IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR DRAWING, WITHDRAWING, AND ADJUSTING CURTAINS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Julius Ball at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
April 1874.
I, CHARLES JULIUS BALL, of New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR
DRAWING, WITHDRAWING, AND ADJUSTING CURTAINS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its objects improved methods of causing the
rings or hooks upon which the upper edges of curtains are hung in the
mothods ordinarily used and practised to move or travel in one direction
along the bar or rod to which they are suspended for the purpose of
closing the curtain, and in the other direction for the purpose of opening
or withdrawing it. For this purpose I make the bar to which the
rings or hooks are suspended and along which they travel of a helical
form and preferably of a wire, or bar, or tube of metal sufficiently strong,
and bent or twisted helically. I arrange this helical bar across the
upper part of the window or other space which is to be covered by the
curtain, and I make it revolve in bearings at its cuds, and I attach or

page_text: connect to it a handle, or pulley and cord, or wheels, so that it can
readily be made to revolve in either direction.
°
I do not make the helical curve of the bar uniform in its "pitch" (or
the space between its successive twists), but I make a sufficient number
of such twists nearly close to one another (or of very fine pitch) at the
end of the bar at which the rings are collected when the curtain is with-
drawn so as to uncover the window, and I make the remainder of the
bar consist of a similar number of helical twists but sufficiently for apart
or open to stretch across the window or other opening which is to be
covered by the curtain. I make the number of such close twists and
open twists of the bar each correspond with the number of rings or
hooks to which the curtain is suspended, and I arrange the rings or
hooks so that one of them is suspended to each of the close (or fine
pitched) twists, and the curtain is then gathered together in folds
leaving the window uncovered. If the helical bar be made to revolve
cach of the rings or hooks in succession will travel along the wider
twists, the space between each successive ring and that preceding it
being thus increased until the window has become entirely covered by
the curtain. If the helical bar be turned in the opposite direction the
rings or hooks will again be gathered together carrying the curtain with
them, which is thus withdrawn.
Where it is required that a curtain should be drawn or withdrawn
from cach side of the window simultaneously, I prefer to make the two
sets of helical twists described reach only as far as the centre of the
bar, and I make two similar sets of helical twists cach fitted with
rings or hooks (but twisted in the opposite direction) at the opposite
end of the bar, which if desired may be supported by a third bearing at
or near its centre. In this arrangement when the bar is turned in one
direction the two sets of rings or hooks are made to approach each other
and the curtains are closed, and when it is turned in the opposite
direction the two sets of rings recede from each other and the curtains
arc opened.
If the helically twisted bar be made of sufficiently flexible wire, it
may be bent vertically so as to form a curve to fit the top of an arched
window, or laterally to fit the top of a bow window without interfering
with its sufficiently free revolution in its bearings. The helical twists
may be made of different diameters, and the spaces between the wide.or

page_text: open twists may be made to increase gradually instead of being equal,
the rings or hooks which travel upon them as described being suitably
arranged to correspond with them. And sometimes I make the bar
straight instead of having close helical twists at the part where the rings
or hooks are to be collected together.
In order to prevent the helically twisted bar from being turned too far
in either direction, I sometimes form one or more screws upon it at
suitable parts of its length, and I make these screws work through nuts
so arranged that when the bar has been turned sufficiently far in either
direction the end of the screw or a collar upon it, comes in contact with
a stop which prevents its further revolution.
My Invention may be applied to other purposes where it is required
to draw or withdraw drapery in the manner described as well as to
curtains. For instance it may be applied to the furling or unfurling of
the sails of vessels.