IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS OR CORSETS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Allen, of the Firm of Chappell, Allen,
and Company; of the City of Bristol, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STAYS OR CORSETS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William' Allen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th May 1880.
CHARLES WILLIAM ALLEN, of the Firm of Chappell, Allen, and' Company, of the
City of Bristol.. IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS OR CORSETS."
"
My Invention, relating to stays or corsets, consists of a combination of improve-
ments whereby increased facility of adjustment and additional case and comfort to
the wearer are obtained.
In carrying out my Invention the corset is closed at the back and made to open
in front, and in the closed back I insert a steel or other metallic flexible blade of an
appropriate shape, which is made preferably of an approximately uniform width
from its lower end to about the centre of the corset, and thence gradually increases
in width to the top, so as to provide additional support at the part where it is most
required; but the blade may also be made of a bulged or widened shape at its
intermediate or lower part if desired.
The corset is also divided at each side, the sections or divisions being connected
together by laces passing through eyelets; but in lieu of each section or division.
being formed with only a single row of eyelets I provide one section or division
at each side with a double row of eyelets, so as to afford increased facilities for
adjustment to varying sizes.
I also provide to the ordinary spoon busk fastening a piece of steel, with pro-
jections or tongues capable of sliding in such a manner that in one position the
tongues are brought in front of the studs of the busk, thus preventing it from
becoming disengaged or pinching the wearer.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles William Allen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th November 1880.
CHARLES WILLIAM ALLEN, of the Firm of Chappell, Allen, and Company, of the
City of Bristol. "IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS OR CORSETS."
My said Invention, relating to stays or corsets, consists of a combination of
improvements whereby increased facility of adjustment and additional case and
comfort to the wearer are obtained.
In carrying out my said Invention the corset is closed at the back and made to
open in front, and on the closed back I insert a steel or other metallic flexiblo
blade, which is made preferably of an approximately uniform width from its lower
end to about the centre of the corset, and thence gradually increases in width to
the top, so as to provide additional support at the top where it is most required;
but the blade may also be made of a bulged or widened shape at its intermediate
"or lower part if desired, or of any other suitable form.
The corset is also divided at each side, the sections or divisions being connected
together by laces passing through eyelets; but in lieu of each section or division
being formed with only a single row of eyelets I provide one section with a flap
which is also eyeleted, thus providing a double row of eyelets so as to afford
increased facilities for adjustment to varying sizes.
I also apply to the ordinary spoon busk fastening a piece of steel, with pro-
jections or tongues capable of sliding in such a manner that, when the busk is put
• together the tongues may be brought in front of the studs of the busk, and so
prevent it from becoming disengaged or pinching the wearer.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer
to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of
reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a back elevation of half of a
corset having my said Invention applied thereto, and Figure 2 is a front elevation
of the same with one side represented as torn open, so as to render the interior
position visible; Figure 3 is a detail of the busk, showing the improvements in the
fastening; and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 are details drawn to a reduced scale of blades
of a-modified shape, which may be applied to the back of the corset in substitution
for the blade of the shape shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the corset is closed at the back and made to open
in front, and in the closed back I insert a steel or other metallic flexible blade.A,
which in the example illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 is made of an approximately
uniform width from its lower end a to about the centre b of the corset, and thenco
gradually increases in width to the top, as shewn at c, the object of the blade
being to provide additional support at the part where it is most required. The shape
of the blade A may however be modified if desired; for example, it may be made
of a bulged or widened shape at its intermediate or lower part, as shewn at d in
Figure 4; or the form of the enlarged portions c, d, themselves may be varied, as
represented in Figure 5; or the bulged portion at & may be retained and the upper
portion c made of reduced width, as indicated in Figure 6; or, again, the portion
at d may be simply widened and the blade tapered in opposite directions to a
reduced width at its ends a, c, as shewn in Figure 7.
The corset is also divided at each side, the sections or divisions e, f, g, being
connected together by laces passing through eyelets; but in lieu of each section or
division being formed with only a single row of eyelets / I provide the sections or
divisions e, g, with flaps g' having a second row of eyelets, as shewn at h¹, so as to
afford increased facilities for adjustment to varying sizes.

page_text: I also apply to the ordinary spoon busk fastening, shewn at B, Figures 2 and 3,
a piece i of steel provided with projections or tongues k, and arranged so as to be
capable of sliding in such a manner that whilst in one position the fastening will
be free to be disengaged, in another position the projections or tongues of the
slide i will be brought in front of the studs 7 of the busk, thus preventing it from
becoming disengaged or pinching the wearer.
The fastening is shewn in its locked position in Figure 2, and in a position clear
of the studs in Figure 3 of my Drawings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
The improvements in stays or corsets, substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Allen, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
CHARLES WILLIAM ALLEN. (L.S.)