AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BARKER, of No. 3, Esher Street, Kennington, in the County of Surrey, Artist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day
of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Barker, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her special licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Barker, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph Barker,
my exors, adors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
Her Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Joseph Barker,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and scal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, then the said Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall
utterly cease, determine, and become void, as by the said Letters Patent,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Barker, 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 the Drawing therein
referred to (that is to say) :-
My Invention has reference to a method of constructing umbrellas and
parasols whereby the stretchers are combined in a different manner to that in
umbrellas and parasols of the ordinary construction, and whereby also the
umbrellas and parasols can be opened and closed with greater facility, and
consists in the arrangements berein-after described. The accompanying
Drawings shew the principal parts employed in constructing an umbrella or
parasol according to my Invention, and an umbrella or parasol so constructed
as it will appear when open.
I now proceed to the parts shewn in the Drawings annexed by the letters
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.
A. (Inner Tube.)-A stem or tube having a spring (No 1.) near the endl
of the same for the purpose of keeping the parasol or umbrella expanded.
No. 2, slit for a wire fixed to the outward tube (B), as a guide that such out-
ward or sliding tube may work so truly that the spring (No. 1) may enter the
slit (No. 5) near the end of, the sliding tube, when such sliding tube is drawn
clown. No. 3, a piece of circular wood fixed near the top, to which wood are
attached the flexible strips of metal which sustain or suspend the stretchers
of the parasol or umbrella. No. 4, the handle to be fixed to the end of the
inner stem or tube (A), at the lower part of it, the hollow or bore being
sufficiently large to admit the sliding or outward tube (B) to move freely up
and down such inner stem or tube.
B. The outward or sliding tube, moving up and down the stem or tube
(A), having a slit (No. 5) near the end to receive the spring (No. 1) in tube
A when the parasol or umbrella is expanded. No. 6, ferrule or ring fixed on
the end to which the stretchers are attached. No. 7, small hole in which the
guide-wire is rivetted that passes through slit (No. 2) in stem A. No. (7a),
a small knob or,-button used to move the tube B up or down.
C.-Flexible strips of metal, connecting the stretchers on the sliding or
moveable tube to the fixed circular wood (No. 3) on stem (A). the tube (B)
being drawn down, the ferrule or ring (No. 6) carries with it the inner ends

page_text: of the stretchers, and the outer ends of the stretchers being thereby thrown out,
the parasol or umbrella is thus opened. The flexible strips of metal may be
attached to the stretchers by rivits or otherwise. The attachment of such
flexible strips of metal to wood (No. 3) is by means of pins through holes in
the ends of such flexible strips, and driven into the circular wood (No. 3), and
then, by drawing a flat metal ring (D) over the ends of the flexible strips of
metal, they are firmly secured to the wood (No. 3.)
D. Is a metal ring just referred to, fitting tight over the ends of the
flexible strips of metal, thereby binding such strips of metal firmly to the
circular wood (No. 3).
In lieu of parts already described, the following may be used for the
purpose of constructing a cheaper umbrella or parasol, the principle of the
construction being the same as in 'the arrangements already described.
E. A circular stem. or stick, grooved in two opposite directions, in each of
which grooves a small rod or wire (No. 8) is introduced, and having a spring
(No. 9) near the end, to keep the parasol or umbrella either expanded or
closed, and having a circular piece of wood as described (No. 3) on A.
F. Is a short tube, having two slits to receive the spring (No. 9), which
short tube slides or moves freely up and down on the stem or stick (E). To
this short tube the rods or wires that move in the grooves are rivetted.
G. Is a ferrule or ring as already described (except that it is not fixed to
the stem or stick), to which ferrule or ring the stretchers are attached, and to
which the short tube or slide (F) is attached by means of the side rods or
wires (No. 8), they (the rods or wires) being rivitted to the lower end of
the tube or slide (F) from the inside, and lying in the grooves, are attached to
ferrule or ring (G), by means of which, when the tube or slide (F) is drawn
down, the action we have before described takes place, videlicet, the throwing
outwards of the lower ends of the stretchers, and thus opening the parasol or
umbrella, as already described, when the spring (No. 9), entering the slit
No. 10, keeps the parasol or umbrella expanded, and when the spring No. 9
enters the slit No. 11, keeps the umbrella or parasol closed.
H. Represents an umbrella or parasol made according to the method
herein-before detailed when open. By the method of constructing umbrellas
and parasols, as herein-before described, and represented in the accompanying
Drawings, it will be perceived that the wires ordinarily employed to support
the stretchers are dispensed with, and the umbrella or parasol is opened by
lowering the ends of stretchers attached to springs and closed on the ends of
such stretchers being raised as above described and represented in the
Drawings herein referred to.

page_text: Various details not herein-before particularly described or represented are
well understood by persons conversant with the construction of umbrellas and
parasols. To such details I make no claim, except when employed in con-
nexion with the parts herein-before described. And I hereby declare that I
claim on the Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent the
constructing umbrellas and parasols wherein the stretchers are combined with
the other parts so as to be acted on when the umbrella or parasol is open or
closed in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Barker, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Joseph Barker, in the
JOSEPH (L.S.) BARKER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of August,
of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Joseph Barker came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.