AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE STRETCHERS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Cox, the younger, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and William Holland, of Bir-
mingham, aforesaid, Tool Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE STRETCHERS OF UMBRELLAS
AND PARASOLS."
Sealed the 17th August 1860, and dated the 6th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Cox and William
Holland at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 6th March 1860.
We, THOMAS Cox, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and WILLIAM HOLLAND, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Tool Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE STRETCHERS OF UMBRELLAS AND
PARASOLS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after explained of
manufacturing the forked ends of the stretchers of umbrellas and parasols, that
is to say, the ends which are jointed to the ribs of the umbrella or parasol.
We make the said forked end of a separate piece cut from sheet metal by the
ordinary cutting tools. The blanks which we cut from the said sheet metal
are of such a shape that when doubled or folded they make a fork of the
required form, which said fork we attach to the stretcher in the following

page_text: manner: The stretcher is made of ordinary cylindrical wire, and on its end
and where the fork is to be attached we make a series of grooves or indenta-
tions; we place the fork upon the said grooved or indented end, and by means
of pressing tools close the base of the fork upon the stretcher, the pressure
applied causing the metal of the base of the fork to enter the indentations in
the stretcher. The said fork becomes thereby fixed on the said stretcher.
Instead of making indentations on the end of the stretcher they may be made
on the inside of the base of the fork, or the fork may be fixed on the stretcher
by pressure alone, that is to say, without making indentations on either the
stretcher or fork; but we prefer the method first described of carrying our
Invention into effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Cox and William Holland in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
Cox, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
and WILLIAM HOLLAND, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Tool Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, 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 us,
the said Thomas Cox and William Holland, Her special licence that we,
the said Thomas Cox and William Holland, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such other as we, the said Thomas Cox and William Holland,
our 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 IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE STRETCHERS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Cox and William
Holland, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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

page_text: 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 William Holland, on behalf of myself
and the said Thomas Cox, 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 :- :
Our Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after explained and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, of manufacturing the forked ends of
the stretchers of umbrellas and parasols, that is to say, the ends which are
jointed to the ribs of the umbrella or parasol. We make the said forked end
of a separate piece of sheet metal, and fix it on the end of the stretcher, in the
manner herein-after explained.
On
In carrying our Invention into effect, we cut from sheet metal, by means of
cutting tools worked in an ordinary press, blanks of the shape represented in
plan and edge view in Figure 1 of the Drawing. By means of bending or
pressing tools the said blank, Figure 1, is next bent or doubled into the form.
represented in front elevation, side elevation, and end elevation respectively in
Figure 2, that is to say, the part or base a of the said blank is bent into an
inverted U-shaped forin marked b, the parts c, c, of the blank forming the
prongs d, d, of the fork, being brought opposite each other. We attach the
fork, Figure 2, to the stretcher in the following manner:-Figures 3 and 4
represent in elevation a portion of a stretcher made of cylindrical wire.
the end of the said stretcher, and where the fork is to be attached, we make
a series of grooves or indentations marked f, the said grooves being situated
at opposite sides of the stretcher. The edges of the said grooves are shown in
Figure 3, and the fronts of the same in Figure 4. We place the part 6 of the
fork, Figure 2, upon the grooved or indented end e of the stretcher, as repre-
sented in Figure 5, and by means of pressing tools we close the part 6 of the
fork upon the stretcher, the pressure applied causing the metal of the said
part 6 to enter the grooves or indentations f, and thereby to fix the said fork
firmly on the stretcher, the opposed edges of the base or part 6 being at the
same time brought together, as best seen in Figure 9. Figure 6 represents
the fork attached to the stretcher according to our Invention, the fork and end
of the stretcher being shewn in section. The fork is finished, and a hole g
pierced in each prong for the wire of the joint in the ordinary manner.
Instead of making grooves or indentations on the end of the stretcher, we
sometimes make grooves or indentations on the inside of the base of the fork.
Figure 7 represents an edge view and plan of the blank of a fork constructed
according to this modification of our Invention, the grooves in the said blank

page_text: being marked h. Figure 8 represents the fork made from the blank, Figure 7,
fixed on the end of a stretcher. Figure 9 represents a side elevation of the
forked end of a stretcher made according to either of the modifications herein-
before described.
We sometimes fix the fork. Figure 2, on the end of the stretcher by pres-
sure alone, that is to say, without making indentations on either the stretcher
or fork. We prefer, however, the method first described of carrying our
Invention into effect.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we claim
as our Invention the method or methods of manufacturing the forked ends of
the stretchers of umbrellas and parasols, herein-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing the
said forked ends from blanks of metal, which, when bent or doubled, form the
prongs and base of the forks, the said forks being attached to the ends of the
stretchers by pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Holland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
WILLIAM HOLLAND. (L.S.)