IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES FOR RUG, SHAWL, PARCEL, PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, AND OTHER STRAPS, BAGS, PORTMANTEAUS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Evans, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES FOR RUG, SHAWL, PARCEL,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Evans at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1875.
I, ISAAC EVANS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES FOR RUG, SHAWL,
PARCEL, AND OTHER STRAPS, BAGS, PORTMANTEAUS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE ARTICLES,'
to be as follows:-
-
"
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
the construction and manufacture of handles for rug, shawl, parcel, and
other straps, bags, portmanteaus, and for other like articles; the object of
my said Invention being principally to construct the said handles so
that they shall possess great lightness, rigidity, and strength.

page_text: I make the said handles from sheet metal, preferably from sheet iron,
and either from one piece or from several pieces in the following
manner-In making the said handles from one piece of sheet metal I
cut from sheet metal a rectangular blank having at its ends reduced or
narrow parts. By folding or doubling each of the narrow ends of the ♬
blank upon itself in the direction of its length a flat rectangular loop or
eye is formed therefrom, and by bending or rolling up the wider part of
the blank into an open jointed tube a tubular grip is formed, having at
each end a loop or eye for receiving the rug or other strap. The ends
of the tubular grip project over the folded ends of the loops or eyes and 1
hold the said ends firmly in their places. The grip part of the handle
may either be straight or bowed, and the bowed handle may either be
used alone or combined with a flexible or rigid bar or base, to which the
loop parts of the handle are connected.
The shaping of the blank into the grip and loop parts of the handle, 1
and, when required, the bowing or bending of the grip, are effected by
dies worked in a press or stamp.
When the handles made as described are used with bags, portmanteaus,
or other like articles short straps are passed through the eye or loop
parts to fasten them to the said bags or articles. Or they may be other- 2
wise fastened.
The tubular grip of the handle and the loop or eye parts may be made
separate, the loops or eyes being either connected rigidly to the ends of
the grip or jointed thereto. When the loop or eye parts are jointed to
the grip the latter has some play upon the former, and the motion of 2
the grip is not transmitted to the straps passed through the loops or
eyes.
When the loop parts are connected rigidly to the grip part of the
handle the said loop parts may carry short tubular or flat arms, which
when fixed to the grip part constitute side pieces to the said grip part. 3
The grip part instead of having a cylindrical figure given to it may have
a trough figure given to it. In this case I make the grip part of two
trough plates engaged together at their edges by a sliding motion and
fixed by closing the said edges together.
The metallic handles made in the several ways described are finished 3
either by painting or japanning, or are covered with leather. When the
tubular grip is made of an open jointed tube, as first described, the

page_text: covering of leather may be secured to the grip without sewing by fixing
it in the open joint or slot of the grip.
In order to facilitate the fastening and unfastening of the shoulder
strap which is sometimes used for connecting the rug or shawl to the
person I attach to the loop parts of the handle carrying the rug or shawl
T pieces capable of swivelling or turning upon the said loop parts, holes
in the ends of the shoulder strap taking upon or being hooked to the
T heads of the said swivelling or turning pieces to fasten the said strap
to the handle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Evans in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
EVANS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date, the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Evans, Her special
license that I, the said Isaac Evans, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isaac Evans, my 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
THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF HANDLES FOR RUG, SHAWL, PARCEL,
AND OTHER STRAPS, BAGS, PORTMANTEAUS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE ARTICLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Evans, my execu-
tors 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

page_text: 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 Isaac Evans, 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 :-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
the construction and manufacture of handlesfor rug, shawl, parcel, and
other straps, bags, portmanteaus, and for other like articles; the object
of my said Invention being principally to construct the said handles so
that they shall possess great lightness, rigidity, and strength.
-
I make the said handles from sheet metal, preferably from sheet iron,
and either from one piece or from several pieces, in the following
manner: In making the said handles from one piece of sheet metal I
cut from sheet metal a rectangular blank, having at its ends reduced or
narrow parts. By folding or doubling each of the narrow ends of the
blank upon itself in the direction of its length a flat rectangular loop or
eye is formed therefrom, and by bending or rolling up the wider part of
the blank into an open jointed tube a tubular grip is formed having at
each end a loop or eye for receiving the rug or other strap. The ends of
the tubular grip project over the folded ends of the loops or eyes and
hold the said ends firmly in their places. The grip part of the handle
may either be straight or bowed, and the bowed handle may either be
used alone or combined with a flexible or rigid bar or base to which the
loop parts of the handle are connected.
The shaping of the blank into the grip and loop parts of the handle,
and, when required, the bowing or bending of the grip, are effected by
dies worked in a press or stamp.
When the handles made as described are used with bags, portmanteaus,
or other like articles, short straps, or wire rings, or loops are passed
through the eye or loop parts to fasten them to the said bags or articles.
Or they may be otherwise fastened.
The tubular grip of the handle and the loop or eye parts may be made
separate, the loops or eyes being either connected rigidly to the ends of
the grip or jointed thereto. When the loop or eye parts are jointed to
the grip the latter has some play upon the former, and the motion

