IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thomas Smith, of No. 405, Broadway,
New York, in the United States of America, at present residing at
the Great Northern Hotel, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS."-A communication from
abroad by Josiah Shepard, of New Britain, Connecticut, United
States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thomas Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th August 1871.
I, JAMES THOMAS SMITH, of No. 405, Broadway, New York, in the
United States of America, at present residing at the Great Northern
Hotel, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to give support to the ribs of umbrellas
between their points or outer ends and the joints connecting them with
the stretchers. For this purpose I employ additional or auxilliary ribs;

page_text: at their inner ends they are jointed to a runner on the stick of the
umbrella, and at their outer ends to the main ribs at the point where
the support is required between the joint connecting the rib with the
stretcher and the tip of the rib. These additional auxilliary ribs pass
through the fork of the stretcher, and when the umbrella is opened they
bear against the stretchers which serve as fulcra, and over these bearing
points the auxilliary ribs are bent when the umbrella is opened. In
place of continuing the auxilliary ribs to a runner on the stick they may
stop short and simply bear on the ribs on the inner side of the joint
connecting the main rib with the stretcher, and when the umbrella is
opened the auxilliary rib is bent over the bearing paint at which it rests
on the stretcher, as already described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Thomas Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
THOMAS SMITH, of No. 405, Broadway, New York, in the United States
of America, at present residing at the Great Northern Hotel, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Thomas Smith, Her special license
that I, the said James Thomas Smith, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Thomas Smith, my exc-
cutors, 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 UMBRELLAS," (a communication to him from abroad by Josiah Shepard,
of New Britain, Connecticut, United States of America,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Thomas Smith, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: 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 James Thomas Smith, 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, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to give support to the ribs of umbrellas
between their points or outer ends and the joints connecting them with
the stretchers. For this purpose supporting pieces are employed; each
rib is provided with its supporting piece, which is jointed to it at the
point where the support is required between its connection with the
stretcher and its outer end. The supporting pieces pass through the
forks of the stretchers and terminate beyond in contact with the ribs,
or nearly so, or they may be made longer and jointed to a runner upon
the stick, but this is unnecessary,
When the umbrella is opened the stretchers press against the
supporting pieces, and they communicate this pressure to the ribs
at the points where they are jointed to them, and so the required
support is given. The inner end of the supporting piece (if it be not
connected with a runner) is kept down so as not to yield to the pressure
of the stretcher by resting against the rib.
In order that the said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 shews a portion of an umbrella rib with its stretcher and
supporting piece in their proper relative positions, the umbrella being
closed; Figure 2 shews the same parts in the positions they occupy
when the umbrella is open; Figures 3 shew the supporting piece
separately.
a is the rib, it is jointed in the usual way to the top notch of the
umbrella at its end a¹, and it is jointed to the stretcher at a²; b is
the stretcher, it is jointed to the rib at its end 6', and to the runner
at its other extremity 6; c is the supporting piece, and c¹ the joint by
which it is connected with the rib at the point where support is

page_text: required. The supporting piece is bent where it passes through the
fork of the stretcher, that it may clear the joint connecting the rib
and the stretcher and take a proper bearing upon the stretcher when
the umbrella is open.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim, the construction of umbrellas with supporting pieces, substantially
as described, such supporting pieces sustaining the ribs between their
points or outer ends and the joints which connect them with the
stretchers.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Thomas Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 20th day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
JAMES T. SMITH. (L.S.)