IMPROVE- MENTS IN STAYS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charlotte Smith, Wife of Jabez Smith, of Bedford,
in the County of Bedford, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STAYS."
Sealed the 20th June 1862, and dated the 24th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charlotte Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
24th December 1861.
I, CHARLOTTE SMITH, Wife of Jabez Smith, of Bedford, in the County of
Bedford, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to stays for adults and children, and consists in the
employment of fastenings permanently attached to each side of the opening in
front of stays, so as to avoid fixing any fastenings upon the steel or other
busks of the stays, which are made plain and removable, as herein-after
described. One part of each of the fastenings is fixed to one side of the
opening of the stay, and the other part of the fastening to the opposite side
of the opening, so that when the stay is put upon the body with the opening
in front of the wearer, the corresponding parts of the fastenings may be put
together, so as to secure the sides of the opening. The busks, which I prefer

page_text: to use consist of a plain strip of steel rounded at top and bottom. For every
pair of stays two such busks are used, one being inserted in a sheath made for
its reception at each side of the opening. When the stay is on the wearer
and fastened the two busks are brought near together, and give the necessary
and usual support in front. From the fastenings being made separate from
and not a part of or permanently attached to the busks, as heretofore in stays
fastening in front, the busks can be very readily removed and as readily
replaced, when from breaking or for other purposes their removal becomes
necessary.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charlotte Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLOTTE
SMITH, Wife of Jabez Smith, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charlotte Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Charlotte Smith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charlotte
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and 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 STAYS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charlotte Smith, my execu-
tors 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charlotte Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
My Invention relates to stays for adults and children, and consists in the
employment of fastenings permanently attached to each side of the opening
in the front of stays so as to avoid fixing any fastenings upon the steel or
other busks of the stays which are made plain and removable, as herein-after
described. One part of each of the fastenings is fixed to one side of the
opening of the stay, and the other part of the fastening to the opposite side
of the opening, so that when the stay is put upon the body with the opening
in front of the wearer the corresponding parts of the fastenings may be put
together, so as to secure the sides of the opening. The busks, which I prefer
to use consist of a plain strip of steel rounded at top and bottom. For every
pair of stays two suck busks are used, one being inserted in a sheath made for
its reception at each side of the opening. When the stay is on the wearer
and fastened the two busks are brought near together, and give the necessary
and usual support in front. From the fastenings being made separate from
and not a part of or permanently attached to the busks, as heretofore in stays
fastening in front, the busks can be very readily removed and as readily
replaced, when from breaking or for other purposes their removal becomes
necessary.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view in plan of the outside of
a pair of stays with the fastenings, before described, applied thereto. a, a, are
the fastenings on one side, corresponding with the fastenings b, b, on the other
side; detached views of these fastenings on an enlarged scale are given at
Figures 2 and 3; Figure 2 showing the fastenings separate; and Figure 3 as
they appear when secured together; c is a central fastening on one side,
corresponding with a fastening d on the other side; detached views of these
fastenings are given at Figure 4, where they are shewn separate, and at
Figure 5 where they are shewn secured together. These fastenings are sewn
to the coutil or other material of which the stays are formed, and are in no
way fixed to the busks, which, as before stated, are plain strips of steel, and
may be withdrawn from the sheaths in which they are enclosed. In the event of
a busk breaking it can be removed, and a new one can be readily inserted in
its place; e, Figure 6, is a metal shoe, to prevent the busk from cutting
through the stay at the bottom; and f, Figure 7, is a shoe applied to the
bottom of one of the busks, and turned so as to form a hook to prevent the
skirt of the wearer from rising up.
And having now described the nature of my said Tuvention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to the

page_text: employment of all the fastenings herein-before described together, as, for
example, the top and bottom fastenings may be used without the central
fastening, and the central fastening without the top and bottom fastenings ;
but I claim as my "Improvements in Stays,"―
First, the employment of fastenings permanently attached to each side of
the opening in the front of stays in manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
And, second, the employment of fastenings constructed, as herein-before
described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charlotte Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-two.
CHARLOTTE SMITH. (L.S.)