Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Jan., 1896-Accepted, 7th Mar., 1996
A communication from LYMAN P. CONVERSE, of 1680 North Clark Street,
Chicago, State of Illinois, United States of America, Manufacturer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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 :--
This invention relates to an improvement on the spring-clamp commonly used
by bicycle riders to hold the lower folded ends of their trousers-legs while riding.
The clamp hitherto commonly used for this purpose is a bowed flat-metal spring
formed in one piece and adapted to fit about the leg of the user in the region of
the ankle to clamp the lapped lower end of his trousers-leg and hold it against
being pulled upward. The necessary size of this clamp, however, renders it
inconvenient for carrying about the person to have it accessible when required for
use, as it is too long to be introduced into a vest-pocket or to be carried
conveniently in any other pocket of the clothing.
This objection to the form of clamp thus described is overcome by constructing
it in sections of spring-metal adapted to be conveniently folded by sliding one upon
the other to compact the clamp, when out of use, into a convenient size for
inserting and carrying it in a vest-pocket, and to be as readily extended into the
bowed-spring form required for its use.
The invention consists in the construction whereby a spring clamp of the
character referred to is rendered folding.
In the accompanying drawing-
Figure 1 shows the improved trousers-clamp by an edge-plan view, with the
folding sections in their distended relation;
Figure 2 is a similar view of the same with the sections compacted by folding;
Figure 3, a section taken at the line 3 on Figure 1 and viewed in the direction
of the arrow; and
Figure 4, a section taken at the line 4 on Figure 2 and viewed in the direction
of the arrow.
A is a spring-clamp formed of the bowed sections A', A and A³, of spring-steel,
each made, by preference, slightly concavo-convex longitudinally for a purpose
hereinafter described, with the sections all of the same, or substantially the same,
length and width. The intermediate section A' is provided at one end with a
loop and on its opposite end with a loop r¹. These loops may be formed
integral with the section by leaving thereon near its opposite ends, in stamping it
out, lateral enlargements, those at one end of the section being bent toward each
other over one surface of the section to form one of the loops, and those at the
other end being bent toward each other over the opposite surface of the section to
form the other loop. Each of the sections A' and A³, which is formed to describe
an arc like or approximately like that described by the central section, has formed
on one end, as by there turning it up, a stop p; and at their opposite ends these
outer sections should be slightly bent outward, as shown at a in Figure 1, to afford
grips and facilitate gripping them between the thumbs and forefingers of the
hands.
The section A is confined to elide against the inner surface of the section A' by
the loop r, being obstructed against separation therefrom, in distending it, by the

page_text: respective stop p abutting against the loop; and the section A³ is confined to slide
against the outer surface of the middle section by the loop, being obstructed
against separation therefrom, in distending it, by the respective stop p
abutting against that loop. The fit of the sections together and their connection
by the loops is such as to render the clamp formed by them, when distended, as
stiff and springy as though it were made of one continuous piece of spring-steel.
By forming the sections longitudinally concavo-convex, as described, they fit
together the better, when folded and, more especially, they form guide-ways for
each other in folding them, besides stiffening the bowed sections.
To distend the sections from their mutual overlapping or folded condition, shown
in Figure 2, into the condition for use, in which they are represented in Figure 1,
it is only necessary to grasp the ends at a and pull them out, when the clamp may
readily be applied by the user to its operative purpose, and will perform its
functions as effectively as the old form of trousers-clamp. To fold the sections
together and thereby compact the clamp for storing away, into a conveniently
accessible place for safety, while out of use, as in a vest-pocket, it is only necessary
to slide the sections A' and A' together on the section A¹.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A trousers-clamp formed in bowed folding and extensible sections of spring-
metal, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. A trousers-clamp formed in bowed longitudinally concavo-convex folding
and extensible sections of sheet-metal, substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
3. A trousers-clamp comprising bowed sections A1, A2 and A³, of spring-metal,
the section A having loops r and on its opposite ends, and the sections A
and A being slidingly confined in said loops and provided with stops p on their
adjacent ends, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. A trousers-clamp comprising bowed longitudinally concavo-convex sections A¹,
A2 and A, of spring-metal, the section A having loops r and r' on its opposite ends,
and the sections A and As being slidingly confined in said loops and provided with
stops p on their inner ends and with grips on their outer ends, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 30th day of January 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.