IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Boyle, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Tool Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS."
Sealed the 27th March 1861, and dated the 30th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Boyle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th January 1861.
I, ARTHUR BOYLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tool
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the following improvements in the manu-
facture of that part of the rib joint of umbrellas and parasols called the get
or middle bit, which said get or middle bit is fixed on the rib of the umbrella
or parasol, and is jointed to the fork of the stretcher. I make the said get or
middle bit hollow, and manufacture it from sheet metal in the following
manner I cut blanks from sheet metal by means of ordinary cutting tools,
and by means of a pair of ordinary raising tools or dies I raise the said blank
into a cup-like form, two of the opposite sides of the cup being higher than
the intermediate sides. I then draw the cup through another die so as to
perfect its form. After leaving the die through which it has been drawn, it
has a flattened semi-circular figure, the flat parallel sides standing above the
edges so as to constitute two flaps. The said flaps are closed upon the
umbrella or parasol rib in the manner in which gets made from grooved brass
wire are commonly closed upon the said ribs, and are thereby secured to the

page_text: said ribs. The gets or middle bits may be made from the blanks by the
action of a single pair of drawing through dies, but I prefer the use of two
pairs of dies. Gets or middle bits made according to my Invention have the
same or nearly the same figure as those made from grooved brass wire, but
are hollow and lighter.
My Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvement in the
manufacture of stretchers for umbrellas and parasols:-I make the said
stretchers from a continuous wire instead of from wire cut into lengths, as
ordinarily practised. I pass the end of the wire to a fixed stop, and at a
distance equal to the length of the stretchers to be made. I operate upon
the wire by means of a pair of dies, giving to the wire at that place the figure
of the last or runner end of one stretcher, and making the indentations
required on the fork end of the next stretcher when forks made of sheet metal
have to be attached thereto. The wire is also very nearly but not quite
divided at the point where the figure of one stretcher ends and that of the
other begins. On the separation of the dies the nearly divided wire is bent
and broken off, the end of the wire having the figure of one end of a stretcher
is pushed up to the fixed stop, and the wire operated upon at the required
distance by means of the dies, and the operations described repeated until the
bundle or coil of wire has been worked up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Boyle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
BOYLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tool Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Arthur Boyle, Her special licence that I, the said Arthur Boyle. my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Boyle, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," upon the condition (amongst others).
that I, the said Arthur Boyle, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Boyle, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to, bo performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the improvements herein-after described
and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawing in the
manufacture of that part of the rib joint of umbrellas and parasols called
the get or middle bit, which said get or middle bit is fixed on the rib of the
umbrella or parasol, and is jointed to the fork of the stretcher. I make tho
said get or middle bit hollow, and manufacture it from sheet metal.
In carrying this part of my Invention into effect, I proceed as follows:-I
cut from sheet brass or other metal or alloy, by means of ordinary cutting
tools blanks of the form represented in plan and edge view in Figure 1 of the
Drawing. I take the blank, Figure 1, and by means of ordinary raising
tools or dies, raise it into the cup-like form represented in Figure 2, which
represents two different sides of the cup or partially made get. The two
opposite sides a, b, of the partially made get, Figure 2, are much higher than
the intermediate sides c, as represented. The cup, Figure 2, is drawn through
another die or tool so as to perfect its form, that is to say, by the said drawing
process the higher sides a, b, of the said cup are brought parallel to oue
another, and the depressions d on the opposite sides c'are correspondingly
lengthened, as represented in front and edge views in Figure 8. The flat
parallel sides a, b, of the get or middle bit, Figure S, stand above the edges or
ends c of the said get or bit, and constitute two flaps. The get or middle bit,
Figure 3, is finished by piercing holes e, e, in the sides a, b, and near the
closed end of the get as represented in front-elevation, section, and end
elevation in Figure 4. The pin-or-axis upon which the stretcher fork turns
is passed through, and works in the holes e, e, in the get, as is well under-
stood. The finished get or middle bit, Figure 4, is secured to the umbrella
or parasol rib by placing the said get upon the rib at the depressions f, and
closing the flaps a, b, upon the said rib, the closing of the said get being

