Year: 1886

page_text: I WILFRED CAMPBELL LATHAM of Mockmoyne in the County of Roscommon,
Ireland, Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Cleaners for tobacco pipes, as hitherto constructed, have for the most part been
open to objection, some on the ground of expense, and some on account of the
difficulty experienced in getting them through the pipe, especially if the latter has.
a small bore.
.
Now the object of the present invention is to provide a cheap and efficient
wiper or cleaner for the bores of tobacco pipes and cigar tubes, which wiper can
be made to pass through even the smallest bores, and is at the same time
applicable for cleaning bores of large diameter.
To this end I take lengths of fine flexible wire, and double them together near
their middle upon a suitable number of pieces of fibrous material, such as cotton-
waste or tow.
The wire is then twisted up to form a rod, care being taken to twist the wire,
so that the rod will be finest at the tip.
The rod thus formed will be a sort of flexible needle or bodkin, and will be
sufficiently thin to pass up the stem of any pipe:
The rod is inserted in the bore, and is pulled completely through, drawing
after it the bunch of fibrous material attached to the end thereof. Should this
bunch be too large to pass through the bore, it may readily be thinned by pulling
out some of the fibres.
It is obvious that a pipe cleaner thus constructed will be very efficient, for the
wire rod being fine, can be readily pushed through the pipe, and then considerable
power can be exercised to draw through the mass of fibrous material which does
the cleaning.

page_text: Improvements in Cleaners for Pipes.
I WILFRED CAMPBELL LATHAM of Mockmoyne in the County of Roscommon,
Ireland; Gentleman, do .hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
Cleaners for tobacco pipes, as hitherto constructed, have for the most part been
open to objection, some on the ground of expense, and some on account of the
difficulty experienced in getting them through the pipe, especially if the latter has
a small bore.
Now the object of the present invention is to provide a cheap and efficient
wiper or cleaner for the bores of tobacco pipes and cigar tubes, which wiper can be
made to pass through even the smallest bores, and is at the same time applicable
for cleaning bores of large diameter.
To this end, I take lengths of fine flexible wire, and double them together near
their middle upon a suitable number of. pieces of fibrous material, such as worsted,
cotton-waste, or tow.
The wire is then twisted up to form a rod, sufficiently thin to allow of its passing
up the stem of a pipe.
The accompanying drawings show, in Fig. 1; my improved pipe cleaner partly
manufactured, and in Fig. 2 the cleaner complete and ready for use. The cleaner
is formed by doubling upon itself a length of fine wire near the middle thereof,
and inserting at the bend, pieces of fibrous material. The wire is 'then twisted up
by means of any suitable mechanism to form a rod, one of the ends of the wire
being allowed to remain a little longer than the other, so as to give a fine and
flexible tip to the rod in the manner shown. The tip of the rod is preferably
slightly tinned or soldered, to secure the two loose ends together, and the longer
end is turned back a little 'to prevent its sharpness from catching in the pipe, and
interfering with the passage of the cleaner through the same.
In Figs. 3 and 4, I have shown my improved cleaner manufactured from a
longer and finer piece of wire doubled twice upon itself, the fibrous material being
secured in the second bend.
In this case the fine and flexible tip is formed by making the second double a
little nearer to the two free ends of the wire than to the point where is the first
bend; so that when the strands of wire are twisted together, this point will
project beyond the two free ends, and a fine and flexible tip will be provided.
The object of providing the cleaner with a fine and flexible tip is to assist 'the
cleaner in passing the angle between the stem of the pipe and the bowl.
The rod is inserted in the bore, and is pulled 'completely through, drawing after
it the bunch of fibrous material attached to the end thereof. Should this bunch
be too large to pass through the bore, it may readily be thinned by pulling out
some of the fibres.
It is obvious that a pipe cleaner thus constructed will be very efficient, for the
wire rod being fine, can be readily pushed through the pipe, and then considerable
power can be exercised to draw through the mass of fibrous material which does

page_text: the cleaning. The extra fine tip will not in all cases be necessary, but it is found
advantageous thus to twist the wire for general use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. In cleaners for pipes and cigar tubes, the combination with a flexible rod
formed of twisted wire, of a tuft of loose fibrous material attached to the end
thereof, substantially as.described and shown in the drawings.
2. Forming cleaners for pipes and cigar tubes, as above described and shown in
the drawings, with fine and flexible tips for the purpose of facilitating the passage
of the cleaner through the pipe.