d off the roller a, and winding
up the blind or curtain. Whenever the hand is released from the tassel or
piece C, the tendency of the curtain to drop draws the cam lever against the
cord g, and secures the tassel and the curtain.
The curtain B may be made to run down by itself by weighting its lower
end, either by the strip or rod which is attached to the lower end, or by
weighting the tassel D. A small spring may be placed under the cam lever
to throw it up more suddenly or with greater force when the thumb is removed
from it. This spring, however, will seldom be required, as the weight of the
curtain and its rod will hold the lever in its position. The tassel or piece C
may be made of wood, or metal, or porcelain, or other suitable material, and it
may itself be made ornamental, or it may be ornamented with fringe, or in any
other way, and the lever may be concealed and hidden by the ornament; thus,
Figure 4 is a section of a tassel or piece C, made of wood, and covered and
ornamented with fringe. The cord g may be of hemp, or wool, or of wire, or
other suitable material. In all cases the cord d, by which the blind or curtain
is raised or lowered, is to be attached to the cam lever, so that the weight of
the blind or curtain, acting through the cord d, may force the cam lever against
the cord g.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is, the
combination of the cords d, g, with the tassel or piece C with its cam lever,
the whole being arranged and acting in the manner herein-before described,
for the purpose of making a simple and effective curtain fixture.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Williamson Pycock, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
BENJAMIN WILLIAMSON PYCOCK. (L.S.)
Witness,
ELIST STEELE WEST,
Bark Street, Gainsboro'.