page_text: of the grip is not transmitted to the straps passed through the loops or
cyes.
When the loop parts are connected rigidly to the grip part of the
handle the said loop parts may carry short tubular or flat arms, which
when fixed to the grip part constitute the side pieces of the handle. The
grip part, instead of having a cylindrical figure given to it, may have a
trough figure given to it. In this case I make the grip part of two
trough plates engaged together at their edges by a sliding motion, and
fixed by closing the said edges together.
The metallic handles made in the several ways described are finished
either by painting or japanning, or are covered with leather. When the
tubular grip is made of an open jointed tube, as first described, the
covering of leather may be secured to the grip without sewing by fixing
it in the open joint or slot of the grip.
In order to facilitate the fastening and unfastening of the shoulder
strap, which is sometimes used for connecting the rug or shawl to the
person, I attach to the loop parts of the handle carrying the rug or shawl
T pieces capable of swivelling or turning upon the said loop parts, holes
in the ends of the shoulder strap taking upon or being hooked to the
T heads of the said swivelling or turning pieces to fasten the said strap
to the handle.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in which the
same is to be performed.
In making a handle from one piece of sheet metal according to my
Invention I cut out at a stamp or press blanks of the form represented in
Figure 1.
From the middle part a of the blank the tubular grip of the handle is
made, and from the reduced ends or strap pieces c, c, and cross pieces
d, d, the loops or eyes for receiving the strap are made together
with the parts for fixing the said loops or eyes in their places in the
grip.
The blank, Figure 1, is slit or pierced where the straps c, c, join the
middle piece a, so as to form ears or tongue pieces e, as represented in
Figure 2, by which the tubular ends of the eyes or loops herein-after
described are fixed in the ends of the tubular grip part. By a series of

page_text: bending or raising processes effected by means of dies worked in stamps
or presses the middle part a of the blank, Figure 2, is rolled up or bent
into an open jointed tube or tubular grip, and the T heads marked d are
also bent into a tubular figure, as represented in plan of under side in
Figure 3, side elevation in Figure 4, and cross section in Figure 5.
By a further bending process the partly made handle is bowed, as
represented in Figure 6. The partly made handle is now ready for forming
the loops or eyes, and fixing the said loops or eyes in the ends of the
tubular grip a. This is effected by bending inwards or doubling upon
one another the straps or ends c, c, until the short tubular parts d, d,
enter the ends of the open tubular grip a, as illustrated in side elevation
in Figure 7, partly in longitudinal section in Figure 7*, horizontal
section in Figure 8, and cross section in Figure 9. Roughly shaped
loops or eyes marked c, c, are thus formed at the ends of the tubular
grip a. The loops or eyes c, c, are fixed firmly in the ends of the tubular
grip a by means of the ears or tongue picces e, e, on the ends of the
tubular grip, being turned at right angles so as to close upon and cross
the ends of the tubular pieces d, d, of the loops or eyes c, c, as best seen
in Figures 8 and 9. The removal or separation of the loops or eyes
from the ends of the tubular grip a is thereby effectually prevented, and
the tubular pieces d, d, strengthen and support the ends of the tubular
grip a.
:
By a further operation the loops or eyes c, c, are flattened, as repre-
sented in Figure 10, and the joint of the open jointed tube or tubular
grip a completely closed, the opposed edges of the joint of the grip
entering the depression d'in the lower side of the tubular ends & of the
loops or eyes, as seen in the cross section, Figure 9. The whole of the
parts are thereby bound securely together. A handle thus made possesses
great lightness, rigidity, and strength. The metallic handle is finished
either by painting or japanning, or is covered with leather. When the
grip part of the handle is covered with leather the edges of the leather
covering are inserted in the open joint or slot of the tubular grip a before
the grip is finally closed, so that on the closing of the joint of the grip
the leather covering is held firmly in its place without sewing.
· Figure 11 represents in side elevation, and Figure 12 in plan, a finished
rug or other strap handle made as described fixed to a rigid or flexible
bar or basef, the barf being fixed to the loop parts c, c, by metallic
strips 9 being passed through slots in the base f and closed upon the

