Improvements in Means for Closing Ladies' Dresses.
Year: 1899

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Closing Ladies' Dresses.
I, ADOLF VORWERK, of No. 5/9, Kohlgartenstrasse, Barmen, Rhenish Prussia,
Germany, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to a new article of manufacture and it has for its object
to enable ladies to fit out their dresses with the mechanical closing device which
is supplied to them in a state fit for attaching to a dress, so that all they have
to do, is to fasten the parts making together the closing device or the dress
fastener to the respective parts of the dress.
The new article of manufacture consists of two stripes or ribbons each provided
with certain corresponding parts of a button lock such as they are known for
fastening gloves, as fixtures, other parts are only loosely attached to said stripes
so that they can be fixed thereto together with the stuff of the dress itself thereby
serving at the same time as a means for fixing the fastener to the dress and for
completing the button as will be more clearly understood and explained by the
annexed drawing and the description following hereafter.
Figure 1 of the drawing shows one of the stripes with its accessories fixed
thereto permanently,
Figure 2 shows the other stripe also with its fixtures,
Figure 3 shows in detail in an enlarged scale the button fixture of Fig. 1,
Figure 4 shows also in detail in an enlarged scale the corresponding button
fixture of Fig. 2,
Figure 5 is the complementary part fixed together with the dress to the stripe
Fig. 1, thereby connecting those two parts permanently together,
Figure 6 is the complementary part fixed together with the dress to the strip
Fig. 2, thereby connecting also these two parts permanently together,
Figure is a representation of the article as it is brought out for sale,
Figure 8 shows the article as fitted to a dress.
Before giving a description of the article forming the subject of the patent
application I will describe its accessories, which in themselves are not new and
do not form part of the patent, and which might be exchanged for equivalents
answering the same purpose and I give a description of the same for the better
understanding of the invention itself.
The fixture B of stripe A forms the upper part of a coupling button and
consists of an upper part or cap 1, having a circular hole in the center of a spring
iece 2 fixed thereto by the flange or bottom ring 3 all three are jointed together
and fixed at the same time to the ribbon by pressing them together in a suitable
mall punching machine.
The fixture B¹ of the stripe A¹ forms the lower part of said coupling button
nd consists of a stud 4 having a conical head and a broad flange 5 near its foot,
he lower part of the stud is passed through the stuff of the ribbon Al and fund

page_text: fixed 'thereto by the disc 6 which is rivetted to the foot of the stud with the stuff
of the ribbon between the flange 5 and the disc 6 as shown in the drawing.
The fixtures B and B₁ however are not complete in the state shown and described
so far, in order to complete them, so that they can serve as fastening devices by
means, of which both stripes A and A or rather the corresponding parts of a
dress can be fastened and held together in a manner easily to be closed and
readily to be undone, the parts, shown in Figs. 5 and 6 must be connected thereto
and by means of these the stripes A and A¹ at the same time are connected
permanently with the respective parts of the dress. These parts C and C¹ are
therefore loosely attached to both ribbons A and A¹ holding them at the same
time together temporarily in a manner convenient for sale.
The part C which together with the part B forms the upper part of the spring
button consists of a bottom plate 7 having a central hole and flanged at its outer
circumference to the hat shaped piece S which at its lower side is rounded off
or chamfered so that a little circular spring 9 can be placed therein, the inner
diameter of which is a little smaller than the diameter in the hole of plate 7,
at the upper side a ring cap 10 is put upon the piece 8 so as to form a sharp edged
shoulder by which it is held together in an unseparable manner with the spring
piece 2 of the fixture B when put together for permanent rest with this piece B
as shown in the drawing (Fig. 8) so that the stuff of the dress will be clenched
between the bottom ring of the part B and the bottom plate 7 of the part C.
The part C finally consists of a hat shaped piece 11 the upper part of which
is of somewhat bulbous form, into this piece is fixed the spring piece 12 having
a small central hole and held together with piece 11 by flanging the edge of the
latter over the edge of piece 12 as shown in the drawing.
The pieces B and C are joined together, at the same time clenching the stuff
of the dress between the broad flange of piece 11 of part C¹ and the disc 6 of
part B, by pushing the stud 4 into the central spring hole of piece 12. The use
of the dress-fasteners described is as follows:
The fixtures B are fastened at certain equal distances, say 2 or 3 inches, to
the stripes A and the fixtures B' at the same distance to the stripes A', the
stripes A are then placed upon the garment where they are to be fixed afterwards
and through the holes in the pieces B pencil or chalk marks are made upon the
garments and small holes punched or cut into the stuff at those places, so that
these holes coincide exactly in place with the fixtures B and B¹, by means of
the pieces C and C₁ the ribbons A and A¹ are then fixed to the respective parts
of the garment and the overstanding part of the stuff is then folded over the
outer edge of the ribbons so as to enclose them entirely and hemmed as indicated
by Fig. 8. The upper part of the dress then does not show anything of the
fastening device except the small flange part with the hole in it at the lower
side and the lower part only shows the bulbous head and the upper part of the
-piece C¹, but when both are closed or joined together the dress only shows its
plain outside, nothing of the fastening device being visible.
The new closing device has the great advantage that it can be fixed to a dress
without requiring any special instrument, any dress maker can use it and it is
always ready for being fixed, when put on a dress it is absolutely invisible, no
differently coloured part is seen on the outside, the stuff of the dress covering
the fastening parts completely.
The greatest advantage of the new dressfastener however consists in the easy
.manner, in which it can be closed and opened, in the first case the respective parts
are simply pressed one upon or rather into the other and for undoing or opening
the same it requires only pulling the upper part off from the lower and a dress can
be opened in a moment.
I beg to add that the parts B, B and C, C₁ may be exchanged for similar
buttons of the same class without altering anything of the principle of my inven-
tion, these buttons serving only as a means for carrying out my idea and my new
article, of manufacture.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
As a new article of manufacture, the combination of ribbons or bands A and A¹.
the first one having the top parts B of coupling buttons fixed thereto firmly
from distance to distance, the other one (A¹) being provided with the corre-
sponding lower parts (1) of the coupling buttons at the same distances as the
parts B, fastening parts C and C₁ of the coupling buttons, by means of which
the stripes A and A can be fixed to the stuff of the dress being connected loosely
to the stripes A and A¹ holding them temporarily together, so that they can be
readily combined with the parts B and B respectively, so as to complete each
button part and at the same time fix the stripes A and A¹ inseparably to the
garment, the whole as described and illustrated and for the purpose set forth.
Barmen the 24th day of Anril 1800
ADOLF VORWERK.
Per Karl J. Mayer,
Agent.