A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN VENETIAN BLINDS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Atkinson, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN
VENETIAN BLINDS."
Sealed the 19th October 1858, and dated the 23rd April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Atkinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1858.
I, CHARLES ATKINSON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT
IN VENETIAN BLINDS," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the novel application, employment, and use of
thin plates or laths of refined cast steel as a substitute for the laths of wood
ordinarily employed in the construction of Venetian blinds. By this improve-
ment a lighter and more durable blind is produced, which may also be rendered
efficient as a protection to an open window by furnishing each side of the
window frame with a hinged vertical bar or rod, provided with bolts, and so
arranged as to secure each end of all the series of laths of the blind against
the window frame, so that when thus secured the window may remain open
for the admission of air, the metallic blind forming a protection or safeguard
against any obtrusive entry into the apartment.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Atkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ATKINSON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Atkinson, Her especial license that I, the said Charles Atkinson, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Atkinson,
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 "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN
VENETIAN BLINDS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Charles Atkinson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Charles Atkinson, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that is to say):-
The Invention consists in the novel application, employment, and use of
thin plates or laths of refined cast steel or other steel, as a substitute for the
laths of wood ordinarily employed in the construction of Venetian blinds. By
this improvement a lighter and more durable blind is produced, which may
also be rendered effective as a protection to an open window, by furnishing
each side of the window frame with a binged vertical bar or rod provided with
bolts, and so arranged so as to secure each end of all the series of laths of the
blind against the window frame, so that when thus secured the window inay
remain open for the admission of air, the metallic blind forming a protection or
safeguard against any obtrusive entry into the apartment. In blinds of some
widths it will be necessary to form a strengthening rib upon the steel plates
or laths, which may be effected by corrugating or indenting the laths from end

page_text: to end by rollers or otherwise, to prevent them bending when the points of
suspension of the blind are too far apart to admit of a plain set of laths being
employed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together with the
method of performing the same, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim
the novel application, employment, and use of thin plates or laths of refined
cast steel or other steel, and whether plain or ribbed, as a substitute for the
laths of wood hitherto employed in the construction of Venetian blinds.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Atkinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
CHARLES ATKINSON. (L.S.)