f UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.
JOHN DICK, or NEW YORK, Y.
sauraisA Fon ARTICLES or DRESS.
Specification of Letters Patent No. 12,379, dated February 13, 1855.
To all whom, t may concern K Be it known that I, JOHN DICK, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stays Applied to Articles of Dress to Prevent or Remove Wrinkles or Greases; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1, is a. side view of the stays, and Fig. 2, an edge view of the same. Figs. 3 andl 4, are edge views illustrating the action of the stay when applied to a garment, and
Fig. 5, exhibits its application to a boot.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
This stay is composed of two or more supporting pieces of whalebone, wood,
ratan, steel, or any other material possessing desirable degree of rigidity and elasticity, having a spring or springs of india rubber webbing or other suitable elastic ma* terial applied to them in such a way as to have a constant tendency to extend them or keep them extended lengthwise. It is applied to such part of a garment as is liable to become wrinkled or creased by the movements of the body or limbs, by its own weight, by the acts of putting it on or taking it olf or by any other means, for the purpose of keeping such part in proper shape or returning it to its proper shape after it has been disarranged; and yet it is capable of contraction to allow freedom of movement of the body or limbs and to preserve a suicient degree of flexibility to the article of dress to which it is applied.
The stay represented in the drawing is composed of two supporting pieces a, a', and one spring The supporting pieces are represented to be of whalebone, which material I at present consider `to be pref erable to all others as it possesses desirable degrees of rigidity and elasticity combined with lightness, and is not very expensive. The spring is composed of a strip of india rubber webbing but may consist of india rubber alone or of other elastic material. One end of the spr-ing is connected by sewing, lacing or otherwise tothe upper end of a, and the other end to the lower end of a. The stay is placed and secured in a garment in substantially the same manner as the busk, and bones of ladies corsets, care bein taken that it is well secured at the ends and that it is somewhat contracted or not extended to its full length, so that the spring will have some tension upon it. The section of two pieces c, c, of cloth or material bey tween which, the stay is conned, is represented in Figs. 3, and t, in red color, Fig. 4, showing the stay contracted', its spring b, being extended and the material c, c, being creased or wrinkled, and Fig. 3, showing the stay extended contracted and the materialc, c, free from wrinkles.
By applying these stays to boots, I am enabled to construct the legs of linen or some woven fabric, which is much cheaper, and in every respect as good as and in some respect better than leather, but which, without.
some support, could not be used, as it would not stand up. Boots with legs made of such materials or of leather may be always kept free from creases and thus be prevented from wearing out the pantaloons worn over them.' To apply the stay to boots, I extend the straps (Z, double all down the interior of the leg, and place the stay between the inner part l and the outer part 2 of the strap confining it at the edges, and at the ends by stitching the parts 1 and 2 togetherV or by an eyelet fastening e, which also serves to secure the st-raps to the boot. rlhe straps require to be secured to the boot bot-h at their lower ends and near the top by stitching as represented by red dots in Fig. 5, or by other means. In order to show the stay in Fig. 5, the boot is represented with a piece of the leg torn out and a part of the outer portion 2, of the strap torn away.
rlhe stay may be used in all parts of ladies dress where wooden or steel busks orv whalebones are commonly employed, and in cont-racting with the stooping or bending of the body will preventpainful pressure by its ends, and prevent its tearing the material of which the dress is made, and forcing itself out endwise. It may also be applied to mens vests to remove the wrinkles caused by sitting and stooping postures, also to the legs of pantaloons to supply the place of straps under the feet, and to an almost infinite variety of other purposes in wearing apparel.
Instead of two supporting pieces a, a',
three or more may be employed the third and others being applied to the ends of a, and 05, with Springs in the same manner as the spring b, is applied to a and a.
What I claim as In invention and desire to secure by Letters atent iS- The above described improvement in stays as applied to articles of Wearing apparel,
consisting of two or more supporting pieces With a spring or springs applied to extend 10 them substantially as herein set forth.
JOHN DICK.
Witnesses:
' J. G. lVLAsoN,
WM. TUSCH.