Improvements in Hooks and Eyes.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hooks and Eyes.
I, IRVIN PARKER DOOLITTLE, of 51, Simcoe Street, Toronto, Province of
Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, Inventor, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates generally to garment fastenings known as "hooks and
eyes," and more particularly to a hook and eye of the character shown and
described in British Letters l'atent No. 18,265, dated August 5th 1897.
In the fastening covered by this patent, the hook member comprises a pair of
laterally yielding shanks arranged side by side and provided at their front ends
with hooks which are separated at their bends to form an aperture between them,
and the eye member is provided with a locking head or enlargement connected
with the bow of the eye member by a contracted neck and adapted to be sprung
into the aperture between the hooks of the other member.
The objects of my present invention are to improve the fastening with a view
of facilitating the engagement of its parts and interlocking the same more
securely; to provide the hook member with means for tightly fastening it to the
garment, so as to prevent twisting thereof and also produce a neater joint, and to
provide the eye member with neat and simple means for reliably attaching it to
the garment.
The improvement in the hook member consists in connecting its shanks by a
loop or bail surrounding the shanks and the hooks and arranged substantially in
the same plane as the shanks. This loop forms an attachment for the hooks and
also acts as a spring or elastic connection for the shanks which permits the latter
to yield laterally. It also forms an extensive attaching base for the hooks which
prevents the same from twisting out of place and holds the fabric against the
same, causing the fabric to cover or conceal the hook and eye members and pro-
ducing a neat joint between the connected edges of the garment.
One of the improvements in the eye member consists in constructing its locking
enlargement in the form of a spear or arrow head. This wedge shaped form
facilitates the entrance of the head into the aperture between the hooks of the
hook member, and the abrupt shoulders at the wide inner end of the spear head
form stops which effectually prevent the hooks from pushing backwardly and
becoming accidentally disengaged from the locking head.
Another improvement in the eye member consists in providing the same with
two inwardly extending attaching legs or branches which are connected with the
body of the member by bends or indented portions, and in combining these legs
with a locking or attaching plate which is stitched to the rear side of the fabric
and has holes which interlock with the bends of said legs, so that the eye member
is fastened to the fabric by said plate and held against longitudinal displacement
thereon. The legs of the eye member rest against the rear side of the fabric
while the main portion or loop of the eye member is arranged on the face side of
the fabric, the legs being pointed so as to easily penetrate the fabric. The
locking plate is formed at its side edges with inwardly bent flanges which over-

page_text: lap the legs of the eye member, so as to enclose the same and form a neat finish.
The legs of the eye member are offset inwardly beyond the plane of its bow to
prevent crimping of the fabric and the bow is preferably offset outwardly a
sufficient distance to raise it above the face of the fabric, so as to permit the
hook member to be conveniently interlocked therewith without pressing against
the fabric for this purpose.
The portion of the eye member in rear of its bow is preferably contracted and
the bends of its legs are bent toward each other so as to form a rearwardly con-
verging channel or throat which guides and centres the hooks of the hook member
in the eye member in engaging the parts of the fastening. By diverging these
bends toward the bow of the eye member, they also hold the fabric against the
pointed legs and resist any tendency of the fabric to approach the inner side of
the raised bow, thereby keeping the fabric away from the bow and permitting
the hook member to be conveniently engaged therewith.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
Csin and yes.
I, IRVIN PARKER DOOLITTLE, of 51, Simcoe Street, Toronto, Province of
Ontario, Dominion of Canada, Inventor, 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:-
60 hooks and
This invention relates generally to garment fastenings known as
eyes" and more particularly to a hook and eye of the kind described in prior
Letters Patent No. 18265, dated August 5, 1897. In the fastening covered by
this patent, the hook member comprises a pair of laterally yielding shanks
arranged side by side and provided at their front ends with hooks which are
separated at their bends to form an aperture between them, and the eye member
is provided with a locking head or enlargement connected with the bow of the eye
member by a contracted neck and adapted to be sprung into the aperture between
the hooks of the other member.
more
The objects of my present invention are to improve the fastening, with a view
to facilitating the engagement of its parts and interlocking the same
securely to provide the hook with means for tightly fastening it to the garment,
so as to prevent twisting thereof, and also to produce a neater joint, and further
to provide the eye member with neat and simple means for reliably attaching it
to the garment.
In the accompanying drawing:-
Figure 1 is a detached front view of the fastening, showing the parts inter-
locked. Figure 2 is a fragmentary or inner view of the meeting portions of a
garment provided with the fastening, showing the parts disengaged. Figure 3
is a horizontal section of the garment taken through the fastening and showing
the parts interlocked. Figure 4 is a vertical section in line 4-4, Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a detached front view of the eye member of the fastening. Figure 6
is a detached plan or edge view of the interlocked parts of the fastening, showing.
the parts turned at an angle to each other for separating the same. Figure 7
is a detached front view of the hook and eye members, showing modified con-
structions of their attaching. devices.
Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

