CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR GARMENTS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BRADSHAW, of No. 103, Bishopsgate Street Within, in the City of London,
Hosier, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Bradshaw, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Bradshaw, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said George Bradshaw;
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, within the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also within all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, mý Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
FASTENINGS FOR GARMENTS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging me,' the said 'George Bradshaw, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's Hight Court of Chancery, within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more full and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Bradshaw, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, and by reference
to the illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in arranging, adapting, and combining elastic material
with buttons or studs, and the parts of garments to be held together in such
manner as to constitute a more convenient fastening than hitherto employed
for that purpose, and in so preparing and fashioning those parts of garments
which are to be held together, and the elastic fastening to be employed, as
that one such fastening may be rendered available for different garments or
articles of dress, and thus the necessity for having a separate fastening for
each separate or similar article of dress rendered unnecessary, the intention of
my said Invention being to dispense with the use of strings or other of the
ordinary modes hitherto practised of adjusting or fastening garments; and in
order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I will proceed to
describe the means which I have found well calculated for carrying the
same into practical effect." Modus Operandi:"-I form an elastic band a,
Figure 1, of strands of vulcanized india-rubber or caoutchouc, coated or
covered with a filamentous material, in the manner usually practised and
known and in common use, and I form said band of suitable proportions,
according to the purposes for which the same may be required, and I attach
to each end of such said elastic material pieces of silk, linen, cotton, or
leather b, for the twofold purpose of preventing the elastic strands from reeving
out or "fraying," and as. a. stay to which to fix the buttons or studs c, c.
Figure 1 exhibits the said fastening as it would appear in a collapsed state;
Figure 2, the fastening when distended; and I propose to employ such said
fastening in the following manner :-As, for example, when used as a fastening
for gentlemen's shirt collars in lieu of strings (as exhibited at Figure 3). I form
button holes 1, 2, 3, in the band of the said collar and a slit or transverse hole
of the width of the elastic, as shewn at 4 in the Drawing; and I pass one end
of the elastic through such slit or transverse hole 4, and insert the button.c at

page_text: one end of the elastic fastening in the button hole 2; and in order to adjust
the collar to the neck of the wearer, it is only necessary to distend the band
slightly and insert the button d in the button hole 1. The auxiliary button
hole 3 is for the purpose of altering the position of the elastic, as occasion may
require. Figure 4 exhibits the said fastening marked a, as applied to a shirt
front for the purpose of attaching the same to the band of the drawers or
trowsers of the wearer. Figure 5 exhibits the said fastening attached to the
front of a shirt collar; Figure 6, the said fastening as applied to the bands of
drawers. Figure 7 exhibits said fastening as applied to a riding or walking
belt; Figures 8, 9, 10, the said fastening as applied to stocks and neck
ties or cravats; Figure 11, the said fastening attached to gloves, and Figure 12,
the said fastening as applied to garters. I would remark, that in giving
the above examples of the use and application of my said Invention, I do not
intend to limit or confine myself to these only, as the said fastening may be
beneficially applied to other garments or articles of dress, such as shirts, braces,
wristbands, and for other purposes in which it may be convenient to unite two
ends or articles together by an elastic and adjustible fastening. In the arrange-
ment shewn and described above, buttons or studs are affixed to the moveable
piece of elastic, but it will be obvious that hooks may be affixed thereto, also
that slits or loops may be made in the moveable piece of elastic, the buttons,
studs, or hooks being affixed to the garment or article to be united together,
but this last-mentioned plan will not be found so convenient in practice.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, I desire it to be
distinctly understood that I do not claim the exclusive use of any of the separate
parts or materials above mentioned and referred to, except in so far as the
same may be employed in combination, and for the purposes of my said
Invention.
And I hereby declare that I claim as my Invention, the fastening of
garments by means of a moveable elastic fastening adapted and applied to
garments, in the manner herein-before particularly described and represented
by the illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bradshaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
GEORGE (L.s.) BRADSHAW.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid George Bradshaw came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.