This is the place to come to learn about Avery style needle cases.

U.K. Patent 1884-1534

This mechanical patent was registered by William Avery & Son on January 16th, 1884.  It covers all metallic casket style needle cases and consists of a drawing and three pages of text.  To review the details of this patent, select the appropriate page for the list below.  Once the page is display, click on it to enlarge the text.

Drawing
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

All mechanical patents were formally written and published in patent books in the year in which they were registered.  Copies of these books can be found at a handful of libraries in the UK.  All of the mechanical patents available on this website were originally searched at the Business and Intellectual Property Centre of the British Library in London.  However, this library was unable to make copies because the books in their collection were in a fragile state.   Instead, copies were obtained from the reference desk at the British Library in Sheffield.  Details regarding how the patent research was accomplished can be found at Patent/Design Representation Research.

Master List

To date 227 Avery style needle cases have been discovered.  Visit these pages to see photographs of each design as well as the original design registration or patent and gain knowledge about variations within each design.

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Avery Survey

In 2013 an Avery Survey was created in order to gather as much information as possible about Avery style needle cases from collectors and interested parties around the world.  The Avery Survey is easy to complete and gives you a chance to contribute to this important research.  Be sure and stop here to see the survey results.

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About Us

Learn how the author turned a hobby cross stitching antique sampler reproductions into a passion for collecting Avery needle cases resulting in a published book, a Wikipedia article, a TCI Bulletin article and conference presentation and this website.

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