page_text: The hook member of the fastening is preferably bent up of a single piece of wire
and consists of a pair of elastic hooks a arranged side by side and spread apart or
separated at their bends to form a space or aperture a¹ which receives the locking
head of the eye member as in the prior patent herein before referred to, the prin-
cipal difference being that in the present construction the hooks and their shanks
are single whereas in the construction described in said prior patent they are
double. The hooks are enclosed by a loop or bail a² which is arranged substan-
tially in the same plane as the shanks of the hooks and which forms an attachment
for the hooks and also acts as a spring or elastic connection for the
same. This loop is connected with the shanks of the hooks by bends a³
forming two rear attaching eyelets which are stitched to the garment,
the portion of the loop which extends beyond the hooks being also stitched to the
fabric, whereby the hook member is reliably secured to the fabric. The loop a³
stiffens the hooks a and prevents the same from twisting out of place, and it also
forms an extensive attaching base for the hooks, which holds the fabric against
the same and causes the fabric to cover or conceal the hook and the eye members,
thus producing a neat joint between the connected edges of the garment.
b is the bow or main portion of the eye member and b¹ its side members or
branches. The bow b is provided midway between said side members with an
inwardly extending loop 62 forming a locking head which interlocks with the
duplex hook a of the other member of the fastening, as in the hook and eye
described in the prior Patent hereinbefore referred to. This locking head has
the form of a spear or arrow head and is provided at its widened inner end with
abrupt shoulders b forming stops which effectually prevent the hooks of the hook
member from pushing backwardly and becoming disengaged from the locking
head. The pointed or tapering end of the spear head 62 facilitates the entrance
of the head into the aperture between the hooks a.
The eye member may be formed with the usual eyelets for stitching it to the
garment, as shown in said prior patent but its side members are preferably
extended rearwardly in the form of straight legs, prongs or branches 63 which
penetrate the fabric and are secured against its inner side by a locking plate C,
as shown in Figure 2. These legs are pointed so as to easily penetrate the fabric
and are connected with the bow of the eye member by bends or indented
portions which extend inwardly beyond the plane of the legs, these several
parts being preferably bent from a single piece of wire. The locking plate C
covers the legs and is provided near its front end with a pair of holes c through
which the legs pass and which engage with the bends thereof, these bends forming
shoulders which lock the eye member against longitudinal displacement on the
locking plate when the latter is parallel with the legs. The plate is provided
with additional holes c whereby it is stitched to the inner side of the fabric
thereby fastening the plate and the eye member to the fabric. In the construction
shown in the drawings, the plate has a single stitching hole at its front end between
the bends of the eye member, whereby the fabric is held away from the bow,
and three such holes near its rear end, but these holes may be differently disposed,
if desired. The side edges of the locking plate are bent toward the fabric to form
flanges which overlap the legs of the eye member, so as to enclose the same
and form a neat finish, and the rear end of the plate extends to or beyond the
pointed ends of the legs to protect the fingers of the wearer from injury. The
legs of the eye member are offset inwardly beyond the plane of its bow to prevent
crimping of the fabric, and the bow is preferably offset outwardly sufficiently to
raise it above the face of the fabric, as shown in Figure 3, so as to permit the
hook member to be conveniently interlocked therewith without pressing against
the fabric for this purpose. The portion of the eye member in rear of its bow or
front portion is preferably contracted, and the bends or indented portions thereof
are bent toward each other, so as to form a rearwardly converging channel or
throat in rear of the locking head 62, as shown in Figure 5. In engaging the

page_text: members of the fastening, this converging throat acts as a guide which centers
the hooks of the hook member in the eye member and directs the same toward the
locking head of the eye member, thereby facilitating the engagement of the
members and requiring no special care on the part of the wearer in locking the
same.
As the bends b diverge forwardly, or towards the bow, they hold the fabric
against the legs and resist any tendency of the fabric to approach the inner side
of the raised bow, thereby keeping the fabric away from the bow and permitting
the hook member to be conveniently engaged therewith. In applying the eye
member to the garment, its pointed legs are passed through the fabric from the
outer side of the garment and inserted far enough to bring the bends on the
rear side of the fabric, as shown in Figure 3. The front holes of the locking
plate are then passed over the legs until they engage with the bends b and the
plate is then stitched to the fabric. In passing the plate over the legs, the same
is held at an angle thereto, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 3 and when the
front end of the plate enters the bends of the legs, the plate is swung against the
legs and parallel with the fabric.
If desired, the hook and eye members may each be formed with an ordinary
transverse loop for attaching the same to the fabric, as shown in Figure 7.
In interlocking the parts of the fastening the hook is engaged with the eye by
moving the parts lengthwise on each other in the manner of engaging an ordinary
hook and eye. The parts are disconnected by simply turning them outwardly at
an angle to each other, as shown in Figure 6i, so as to cause the hooks of the
hook member to be sprung apart by the neck of the locking head carried by the
eye member for releasing said head, as more fully described in the Letters Patent
herein before referred to. The portion of the loop a² which extends beyond the
hooks a, forms a convenient finger piece for disengaging the hook member from
the eye member.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
--
1. In a hook and eye, a hook member comprising an open elastic loop having
the free end portion of its side bars extending inwardly between said side bars
and arranged substantially parallel therewith, said end portions being arranged
side by side and formed at their inner ends with laterally yielding hooks which
are separated by an aperture adapted to receive the head of an eye member.
2. The combination with a hook member provided with a pair of laterally
yielding hooks having their bends separated by an aperture, of an eye member
having its bow provided with an inwardly extending locking head adapted to
enter said aperture, said locking head having substantially the form of a spear
head and being provided at its wide rear end with abrupt shoulders or stops which
confine said hooks in the eye member.
3. An eye member or similar fastening, comprising a bow or loop adapted to
be located on the face side of the fabric, prongs or legs extending rearwardly
from the loop and offset inwardly out of the plane of the same and adapted to
penetrate the fabric and lie against the back thereof, and bends or shoulders
connecting said loop with its prongs and extending inwardly substantially at
right angles to the plane of the prongs, and a fastening plate extending across
the rear side of said prongs and provided near its front end with openings which
engage with said bends or shoulders.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Ch..
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.