IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Harris Lake, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake
& Co Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS" communicated to him from abroad by Charles
Noyes Chadwick, of Brooklyn New York, United States of America
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Harris Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st July 1883.
"
HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS communicated to
me from abroad by Charles Noyes Chadwick, of Brooklyn, New York, United
States of America
This Invention relates to corsets, and more particularly to the hip sections
thereof and to such corsets as are provided with a certain amount of elasticity in
the hip section.
In order that a corset may fit the person with ease, and yield to the movements
of the body, elastic devices have been introduced at different points in the top and
bottom; in some cases this has been done by cutting out a portion of the corset,
and extending elastic strips across the opening; in other cases elastic gores have
been introduced, but generally with such elastic devices a difficulty has been
experienced in the liability of the corset to curl or wrinkle. Again in the use of
this class of corsets in which an opening has been left in the corset, and the opposite
edges connected by elastic strips, a serious objection arises from the fact that the
garment and flesh of the wearer protrude through the opening, and interfere
materially with the comfort of the wearer, as well as the shape desired to be given
to the person by the corset.
The object of the present invention is to overcome these difficulties, and it
consists essentially in constructing a corset with a vertical opening or openings
from the bottom upward, and from the top downward; either or both, toward the
waist line, one portion being constructed with an extension to pass inside the other
leaving the top parts free to play the one upon the other; and the edge of the outer
IPain C

page_text: or overlapping part being provided with a stay hinged to the body of the corset
near the waist line, its free end being connected to the underlying part at a point
distant from the stay, so as to draw the outer part over the under part, yet permit,
the free play of the said parts.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a side view of the hip section of a corset constructed according to
this invention.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same on the line 1, 1,
Figures 3 and 4 are views hereinafter described.
A indicates the rear portion, B the front portion, and C the section which
connects the said front and rear portions and extends from under the arm down
over the hip, At the rear edge of the front section B I form a flap a at the
bottom and a flap b at the top, both extending backward onto the hip section; the
said flaps may be cut as a part of the front section or made separate and attached
to the rear edge of the front section; they extend to near the waist line, and at
the waist are left free from the section to which they are attached or of which
they are made a part, by a slit d, see Figure 4. The flaps ab are each formed
with a pocket to receive the stay.
.
The section C is cut at the central portion to meet the front portion as from e
to f, and is stitched to the central part of the rear edge of the front section, but
lett free above and below, and above and below the points where attachment is
made, the section has extensions DE, Figure 3, which underlie the flaps a, b when
the parts are stitched together. The flaps à bare pivotted to the body of the
corset at h, at the apex of the slit near the waist line, so as to leave the flaps a b
with the stays in their pockets free to turn upon that pivotted point either to the
front or rear; the free ends of the flaps are connected by an elastic strip / outside
of, and to a point on, the hip section at or near its opposite edge, which completes
the corset. The hinged or pivotted flaps or pockets .enclosing stays overlap the
adjacent part of the corset, so that, as it is expanded by the shape of the wearer
or movements of her body, no opening is produced in the corset and it fits as closely
to the body as if the corset were without slit or opening. The flaps enclosing stays
being hinged to the body of the corset, readily turn forward or backward without
'the usual bending as where the stay extends from top to bottom, they must bend
transversely as the shape of the body varies.
While I prefer to make the opening at the top and bottom of the corset, it may
be only at the top, or only at the bottom.
The underlying extensions DẸ may be provided with stays in the usual
manner of staying corsets, and generally should be stayed, as they will keep their
place better than without stays.
Instead of making the openings at the front edge, they may be made at the
rear; in that case the hinged stays will be placed at the rear, the elastic straps
extending forward and the underlying extensions backward instead of forward, it
only being essential that the overlying edge shall be provided with the hinged
stay, and that the underlying part shall have an extension over which the stay
will play backward and forward, and the free end of the hinged stay be connected
by an elastic strip to an opposite point on the section.
This invention may be applied to other parts in the corset where clasticity is
desirable.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I claim :-
First. A corset constructed' with vertical slits extending to near the waist line,
one edge being provided with a pocket enclosing a stay hinged to the body of the
corset at the apex of the slit, a portion extending from the opposite edge beneath,
and so as to underlie the stay pocket and over which the hinged stay pocket will
freely move, and an elastic connection from the free end onto the part having the
said underlying extension, substantially as described.

page_text: Second. A corset constructed with vertical slits extending to near the waist
line, one edge being provided with a pocket enclosing a stay, a portion extending
from the opposite edge beneath and so as to underlie the said pocket and over
which the pocket will freely move, and an elastic connection from the free end onto
the part having the underlying extension, substantially as described.
In witness whereof I the said Henry Harris Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty first day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three
HENRY H LAKE
HENRY H LAKE
(T.Q)