IMPROVEMENTS IN CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR, AND OTHER SIMILAR CARDS AND VALENTINES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Clulow, of the Firm of Charles Goodall and Son,
of Camden Works, Camden Town, in the County of Middlesex, Manufac-
turers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR, AND
OTHER SIMILAR CARDS AND VALENTINES." A communication from abroad by
Rudolph Henning of Berlin, Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Clulow at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th December 1877.
GEORGE CLULOW, of the Firm of Charles Goodall and Son, of Camden Works,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
Camden Town, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers.
CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR, AND OTHER SIMILAR CARDS AND VALENTINES." [A com-
munication from abroad by Rudolph Henning, of Berlin, Germany.]
This Invention consists in making what I may term "speaking" Christmas and
other cards, and "speaking" valentines, that is to say, cards and valentines which,
when pressed or squeezed, will emit a sound resembling, for example, the cry of a
child, the chirp of a bird, or the bark of a dog. For this purpose I attach to, say,
the back of the card or valentine a sort of bellows containing a reed, diaphragm, or
other device which will emit the required sound when a current of air passes
through it.
The manner in which I prefer to carry out the Invention is as follows:-I take
an oblong piece of cardboard or other similar stiff material, and I double it
across the middle. Between the halves of this piece of cardboard I fit a spiral or
other spring, which keeps them separated to the required extent, and I enclose the
sides and end of the space comprised between the said halves with paper, which is
creased to allow it to fold properly when the halves are pressed together. In one
half of the cardboard I form a hole; on the inside of this half I secure a washer
or ring of pasteboard or other suitable material around the said hole, and within or

page_text: upon this washer I fit the reed, diaphragm, or other device for producing the
required sound. I paste or otherwise attach this piece of cardboard to the back of
the Christmas or other card, or valentine, the half in which the hole is formed
being outermost; then over the back of the whole I paste a piece of paper which
has a hole corresponding with the hole above referred to.
By pressing the Christmas or other card, or valentine made as above described,
the air within the bellows is forced through the reed, diaphragm, or other device,
and out at the holo at the back, making in its passage the sound required; when
the pressure is removed the spring before named forces the halves of the cardboard
apart ready to be pressed a second time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Clulow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th June
1878.
GEORGE CLULOW, of the Firm of Charles Goodall and Son, of Camden Works,
Camden Town, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR, AND OTHER SIMILAR CARDS AND VALENTINES." (A com-
munication from abroad by Rudolph Henning, of Berlin, Germany.)
"
This Invention consists in making what 1 may term "voiced or "speaking"
Christmas and other cards, and "voiced" or "speaking" valentines, that is to say,
cards and valentines which, when pressed or squeezed, will emit a sound resembling,
for example, the cry of a child, the chirp of a bird, the bark of a dog, or the quack
of a duck. For this purpose I attach to, say the back of the card or valentine, a
sort of bellows containing a reed, diaphragm, or other device, which will emit the
required sound when a current of air passes through it.
The manner in which I prefer to carry out the Invention is as follows:-I take
an oblong piece of cardboard or other similar stiff material, and I double it across
the middle. Between the halves of this piece of cardboard I fit a spiral or other
spring which keeps them separated to the required extent, and I enclose the sides
and end of the space comprised between the said halves with paper, which is
creased to allow it to fold properly when the halves are pressed together. In one
half of the cardboard, before enclosing its sides and end, I form a hole; on the
inside of this half I secure a washer or ring of pasteboard or other suitable material
around the said hole, and within or upon this washer I fit the reed, diaphragm, or
other device for producing the required sound. I paste or otherwise attach this
piece of cardboard to the back of the Christmas or other card, or valentine, the
half in which the hole is formed being outermost.
By pressing the Christmas or other card, or valentine, made as above described,
the air within the bellows is forced through the reed, diaphragm, or other device,
and out at the hole at the back, making in its passage the sound required; when
the pressure is removed the spring before named forces the halves of the cardboard
apart ready to be pressed a second time.

page_text: The accompanying Drawings illustrate my Invention; a, Figures 1 and 2, is an
oblong piece of cardboard or other suitable stiff material; b is a spiral spring, the
last turn of which is gummed or glued to the cardboard a, and is further secured by
a piece of paper c, which is likewise guinmed or glued to the cardboard; & is a
hole in the cardboard; e is a washer or ring of pasteboard or other suitable mate-
rial glued or secured to the cardboard a, around the hole d, and upon or within this
washer is placed the reed, diaphragm, or other device for producing the required
sound In the caso shown in the Drawings the device is a diaphragm of paper, f
having a central hole g, and attached to the washer e, this device being for pro-
ducing a sound like the chirp of a bird. The spring b, and the washer e, with its
diaphragm or devicef having been secured to the cardboard a, the latter is then
folded on the line h (Figure 1) into a bellows form. The sides and ends of the
space comprised between its two ends are then enclosed with paper as seen at i,
Figures 3 and 4 (which are respectively a side view, and a section of the bellows
attached to a card ke), the paper i having been properly creased to allow it to fold
properly when the halves of the bellows are pressed together.
Figure 5 is a back view of a Christinas or other card, or valentine k, with the
bellows attached thereto. The bollows inay be large enough to entirely cover the
back of the card or valentine, or (as shewn) to cover a portion of it only.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim manufacturing what I have
herein-before termed "voiced" or "speaking" Christmas and other cards, and
"voiced" or "speaking" valentines, substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Clulow, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-eight.
GEO. CLULOW. (L.S.)