A NEW OR IMPROVED INSTRU- MENT OR APPARATUS FOR SCARING BIRDS AND VERMIN."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Charles Clive, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED INSTRU-
MENT OR APPARATUS FOR SCARING BIRDS AND VERMIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Charles Clive at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th April 1880.
JOSEPH CHARLES CLIVE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer..
"A NEW OR IMPROVED INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR SCARING BIRDS AND
VERMIN."
My Invention has for its object to scare or frighten birds and vermin from
gardens, orchards, fields, and other places where fruit, grain, and vegetables are
grown, and thereby to protect the fruit, grain, and vegetables from being destroyed
or injured by birds or vormin.
My said Invention consists of a now or improved instrument or apparatus, con-
structed preferably as herein after explained, and having the figure of a bird (prefer-
ably a hawk or bird of prey) with extended wings in the act of flying or hovering.
The said figure is painted so as to resemble as nearly as practicable the colours of the
hawk or the bird imitated, and is suspended in the air over the garden, orchard, field,
or place to be protected. I prefer to make the said instrument of tin plate or other
sheet metal fashioned by dies worked in a stamp or press and in three parts. In
this case the parts to be connected are furnished with cars or projections and with
corresponding indentations or depressions. When the base of the wing is placed
upon the side of the body in the position determined by the indeutations or
depressions in the parts, and the ears or projections on each part are turned over
the edge of the other part, the two parts are firmly connected together. The essence
of this part of my Invention consists in making the instrument or bird scarer when
of large size in three parts, provided with means of simple and ready attachment,
and with guides, which render it impossible to put them together other than
rightly. In order to suspend the instrument and preserve it in the proper

page_text: horizontal position I employ a short wire or rod having at one end a loop and at
the other end a screw thread. The screwed end is passed from the upper
side of the imitation bird through a hole made in the body, as nearlyas may bo
at the centre of gravity of the instrument, a collar immediately above the
screw thread limiting the distance to which the rod passes through the instru
inent. A screw nut being screwed on the screwed end of the rod at the undersido
of the instrument the said rod is fixed in its place. By means of a cord attached to
the loop the instrument can be suspended either from an inclined pole or support,
or to another cord stretched horizontally, or nearly so, between two trees or other
supports. The essence of this part of my Invention consists in suspending the 1
instrument or bird scarer in the way hereinbefore described, whereby its proper
position is preserved.
The instrument has the appearance of a bird flying or hovering, and effectually
scares or frightens small birds and vermin. The gentlest winds keeps it in motion,
but its efficiency is only in part dependent on its motion.
1

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Charles Clive in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
October 1880.
JOSEPH CHARLES CLIVE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR SCARING BIRDS AND
VERMIN."
My Invention has for its object to scare or frighten birds and vermin from
gardens, orchards, fields, and other places where fruit, grain, and vegetables are
grown, and thereby to protect the fruit, grain, and vegetables from being destroyed
or injured by birds or vermin.
My said Invention consists of a new or improved instrument or apparatus, con-
structed preferably as herein after explained, and having the figure of a bird
(preferably a hawk or bird of prey) with extended wings in the act of flying or
hovering. The said figure is painted so as to resemble as nearly as practicable the
colours of the hawk or the bird imitated, and is suspended in the air over the
garden, orchard, field, or place to be protected. I prefer to make the said instru-
ment of tin plate or other sheet metal fashioned by dies worked in a stamp
or press, and in three parts. In this case the parts to be connected are furnished
with ears or projections, and with corresponding indentations or depressions, or with
cross guides. When the base of the wing is placed upon the side of the body, in
the position determined by the indentations or depressions, or the cross guides in
the parts, and the ears or projections on each part are turned over the edge of the
other part, the two parts aro firmly connected together.
The essence of this part of my Invention consists in making the instrument or
bird scarer, when of large size, in three parts, provided with moans of simple and
ready attachment, and with guides which render it impossible to put them together
other than rightly.
In order to suspend the instrument and preserve it in the proper horizontal
position I employ a short wire or rod having at one end a loop and at the other
end a screw thread. The screwed end is passed from the upper sido of the imitation
bird through a hole made in the body, as nearly as may be at the centre of gravity
of the instrument, a collar immediately above the screw thread limiting the distance
to which the rod passes through the instrument. A screw nut being screwed on
the screwed end of the rod, at the underside of the instrument, the said rod is fixed
in its place. By means of a cord attached to the loop the instrument can bo
suspended either from an inclined pole or support, or to another cord stretched
horizontally, or nearly so, between two trees or other supports.
The essence of this part of my Invention consists in suspending the instrument
or bird scarer in the way herein before described, whereby its proper position is
preserved.
The instrument has the appearance of a bird flying or hovering, and effectually
scares or frightens small birds and vermin. The gentlest wind keeps it in motion,
but its efficiency is only in part dependent on its motion.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan a bird and vermin scarer constructed and suspended
according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents the three principal parts of which
the scarer is built up; Figure 3 represents a longitudinal section of Figure 1 taken on
the dotted line a, b; and Figure 4 represents a portion of Figure 3 drawn to a larger
scale. Figure 5 represents a cross section, drawn to a larger scale, taken on the
dotted line c, d, the said Figure 5 illustrating the manner in which the attaching cars
or projections on one part are folded over the edges of the other part for securing
the wing parts to the body part.

