IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CUTTING HAIR
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Douglas, of Nos. 21 and 23, New Bond
Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CUTTING HAIR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Douglas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
April 1864.
I, ROBERT DOUGLAS, of Nos. 21 and 23, New Bond Street, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CUTTING HAIR," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be used in
cutting hair. For this purpose I employ a rod or axis with a handle at one
end, by which the apparatus is held in any desired position as respects the
head of the person to be operated on. Mounted upon this axis are a number
of combs, they are placed lengthways of the axis, and are at the same distance
therefrom, they are also curved so that they may fit approximately to the
head, in whatever position the apparatus may be held, that is to say, the
points of the teeth do not range in a straight line, in passing from end to
end of the comb, but in a hollow or concave line, and also the teeth of the
comb are not arranged in a flat surface or plane, but each comb is curved

page_text: or bent in its length, so as to be convex or project in the centre in the direc-
tion in which the comb is caused to move around its axis, as herein-after
explained, when the apparatus is in use. And further the teeth of the comb
do not project radially from the axis, but incline or are curved forwards in the
direction in which the teeth travel, they are made so to incline or curve in
order that they may the better take up the hair. By means of a crank or
excentric handle at the opposite end of the apparatus to that at which the
first-mentioned handle is fixed, the set of combs can be caused to rotate
around the central rod or axis. In using the apparatus it is held against
the head by the handle at the end of the rod, or axis, and the combs are
then caused to rotate, they take up the hair and cause it to be stretched out
straight between the combs, then the hair being thus taken up and held out
straight, and one of the combs being caused to rest against the head, the
scissors to cut the hair run along the next comb, the next but one, or the next
but two, and so on as the case may be, according to the length to which it is
desired to cut the hair. This arrangement, and the form given to the combs
as above described, ensure that the hair shall be cut constantly at one fixed.
distance from the head, and thus great regularity is obtained. In place of
arranging the handles in the manner above described, so that one only is
effective in rotating the series of combs, both the handles may be crank, or
excentric handles, and this arrangement is more convenient when the person
whose hair is to be cut himself makes use of the apparatus,
..I
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Douglas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
October 1864.
Ta
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DOUGLAS, of Nos. 21 and 23, New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
in
11
31
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One s
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
OT.CO
said Robert Douglas, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Douglas, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Douglas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree S
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
1. 7 03
7.1
ban
er dad f
זי

page_text: 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 APPARATUS TO BE
USED IN CUTTING HAIR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Douglas, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Douglas, 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:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be used in
cutting hair. For this purpose I employ a rod or axis with a handle at one
end, by which the apparatus is held in any desired position, as respects the
head of the person to be operated on; mounted upon this axis are a number
of combs, they are placed lengthways of the axis, and all at the same distance
therefrom. By means of a crank or eccentric handle at the opposite end of
the apparatus to that at which the first-mentioned handle is fixed the set of
combs can be caused to rotate around the central rod or axis. In using the
apparatus it is held against the head by the handle at the end of the rod
axis, and the combs are then caused to rotate, they take up the hair; and
cause it to be stretched out straight between the combs, then the hair being
thús taken up and held out straight, and one of the combs being caused to
rest against the head, the scissors to cut the hair are run along the next (or
other) comb, as the case may be, according to the length to which it is desired
to cut the hair. This arrangement, and the form given to the combs, ensure
that the hair shall be cut constantly at one fixed distance from the head, and
thus great regularity is obtained.
or
Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus arranged according to my Invention;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same; and Figure 3 is an end view of
the same.
a, a, is a wooden cylinder, to one end of which the axis b'is secured by
screws 6', as is shown, so that the cylinder a is a continuation or prolongation
of the axis 6; c is a handle which is slipped loosely on to "the axis 6, and is
secured thereon by a nut d, screwed on to the end of the axis é,'e, and e¹, e,
are combs carried by the cylinder a; frequently I make all these combs

page_text: '
similar the one to the other, and like the combs e, e, but in the Drawings with
an object herein-after stated, the combs e¹, e¹, are somewhat different from the
combs e, e; f is a crank or eccentric handle fixed at the end of the cylinder a,
by means of which, it with its combs are turned. The combs e, e, are curved so
that they may fit approximately to the head, in whatever position the apparatus
may be held, that is to say, the points of the teeth do not range in a straight
line in passing from end to end of the comb, but in a hollow or concave line,
and also the teeth of the comb are not arranged in a flat surface or plane, but
each comb is curved or bent in its length, so as to be convex, or project in the
centre in the direction in which the comb is caused to move around its axis,
as herein-after explained when the apparatus is in use, and, further, the teeth
of the comb do not project radially from the axis, but incline or are curved for-
wards in the direction in which the teeth travel, they are made so to incline or
curve in order that they may the better take up the hair. The operator in using
the apparatus holds the handle c in his left hand, he observes the figures on the
ring c*, and he places uppermost the figure representing the length in inches, to
which approximately he wishes to cut the hair; he then turns the combs round
by means of the crank handle f, so as to lift the hair, and take it out from the
head, and he continues this motion until he has caused the extremity of one
of the curved combs to pass down to the zero line on the ring c* ; he then
removes bis hand from the handle f, and with the scissors he cuts along the
convex face of the comb, the next comb e, during this operation resting
against the head and steadying the apparatus, and the curve to which the
points of the teeth are set will enable them to rest on the head for some
distance along the comb. In the instrument shown the combs e¹, e¹, are made
in one piece, and to pass through the cylinder a, where they are secured by a
pin 9, on which they are able to rock, these rocking combs act as guides for
the operator, when he desires to cut the hair longer towards one side of the
apparatus, as the teeth of the rocking comb rest on the head as before
mentioned, they, when the combs are tilted keep the cylinder a, at a distance
from the head at one end, and consequently at this end the hair will be left
longer; Figure 4 is a side view, and Figure 5 an end view of an apparatus
having but two combs, in this apparatus it will sometimes be the cylinder a,
which bears on the head whilst the cut is made, the apparatus is not con-
sequently so solidly supported as in the former case, but a little practice will
enable the operator to use it easily and accurately, either in cutting the hair
all to one length or longer on one side than on the other.
In place of arranging the handles in the manner above described, so that
one only is effective in rotating the series of combs, both the handles may be

page_text: crank or eccentric handles, and this arrangement is more convenient when the
person whose hair is to be cut himself makes use of the apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Douglas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ROBERT DOUGLAS. (L.B.)