Improvements in Riding-habits.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1392
Complete Specification Left, 9th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 1st Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Riding-habits.
We, FREDERICK SCHAFER, of 192, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Cutter, and CHARLES JAMES SWEARS and WILLIAM JAMES SWEARS, trading
as Swears and Wells, also of 192, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in riding-habits and is designed to provide:
a habit or skirt which in case of the wearer being unseated or thrown from a horse
will not be liable to be caught in or upon any part of the saddle or harness so as
to suspend the rider in a dangerous position, or, if so caught will be automatically
disengaged from the wearer.
:
Riding habits or skirts as ordinarily made have the disadvantage that, in case,
the wearer is thrown or from any cause accidentally unseated, the said habit or
skirt is very likely to become firmly held by the weight of the rider upon one of.
the ponimels of the saddle and in this or in some other manner to hold the rider in,
a very dangerous position.
Our invention comprises various features of improvement in riding-habits herein-
after mentioned.
Oue feature of our said invention consists in providing a cord of any suitable.
material one end of which cord is firmly secured to the pommel knee or piece.of
the riding-habit, and which cord is guided, in suitable guide-pieces or rings or in a.
channel or tunnel to the waist top of the under side of the habit or skirt where it
is held and retained by means of a spring hook fastened in a socket secured on the
under side of the habit or skirt. To obviate any liability to injury of the wearer
we prefer to protect or cover the hook by means of a metal plate. The said cord,,
in case the rider is thrown or falls backward, assists to lift or raise the pommel
knee or piece of the riding habit or skirt from the pommels of the saddle. The
spring hook above referred to we so arrange that it will become disengaged from
the socket if a downward pull is exerted upon it, and will thus permit the automatic
release or disengagement of the habit or skirt from the wearer.
Another feature of our said invention consists in making our improved riding-
habit with an open overlapped portion instead of the usual side seam.
We prefer
to lap the sides in the following manner vis:-To the outside of the under side of
the riding habit or skirt we attach a strip of leather or other suitable material,
which strip extends from the waist to the bottom of the skirt and is kept near to
the edge of the material. In this strip we form sockets or holes to receive the
buttons hereinafter referred to. On the inside, of the top side, of the skirt we
attach a similar strip of leather or other suitable material and to this strip we
attach buttons to fasten the habit or skirt around the wearer. The sockets and the
buttons herein before mentioned we so arrange that, in case the weight of the rider
should be thrown upon the babit or skirt, the buttons will be easily withdrawn
from the sockets and the rider will thus be automatically released from the skirt.
We sometimes provide an elastic or other cord to be passed or laced around all the
buttons in order to keep the two portions of the habit or skirt more closely together
but this lace or cord should not be strong enough to resist the opening of the habit
or skirt in case the weight of the rider is put upon it.
We prefer to cut or form the placket hole in our improved riding habit or skirt
in the knee cut thereof, to give the garment a better appearance, and, as by our
improved arrangement for fastening the skirt at the place where the side seam
usually occurs, no fastenings can be seen we produce a riding habit or skirt of

page_text: elegant appearance and at the same time absolutely safe and free from the objections
hitherto existing.
Dated this 9th day of March 1892
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Riding-habits.
We,
FREDERICK SCHAFER, of 192, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Cutter, and CHARLES JAMES SWEARS, and WILLIAM JAMES SWEARS, trading
as Swears and Wells, also of 192, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturers, 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 :-
Our invention relates to riding-habits and is designed to provide improved means
whereby, in case of the wearer being unseated or thrown from a horse, and the
habit-skirt being caught upon the pommels of the saddle in such a manner as to
suspend the wearer in a dangerous position, the said skirt will be automatically
disengaged from the wearer.
For this purpose, we provide a cord of any suitable material, one end of which
cord is firmly secured to the pommel knee or piece of the riding-habit, and which
cord is guided in suitable guide-pieces or rings, or in a channel or tunnel in the
underside of the habit-skirt, to the waist-top, where it is attached to a fastening
device comprising spring hooks which are pivoted in a suitable socket secured to
one end of the waistband or top of the habit-skirt, and which engage with another
hook attached to the other end of the waistband or top of the skirt. The skirt,
instead of being made with a seam, extending from the top thereof downward, is
left open, and the two edges are united by spring fastenings which will be readily.
disengaged should the weight of the rider come upon them. The hooks of our
improved fastening device are so arranged that, in case the rider is thrown or falls
backward, the spring hooks will be disengaged from the other hook by the pull
exerted upon the cord, thus permitting the automatic release or disengagement of
the habit-skirt from the wearer.
We sometimes use two cords attached to the skirt one at each knee-piece thereof
and so arranged in combination with our improved fastener that the top of the
skirt will be unfastened by a pull on either of the said cords.
In tlie accompanying drawing we have shown how our said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is a view showing the upper side of the improved habit-skirt.
Figure 2 is a view of the under side thereof.
Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1, showing another modification of our said
invention.
•
Figure 4 is a front elevation of one form of the improved fastener.
Figure 5 is a front elevation of another form or modification of the said fastener,
and
Figure 6 is a similar view, the front or outer plate of the socket being removed.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.
a is the habit-skirt, which is open from d to e, one of the adjacent edges being
made to overlap the other, and the two edges being secured together by any
suitable fastenings which will yield should the habit hang on the pommels c of the
saddle, and the waistband be unfastened as hereinafter described.
The ends of the waistband at d are, in the skirt shown in Figures 1 and 2, secured
by means of the fastener illustrated in Figure 4. This fastener comprises a socket f
which is secured to one end of the waist-band, and in which are pivoted at g' hooks g