page_text: effected in the manner in which gets made from grooved brass wire are com-
monly closed upon umbrella or parasol ribs. The gets or middle bits,
Figure 4, may be made from the blanks, Figure 1, by the action of a single
pair of drawing through dies, but I prefer the use of two pairs of dies, as
before explained. Gets or middle bits made according to my Invention have
the same or nearly the same figure as those made from grooved brass wire,
but are hollow and lighter than those made from grooved brass wire.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the improvement herein-after described
and illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying Drawing, in the
manufacture of stretchers for umbrellas and parasols. According to my
Invention, I make the stretchers from a continuous wire instead of from wire
cut into lengths as ordinarily practised.
In carrying out this part of my Invention, I pass the end of the wire to be
made into stretchers to a fixed stop, and at a distance from the said stop
equal to the length of the stretchers to be made I operate upon the wire by
means of a pair of dies so shaped that they give to the wire at the place
operated upon the figure of the last or runner end of one stretcher, and make
the indentations on the fork end of the next stretcher, when forks made of
sheet metal have to be attached thereto. The wire is very nearly but not
quite divided at the point where the figure of one stretcher ends and that of
the other begins. On the separation of the dies the nearly divided wire is
bent and broken off; that end of the wire having the figure of one end of a
stretcher, either the fork or runner end, is pushed up to the fixed stop, and
the wire is operated upon at the required distance by means of the dies, and
the operations described are repeated until the bundle or coil of wire has been
worked up.
Figure 5 of the accompanying Drawing represents in plan a series of
stretchers made according to my Invention, and Figure 6 is an edge view of
the same; in both Figures portions of the stretchers are shown broken off, as
is well understood. In the said Figures 5 and 6, 9 is the shaped portion of
the wire forming the runner end of the stretcher h, and i is the shaped portion
forming the fork end of the stretcher A, the fashioning of the said parts g
and being effected simultaneously by a pair of dies or tools, as before
explained. After the parts g, i, have been fashioned, the stretchers h and k
are separated at the thin part 1. The part i of the stretcher k is then pushed
up to the stop and the runner end m of the said stretcher and the fork end n
of the next stretcher o fashioned. The stretchers k, o, are separated at the
thin part p and the runner and fork ends q, r, of the stretchers o, 8, operated
upon in a similar manner, and afterwards separated at the thin part t, and so

page_text: on until the bundle or coil of wire has been made into stretchers. The
circular depressions at u in the runner ends of the stretchers are pierced for the
wire upon which they turn in the ordinary way, and the burr formed where the
two stretchers are separated may be removed by grinding or otherwise.
The dies or tools which I employ, in carrying out the first and second parts
of my Invention, are of the kind commonly employed for shaping or fashioning
metal for other purposes; and as I believe a competent tool maker will be
able to make the said dies or tools from the description herein-before given,
reference being had to the Figures in the accompanying Drawing, I do not
consider it necessary either further to describe or to represent the said dies or
tools. The dies or tools which I use in carrying out both parts of my Invention
are worked in presses of the ordinary construction.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention,
Firstly, the improvements in the manufacture of the gets or middle bits of
umbrellas and parasols herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2,
3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the said gets or
middle bits hollow, and raising or fashioning them from sheet metal by dies or
tools, essentially in the manner before described and illustrated.
Secondly, the improvement in the manufacture of the stretchers of umbrellas
and parasols, herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the said stretchers from a
continuous wire by shaping or fashioning the said wire at the required distances
so as to form the runner end of one stretcher and the fork end of another
stretcher simultaneously on the said wire, the ends of the two stretchers being
also nearly divided or separated from one another.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Boyle, have hereunto set my
_ hand and seal,-this Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ARTHUR BOYLE. (LS.)