INVENTION OF AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING PARASOLS AND UMBRELLAS, AND WHEREBY THE SAME MAY BE USED FOR FANS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
BARNETT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Toy Maker, and JOSEPH
BARNETT, of the Borough of Warwick, in the said County, Cutler, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of December, in the forty-third year of His
reign, give and grant unto us, the said John Barnett and Joseph Barnett, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence that we, the said
John Barnett and Joseph Barnett, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, our "INVENTION OF AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING
PARASOLS AND UMBRELLAS, AND WHEREBY THE SAME MAY BE USED FOR FANS AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging us, the said John Barnett and Joseph Barnett, or one of us, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and scals, or the hand and seal of one
of us, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after the
date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same Letters Patent
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Barnett and Joseph Barnett, do hereby declare that our said Invention

page_text: (which, as the same may be applied to all the purposes to which parasols and
umbrellas seem capable of being applied, we claim the priviledge of calling
"Barnett's Patent Paratout,) is described as follows:-
The peculiarity of the paratout, which we claim as our Invention, consists
principally in relaxing some of the ribs whilst the rest are kept distended;
whereas, in the common umbrella and parasol, all the ribs must be distended
or relaxed together. By this peculiarity the paratout may be made to assume
various useful and fanciful forms. To effect this, the respective stretchers,
which are intended to act together, are attached to one or more ferrules or
slides, moveable up and down, in one or more grooves, on the stem or stick,
and having a catch or catches to retain such ferrule or ferrules, instead of all
the stretchers being attached to one ferrule, as in the parasol and umbrella.
By the above means any rib or ribs may be made to act separately from the
rest, and the paratout thereby assume a variety of forms, and which may be
effected by various means upon the same principle; but we shall confine our
description to such forms only as appear to be useful, and to such means as
appear to be the best adapted for constructing them. The paratout may be made
of any size and of any materials as parasols and umbrellas are or may be made of.
The following are explanations of the several Drawings in the margin :-
In Figure 1, the paratout is shewn expanded. The top or stem of the
paratout has four grooves in it, as at A, A, A, A. B, B, are two push pieces or
triggers, sliding within two of the grooves opposite to each other, which, when
pressed upwards, move forward the sliding ferrule C, by which movement the
supporters D, D, are elevated, and distend the ribs F, F, f, f, f, so that by
pushing with the thumb and finger at the same time against the triggers B, B,
the respective springs within all their grooves, with the stretchers fixed thereto,
acting together, expand wholly the paratout, as in Figure 3. There is also a
thumb holt in the head or upper part of the paratout, as at H, I, which, when
the paratout is to be wholly let down, must be pushed at I, which is connected
with H; and the two catch springs G, G, which are rivetted to the sliding
ferrule c, c, are immediately released, and disengage the two supporters E, E,
and the ribs F, F; the worm spring K at the same time draws back the
thumb piece into its place again, leaving the paratout completely down. In
Figure 2 one side of the paratout is let down, and the other side kept expanded in
the form of a canopy, which is done by pressing one of the triggers B, B, down-
ward, by which means the slide connected with it is released from the catch or
spring G, and that side instantly falls, leaving the other side expanded. And
to let both sides down, press the opposite trigger B in like manner. In
Figure 4, both sides of the paratout being thus let down, collapse together, leav-

page_text: ing the end ribs F, F, extended, as in Figure 1, in the form of a fan, and, when
inverted, it may be used as such; see Figure 5. For the convenience of using
the paratout as a fan, the stick may be in two or more pieces, made hollow, to
go one in another like a telescope, or to unscrew, or fold up, or in any other
manner as may be found most convenient. Figure 6 is a paratout acting
in the same manner as Fig. 1, except that, instead of the two sliding catch
springs in Fig. 1, there is only one spring to distend the fan ribs, as in this
Drawing, G, which is stationary, and which spring is released by the thumb
bolt H. Figure 7 is another way in which the apparatus is made to disengage
the expanded fan ribs of the paratout. Figure 8 is a skeleton of a paratout,
distended by drawing down the ferrules instead of pushing them up, as in the
preceding Drawings, and is effected thus:-B and C are two sliding ferrules,
with a pair of stretchers affixed to each of them E, E, E, E, and when drawn
by the thumb and finger completely distend the whole, and it is kept distended
by the two springs G, 9, and released on the sides to form a fan by pressing
the thumb piece at G, when the short joints d, d, fold up and retire, as in
Figure 9, within the groove A, and by pressing the thumb piece g the fan
ends, or remaining part, also fall down. Figure 10 has a similar action
to Figure 8, except that the supporters D, D, and the ribs F, F, slide upon
> wires or pillars, or within grooves, as A, A, A, A, so that when the sliding
ferrule B is released by pushing or pressing the spring 9, the flat side or
supporters D, D, advance upwards and pull down their supporters E, E, and
by pressing the catch or spring G, the other sides or end ribs fall in like
manner, assisted by the worm spring K, which accelerates the motion; the
whole then becomes folded together.
We have now shown that the paratout may be made to assume various
forms, which may be applyed to many useful purposes, the principle of which,
besides the purposes parasols and umbrellas have been hitherto used for, is a
fan, a shade, a fire or candle screen, and, when used as an umbrella, must be
found very convenient, especially in stormy windy weather.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Barnett and Joseph Barnett, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and three.

page_text: In Chancery.
William Griffin the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gentleman, maketh oath that he was present and did see John Barnett, of
Birmingham aforesaid, Toy Maker, and Joseph Barnett, of the Borough
of Warwick, in the said County, Cutler, severally duly sign and seal, and as
their several act and deed, deliver the Instrument hereunto annexed; and that
the names, "John Barnett, Joseph Barnett," subscribed against the seals of the
said Instrument, are the proper handswriting of the said John Barnett and
Joseph Barnett; and that the names or signatures, "F. Walton, W Griffin,
Jun," subscribed to the said Instrument as witnesses to the execution thereof,
are the proper respective handswriting of Frederick Walton and this Deponent,
WM GRIFFIN, Jun".