IMPROVEMENTS IN CLERICAL COSTUME
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Middlemass, of Edinburgh, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CLERICAL COSTUME."
Sealed the 28th February 1873, and dated the 17th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Middlemass
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th September 1872.
I, JAMES MIDDLEMASS, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN CLERICAL COSTUME," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to improvements in the arrangement
or construction of that class of clothing worn by members of the clerical
profession on occasions of exercising their clerical duties and generally
known as pulpit gowns, has for its object to more securely keep the
gown on the body of the wearer (so that it shall not slip off or out of
place) than obtains with the existing construction. This object is
effected by combining the pulpit gown with a coat, the two being con-

page_text: nected together at the shoulders and back or upper part; thus the
pulpit gown becomes attached to the wearer by the sleeves of the coat.
A girdle is also provided by which the waist of the wearer is encircled.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Middlemass in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MIDDLEMASS, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her:
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two,
in the 36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Middlemass,. Her
special license that I, the said James Middlemass, my executors, 1
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Middle-
mass, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain a
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CLERICAL COSTUME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Middlemass, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Middlemass, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to

page_text: My said Invention, which relates to improvements in the arrangement
or construction of that class of clothing worn by members of the clerical
profession on occasions of exercising their clerical duties and generally
known as pulpit gowns, has for its object to more securely keep the
gown on the body of the wearer, so that it shall not slip off or out of
place than obtains with the existing construction. This object is
effected under one arrangement by combining the pulpit gown with a
coat or cassock, the two being connected together at the shoulders and
back or upper part; and thus the pulpit gown becomes attached to the
wearer by the sleeves of the coat or cassock.
And in order that this and other systems or modes under which my
said Invention may be carried out in practice may be properly under-
stood, I have hereunto appended an explanatory Sheet of Drawings on
which Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the mode of attaching the pulpit gown
to the coat or cassock.
As shewn by the dotted line at a, Figure 1, the gown 6 is stitched or
sewn to the front part of the shoulders of the cassock or coat c at or
about the position at which the sleeves of the cassock or coat are joined
to the body. From the front part of the shoulders the sewing is con-
tinued over the shoulders and across the back parts of the gown 6 and
cassock c, as shewn by the dotted lines at d, Figure 2, by which means
the gown b is attached to the cassock or coat c, and whilst being worn
is secured to the wearer by the sleeves of the cassock or coat. A girdle e
is also provided by which the waist of the wearer is encircled, as shown
at Figure 1, the girdle being retained in position by tying, clasping, or
buckling it round the wearer.
Under another mode of constructing pulpit gowns the coat or cassock
and the gown are made separate, and each is provided with sleeves, the
gown having double sleeves, namely, an inner sleeve to fit the wearer
and by which the gown is kept in place on the wearer, and an outer
sleeve of the required form corresponding to the design of the gown.
This mode of constructing pulpit gowns is illustrated at Figure 3 of the
appended Drawings, at which a represents the inner sleeves constructed
to fit the wearer, the outer sleeves corresponding to the deesign of the
gown being indicated by the dotted lines b.
Under the arrangement last described the cassock and gown may or
may not be connected or united at the time of being worn by a button

page_text: JAMES MIDDLEMASS. (L.S.)