page_text: 9
acted upon by springs h. The said fastener also comprises a shouldered piece or
double hook which is secured to the other end of the waist-band, and is adapted
to be inserted in the socket and to engage with the hooks g therein, as shown in
Figure 4. Between the said hooks is arranged a sliding piece k having inclined
shoulders which bear against corresponding inclined surfaces on the hooks
that, when the said sliding-piece is pulled outward, it will turn the hooks about
their pivots and thus disengage them from the double hook j. To the outer
extremity of this sliding piece is attached one end of a cord m, the other end of
which is attached at m' to the underside of the skirt.
9, So
By these ineans, should the rider. fall backward and the skirt be caught by the
pommels of the saddle, the waist-band will be automatically unfastened, and the
weight of the rider will then force open the skirt from d to e, so that the rider will
fall out of the skirt, leaving the latter hanging upon the pommels. The waist-band
will not, however, become unfastened without the pulling outward of the sliding
piece k, that is to say, the hook cannot be disengaged from the hooks by the
simple pulling of the two ends or parts of the waist-band in opposite directions.
For securing together the edges of the skirt from d to e, we find it advantageous
to use sockets attached to a strip of leather or similar material along one edge of
the skirt and adapted to receive spring buttons attached to a similar strip of leather
or the like along the other edge of the skirt. These sockets and buttons are so
arranged that, in case the weight of the rider should be thrown. upon the habit or
skirt, the buttons will be easily withdrawn from the sockets and the rider will thus
be automatically released from the skirt. We sometimes provide an elastic or
other cord to be passed or laced around all the buttons in order to keep the two
portions of the habit or skirt more closely together, but this lace or cord should
not be strong enough to resist the opening of the habit or skirt in case the weight
of the rider is put upon it.
In the modification of our invention illustrated in Figures 3, 5 and 6, we provide
for the automatic unfastening of the waist-band when the rider falls backward and
to the left hand side of the horse, and also when the rider falls forward and to the
right hand side of the horse. For this purpose we make the waist-band fastening
with a sliding piece and cord m as above described, and also with a piece or
disc n, Figure 5, which is inserted in the socket between the spring hooks g,
before the hook jis introduced between the same. This piece n is attached to one
end of a cord p, the other end of which is attached at p to the upper side of the
skirt near the left knee. When this cord is pulled in the direction indicated by
the arrow in Figure 5, the piece n, acting upon curved or inclined surfaces y² on
the hooks g, disengages these hooks from the hook j and thus permits the rider to
fall from the skirt should the latter catch on the pommels of the saddle.
The said cords m and p are preferably passed through holes in the skirt and
through spaces left between the material of the skirt and the lining of the same.
We find it advantageous to cut or form the placket-hole in our improved riding
habit or skirt in the knee-cut thereof, to give the garment a better appearance,
and, as by our improved arrangement for fastening the skirt at the place where the
side seam usually occurs, no fastenings can be seen, we produce a riding habit or
skirt of elegant appearance and at the same time absolutely safe and free from the
objections hitherto existing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
First. A habit-skirt provided with a fastener at the top thereof connected with
a cord attached to the under side of the skirt near the pommel-knee, and so con-
structed that, should the wearer be thrown or unseated from a horse, the automatic
unfastening of the top of the skirt will be effected by the pull thus applied to the
said cord, substantially as, and for the purpose, above specified.
Second. The modification of our invention wherein we provide for the automatic

page_text: unfastening of the top of the skirt by means of either of two cords, substantially as,
and for the purposes, above specified.
Third. The improved fastener constructed substantially as described with
reference to Figure 4 or to Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings and operating as, and
for the purposes, above specified.
F. SCHAFER.
CHARLES J. SWEARS.
W. J. SWEARS.
D. Young & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.