A NEW OR IMPROVED DRESS FASTENING, WHICH SAID FASTENING MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO THE FASTENING OF BRACES, BELTS, AND OTHER BANDS, AND TO OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Ashwin at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th August
1863.
I, THOMAS ASHWIN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Accountant
Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED DRESS FASTENING, WHICH SAID FASTENING MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO THE
FASTENING OF BRACES, BELTS, AND OTHER BANDS, AND TO OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," to
be as follows :—
My said Invention consists of a fastening for fastening dresses, coats,
cloaks, braces, belts, bands, and other articles of dress, and for other purposes
to which the said fastening is applicable, constructed essentially in the manner
herein-after explained.
I will describe my Invention as constructed for fastening dresses. One
part of the fastening consists of an elongated tapering loop, constituting the
eye of the fastening. The ends of the said loop are provided with ears or
openings, by which it is sewn or fastened to one part of the article of dress to
be fastened. The other part or hook of the fastening consists of a circular or
nearly circular body, terminating in a shank or nearly flat piece. The end of
the said shank is provided with cars or openings, by which this part of the
fastening is sewn to the other part of the dress to be fastened. The said
shank at or near its junction with the body is raised out of the plane of the
said shank into a nearly semicircular or arched form underneath, which arched
part the loop or eye part of the fastening engages when the two parts aru
connected together, in the manner herein-after explained. In connecting the

page_text: two parts of the fastening together the loop or eye is turned aside, or at right
angles to the plane of the hook part, so as to present the open portion of the
loop to the edge of the body of the said hook part. The end of the loop can
now be engaged with the arched part in the shank of the hook, and the said
loop brought across and made to bear upon the upper side of the body of the
hook part, the plane of the said loop being parallel with that of the said body.
The two parts of the fastening and the parts of the dress to which they are
respectively connected are thus secured together, the parts of the fastening
remaining engaged together so long as they are situated in the positions
described. To disconnect the two parts of the fastening from one another,
the eye or loop is turned into a plane nearly at right angles to the hook, and
brought over the edge of the body of the said hook, when the end of the said
loop is withdrawn from the arched part in the shank, and the two parts
disconnected. Both parts of the fastening are nearly flat, and are not injured
by the pressure of mangling or ironing.
In applying my Invention to braces, I connect the hook part of the fastening
to the band of the brace by a loop, or by a buckle at its end, and I secure tho
ends of the brace to a loop at the end of the eye part of the fastening.
In applying my Invention to belts, garters, and other bands, I connect the
two parts of the fastening respectively by loops or buckles to the ends of 'the
belt, garter, or band to be fastened together.
My Invention may be made of sheet metal, or of flat, or round, or
ornamental wire, or of other rigid material, and of a strength and sizo suited
to the purposo to which it is to be applied.