page_text: inside of the loops. In Figure 12 the ordinary straps which are passed
through the loops c, c, are marked a³.
Figure 13 represents a straight handle made according to my In-
vention. In this case the tubular grip is bent of the figure represented
instead of being bowed.
Figure 14 represents a handle made according to my Invention to be
used for bags, portmanteaus, and other like articles. In this handle the
eye or loop parts c, c, are shorter than those before described and are
furnished with metallic rings h, h, which rings are sewn or otherwise
connected to the bag, portmanteau, or article, or straps or other con-
necting pieces may be passed through the eyes or loops c, c, and
connected to the bag or portmanteau.
Figure 15 represents in elevation a handle constructed according to
my Invention in which the tubular grip and loops or eyes are made
separately and afterwards connected together.
Figure 16 represents one of the separate eyes or loops. In this
arrangement the ends a³, a², of the tubular grip a are turned at right
angles, and are flattened to receive the flattened stems or arms c³, c², of
the eyes or loops c, c. The stems c², c², of the loops being passed into
the flattened parts a³, a², of the grip a, the said stems are fixed in their
places by brazing, pinning, or otherwise. Or instead of flattening and
bending at right angles the ends of the tubular grip as last described,
the stems or arm parts of the separate eyes or loops may be lengthened
and form the sides of the handle, the ends of the said lengthened side
parts or arms being brazed to the ends of the tubular grip a. A handle
made as last described is represented in Figure 17.
Figure 18 represents in side elevation and end elevation a handle in
which the separate loops or eyes are jointed to the ends of the grip. The
joints of the separate loops c are marked i, i, the sides of the flattened
parts a, a, of the grip a being forked or open. The said jointed
loops c, c, have some play within the forked parts a³ of the grip (as
indicated in dotted lines) so that the motion of the grip is not transmitted
to the straps passed through the loops or eyes c, c.
Figure 19 represents in side elevation and cross section a handle con-
structed according to my Invention in which the grip part is made of
two trough plates, engaged together at their edges. The said trough
plates are marked l, m, and their shape is best seen in the cross section,

page_text: The said plates l, m, are engaged together at their edges by a sliding
motion, and fixed by closing the edge of one upon that of the other.
The loops and end pieces of the grip made in this way are the same as
herein-before described.
For the purpose of making the tubular grip parts of the handles
adjustable, when necessary, I make the said grip parts telescopic, that
is, I make one half of the grip smaller in diameter than the other half,
so that one half may slide within or upon the other half. The halves of
the grip are prevented from turning upon one another, and are guided
and limited in their sliding motion by a stud on one part engaging in a
longitudinal groove or depression on the other part.
The lower edges of the loops or eyes of the several handles described
and represented may be slightly bent downwards so as to form a rounded
or curved edge for the strap to work against. The wearing or chafing of
the strap is thereby prevented or diminished.
Figure 20 represents in side elevation, and Figure 21 in end elevation,
my improved fastening for connecting the shoulder straps to and
disconnecting them from the loop parts of the handles of rug, shawl,
and other straps. n is the handle to which the rug, shawl, or other like
article is strapped as usual, and p is the shoulder strap. To the loops
q, q, of the handle n T pieces or fastenings marked 8, 82, are attached,
the said pieces or fastenings 8, 8%, being capable of swivelling or turning
upon the loops of the handle, the holes in the ends of the shoulder strap
p taking upon or being hooked to the cross heads s of the fastenings to
connect the said strap to the handle. In the Drawing one end of the 2
strap p is represented fastened to the handle, and the other end dis-
connected from the opposite end of the handle.
The manner in which the T piece or fastening is connected to the loop
of the handle is best seen in Figure 21. On the said T piece or fastening
is a cross arm or axis 82, which works in the eye part or bearing of the 8
loop q, the said T piece or fastening swivelling or turning upon the cross
arm as a centre. By the use of the T pieces or fastenings 8, s³, the
fastening and unfastening of the shoulder strap p is facilitated. This
part of my Invention may be applied to handles made of leather and of
metal.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in

page_text: not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention, but I claim as my Invention of improvements in the con-
struction and manufacture of handles for rug, shawl, and other straps,
bags, portmanteaus, and for other like articles,—
First. Making the tubular grip of the said handles and their loops or
eyes from one piece of sheet metal, preferably from sheet iron, substan-
tially as herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 14, both
inclusive, of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. Making the metallic tubular grip part of the said handles
and the metallic loops or eyes of the same separately, and rigidly con-
necting the said loops or eyes to the said grip part, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 15, 16, and 17 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. Jointing the loops or eyes to the grip part of the handles,
substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in Figure
18 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fourthly. Making the grip part of metallic handles of two trough
plates, as herein-before described and illustrated in Figure 19 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Fifthly. Making the tubular grip part of metallic handles telescopic,
substantially as and for the purpose described.
Lastly. Combining with rug, shawl, or other strap handles T pieces or
fastenings for facilitating the fastening of shoulder straps to and their
separation from the said handles, as herein-before described and illus-
trated in Figures 20 and 21 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Evans have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
0
ISAAC EVANS. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM M'LAREN.