AN IMPROVE- MÉNT IN WEARING APPAREL
Year: 1855

page_text: "LETTERS PATENT to Reuben Levy, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Clothier, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MÉNT IN WEARING APPAREL."
'PROVISIONAL' SPECIFICATION left by the said Reuben 'Levy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
December 1855.
I, REUBEN LEVY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing
Clothier, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN WEARING APPAREL, to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in so attaching a waistcoat to a coat that it shall form
one garment, yet having the appearance of a coat and waistcoat. In order to
effect this, I sew or otherwise affix the two side or front' pieces of the waistcoat
(which are usually attached to the back) on to the sides or facings of a coat,
in such a manner that the back and sleeves of the coat shall serve for those of
the waistcoat also. In case the coat should be required to appear as if worn
alone, I provide loops on the inside of the back of the coat, to which the
buttons of the waistcoat may be fastened, thus holding back the fronts of
the waistcoat, when it will have the appearance of an ordinary coat.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Reuben Levy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REUBEN
LEVY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Clothier,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Reuben Levy, Her especial licence that I, the said Reuben Levy, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Reuben
Levy, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
WEARING APPAREL," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Reuben Levy, 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 performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Reuben Levy, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings:-
My Invention consists in so attaching a waistcoat to a coat that it shall form
tone garment, yet having the appearance of a coat and waistcoat. In order to
effect this, I sew or otherwise affix the two sides or front pieces of the waistcoat
(which are usually attached to the back) on to the sides or facings of the coat,
in such a manner that the back and sleeves of the coat shall serve for those of
the waistcoat also. In case the coat be required to appear as if worn alone, it
is only necessary to place the vest inside of the case or facing of the coat,
thus holding back the fronts of the waistcoat, when it will present the appear-
ance of an ordinary coat.
In order that this Invention may be the better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of

page_text: about two inches to the foot, and having marked upon the different Figures
illustrated the same letters of reference upon corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 represents a front view of my improved combined coat and waistcoat,
having the sides or facings of the coat thrown open; Fig. 2 is a three-quarter
side view of the coat, shewing the waistcoat buttoned as when in wear; and
Fig. 3 is also a front view, shewing one part of the waistcoat inside the pocket, as
when the coat only is used. a, a, is the coat, to which the two side pieces b, b,
which form the waistcoat, are sewn or otherwise attached. In the interior of
the facings of the coat a, a, I form two pockets c, c, for the reception of .the
two waistcoat side pieces b, b. When it is wished that the coat should present
the appearance of being worn alone, the pieces b, b, are secured in the pockets
c, c, by means of buttons attached to thein, and buttoning into holes formed
in the coat, as shewn in Fig. 3, or the same object may be attained by fixing
the buttons on to the coat, and buttoning them into holes made in a band
attached to the inside of the side pieces or waistcoat. It will now be seen that
by this improvement in wearing apparel the coat can be worn so as to have the
appearance of a coat and waistcoat, or the waistcoat side pieces can be fastened
back into the pockets in the coat, whereupon it will assume the appearance
of an ordinary coat, and can be made in all materials and styles in both
garments.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, together with the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the novel combination of a coat with side pieces to
form a waistcoat, and so constructed as to form one garment, which may
cither have the appearance of a coat as worn alone, or of both coat and waist-
coat, as herein particularly described and fully set forth, and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Reuben Levy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
REUBEN LEVY. (L.S.).