Improved Device for Exhibiting and Setting-off Dress Materials.
Year: 1894

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by THE CELLULOID COMPANY, of Ferry Street,
Newark, in the State of New Jersey, U.S.A., Manufacturers of Celluloid.]
Improved Device for Exhibiting and Setting-off Dress Materials.
I, HENRY HARINGTON LEIGH, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., Fel. Ch. Inst. P.A.,
F.I. Inst., practising as Phillips and Leigh at No. 22 Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the Administrative County of London, Engineers and Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to a device adapted to shew to the eye how a given dress
material will look when it is made up and worn.
In carrying it into effect I provide a portable sheet on which is marked an
outline of the human figure or of some portion of it, e.g., the half length or the
legs. The outline is finished as far as the head, neck, hands and feet are concerned,
preferably in colour, and all the sheet outside the said outline is opaque while all
the surface within the outline concerned by the dress material is transparent, and
lightly lined and shaded to indicate buttons, pockets and the like and show up
contour.
The device is used by laying it on the material. The combination of as much
of the latter as is visible through the transparent portion, with the light lines and
shading as well as with the finished portions referred to, produces the appearance
of a human figure or portion thereof clothed in the material in question.
material for the sheet is, preferably, celluloid.
Dated this 9th day of November 1894.
The
HENRY H. LEIGH.
C.P.A.
Improved Device for Exhibiting and Setting-off Dress Materials.
I, HENRY HARINGTON LEIGH, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.. Fel. Ch. Inst. P.A.,
F.I. Inst., practising as Phillips and Leigh at No. 22 Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the Administrative County of London, Engineers and Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates to a device adapted to shew to the eye how a given dress
material will look when it is made up and worn.
In carrying it into effect I provide a portable sheet on which is marked an
outline of the human figure or of some portion of it, e.g., the half length or the
legs. The outline is finished as far as the head, neck, hands and feet are concerned,
preferably in colour, and all the sheet outside the said outline is opaque while all
the surface within the outline concerned by the dress material is transparent, and
lightly lined and shaded to indicate buttons, pockets and the like and to show up
contour.
The device is used by laying it on the material.
The combination of as much

page_text: of the latter as is visible through the transparent portion, with the light lines and
shading, as well as with the finished portions referred to, produces the appearance
of a human figure, or portion thereof, clothed in the material in question.
The accompanying figures illustrate the invention as made up to shew to a
customer how a certain cloth would look when made up into a suit or, in other
words, how a suit made from the said cloth, would look on him--the customer.
Figure 1. is a front view of my improved device.
Figure 2. is a back view of the same.
66
The device consists fundamentally of a sheet of a suitable size for the purpose.
The particular purpose for which the device illustrated was made was to shew or
set off a man's suit of clothes. The sheet in question is therefore, of the proper
size to carry a full length representation of a man. Whether a hat, walking stick
or umbrella should be included or not, would depend, more or less, upon whether
the suit under consideration, was intended for indoor
or outdoor wear. It is
obvious that the representation itself need not be full length'; it suffices if it be
long enough to shew up the details of the three garments of the suit, that is the
edges, pockets, facings, button holes and the more usual creases as well as the
visible portions in shadow. This limit brings the sheet within the limit of
portability in respect of its size, the term
portability" being understood as
including easy manipulation on the part of the salesman in the way of laying
the device down on a roll of cloth quickly transferring it to another roll,
holding it up against a piece hanging down from the top of a pile, the edge
of a counter and the like. I will now pass on to the question of material for
the said sheet. The conditions under which the device will be used, bars the
use of a fragile or brittle material, such as glass, but require one possessing
relative rigidity-sufficient to make it the device-lay out flat without
turning up at the corners. It the material-must be naturally transparent or
at any rate capable of being made transparent. Celluloid meets all the require-
ments of my invention, and for that reason the improved device now under
Specification is, preferably, made from that material, but the invention does not
limit me in this respect, inasmuch as I may make use of any material which
may be suitable for the purpose of the invention.
a
The sheet above mentioned as the fundamental portion, or the foundation, of
the invention, is divided by the outline a of the man's figure clothed as far
only as the suit in question-coat, vest and trousers is capable of clothing it
into two portions. One of these portions, that which extends from the said
outline a to the edge of the sheet, is opaque. This opacity is essential to
the invention; and that is the reason why the opaque portion is represented as
black. Its function is to cover up the material of the cloth undergoing
exhibition and inspection, for an area outside the said outline a, sufficiently
extensive in all directions to prevent the cloth outside the outline, obtruding
itself into the customer's field of view. I prefer, however, that the opacity
shall be secured without dullness of colour, and for that reason I cover the
sheet outside the said outline with gold colour, laying this colour on the back
of the sheet.
It has already been explained that my invention requires that the portion c
of the sheet, that is as much of the latter as is within the outline a, shall be
transparent.
If. celluloid is the material of the sheet, then the necessary trans-
parency is already there. If, on the other hand, the material of the sheet is
opaque normally such within portion c must be made transparent, or of trans-
parent material, care being taken when the opaque portion and the transparent
portions are of distinct materials, that they are evenly and well joined along
the said outline a.
d, d are the lines and shadings which are
to distinguish and to shew up the above
garments.
The sheet finished as far 15 the foregoing
added to the transparent portion c
mentioned details of the different
description takas +1
Hoodon

page_text: The
realises the present invention in its simplest form. A more perfect embodiment
of the invention is to add on the front side of the device, the boots; the hands
or hand, gloved or not, and holding something, e.g. in one of them, a cigar, and
in the other, a walking stick; the neck with collar, scarf and shirt front, and,
lastly, the face and head with or without a hat or other head covering.
presence of these addenda (as they are hereinafter termed) adds verisimilitude
actuality, life, to the presentment furnished by the use of the device on the
cloth, in question. Such addenda are accordingly finished in natural colour
and this latter must obviously be opaque, for the customer won't want to see,
nor his tailor to shew him, how the cloths on view would look on his face or
feet; excepting that when the head dress is a cloth cap, the relative part of
the device may be transparent.
In specifying my invention, have referred to a device for a three garment
male suit as the subject of illustration and specification, but it is to be
distinctly understood that the present invention includes the improved device
made and adapted to be used, as described above; for single garments, e.g., for
trousers only; or for two garments, e.g., a morning coat and vest; or for an
overcoat; and further, for either back or front of the garment, or garments or
suit; as well as for under garments, and in all cases irrespective of size of
garment or of suit, as well as of either the age or sex of the future wearer.
When the improved device is made for use in respect of a single garment,
e.g., of trousers only, only that part of it, is transparent, and the device itself
bears no more of the remaining portion of the suit or of the person, than may
be necessary to produce a lifelike presentment.
v
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inveu-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The combination with and in a portable sheet, of an opaque portion
extending outwards from a certain outline to the edge of the sheet, and a
transparent portion, the latter being as much of the sheet as included within
the said outline; as set forth.
2. The combination with the subject matter of the preceding claim, of the
herein before described addenda or of some of them, as set forth.