AN IMPROVEMENT IN UMBRELLAS, PARASOLS, AND SUNSHADES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Duffy, of No. 21, Busby Street, Church
Row, Bethnal Green, in the County of Middlesex, Umbrella Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN UMBRELLAS, PARASOLS,
AND SUNSHADES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Duffy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
June 1864.
I, THOMAS DUFFY, of No. 21, Busby Street, Church Row, Bethnal Green,
in the County of Middlesex, Umbrella Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN UMBRELLAS, PARASOLS,
AND SUNSHADES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of an improved
spring, catch, or fastening, which I fit or apply to the handles of umbrellas,
parasols, and sunshades for the purpose of securely retaining and readily
releasing the runner or traveller of the ribs.
The apparatus consists of a lever working in a recess in the handle, which
recess also contains a spiral or other spring. Part of the lever projects and
works through a slot in the runner or traveller. The lever is furnished with
a knob or thumb-piece for working it. When pressure is applied on this
knob or thumb-piece, the projecting part of the lever will be forced inward
and will release the runner, and allow of its being slidden along the handle;

page_text: but when such pressure is removed the spring will force the lever, i. e., its
projecting part, outward, and cause it to engage or retain the runner or
traveller when the latter is slidden to it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Duffy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DUFFY, of No. 21, Busby Street, Church Row, Bethnal Green, in the County
of Middlesex, Umbrella Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Duffy, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Duffy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Duffy, 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 make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVE.
MENT IN UMBRELLAS, PARASOLS, AND SUNSHADES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Duffy, 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 of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Duffy, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of a spring,
catch, or fastening, which I fit or apply to the handles of umbrellas, parasols,
and sunshades for the purpose of securely retaining and readily releasing the
runner or traveller of the ribs.

page_text: fastening shewn as applied to the handle of an umbrella, parasol, or sun-
shade; Figure 3 shews the arrangement when the catch is engaged with or
retains the runner or traveller.
A is a portion of the handle or stick of the umbrella, parasol, or sunshade.
In this handle is formed a recess a, in which is fitted a lever B, working on a
pin c, traversing the recess. This lever is formed with a projecting portion
or heel b.
D is a knob, stud, or thumb-piece fixed to the lever at one end
thereof, viz., the end nearer the top end of the handle; E is a slotted plate
fixed on the handle over the recess, the projecting part 6 of the lever and
the shank of the knob D work through the slot in this plate. A corres-
ponding slot is formed as usual in the runner or traveller F. G is a spiral
spring fitted in the recess a under the lever B. Figure 4 is a side view of
the lever B, detached; Figure 5 is a side view of a lever B, slightly differing
in form from the preceding, but acting and arranged in precisely similar
manner. When pressure is applied by the finger or thumb on the knob D,
the projecting part 6 of the lever B will be forced inward, and the spring will
be compressed. When pressure is removed from the knob the spring will
expand and force the part 6 outward. The fastening is worked as follows:-
To retain and release the runner, the knob is first pressed, so as to allow the
runner to be slidden on to the plate E, (the slot in the runner coming
directly over the slot in the plate,) pressure is then removed from the knob,
and the spring being relieved from such pressure will act and force the free
end of the lover outwards, so that the projection 6 will pass through the slots
in the plate and runner, and will hold the latter in position. To unfasten or

page_text: disengage the runner, pressure is again exerted on the knob D, thereby forcing
the projecting portion of the lever inward and releasing the runner, which
may be slidden along the stick in the well-known manner.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim the herein-before described mechanical parts of the spring, catch, or
fastening considered separately or apart from the arrangement and com-
bination thereof in manner herein described and claimed, and I declare that
what I claim as constituting my said Invention is, the means herein-before
described of retaining and releasing the runner or traveller of umbrellas,
parasols, and sunshades, that is to say, the construction and employment of
a spring, catch, or fastening whereof the parts are arranged, combined, and
applied substantially in the manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Duffy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
JONATHAN RENTON WHEELHOUSE.
THOMAS DUFFY. (L.S.)