Improvements in and relating to Riding Skirts.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Aug., 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Riding Skirts.
I CHARLES JOSIAH Ross, of 227 and 228 High Street, Exeter, in the County
of Devon, Outfitter, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to a method of and means for attaching riding skirts so
that the wearer will be instantaneously released therefrom when thrown from the
horse. Riding skirts fitted with this invention have the appearance of an ordinary
riding skirt and the lady can dismount and walk about in the skirt if so desired,
while she can easily and quickly convert it into a safety riding skirt when she is in
the saddle.
In carrying out my invention, I provide the riding skirt with two or other
number of cuts or openings, preferably in the back and side seams, extending from
the waist band downwards and laced with elastic or other easily breakable material.
The skirt is secured in the ordinary way and the cuts or openings aforesaid are
secured by means of spring clips or fastenings which can be released by pressure.
To the clips or fastenings I attach a strap or the like, the other end of which is
attached to the saddle. This strap or the like can be easily secured by means of a
buckle or other equivalent means by the lady herself after she has mounted the
horse, and can be unfastened by her preparatory to dismounting.
Should the wearer of a riding skirt fitted with my invention be thrown, the
weight of her body will cause the release of the spring clips or other fastenings at
the waistband, and the lady will instantly be freed from the riding skirt.
Dated this 23rd day of November 1800
F. W. GOLBY,
36, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Riding Skirts.
1 CHARLES JOSIAH Ross of 227 and 228 High Street, Exeter, in the County
of Devon, Outfitter, 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 :-
This invention which relates to riding skirts has for its object, to prevent the
wearer thereof from being dragged by the skirt, should she be thrown from the
horse.
The invention comprises a method or manner of, and means for, attaching
the riding skirt so that in the event of the rider being thrown, the said attachments
will be instantaneously released and further more, the lady would be entirely freed
from the skirt if the latter should become entangled with, or be caught upon the
pommels or other part of the saddle.
Riding skirts fitted with this invention have the appearance of an ordinary
riding skirt and the lady can dismount and walk about in the skirt if so desired,
while she can easily and quickly convert it into a safety riding skirt when she is in
the saddle.
In carrying out my invention I provide the riding skirt with one or more cuts
or openings, preferably in the back or side seam extending from the waistband to
the bottom of the skirt and laced with elastic or other easily breakable material,
or secured by spring fastenings or other devices, releasable by a moderate pressure.
D

page_text: ני
Cuts or openings so secured are in common use and are known in the trade as
"burstable seams. At the waistband the burstable seam, is secured by a spring
fastener of special construction which will be fully described hereinafter and which
is locked by means of a sphere or ball attached to a chain, strap or the like the
other end of which can be hooked or fastened on a ring secured to the skirt, or,
when the wearer is mounted, to a ring secured on the saddle, in which latter case
the skirt is thereby converted into a safety skirt.
In order that my invention, and the manner of carrying the same into practice,
may be fully understood, I will describe it with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which similar letters are used to denote the same or corresponding
parts in the various figures.
Fig. 1 shews a riding skirt made in accordance with this invention provided
with a burstable seam C secured at the waist by a spring fastener, the locking
sphere or ball of which is attached by means of the chain strap or the like. A to
the saddle at B.
Figs. 2 to 6 shew details of the spring fastener for securing the burstable seam
at the waist.
The spring fastener consists of three parts, a tongue piece D, a socket E, and a
sphere or ball F shewn respectively in Figs. 3, 4 & 5. On each side of the socket
is a lever e pivotted at e¹ and normally kept in the position shewn in full lines in
Fig. 4, by a spring, or springs G. The front end of each lever is bulged and
curved as shewn at e² and the forward end of the tongue piece D is provided with
a curved neck d and with a curved head d' which latter is slightly larger than the
space between the two bulged ends e² of the levers e so that the latter will be
pushed back against the power of the spring or springs G as and when the head d
is pressed into, or pulled out of the socket E.
It will be understood, from the foregoing description, first, that the tongue
piece D and socket together form a spring snap fastening the bulged ends e³
entering the recess or neck d behind the head on the tongue piece as shewn
in Fig. 2; and secondly that, from the peculiar formation of the head d' and neck d
of the tongue piece, and the curved bulges e² on the levers, the two parts may be
engaged or disengaged as required the spring or springs G being so made that a
very moderate amount of force would be sufficient to burst open the fastening when
the levers are free to turn on their pivots, in other words, when the fastening is
in its unlocked position.
To lock the fastening I use a sphere or ball such as is shewn at F Fig. 5 which
is placed in the space marked S in Fig. 4 so as to rest between the heels e³ of the
levers e. The socket E is provided with a covering plate H which, to avoid com-
plications is not shewn in Figs. 2 & 4 in the drawings, but is shewn in Fig. 6, which
is an end elevation of Fig. 2. The covering plate H has a circular aperture J
therein corresponding with the position of the space S so that the ball or sphere F
is by this circular aperture guided into the space S. To prevent the ball or sphere
from coming out of this circular aperture J except when violently pulled, a small
spring may be fitted around the periphery of said aperture in such a position that,
when the ball or sphere F is passed through the aperture J so as to rest between
the heels of the levers the largest diameter of the ball or sphere is beneath
the small spring aforesaid. Or preferably I adopt the construction shewn in
Figs. 2, 4 & 6 wherein one spring performs the threefold duty of holding back the
heels of the two levers e and of forming a snap spring for the ball or sphere F.
By this construction the spring G is formed with two straight ends each of which
engages with a socket et attached to or formed in one with the contiguous lever e
and on the beel side of its pivot. The central part of the spring is turned up
into a parallel plane and is curved into a circular form slightly smaller than the
largest diameter of the ball or sphere F (see Figs. 2, 4, & 6).
On referring to Fig. 6 it will be seen that the ball or sphere F protrudes slightly
above the top of the covering plate H so that by means of the swivel ring a the
ball or sphere F will be pulled over towards the direction of the strain, before it is

