CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE METHOD OF FASTENING DOWN TROWSERS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
HYAM, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Tailor and Clothier, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
one, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Benjamin Hyam, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Benjamin Hyam, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Benjamin Hyam, my exors, admors, or
assigns, shall 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, and Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF FASTENING DOWN TROWSERS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF
WEARING APPAREL;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said Benjamin Hyam, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High 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 fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Hyam, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements in the method of fastening down trowsers and other
articles of wearing apparel, apply principally to the fastening of the lower part
of the leg of trowsers to the boot of the wearer, in order more effectually to
secure the same, and prevent them from rising either in a sitting, riding, or
other position; and also to keep the trowsers perfectly close to the heel of the boot
without straining the trowsers in any way whatever. My Invention consists
in the employment or adaptation of a strap or band of india-rubber (vulcanized
or otherwise), or other suitable elastic material attached to the lower extremity
of the trowsers in such a manner as to draw the back part of the same tight to
the heel of the boot, the said strap or band holding against the front part of the
heel of the boot or shoe as shewn at a, a, in the accompanying sketch, instead
of under the sole, as has been hitherto the case. This strap may be permanently
attached to the trowsers, but its use can readily be dispensed with at the
pleasure of the wearer without being detached therefrom. It is evident that
this Invention may be readily applied to other articles of wearing apparel, such
as gaiters, overalls, &c., and that the configuration of the strap may be varied;
for instance, it may be a straight piece attached to the trowsers at each end,
or a ring attached at more points, but the form which I prefer as being most
effective and convenient is that of an endless band of the shape shewn detached
and full size at Fig. 3, attached to the centre of the back part of the trowsers
at the point b, only because this form allows of the strap being detached from
the heel of the boot at pleasure and collapsing into the concave form does not
prevent the back part of the trowsers from fitting closely to the heel of the boot.
Having thus described the nature and object of my Invention, I would remark
in conclusion that I claim the fastening down of trowsers and other similar
articles of wearing apparel by the employment or adaptation of a strap of india-
rubber or other suitable elastic material attached to the lower extremity thereof
in such a manner as to draw the back part of the same close to the heel of the
boot, the said strap acting against the front part of the heel of the boot or shoe
as shewn attached, and above described, instead of under the side of the boot
or shoe.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Hyam, have. hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
BENJAMIN (L.S.) HYAM.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Benjamin Hyam 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-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.