IMPROVEMENTS IN BLIND ROLLERS AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Underwood and William Andrew
Phipson, both of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLIND ROLLERS AND APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
Sealed the 21st December 1874, and dated the 27th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Underwood
and William Andrew Phipson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th June 1871.
We, EDWIN UNDERWOOD and WILLIAM ANDREW PHIPSON, both of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLIND ROLLERS AND APparatus
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
Hitherto it has been the custom to use wood for blind rollers in
windows, but this Invention consists in constructing, applying, and
3 using instead of wood a metallic tube or solid wire, or a round (or

page_text: rounds) of iron or steel twisted spirally from one end to the other, upon
which a series of rings attached to a blind or shade are put, so that
they can be moved to advance and recede by means of ordinary blind
furniture appliances, such as pulley, wheel, and cord, apart from any
mechanism, such as ratchets, cups, or other apparatus for such purpose. {
The motion is communicated as at present.
SPECIFICATION in pursuanco of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edwin Underwood and William Andrew Phipson
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, EDWIN 1
UNDERWOOD and WILLIAM ANDREW PHIPSON, both of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Edwin Underwood and
William Andrew Phipson, Her special licence that we, the said Edwin
Underwood and William Andrew Phipson, our exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edwin Underwood
and William Andrew Phipson, our exccutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLIND ROLLERS AND APPALATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Edwin Underwood and William Andrew Phipson, our exccutors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edwin Underwood' and William
Andrew Phipson,, do hereby declare the nature of tho said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following, statement in writing,
that is to say—
This Invention relates to new or improved 'blind or curtain furniture
for windows. or doors. Curtain poles and similar blind furniture as
hitherto constructed have been made of wood or other non-metallic
substance, and plain without ornamentation, and fixed so as to be
stationary, and along which a series of rings connected with a curtain,
blind, or screen, made in one or more parts or pieces; when the position
of the latter is required to be altered it may be slid or removed from
the centre to the sides of a window or door frame, or vice versa, for the
admission or exclusion of light and air.
'
Now this Invention consists in constructing the. said. pole or furniture
in lieu of wood, of a tubo or solid rod, bar, or round of tin, stecl, or
iron, or other metallic substance suitable for the purpose, and as regards
design, either plain or ornamented, with patterns impressed, or otherwise
made in or formed thereon, the said tubo, rod, bar, or round being
twisted or grooved spirally, helically, or otherwise, commencing at or
near both ends, and terminating.cither abruptly.or gradually at or near
the centre, so as to form an ornamental metallic roller or pole.
The rings attached to the blind, screen, or curtain are placed in or
upon the spiral, helical, or other grooves of the metallic pole, which we
mount in any suitable blind furniture, allowing of its receiving rotary
motion; and we affix to one or both of its ends a pulley or wheel round
which we pass a cord or cords, a gentle pulling of which actuates the
metallic pole and causes (in a manner which will be well understood)
the curtain to advance or recede any desired interval or space.
Near the centre of the pole we place a rim or collar which arrests
the forward motion of the rings from the ends towards the centre of
the pole when two side curtains are used in connection therewith; but
this-central-arrangement is not requisite when the curtain is in one
-piece, as it may then bo traversed the length of the pole.
By these improvements ornament is combined with utility in metallic

page_text: hitherto upon the ordinary wood pole is avoided, these operations being
much facilitated.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of our said Invention, together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, we i
would remark in conclusion, that we claim as our Invention, the con-
struction, application, and employment of tubes, rods, bars, or rounds of
metal, plain or ornamented, and provided with helical, spiral, or other
twists or grooves, for curtain rollers or poles or similar blind or curtain
furniture in lieu of wood or other non-metallic substance as hitherto, 1
substantially as in the manner and for the purposes above specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Underwood, on behalf of the
said William Andrew Phipson and myself, have hereunto, set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
JOHN KENDRICK.
EDWIN UNDERWOOD. (L.S.)