US443981A

US443981A - Curtain

Info

Publication number: US443981A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1890-12-30
Anticipated expiration: 1907-12-30

Description

N l M Pflu H (No Model.)

No. 443,981. Patented Dec. 30, 1890.

moses.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

EDWARD F. BRAREN, OF FERN\VOOD, ILLINOIS.

CURTAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,981, dated December 30, 1890.

Application filed May 1, 1889. Serial No. 309,221. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. BRAREN, a citizen of the United States, residingin Fernwood, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtains, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in curtains suspended by hooks from overhanging rods or poles, and has for its object the connection of the curtain with the hook in such manner that there can be no direct strain of the hook upon the curtain, and therefore no injury to the curtain by the hook, while at the same time additional strength is given the curtain to resist its detachment from the hooks.

My invention is particularly adapted to and desirable for curtains employed for conceal-4 ing the occupants of berths in sleeping-cars, but is equally well adapted for curtains for the purposes of decorating walls, for screens, or for doorways and other uses where the curtains are liable to be pulled upon and injured when attached directly to hooks, as has heretofore been the practice.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective View of a curtain embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a vertical section through the same with one of the hooks shown in side elevation, and Fig. 3 a front elevation-of a curtain embodying my invention.

The curtain A, usually of quite a heavy and dense fabric, when used. for sleeping-car purposes has for the purposes of additional strength at its side edge a plait a, formed by turning the fabric of the curtain over upon itself, and at its top edge another and much wider plait b, likewise formed; but, as will be obvious, while such plaits are desirable, they may be omitted in the employment of my invention and the curtain have all and more strength to resist the cutting action of the hooks than with the plait under the old form of construction, in which the hooks are passed directly through the fabric of the curtain and usually but one thickness, because inserted through the edge of the fold of the plait, a button or bar on the end of the hook serving to prevent the hook for a time from pulling through. By my invention, however, this direct attachment of the'hooks to the curtain is avoided by means of a strip B, which may be, and preferably is, of a different fabric than the curtain, which strip B is secured by stitching, riveting, or other suitable means to a curtain on its rear side and extends along the upper edge thereof. This strip B at suitable intervals is perforated, as shown at O, and the perforations strengthened by means of metallic eyelets c, or may be by button-hole stitching, for the reception of the suspending-hooks, the upper edge of said strips being preferably left free, as shown, so as to permit the insertion of the shanks of the hooks; but, if desired, the strip may be sewed or riveted along both of its longitudinal edges, providing it has sufficient depth or width to accommodate the upturned ends of the hook-shanks.

The hooks D employed for suspending my construction of curtain have hookshaped shanks d, which after being inserted through the eyelets maybe closed to prevent their accidental detachment; but when very stifi fab rics' are used the clamping effect of the curtain and the strip will hold the hooks in the perforations, although said hooks are not closed.

In practice it is proposed to transversely stitch or rivet the strip at two or more points between each pair of hooks, as shown, and so also the curtain may be provided with the usual plaits e in order to give it breadth at its lower portion.

By the employment of the strip B and se curing of the hooks thereto, as above de scribed, it is not possible for the hooks to tear or injure the curtain, for the strip serves to equally distribute the strain of the hooks upon the curtain to such an extent that the strip will give way before the curtain, and, as a matter of fact, and if the curtain is sufficiently strong, no strain to which a curtain is ever subjected under the roughest usage will result in tearing the hooks out of the strips, one important advantage of the strips being that they may be of a much tougher fabric than is ever or can be employed in the curtains-as, for example, a heavy webbing or duck-and all this Without marring the external appearance of the curtain, but rather promoting its effect to a desired degree.

The importance of my invention may be appreciated when it is understood that sleeping-car curtains, in particular, are frequently taken down and put up, and that in putting up these curtains it is the practice of the porters to throw the curtain and jerk the hooks into connection with the suspendingrod and the same also in taking the curtain down, and as a result, as the hooks are-now secured, they are frequently torn out and the curtain ruined for further use before it is as a rule much more than half-Worn. It may also be observed that sleeping-car curtains are subject to heavy strainsupon their hooks by passengers and train-men passing back and forth through the cars during the night described.

I EDWARD F. BRAREN. lVitnesses:

A. MILo BENNETT, W. R. OMOHUNDRO.