IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING BROOMS AND BRUSHES TO THEIR STICKS OR HANDLES."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Alexander Pope, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick. Grocer, and Edward Frederick Cook, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Manufacturer, and Richard Frederick Woodward, of Birming-
ham aforesaid. Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONNECTING BROOMS AND BRUSHES TO THEIR STICKS OR HANDLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Alexander Pope,
Edwin Frederick Cook, and Richard Frederick Woodward at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 10th March
1860.
We. FREDERICK ALEXANDER POPE, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Grocer, and EDWIN FREDERICK COOK, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Manufacturer, and RICHARD FREDERICK WOODWARD. of Birmingham aforesaid,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONNECTING BROOMS AND BRUSHES TO THEIR STICKS OR HANDLES," to be
as follows:
Our Invention consists of the methods. herein-after explained. of connecting
brooms and brushes to their sticks or handles, by which said methods of con-
nection the stick or handle may be readily connected with and separated from
the broom or brush. On the end of the broomstick or handle we fix a ferrule
having a spring catch in its side, and in the head of the broom we fix a socket.
into which the ferrule on the end of the broomstick fits. Immediately below
Price 8d.1

page_text: the edge of the socket is a slot, in which the spring catch of the ferrule
engages when the said ferrule is inserted in the said socket, the broom
becomes thereby fixed on the broomstick immediately one part of the con-
nector is inserted in the other. In order to disconnect the broomstick from the
broom it is only necessary to press upon the spring catch; it becomes thereby
liberated from the slot in the socket, and the stick may now be removed from the
broom. In order to prevent the ferrule turning in the socket the said ferrule
may be made flat on one side, and the socket of a corresponding figure; or a
rib on the ferrule may engage in a groove in the socket, and the rotation of
the ferrule be thus prevented. Instead of the spring catch we sometimes
employ a sliding bolt working on the broom head. the said sliding bolt being
engaged in a slot in the ferrule by being shot and disengaged therefrom by
being withdrawn. We sometimes dispense with the socket in the head of the
broom, and make two or more ears having holes in them on the top of the
ferrule on the end of the broomstick. When the said ferrule is inserted in
the hole in the head of the broom we drive nails or screws through the holes
in the cars, and thereby secure the ferrule and stick to the broom; we prefer,
however, the method of connection first described.
For convenience of description we have described our Invention as applied
to a broom, but our Invention is also applicable to other kinds of brushes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Alexander Pope, Edwin Frederick Cook. and
Richard Frederick Woodward, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, FREDERICK
ALEXANDER POPE. of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Grocer, and
EDWIN FREDERICK COOK, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer, and
RICHARD FREDERICK WOODWARD, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Frederick Alexander Pope. Edwin Frederick Cook, and Richard Frederick
Woodward. Her special licence that we, the said Frederick Alexander Pope,
Edwin Frederick Cook, and Richard Frederick Woodwood, our executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick Alex-
ander Pope, Edwin Frederick Cook, and Richard Frederick Woodward, our
executors, 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 CONNECTING BROOыS AND
BRUSHES TO THEIR STICKS OR HANDLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Frederick Alexander Pope, Edwin Frederick Cook, and
Richard Frederick Woodward, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and scals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them. 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Frederick Woodward, on
behalf of myself and the said Frederick Alexander Pope and Edwin Frederick
Cook, 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 :-
Our Invention consists of the methods herein-after explained and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, of connecting brooms and brushes to their sticks
or handles, by which said methods of connection the stick or handle may be
readily connected with and separated from the broom or brush.
We will describe and illustrate our Invention. with reference to the connec-
tion of a broom to its stick or handle, from which description and illustration
the application of our Invention to brushes will be readily understood.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in elevation and plan the
end of a broomstick or handle made according to one of the methods consti-
tuting our Invention; Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the same;
Figure 3 represents a plan of a broom head to be connected to the stick or
handle: Figures 1 and 2, and Figures 4 and 5 represent a longitudinal and
transverse section respectively of the same; Figure 6 represents in transverse
section the stick or handle connected with the broom head. On the end of
the broomstick a, Figures 1 and 2. we fix a ferrule b, having a spring catch c
at its side, as represented. The said spring catch c is attached at d to the
ferrule, the upper part of the said spring having motion in the slot at e, in the
ferrule and end of the broomstick. In the broom head j, Figures 3, 4, 5,

