IMPROVE- MENTS IN CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN FASTENINGS FOR THE STEELS OR HOOPS OF THE SAME
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Badcock, of No. 6, Westmoreland Buildings,
Aldersgate Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN FASTENINGS FOR THE STEELS OR HOOPS
OF THE SAME."
Sealed the 18th August 1865, and dated the 24th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Badcock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
February 1865.
I, JAMES BADCOCK, of No. 6, Westmoreland Buildings, Aldersgate Street,
in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN FASTENINGS FOR THE STEELS
OR HOOPS OF THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in crinoline skirts, and in
fastenings for the steels or hoops of the same. In constructing crinoline skirts
I employ as heretofore hoops of thin steel, and in order to secure these to the
fabric of the skirt I place on the hoops at distances apart buttons, which in

page_text: place of being made with ordinary shanks are made with wide metal loops,
and through these loops the steels are threaded before their ends are con-
nected to form the hoops. In the fabric of the skirt I form button holes at
distances apart, one for each of the buttons. The hoops are then attached to
the skirt simply by passing the buttons on the hoops through the button holes
in the skirt. This arrangement allows the hoops to be readily detached from
the fabric of the skirt when it requires washing. The hoops are capable of
sliding through the loops or shanks of the buttons, so that they adjust them-
selves to the position of the button holes. This is an important feature of
the arrangement, as without it there would be great difficulty in making the
button holes exactly to correspond with the buttons. In place of employing
buttons with heads of ordinary form, they may be otherwise formed so long as
the shape is such that they make a secure fastening, and can readily be put
through the corresponding holes in the fabric, and taken out again as required.
Or the head of the button or fastening may be made separate from the stem,
and to screw thereon after the stem has been passed through the fabric. The
hoops at the top of the skirt are not usually joined up at the ends, as otherwise
it would be difficult for the wearer to get into and out of the skirt. Now it
is found that the ends of these imperfect hoops as at present secured are liable
rapidly to wear through the fabric of the skirt; to prevent this I secure to the
cloth by eyelets a plate of metal made with a tail or tang, and the tail or tang
is bent over so that the end of the steel is enclosed between it and the plate. I
place the plate with the tail or tang on one side of the skirt, and the tail or
tang is bent over the end of the steel. A covering plate similar to the first
plate, but without its tail or tang, is then placed on the other side of the
skirt, and the two plates are firmly secured to each other by four eyelets
passing through both plates, and through the fabric. Or the eyelets are
conveniently formed in one piece with one of the plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Badcock in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th 80
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BADCOCK, of No. 6, Westmoreland Buildings, Aldersgate Street, in the City
of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Badcock, Her special licence that I, the said James Badcock,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Badcock, 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 Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN FASTENINGS FOR THE STEELS OR HOOPS OF THE SAME,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Badcock, my
executors or 'administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
"
• NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Badcock, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement.
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in crinoline skirts, and in
fastenings for the steels or hoops of the same. In constructing crinoline
skirts I employ as heretofore hoops of thin steel, and in order to secure these.
to the fabric of the skirt I place on the hoops at distances apart buttons which
in place of being made with ordinary shanks are made with wide metal loops,
and through these loops the steels are threaded before their ends are con-
nected to form the hoops. In the fabric of the skirt I form button holes at
distances apart one for each of the buttons, the hoops are then attached to the
skirt simply by passing the buttons on the hoops through the button holes in
the skirt.. This, arrangement allows the hoops to be readily detached from
the fabric of the skirt when it requires washing. The hoops are capable of
sliding through the loops or shanks of the buttons so that they adjust them-
selves to the position of the button holes. This is an important feature of
the arrangement, as without it there would be great difficulty in making the
button holes exactly to correspond with the buttons..
At Figures 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is shewn a portion of one
of the steels or hoops of a crinoline skirt, and also one of the buttons above
mentioned, the button as above described being made with a wide metal loop

page_text: upon it, through which the steel or hoop passes freely. The Drawing also
shews a portion of the fabric of the skirt which as before stated has button
holes formed through it at distances apart. The button. shewn in the
Drawing is shewn to be passed through one of these. holes. In place of
employing buttons with beads of ordinary form, they may be otherwise formed
so long as the shape is such that they make a secure. fastening, and can
readily be put through the corresponding holes in the fabric; and taken out
again as required. Or the head of the button or fastening may be made
separate from the stem, and to screw thereon after the stem has been passed.
through the fabric. In place of the whole of a crinoline skirt being con-
structed in the manner above described, the lower portion only of the skirt may
be so made, the upper portion being constructed in any ordinary manner. By
this means the fabric of the lower portion of the skirt may by unbuttoning
it from the steels or hoops be readily removed and washed without it being
necessary to wash the whole of the skirt. The hoops at the top of the skirt
are not usually joined up at the ends, as otherwise it would be difficult for
the wearer to get into and out of the skirt. Now it is found that the ends.
of these imperfect hoops as at present secured are liable rapidly to wear
through the fabric of the skirt. To prevent this I secure to the cloth by
eyelets a plate of metal made with a tail or tang, and the tail or tang is bent
over so that the end of the steel is enclosed between it and the plate. I place.
the plate with the tail or tang on one side of the skirt, and the tail or tang is
bent over the ends of the steel. A covering plate similar to the first plate,
but without its tail or tang, is then placed on the other side of the skirt, and
the two plates are firmly secured to each other by four eyelets passing through.
both plates, and through the fabric. Or the eyelets are conveniently formed
in one piece with one of the plates,
Figures 2 of the Drawings shew the end of one of the upper hoops of a
skirt, having as above described a plate of metal a secured to it by eyelets so
as to binder the end of the hoop from wearing through the fabric of the skirt;
this plate is provided as above stated with a tail or tang a', which is bent
over the end of the steel, and over this is placed the covering plate 6, secured.
to the plate a by eyelets c, c, In the arrangements shewn in the Drawings
the metal plates a and b are not directly secured to the fabric of the skirt,
but a strip of fabric d is held between the plates a and b, in the outer end of
which strip a button hole is formed, which is to button over a button on the
'fabric of the skirt. The portion of the end of the steel that is covered by the
plates a, b, is also further held by being inserted under a loop of fabric sewn
on to the fabric of the skirt. In place of the plates a and b being secured to

page_text: the skirts in this manner, they may if preferred, be directly secured to the
skirt as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Badcock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JAMES BADCOCK. (L.S.)