AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS' AND BODICES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ellis, the younger, of the City and County
of Bristol, Stay Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd November 1865.
I, JOHN ELLIS, the younger, of the City and County of Bristol, Stay
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS' AND BODICES,"
to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in securing the whalebone used in stiffening
stays and bodices in such manner as to prevent its working out at the ends.
or cutting its way through the material by wear; and with this view I
pierce the material of the stay or bodice at the ends of the stitchings in
which the whalebone is inserted, and in the piercings thus made I place
metal eyelets and close them down in such manner that the end of the
whalebone is received between the collars of the eyelet, and is thus pre-
vented from working through the stuff.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN ELLIS,
the younger, of the City and County of Bristol, Stay Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Ellis, the younger, Her special license that
I, the said John Ellis, the younger, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Ellis, the younger, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and 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 and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS AND BODICES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Ellis, the younger, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, 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 John Ellis, the younger, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in securing the whalebone used in stiffening
stays and bodices in such manner as to prevent its working out at the ends
or cutting its way through the material by wear. And with this view I
pierce the material at the ends of the stitchings in which the whalebone is
inserted, and in the piercings thus made I place metal eyelets and close
them down in such manner that the end of the whalebone is received
between the collars of the eyelet, and is thus prevented from working
through the stuff.

page_text: This will be more clearly understood by referring to the annexed Draw-
ing, representing a portion of a bodice or corset thus manufactured.
(a) shews the whalebone; (b) the eyelets inserted through the material
of the bodice below the end of the whalebone, so that the end of the
whalebone abuts against the eyelet and under its flange or collar, and is
thus prevented from working through the material of the bodice by the
action of the body in wear. Studs somewhat similar to glove studs or
other similar small metal insertions having the same provision for receiving
the ends of the whalebone may be employed in lieu of eyelets if preferred,
but I find eyelets lighter and more easily fixed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim the improvement or improve-
ments in the manufacture of stays or bodices by securing the whalebone
in such stays or bodices in manner herein-before more fully set forth and
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ellis, the younger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named John Ellis, the younger,
in the presence of
MILLER CORBET,
Solicitor,
JOHN (L.s.) ELLIS, JUN.
Kidderminster.