page_text: Figure 6 represents, drawn to a larger scale, the rod or wire which is fixed to the
scarer, to which rod or wire the suspending cord is attached.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawing.
The scarer represented has the figure of a hawk or bird of prey with extended
wings in the act of flying or hovering, the said scarer being painted so as to resemble as
nearly as practicable the colour of a hawk or the bird imitated. The said scarer or
imitation bird of prey is made of three soparate parts, namely, of the body part cand
the wing parts ff, the said parts e and f, f, being made by preference of tin plate or
other hard sheet metal or alloy, fashioned by dies worked in a press or stamp, but
the said parts may be made of papier maché or other material capable of being
readily moulded or fashioned into the desired figure. At the sides of the body
parte the ears, projections, or junction pieces g, g, are made, and at the base of each
wing part f nearly similar cars, projections, or junction pieces h, h, are made. At
the sides of the body part c are cross hollow ribs or guides i, i, and near the base
of each wing part is a similar cross hollow rib or guide %, the said hollow ribs or
guides being for the purpose of determining the accurate position of the wing parts
with respect to the body part. In attaching each of the wing parts f to the body
part e the hollow rib or guide k at the base of the said wing part is engaged with
the hollow rib or guide at the side of the body part e, as seen in the longitudinal
sections Figures 3 and 4.
When the two ribs i and k are thus engaged together the fixing ears or junction
picces h, h, on the wing part fare situated at the side of the fixing ears or junction
pieces g, g, on the body part e, and by bending the ears h, h, under the body part e,
and the ears g, g, over the upper side of the wing part f, as best seen in Figure 5,
the body part and wing part are securely connected together in their proper
relative positions. By means of the cross guides i, k, it is impossible to put the
parts together other than rightly, as will be understood by an examination of the
Drawing.
Instead of using the cross guides i, k, guiding indentations or depressions,
preferably of a rectangular figure, may be made in the wing and body parts, near
the fixing ears or projections, for determining the exact relative positions of the said
wing and body parts. When the base of tho wing part is placed upon the side of
the body part in the position determined by the guiding indentations or depressions
described, the two parts are ready to be fixed together by the turning over of the
ears or projections, as before described.
The wire or rod for suspending the scarer or scaring instrument is marked l. It
has a loop m at one end to which the cord 2 (Figure 3) is attached, the said cord
being secured to an inclined pole or support, or to another cord stretched between
two trees, or otherwise supported so as to suspend the scarer or imitation hawk in
the air over the garden, orchard, field, or place to be protected. The other end of
the wire or rod is screwed at q, and on the screwed end a scrow nut is fitted.
8 is a fixed stop for limiting the distance to which the lower part of the tod
can be passed through the scarer or imitation hawk. For fastening the rod /
to the scarer or imitation hawk, a hole is made in the body part e as nearly
as may be at the centre of gravity of the scarer, a raised part at u being made
around the said hole to receive the fixing washer x. The wire or rod 7 is passed
from the upper side of the scarer through the said hole t, until the stop & abuts
against the said scarer. The washer x is now passed onto the projecting screwed
end of the rod l, and is made to seat itself in the raised part u.
The screw
nut r is next screwed upon the screwed end of the rod, so as to bind the scarer
securely between the fixed stop s and the washer x situated in the raised part u, as
seen in Figure 3. The screwed end of the rod is slit or divided, and after the
nut has been screwed home the slit end is opened out, as represented in Figures 3
and 6, so as to prevent the unscrewing of the said nut.
By the means described and represented the scarer is readily suspended and
preserved in the proper horizontal position, that is to say, the scarer being

page_text: suspended considerably above the centre of gravity of the mass; it is consequently
deflected from its horizontal position with difficulty, and has a constant tendency
when deflected to return to that position. In a light wind, the slight deflections
from and rapid return to its normal position give to the scarer the fluttering or
tremulous motion which commonly attends the hovering of birds of prey, while in
a high wind it assumes the gyratory sailing motion common to birds of prey in
windy weather.
In order to increase the efficiency of the scarer a dead bird may be suspended to
the nose y of the imitation bird of prey. In order to fit the scarer to be used either
with or without a dead bird, two holes are made in the body part e, in one or other
of which holes the wire or rod / may be fixed.
When a dead bird is used the centre of gravity of the scarer is changed, being
moved nearer to the head of the imitation bird, and consequently the suspending
pin or rod is fixed in the second hole (see Figures 1 and 2).
The construction described of tho scarers or imitation birds, besides facilitating
their manufacture, also permits their easy transit, as the separate parts may be
readily and safely packed.
When scarers of small size are to be made I construct them in one piece, and
suspend them in the manner herein before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing. In this case the scarer may be made of sheet metal or alloy by
stamping in dies, or made by being moulded or fashioned of some cheap and
durable material, such as papier mâché.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention, The new or improved instrument or apparatus for scaring birds and
vermin hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that
is to say, a scarer or scaring instrument having the figure of a bird (preferably a
hawk or bird of prey) with extended wings in the act of flying or hovering, the
said scarer being made in one or in three picces; the said scaror when made in
three pieces being furnished with guiding and junction parts for readily and
accurately fitting the said pieces together, and for fixing them to one another,
substantially as described and illustrated; also suspending the scarer or scaring
instrument in the manner described and illustrated, whereby the proper horizontal
and floating or hovering position is preserved.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Charles Clive, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPH CHARLES CLIVE. (LS.)