page_text: displaced from between the heels e³ of the levers e. The ball or sphere F and the
circular aperture J thus practically form a ball and socket joint, consequently the
ball will be withdrawn from the aperture J by a strain on the chain, strap or
the like A irrespective of the direction of the pull.
The chain, strap or the like A is made sufficiently long to allow of the ordinary
movements of the lady in the saddle, but if this limit is exceeded as in the case of
a fall from the horse, the chain, strap or the like A will become taut, the ball or
sphere F will be turned towards the direction of the pull and will then be jerked
out of the aperture J, and remain attached to the saddle. The waist fastener is
then unlocked and is an ordinary spring snap fastener. Should the skirt become
entangled with the pommels or other part of the saddle, the weight of the lady's
body will burst open the waist fastener and the scam C, and the lady will fall out
of the skirt. If there is no entanglement then the lady will fall with the skirt on
in the ordinary manner.
The skirt is preferably fastened at the waist on the body of the wearer in any
well known manner independently of the spring snap fastening herein before
described so that the only adjustment ordinarily necessary to convert the skirt
into a safety skirt is the hooking or fastening of the end of the chain, strap or the
like A to the saddle as shewn at B Fig. 1 when the lady is in the saddle.
Preparatory to dismounting it will be necessary to unhook the chain, strap or the
like A from the saddle and to rehook or refasten it to a ring or the like sewn on
the waistband or other convenient position. As an alternative the chain, strap or
the like A may be made sufficiently long to be passed completely through the ring
fixed on the saddle at B and its free end secured to a ring on the waist band in
which case when the lady is thrown the ball or sphere F would pass completely
through the ring at B and would remain attached to the ring on the waist band.
However, as there is a risk of the ball F becoming jammed in the ring B on the
saddle as it is pulled there through I prefer the first described method of
attachment as being more certain in its action.
Although I have shewn and described my invention as adapted to a riding
skirt with one burstable seam it will be obvious that more than one such seams
may be used if so desired a spring waist fastener such as is herein described being
needed for each burstable seam, and the chains, straps or the like A being con-
veniently connected to a common strap &c. secured to the saddle. I also desire to
point out that the burstable seam or seams need not reach from the waist to the
bottom of the skirt, but may extend from the waist as far down as is necessary to
allow the lady to fall clear of the skirt.
Having now particularly described as ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
(1.) A riding skirt provided with a burstable seam or seams extending from the
waist to the bottom, or to a convenient distance, said burstable seam or seams
being secured at the waist by means of a spring snap fastener or fasteners locked
by a ball engaging in a circular aperture or recess in the said fastener so as to form
a ball and socket or universal joint, the ball being secured by a chain, strap or the
like to the saddle, so that should the wearer fall from the horse in any direction
the ball will be pulled out of the said aperture and the fastener thus unlocked and
free to burst open with the weight of the falling body should the skirt become
entangled with the pommels or other part of the saddle substantially as described.
(2.) In a riding skirt provided with a burstable seam extending from the waist
downwards, a waist fastener, for the burstable seam consisting of two parts
forming an ordinary spring snap fastener and a third removeable part of a spherical
shape which serves as a lock to the fastener and is intended to be secured by a
chain, strap or the like to the saddle, so that the said spherical part will be with-
drawn and the fastener unlocked in the event of the wearer leaving the saddle,
substantially as described and shewn in the accompanying drawings.

page_text: (3.) In a riding skirt provided with a burstable seam extending from the waist
downwards and having a spring fastener at the waist locking said waist fastener by
a detachable ball or sphere forming with the fastener a ball and socket or universal
lock joint substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
(4.). My improvements in and relating to riding skirts substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of August 1893.
F. W. GOLBY,
36, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agent for the Applicant.