AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE BLINDS USUALLY CALLED ⚫ VENETIAN BLINDS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Magnus Chevalier, Civil Engineer, of
14, Beresford Terrace, Notting Hill, W., for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE BLINDS USUALLY CALLED
⚫ VENETIAN BLINDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Magnus
Chevalier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th March 1868.
I, ROBERT MAGNUS CHEVALIER, Civil Engineer, of 14, Beresford
Terrace, Notting Hill, W., do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE BLINDS USUALLY
CALLED VENETIAN' BLINDS," to be as follows:-
upon
The novelty in the Invention is the use of wood for the laths cut
to a thickness of from the 24 to part of an inch, which will depend
the purpose for which the blind is to be used, and is so prepared
as to resist the action of the sun's heat, and at the same time to
possess greater elasticity with equal strength to the Venetian blind
as heretofore prepared.

page_text: The process of preparation is as follows:-The sap of the wood is
extracted by hot pressure, and a composition or preparation consisting
of glue, shellac, and muriate of iron is pressed into the wood by
means of a force pump, rendering the laths hard, straight, and
proof against damp, and alike fitting the blind for outside and inside
purposes.
The mode of hanging consists of rings affixed to the tapes by which
the laths are suspended, so that the blind can be hooked on and off
with the greatest facility.
The approximate proportions of the preparation above named is as
follows:-Glue, 1 pound (disolved in water); shellac, pound (disolved
in spirits of wine); muriate of iron, 3 ounces; but I do not confine
myself to such exact quantities, as the preparation will vary under
different circumstances, for instance, wood prepared for inside purposes,
muriatic acid only would be used in place of muriate of iron.
]
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Robert
Magnus Chevalier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MAGNUS CHEVALIER, Civil Engineer, of 14, Beresford Terrace, Notting
Hill, W., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Magnus Chevalier, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Magnus Chevalier, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Magnus
Chevalier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-

page_text: tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE BLINDS USUALLY CALLED
VENETIAN BLINDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Magnus Chevalier, 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 on or before
the Nineteenth day of September One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Magnus Chevalier, 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 :-
My Invention consists in the use of wood cut with a knife, saw,
or any other suitable instrument to a thickness. from the thirty-second
to the eighth part of an inch, or any other thickness that may be required,
and so cut and prepared as to fit alike for outside and inside blinds,
carriage windows, or any other similar use, for which this particular
description of wood so cut and prepared may be advantageously
employed.
My process for the preparation of the wood when cut is as follows:-
The sap of the wood is first extracted, either by hot pressure or by
exposure to running water, or any other similar and suitable means
I may deem best for the purpose; after which, I prepare a compound,
consisting of either glue, paste, gums, shellac, or any other glutinous,
gelatinous, or resinous substances analogous thereto, or their equivalents,
which is then pressed into or imbibed by the wood, either by the use
of a force pump, or any other mechanical contrivance I may consider
best adapted for that purpose, or by boiling or simply soaking the
wood in solution, either in a hot or cold state according to the nature
and character of the wood operated upon, as well as for the various
purposes to which the wood so cut and prepared may be subsequently
employed.
Having thus treated the wood I then subject it to a gentle heat, or
by the aid of pressure, whether of rollers or otherwise, I render it
hard and straight, thus giving it greater clasticity and durability
than the wood heretofore used in the manufacture of Venetian and other
wood blinds has possessed.

page_text: The approximate proportions used in my preparation are, shellac,
reduced in spirits of wine or any other suitable solvent, about half a
pound to every four pounds of glutinous matter dissolved in water,
as herein-before described; but I do not confine myself to such
exact quantities, as the proportions must vary according to the nature
of the wood and the different circumstances for which the wood so
prepared may be applied.
The object of this process is to render blinds made from wood so
prepared superior for lightness, elegance of appearance, and smallness
of compass, and from the thinness of the laths a considerable saving in
wood is effected.
What I claim as my Invention is, the preparation of wood cut and
subjected to one or other of the processes herein mentioned, and to
be applied to all purposes wherever Venetian or wood blinds are or
can in any way be used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Magnus Chevalier, have
hercunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.
ROBERT MAGNUS CHEVALIER. (L.S.)