IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; HENRY-
LUND, of the Inner Temple, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Lund, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power;
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Lund, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Lund, my exors, admors,- or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,"
that I, the said Henry Lund, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six-calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had; will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Lund, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer
tained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the

page_text: Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:-
My Invention consists in so arranging. certain of the parts or portions, of a
parasol or umbrella that when its stick is held vertically and its point upwards,
the parasol or umbrella will open by the gravitation or descent of some of those
parts, and that when its point is turned downwards and its stick held vertically,
the gravitation or descent of the same parts will cause the parasol or umbrella
to shut. And in order that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 shews the frame of a parasol, the stick being in a vertical position
and the point a' upwards, and therefore the parasol is opened.
Figure 2 shows the frame closed in consequence of the point a¹ being down-
wards; c, c, are the stretchers, and d, d, the ribs of an ordinary parasol or
umbrella. The silk is to be attached to these ribs in the usual manner. a is
a tube sliding freely within another tube b, one end of each of the stretchers is
fixed or attached to the top of the outer or larger tube b at the point e, c, in
the same manner as it is usually attached to the runner of an ordinary parasol
or umbrella, and one end of each rib is attached by an ordinary top notch or
wheel to the inner or smaller tube at f, f. The outer or larger tube is to be
used as the stick or handle of the parasol or umbrella, and when held vertically
and with the end e, e, upwards, the smaller tube will descend by its own weight
and carry the ends f, f, of the ribs along with it. By this motion the stretchers
will be spread and the parasol or umbrella opened. On turning the larger
tube with the point a¹ downwards, as shewn in Figure 2, and holding. it
vertically, the smaller tube will slide or pass out of the larger tube by its own
weight, the stretchers will consequently be gathered together, and the parasol
or umbrella shut. In order to stretch the silk as tightly as may be desired,
and to keep it so stretched, a spring catch his applied in the smaller of the
two tubes, so as to lock into a groove i in the interior of the larger tube, as
shown. In order to cause the spring catch to, take effect or act, a slight quick
upward motion is to be given to the parasol or umbrella after it has opened, or
the point a¹ may be pressed downwards by the left hand till the spring catch
h enters in the groove i. The catch h will be relieved by the descent of the
small weight g when the stick bis held with the point a¹ downwards, or the
same bolt may be relieved by taking hold of the top a', as indicated at
Figures 3 and 4, which show sections of part of a frame for an umbrella or
parasol, the parts of which are somewhat varied from those before described.
In this case the part a slides within the upper end of the smaller tube, and
by so doing the wire will be raised, which will bring up the instrument m,

page_text: and this, by its inclined edge, will move the catch h out of the groove i, and
by such means the umbrella or parasol will be closed by the descent of the
outer tube b; or the same apparatus will be put in action by the descent of
the weight g, when the parasol or umbrella is inverted in a similar manner to
that described in respect to Figures 1 and 2, the difference being that the
part m in Figures 3 and 4 is not part of the weight g.
I would remark, that my Invention will be found applicable to parasols in
general, but I have not found it desirable to apply the improvements to other
than small unibrellas.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not claim.any part of the mechanism separately of a parasol
or umbrella, nor do I confine myself to the details shewn and described, as long
as the peculiar character of my Invention is retained; but what I claim is the
manufacture of umbrellas and parasols in such a manner as to cause a parasol
or umbrella to open and shut by the gravitation or weight of some of its parts.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Lund, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord Oue thousand
eight hundred and forty-five.
Enrolled the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-five.