page_text: and 6 we fix a socket g, into which the ferrule b on the broomstick fits.
Immediately below the edge of the socket g is a slot h, in which the spring
catch c of the ferrule engages, when the said ferrule is inserted into the
socket, as represented in Figure 6. The part or head c2 of the said spring
catch bears upon the top of the socket g, the recess or depression i engaging
with the part g2, and in the slot h of the socket g, as best seen in Figure 6.
In order to disconnect the broomstick from the broom head, it is only neces-
sary to press the head c³ of the spring catch c towards the axis of the said
broomstick. By the said pressure the spring catch c is liberated from the slot
h, and part g, and the stick may now be removed from the broom head. In
order to prevent the ferrule b turning in the socket g, we form on the interior
surface of the socket nearly semicircular ribs h, k, which said ribs engage in
corresponding shaped grooves or depressions 1, 1, in the ferrule, when the said
ferrule is inserted into the socket. Or we make the said socket flat on one
side, the ferrule being made of a corresponding figure to fit the said socket.
We sometimes modify our Invention in the manner represented in Figures 7,
8, and 9, of the accompanying Drawing. Figures 7 and 8 representing a
broom head in plan and transverse section respectively made according to this
modification; and Figure 9 a transverse section of the broom head, with a
stick or handle attached thereto. Instead of fixing a socket in the hole in
the broom head we fix over the said hole a plate or flange m, having a slot n
at one side. In inserting the ferrule on the end of the stick or handle o,
Figure 9, into the hole p in the broom head, the lower or flat part of the
spring catch is made to engage in the slot n in the plate m. By now
pushing the stick o, the recess or depression r of the said spring catch g
engages with the edge of the plate m, and thereby fixes the broomstick to the
broom, as represented in Figure 9. The broomstick is disconnected from the
broom head by pressing the head of the spring catch towards the axis of
the broomstick, when the said spring catch is released from the edge of the
plate m. Instead of a spring catch on the end of the broomstick, as repre-
sented in Figures 1, 2, and 9, we sometimes employ a sliding bolt working
horizontally in a slot in the head of the broom. In this case the ferrule on
the end of the broomstick or the broomstick itself has a slot made therein, in
which slot the sliding bolt is made to engage; after the said ferrule or end of
the broomstick has been inserted into the hole in the broom head. The said
broomstick is thus held in the broom head, and by withdrawing the sliding
boli it may be disconnected from the broom head.
We sometimes also modify our Invention in the manner represented in
Figures 10, 11, aud 12 of the Drawing; Figure 10 being an elevation of a

page_text: portion of a broomstick, made according to this modification: and Figures 11
and 12 represent in longitudinal section and plan the broom head fixed to the
broomstick. On the top of the ferrule s, fixed on the end of the broomstick
or handle t. we make a flange or collar u, having ears e, in which ears holes
are made, as best seen in Figures 10 and 12. The said flange or collar " is
slightly bent, as seen in Figure 10, so as to fit the convex surface of the
broom head e. When the ferrule s has been inserted into the hole in the
broom head we, as represented in Figures 11 and 12, nails or screws are driven
through the holes in the ears of the flange u into the broom head e, and the
ferrule and broomstick are thereby firmly fixed to the broom head.
Although the methods herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 7,
8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of carrying our Invention into effect answer very well,
yet we prefer to employ the method herein-first described and illustrated in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Drawings.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of our Invention; but we claim as our
Invention the several methods of connecting brooms and brushes to their
sticks or handles, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Frederick Woodward, have here-
. unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
25
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
RICHARD FREDERICK WOODWARD. (L.s.)