IMPROVE- MENTS IN STAYS OR CORSETS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rebecca Joseph, of Westminster Road, in the
County of Surrey, Corset Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STAYS OR CORSETS."
Sealed, the 14th February 1868, and dated the 16th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rebecca Joseph at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her 'Petition, on 'the
16th August 1867.
1, REBECCA JOSEPH, of Westminster Road, in the County of Surrey,
Corset. Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN STAYS. OR CORSETS," to be as follows:-
Stays or corsets have hitherto been made to conform to the shape of the
hip and breast by the insertion of gores, at the upper and lower parts of the
stay.
According to my improvements I make, each half of the stay in two pieces
in the depth, the lower piece being about half the depth of the upper one, and
instead of cutting the material straight as usual I give it a curved form or
outline, the lower part being cut much wider than the top and deeper. also at
the ends than in the centre of the curve. Two of these curved pieces are

page_text: employed, one for each lower half of the stay, and are sewn to the upper part,
the lower edge of which is cut to the curve of the piece to be attached thereto.
In this manner the lower part of the stay will have sufficient fulness to readily
adapt itself to the form of the hip without the aid of gores. I further produce
the desired fulness in the stay bosom by the application (in lieu of gores) of a
separate piece to each of the stay fronts of the same depth as the upper part
before described. This separate piece is also cut of curved outline on the
inside edge, and wider at top than at bottom, by which means the requisite
fulness' is obtained in the stay bosom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rebecca Joseph in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REBECCA
JOSEPH, of Westminster Road, in the County of Surrey, Corset Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
of Her
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Rebecca Joseph, Her special licence that I, the said Rebecca
Joseph, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Rebecca Joseph, my executors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS OR CORSETS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Rebecca Joseph, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain 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 Rebecca Joseph, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: sewn together in the usual way, and by reason of their curved form described
the necessary. fulness in the stay bosom is readily obtained without the aid of
gores as hitherto..
Figure 4 shows a front, view of one-half of a stay constructed in three
parts a, c, e, of the form described. The several parts are also furnished with
the necessary stiffenings as usual.
..In some cases I insert a 'band between the parts a, c, to which they are
attached by sewing for the purpose of giving greater freedom and elasticity at
the waist of the stay; in this case the stiffenings are separately inserted in
the two parts a, c, and omitted in the band which I have represented in red
lines at 9,, 9, Figure 4. ;
:
Having described the nature of my Invention; and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in, part recited Letters Patent is, constructing stays or corsets in
the manner herein before described and as represented in the Drawings
annexed for the purpose of obtaining the necessary fulness at the bosom and
hip without the aid of gores.
In witness whereof, I, 'the 'said Rebecca Joseph, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
REDECA JOSEPH. (L.S.)