IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEEP SHEARS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Charles Henderson, of the Firm of
A. C. Henderson and Company, British and Foreign Patent Agents,
of No. 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEEP SHEARS."
-A communication from abroad by Amand Etienne Picot, Mecha-
Sealed the 4th September 1874, and dated the 10th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Charles
Henderson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 10th March 1874.
I, ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of the Firm of A. C. Henderson
and Company, British and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 6, Southampton'
Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEEP SHEARS,"
a communication to me from abroad by Amand Etienne Picot,
Mechanician, a person resident at Paris, France, to be as follows: -
The improvements in sheep shears herein referred to are as follow:-
The lower part or handle consists as is usual of a spring, but whose
i

page_text: "
upper ends terminate in two metal plates to which are attached a
variable number of blades, but as an example of the system I will say
two forming the upper set and three the lower, each of which is securely
fixed by screws to its respective plate, the two upper and two lower
ones are identical and present their cutting edges the upper to the lower
group in the same manner as the blades of scissors, or in other words,
the wool is shorn by the blades cutting from their broad ends and
upwards.
The blades are equidistant on their respective plates, and are adjusted
thereon in such wise that their lower ends are always in contact, when 1
the shears are at their extreme limit; to maintain this position the
under plate is furnished with a third but non-cutting blade acting as
simple guide to the outside blade of the upper set.
The course of the blades is determined by two screws fixed in the
under plate and sliding in a slot in the upper one, and are united by a 1
bar which prevents the separation of the blades.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Charles Henderson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; ARTHUR
CHARLES HENDERSON, of the Firm of A. C. Henderson and Company,
British and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 6, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, 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 seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, Her special
licence that I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur Charles
Henderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after. during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might

page_text: с
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 Sheep SHEARS," a communication to me from abroad
by Armand Etienne Picot, Mechanician, a person resident at Paris,
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur
Charles Henderson, 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 monthis next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say:-
The shears forming the subject of the present Invention are specially
applicable to sheep shearing, their feature of novelty consisting in the
employment of a variable number of cutting blades forming what may
be termed separate groups, each set of blades being mounted on
independent plates, which latter are connected to the upper extremities
of the usual spring handle.
The nature, construction, and mode of action of the shears will be
readily understood on reference to the accompanying Drawings and by
the following description thereof :-
Figure 1 represents a front view of the shears; Figure 2 a side view;
Fig. 3 a section at the line 1-2, of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section at 3-4,
of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 represents the configuration of a blade.
The shears consist of the handle p the upper ends of which are bent
and formed for the reception of the steel plates a and b, which support
the blades c, c, and d, d, d'.
The handle p is in two parts hinge-jointed at h and are of malleable
cast iron, brass, or other metal. On each of the branches springs r; r;
are fixed by two screws; these springs rest one on the other at their bent
> ends and whose object is to open the handle; a single spring fixed on
one of the branches and whose end rests on the other branch will have

page_text: the same effect; or if each of the branches p was mounted on the same
spring blade like the ordinary shears the same result is produced and
the hinge joint is suppressed.
The cutting blades attached to the plates a and b, whether the upper
ones c, c, or the under ones d, d, are identical, those c, c, present their
edges to those d, d, in the same manner as the blades of scissors, that
is to say, they commence to cut the wool from the base gradually
terminating at the points as the branches are gradually pressed together.
The lower plate bears 3 blades d, d, d'; those d, d, as already
described are similar to those c, c, the blade d' is a false one, without an
edge, whose object is to guide the right blade c of the upper plate a and
also prevent its hurting the animal. The blades c, c, and d, d, have
their points equidistant so that the lower parts of the upper and under
blades of each set are always in contact at the extreme positions of the
shears.
The fixing of the blades on their plates is shown by Fig. 4, each of
the plates a and b is itself the union (by screws or rivets) of two plates,
the inner one of which is furnished with notches in which are adjusted
and fixed by the screws v, v, the tail ends of the blades. This mode of
assemblage admits of making the upper and lower blades similar both in
form and dimensions.
To limit the course of the blades and render solid one with the other
the two sets of blades, the upper plate a is supplied with two slots f, f¹,
forming stops on two screws g, g¹, fixed in the lower plate b. and bearing
externally to the plate a a bar e which renders these screws solid onc
with the other and which limits the distance of the plates a and b. The
screw 9 arrests the course of the tool when it opens under the action of
the springs r, r, of the handle, and also limits this course when closed
by the action of the hand.
From the above description it will be observed that the shears
although composed of a number of blades operates in a precisely similar
manner as the ordinary scissors, it has its blades arranged in groups
presenting the requisite rigidity, and which are similarly fixed one
towards the other, their edges in cutting presenting themselves
symmetrically one to the other, the limit assigned to the course of the
tool never permitting the blades to work otherwise than with those
which are their correspondents.

page_text: The characteristic features of the Invention are, the multiplicity of
blades arranged in groups or sets of two or more at the extremities of
the handle, in such wise that the blades will only work with those with
which they correspond; the rigidity and fixity of the blades whether
considered in groups or independently; the mode of fixing the blades by
an arrangement of double plates admitting of having the blades of the
same dimensions and profile, and of placing them as well above as below.
The method of limiting the course of the groups which at the same
time serves to unite them by two screws projecting and working in slots
in the upper plate; the grouping of the blades in variable numbers in
combination with a false blade in the hinder group on the face that
rests on the sheep whilst being shorn.
Having thus described my Invention I claim the sheep shears
precisely as herein mentioned and as illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings, reserving to myself the right of modifying the form and
dimensions of the blades, the mode of hinge-jointing the handle, the
employment of the springs as heretofore mentioned together with the
materials of construction which may be effected without departing
from the principle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.