AN IMPROVE- MENT IN ROLLER BLINDS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Feldwick, of Saint Martin's Court, in the
City of Westminster, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN ROLLER BLINDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Feldwick at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
December 1859.
I, GEORGE FELDWICK, of Saint Martin's Court, in the City of Westminster,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLER BLINDS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in fitting on one end of the roller on which the blind
is secured a ratchet wheel, into the teeth of which a weighted paul takes; the
paul and weight are fixed or formed at one end of a lever centered on a stud
in the side frame, which supports one end of the spindle connected to the
roller, the other end of the lever is provided with a loop through which the
blind cord is passed. The action is as follows:-As soon as the cord is pulled
the paul is released from the ratchet teeth, and the weight of the blind rod
causes the blind to unroll and descend, the cord being slackened at the same
time, becomes wound on the roller or roller spindle; on letting the cord

page_text: entirely free, the weighted paul enters the ratchet teeth, and the blind is fixed
at the desired point. To raise the blind, pull down the cord, which in being
-unwound from the roller causes the rolling on of the blind.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Feldwick in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FELDWICK, of Saint Martin's Court, in the City of Westminster, Ironmonger,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Feldwick, Her special licence that I, the said George
Feldwick, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Feldwick, 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 "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN ROLLER BLINDS," upon. the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Feldwick, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under 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 George Feldwick, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
My Invention consists in fitting on one end of the roller on which the blind
is secured a ratchet wheel, into the teeth of which a weighted paul takes; the
paul and weight are fixed or formed at one end of a lever centred on a stud

page_text: in the side frame, which supports one end of the spindle connected to the roller,
the other end of the lever is provided with a loop through which the blind
cord is passed. The action is as follows:-As soon as the cord is pulled, the
paul is released from the ratchet teeth, and the weight of the blind rod causes
the blind to unrol and descend, the cord being slackened at the same time
becomes wound on the roller or roller spindle; on letting the cord entirely
free, the weighted paul enters the ratchet teeth, and the blind is fixed at the
desired point. To raise the blind, pull down the cord, which in being unwound
from the roller causes the rolling on of the blind.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an elevation of a roller blind
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is an end view of the pulley
end of the roller, with the frame or bearing in which the spindle works
removed; and Figure 3 is a vertical section through the line x, y, of the
same; Figure 4 is a view of the side frame or bearing on the pulley end of
the roller; and Figure 5 shows the side frame or bearing for the spindle on the
end of the roller opposite to that on which the pulley is fitted. a is the blind
roller, one end of which carries a deep flange pulley b, to the outer side of which
a ratchet wheel c is cast. The ratchet wheel, pulley, and roller are supported
upon a spindle working in the bearing & formed in the side frame, Figure 4,
and in the bearing e formed in the side frame, Figure 5, from which latter
bearing the shaft is prevented becoming disengaged by a catch f. To the inner
side of the side frame shown at Figure 4 I centre a lever, one end of which
carries a weighted paul g, shown detached at Figure 6. h is the weight; i is
the paul; and k is an eye formed on the end of the lever opposite to that
which carries the weight, and through which eye the cord 1 from the pulley b
passes. When the blind is at rest the paul i takes into the ratchet wheel c,
but so soon as the cord is pulled either to raise or lower the blind, the paul is
released from the ratchet teeth, and the weight of the blind rod causes the
blind to unroll until the cord is altogether released, when the weight
on the
lever throws the paul into the ratchet teeth, and so stops the blind. To raise
the blind, pull the cord, when the paul i will be released from the teeth of the
ratchet wheel c, and as the cord is wound of from the pulley and the roller
made to revolve, so the blind winds round the roller.
In order to prevent the blind being torn in case it should be attempted to
draw it down by the blind rod or cord attached to the rod, or without using
the raising and lowering cord, I fit the roller somewhat loosely in the body
of the ratchet wheel, but at the same time tight enough for the ratchet
wheel to cause the roller to revolve in the manner before described under
ordinary circumstances when the cord is used, but by pulling the blind with

page_text: some force the roller will revolve, and the blind descend in the ordinary
manner.
I make no claim to the arrangement for causing the roller to revolve
independently of the ratchet wheel, as the same is old.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improvement
in roller blinds, fitting on one end of the roller on which the blind is secured a
ratchet wheel, into the teeth of which a weighted paul takes, the said paul
being connected to or forming part of one end of a lever, the opposite end
of which carries a loop for the reception of a cord, the whole acting in manner
herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Feldwick, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Fifth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty.
GEORGE FELDWICK. (L.S.)