A SWEEPING MACHINE OR BRUSH, OR IMPROVEMENTS ON A SWEEPING MACHINE OR BRUSH, OR SWEEPING MACHINES OR BRUSHES
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HUME, of Percy Street, in the Parish of Saint Pancras, and County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
February, in the fifty-first year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
James Hume, my exors, adññors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Hume, my exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A SWEEPING MACHINE OR BRUSH,
OR IMPROVEMENTS ON A SWEEPING MACHINE OR BRUSH, OR SWEEPING MACHINES OR
BRUSHES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said James Hume, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had).
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Hume, do declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the manner.

page_text: in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained
as follows (that is to say):-
I do make a brush of a cylindrical or polygonal form with pivots, or an
axis, or a perforation thro' the axis thereof, in order that the same may be
capable of revolving; and I do support the said brush in a box or receptacle
of tin or other fit material closed on all sides but one, which is intended to be
the bottom or lower side, and in which I make a long perforation or opening
to allow the face of the brush to project to a small distance.;. and I do support
the said box or receptacle upon small wheels or castors or sliding projections,
to be appled to the surface of the floor or place to be sweeped, so as to allow
the face of the brush to touch the said surface, but to keep the said box or
receptacle from touching the same; and, in the use of my said Invention, I do
place the said box or receptacle upon the surface to be sweeped and do slide
the same along while I turn the brush by an handle or other fit and well-
known means; and, by the said process or operation, apartments and places
may be sweeped without the inconvenience of raising the dust or dirt, which
is retained in the said box or receptacle in a tray or cavity on either or each
side of the perforation or opening before described. And I do further declare
that the said brush may be turned by a multiplying wheel and handle attached
to a staff, by which the box may be pushed forward, and also by various
other well-known means; bút I do give the preference to the construc-
tion which is delineated in the Figure hereunto annexed, in which the letters
a, &c. denote a cylindrical brush capable of revolving upon its pivots c, c,
in its center or axis; and the said pivots have each a toothed wheel fixed thereon
and revolving therewith. e is a sliding plate or piece which receives the end
or pivot of the axis in order that the same may be raised or lowered by the
screw d, e. b; b, are two wheels, having teeth which take in the wheel C and
having also a cylindrical or rolling face in each, somewhat larger in diameter
than the circle of the teeth, by which means (the. two ends of the cylindrical
brush being both fitted up with wheels, and every other apparatus alike in all
respects,) when the wheel b, b, are applied to the floor of the room or place
and the whole machine is shoved forwards, the said wheels will roll or turn
and cause the brush a, a, to revolve in the contrary direction. And the said
wheels are supported as to the axis or centers thereof by sliding plates, which
allow the same in each pair of wheels to approach or recede from each other,
so as to maintain a fair and proper connection with the wheel C, in all cases of
adjustment by the screw d, for which purpose the centres of b; b, are respectively
connected by an arm or brace with the center c. f,f,f, &c. shew the outline of
the case of tin or other fit material, in which the cylindrical brush is included
a,

page_text: and supported by the pivots thereof; and the machinery at the ends is covered
from dust or accidental injury by a plate screwed on at each end; and the said
case is closed on all sides except at the lower face thereof, where the opening is
left for the brush to come in contact with the floor and perform the operation of
sweeping; and the parts g, g, of the said lower face, which are on each side
of the said opening, have an edge or return upwards, so that each part con-
stitutes a kind of shelf or tray in which the dust or material swept up becomes
deposited without producing any inconvenience, and is afterwards taken out
by a side door or other fit opening in the said case. h represents an handle
having a socket at i, into which the end of the staff or stick is to be inserted
for use.
And I do further declare that my said Invention, as before described,
consists of a cylindrical or polygonal brush made to revolve in a box or
receptacle with or without machinery, may be constructed and made with divers
variations as to the position, form, adjustment, dimensions, and materials of the
parts thereof; but that the said variations can and may be readily made by
any competent mechanic without further instruction or specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hume, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eleven