IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRESS SHIRTS AND DRESSES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Moore, of, Tewkesbury, in the County of
Gloucester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
DRESS SHIRTS AND DRESSES."
Sealed the 24th October 1862, and dated the 30th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Moore at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
April 1862.
I, EDWARD MOORE, of Tewkesbury, in the County of Gloucester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF DRESS SHIRTS AND DRESSES," to be as follows:-
The mode of their manufacture, namely:-To make them entirely on a
frame after the original plan of the stocking frame after the manner of hosiery,
so that they shall possess the qualities and advantages of that manufacture,
especially its elasticity, in every direction of the fabric, and its consequent
durability. Instead of cutting out of the piece of material, as flannel, silk,
linen, or other material made on looms, in the ordinary way, I propose weaving
the article required on a frame, after the original plan of the stocking frame,
in parts, so that when the various parts are seamed or sewn together it shall
be of proper form or shape and a certain fit. In addition to the novel appear-
ance of dress shirts and dresses so manufactured the special advantage of this
over any other mode of manufacture is its adaptation to the general and.
particular form of the body, producing naturally a good fit, while its elasticity

page_text: protects it from strain, causing it to yield to every action of the body instead of
wearing or tearing from the closeness of its fit. These important and valuable
results are produced by this novel mode of manufacture, being an immense
advantage over dress shirts and dresses made from material cut out of the
piece.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Moore in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th October 1862. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL. COME, I, EDWARD
MOORE, of Tewkesbury, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Moore, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Moore,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Moore, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF DRESS SHIRTS AND DRESSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Moore, 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 imme-
diately after. the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Moore, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
..My said Invention consists in the manufacture and construction of dress
shirts and dresses of a description altogether novel and admitting of a great
variety of shape and pattern. Heretofore dress shirts and dresses have been
made by cutting out pieces of the material intended to be used from patterns

page_text: according to the shape required, the same being then sewn together with a
needle and thread.
The materials thus employed have always been woven in
the ordinary way in looms, that is to say, with a weft and woof, and in the
process of cutting out the pieces, as before mentioned, considerable portions
thereof are frequently wasted. Instead of using materials of the ordinary
textile nature, consisting of weft and woof, I make or weave the dress shirts
and dresses manufactured in accordance with my Invention entirely with a
continuous thread in stocking frames by the process known as framework
knitting, so that they shall possess the qualities and advantages of that
manufacture, especially its elasticity, in every direction of the fabric, and its
consequent durability. The articles are woven in the frame in parts from a
cut pattern, such parts being combined in the frame by means of the process
known to framework knitters as "hanging on or " pricking on," and the
articles being then completed by weaving on in the manner ordinarily prac-
tised in the manufacture of articles; of hosiery. Those parts which are com-
monly united by means of selvedges seamed together may be so connected, or
the articles may be made without seam by the process of circular weaving.
The method of manufacture thus employed admits of the articles being
constructed of any desired form or shape and so as to ensure a close and
perfect fit, according to the requirements of each particular case, while the
elasticity of the fabric protects it from strain and causes it to yield to every
motion of the body instead of wearing unequally. An additional and important
feature connected with my Invention is, that by the process of manufacture
employed a great variety of ornamentation can be imparted to the articles
thus made, as, for instance, the fronts of dress shirts can be made of a highly
ornamental character, as can various parts of dresses made by the same
process. I may also mention that the fronts or other parts of the dress shirts
or dresses so made as aforesaid may, be removed and replaced with new parts
without disturbing or injuring the main body of the articles by the methods
invented by Henry Owen, and for which Letters Patent were granted to him
bearing date respectively the Twenty-fourth day of January One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine and the Twenty-third day of January One thou-
sand eight hundred and sixty-two, and numbered respectively Two hundred and
twenty-two and One hundred and seventy-five.
IIaving thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, I would wish it to be distinctly
understood that I do not claim as my Invention any particular machinery
employed in the manufacture of the articles berein-before mentioned, neither
do I confine myself in the manufacture thereof to the use of any particular

page_text: kind or construction of frame, or the employment of any particular kind of
material, inasmuch as the articles before mentioned may be constructed of
silk, linen, cotton, worsted, or other fibrous materials adapted for such
purposes, but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as
my Invention is the manufacture and construction of dress shirts and dresses,
in manner herein-before substantially described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Moore, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
EDWARD MOORE. (L.S.)
Witness,
HENRY BROWETT.