IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING ROTARY HAIR BRUSHES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Jennings at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th September
1864.
I, JAMES JENNINGS, of Coventry. Street, Haymarket, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MOUNTING ROTARY HAIR BRUSHES," to be as follows:-
In mounting rotary hair brushes according to this Invention, the spindle of
the brush is supported by suitable bearings formed in a fork at the end of a
lever handle, and the spindle at one of its ends has a crank handle connected
to it, by which the brush can be caused to rotate, or the brush may be other-
wise driven. The lever handle that supports the spindle has two springs of
vulcanized india-rubber attached to it at a point intermediate of its length,
and these springs at their opposite ends are attached to the ceiling of the room
in which the brushes are used, the handle or fork at a short distance behind
where the spindle of the brush is carried has a weight suspended from it, or
has springs attached to it, which may either be connected to the floor of the
room, or to the chair on which the person sits whose hair is to be brushed, or be
held by the foot of the person using the brush. In using a brush supported in
this manner, the person using the brush places the lever handle under one arm
and brings the handle into a horizontal position, and in so doing puts a strain
on the springs by which the handle is supported. from the ceiling, and as the
rear end of the handle by being placed under the arm of the person using the
brush is prevented from rising, the spring tends to draw upwards the fore end

page_text: of the handle that carries the brush, and counteracts the tendency of the
weight suspended from this end of the handle to draw the brush downwards;
or when springs are used in place of a weight to counteract the tendency of
these springs, the brush can thus be held very steadily in position without
the person using the brush feeling any of the weight of the brush, and when
the lever handle is so held in position the brush is rotated by turning its
crank handle by hand, or as before stated the brush may be otherwise driven.
In order that the spindle of the brush 'may readily be inserted into and
removed from its bearings in the fork at the fore end of the lever handle, so
that the brushes may be quickly changed, one end of the spindle is caused to
enter a hole in one of the arms of the fork, the spindle at its other end has
the crank handle attached to it by which it is driven, and near the crank
handle a portion of the length of the spindle. is made flat so as to enter a
slot formed in the opposite arm of the fork; this slot at its bottom is enlarged
in order that it may receive the circular part of the spindle. When the end
of the spindle has been partly inserted into the hole in one arm of the fork,
and the flat part of the spindle dropped into the slot in the other, arm, the
spindle is moved endwise, and the circular portion of the spindle is then
caused to enter the circular enlargement at the bottom of the slot, and is so
locked in position; or a circular hole only may be formed in each arm of the
fork, and the spindle passed through these and through the brush.