IMPROVEMENTS IN SUN BLINDS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Julius Jeffreys, of Richmond, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUN BLINDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Julius Jeffreys at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th January 1860.
I, JULIUS JEFFREYS, of Richmond, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUN BLINDS," to be
as follows:
The following improvements relate to an Invention patented by me on the
11th July 1851 (No. 1551).
First, I employ a spring roller to raise the blind by coiling upon itself the
cords by which the blind is hoisted.
Secondly, I make the roller, whether it be a spring roller or simple one, to
travel laterally for hoisting sun blinds.
Thirdly, in lieu of the former method of raising the blind, I now employ
only two lifting cords carried from points in the head-board of the blind-case
downwards in front of all the inner wires of the blind frames (namely, those,
next the window), and then on the inner side of these wires upwards to the
roller, thus making the frames to tilt up edgeways in the hoisting.
Fourthly, I carry the hand cord through a hole in the window head into
the room and over pulleys for convenient hoisting.

page_text: Fifthly, for making the wire frames I use galvanized or tinned wire, and
I employ a bench or frame fitted with moveable pins, and circular blocks to
determine the bends to be given the wire; and for forming the joints I use
strips of thin metal coated with solder lapped over the joints, and heated and
cooled under pressure by hot and cold tools. For shaping the cloths, and
ornamenting and preserving their folds over the wires, I employ templates of
metal or other material, through slits in which the bounding edges for the
cloths are stencilled with broad lines of paint or varnish.
Sixthly, I employ, in whole or in part, in lieu of metal or cloth for the
leaves of the blind, sheets of glass, flat or fluted, lined with matter more or
less opaque, and framed, their enclosing ends being made of either lined
glass, metal, or other material. When spherical ends are used for glass or
metal leaves, I now have them formed separate from the rest of the leaf.
In drawing up such blinds, the leaves travel up, maintaining their inclined
position to and under a projecting hood by means of cords acting upon their
inner edges only; but when the leaves, whether of glass or metal, have flat
ends, they are made to tilt up edgeways or vertically in the hoisting, and their
ends to fold up close between them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Julius Jeffreys in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIUS
JEFFREYS, of Richmond, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Julius Jeffreys, Her special licence that I, the said Julius Jeffreys,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Julius Jeffreys, 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
SUN BLINDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Julius
Jeffreys, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Julius Jeffreys, 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 :-
This Invention bas for its object improvements in sun blinds. For this
purpose I employ a series of frames made of galvanized iron or tinned wire
soldered together. These frames are suspended by cords from a blind-case
fixed at the upper part of and outside the window to which the blind is fitted.
The suspending cords are so arranged that the frames may hang horizontally,
or nearly so; their inclination may, however, be varied. Pieces of canvas or
other fabric of suitable form are attached to the outer edge, and two sides of
each of the frames, and the piece of canvas or fabric so attached to either
of the frames is also secured to the inner edge of the frame next above it,
except in the case of the highest frame, and in this case it is attached to a
wire carried by the suspending cords at a suitable distance above the upper
frame; the pieces of canvas or fabric are thus stretched diagonally from frame
to frame. In order to raise the blind, two cords are employed; they are each
attached at one end to the blind case; they then pass downwards in front of
the inner edge of each of the frames, and afterwards they return upwards to
a roller fixed in the blind case. By winding up these cords the frames will
be in succession lifted by their inner edges, and will thus be thrown into a
vertical position, and when they are fully raised they enter a blind case, by
which, when out of use, they will be sheltered from weather. This blind case
need not project far beyond the front of the window, as the frames being
thrown into a vertical position, occupy much less space than they would if
raised while still horizontal. The roller on which the cords are wound may
be a spring roller, such as is ordinarily used in spring blinds, the roller having
a cord on it, by pulling which the roller may be turned against the action of
the spring, and so as to unwind the blind cords and lower the blind, and by
releasing the cord above mentioned, the spring of the roller will cause it to
revolve in the contrary direction, and to raise the blind. It is preferred that
the roller should be so mounted as to traverse as the cords are wound on to
and off from it. The roller cord may, if desired, be led through the window
frame; and into the room. In some cases I substitute plates of metal or glass

page_text: for the canvas-covered frames; also, when making blinds of such plates of
metal or glass, I sometimes fit them with spherical ends of metal stamped or
formed separate, and afterwards secured to the plates.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
'annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front view of a sun blind constructed according to my
Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same; Figure 3 is also a
transverse section shewing the position of the blind when raised. a, a, is the
window with its frame; b is the blind case at the top of the window; and
c, c, are side-boards, one on each side of the window; d, d, are frames of
galvanized or tinned wire; one of them is shewn separately at Figure 4.
e, e, are suspending cords attached to the inner edges of these frames, and also
at their upper ends to the case b, as is shown; f, f, are pieces of canvas or
fabric stretched on the frames; g is a cord, by tightening which the frames
may be tilted up, if it be desired, to admit more light without raising the
blind; h, h, are the lifting cords; they are attached at one end to the blind
case, and they pass down through eyes in the canvas or fabric in front of the
inner edges of the frames d, d; they then ascend to the top of the case, and are
there attached to the roller i, which may be a spring roller, such as above
described, and the construction of which is well understood by blind makers;
or an ordinary roller, with a cord round it to cause it to revolve, to draw up
the blind, may be employed; the weight of the blind will be sufficient to
cause it to descend when this cord is released. The method in which the
roller is caused to traverse is clearly shown at Figure 5. To the blind case
and at one end of the roller a screw is fixed; this serves as a spindle for the
blind to turn upon, there being a plate at the end of the roller having a hole
formed in it, which is tapped with a thread corresponding with the thread of
-the screw spindle; thus, as the roller revolves, the screw and screw plate acting
together traverse the roller as required. The spindle of the roller at the
other end is attached to it, and slides freely in the hole in which it works.
Figure 6 shews a blind similar to that already described, except that in
place of frames covered with canvas or cloth being employed, metal plates are
used. These plates are curved, and fitted with ends, as the Drawing shews.
These plates are marked d in the Drawing; they may be corrugated if
desired.
e, e, are cords by which the plates are suspended from the blind
case, and also the one from the other. The points of suspension are so

page_text: arranged that the inner ends of the plates may overbalance the outer ends.
g is another cord attached to the inner ends of the plates, and serving to keep
them equally distant the one from the other. This cord passes over a pulley
at the top of the case, and, by tightening it, the plates may be brought into
a more inclined position.
Figure 7 shews the blind above described when raised into its case. The
lifting cords of the blind are arranged so as to make the plates tilt upwards
in raising in the manner already described.
Figures 8 and 9 shew transverse sections of a blind, which differ only in
the form of the parts from the blind shewn at Figures 6 and 7.
In these and other similar blinds, in place of metal plates, I sometimes use
plates of glass. These may be set in metal frames, and furnished with metal
ends. Their inner or under sides may be covered with cloth both to exclude
the light, to render them more ornamental, and to prevent noise and risk of
breakage as they are raised and lowered.
In constructing blinds, particularly such as are described in the Specification
of the Patent granted to me, and dated 11th July 1855, No. 1551, in which
plates somewhat similar to those marked d, d, Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 of my
present Specification are used, but so arranged as to be raised and lowered
without tilting, I sometimes make the ends of the plates of a spherical form,
and I in this case stamp or form the spherical ends separately, and afterwards
attach them to the plates, which may be either of metal or glass.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julius Jeffreys, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JULIUS JEFFREYS. (L.S.)