AN IMPROVEMENT IN STAY BUSKS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry George Avery, of Hackney, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STAY
BUSKS."
Sealed the 11th January 1871, and dated the 16th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry George Avery
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th July 1870.
I, HENRY GEORGE AVERY, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN STAY BUSKS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improvement in stay, corset, or bodice
busks by which their flexibility may be increased, thereby ensuring
greater comfort to the wearer with less liability to fracture than hitherto.
Busks usually consist of a strip of metal of the same thickness through-
out, which being made thin enough to obtain the required elasticity is
very liable to fracture, and if the busk be increased in thickness the
additional rigidity causes discomfort to the wearer.

page_text: My improvement consists in making the busk of a number of thin
strips of metal of gradually diminishing length superposed and bound
or rivetted together somewhat in the manner of a carriage spring, the
greatest thickness of the busk being at the middle. The requisite
"set" is given to the busk by bending each strip more or less according
to its length before connecting them together to form the busk. The
busk may be covered as usual.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry George Avery in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GEORGE AVERY, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry George Avery, Her special licence,
that I, the said Henry George Avery, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry George Avery, 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 of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN STAY BUSKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
George Avery, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Henry George Avery, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings.
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
My Invention relates to an improvement in stay, corset, or bodice
busks, by which their flexibility may be increased, thereby ensuring
greater comfort to the wearer with less liability to fracture than hitherto.
Busks usually consist of a strip of metal of the same thickness through-
out, which when made thin enough to obtain the required elasticity is
very liable to fracture, and if the metal be increased in thickness the
additional rigidity causes discomfort to the wearer.
My improvement consists in making the busk of a number of thin
strips of metal of gradually diminishing length superposed and bound
or riveted together somewhat in the manner of a carriage spring, the
greatest thickness of the busk being at the middle. The requisite "set"
is given to the busk by bending each strip more or less according to its
length before connecting them together to form the busk. The busk
to the edges of the two halves of a corset, and Figure 3 is an edge view
'of the same, whilst Figures 4 and 5 are views of parts of the same detached.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
I make each busk of a number of thin strips a, a¹, a², a³, of steel of
gradually diminishing length. These strips of steel I superpose and
combine together, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, so as to make the busk
thicker in the middle than at the ends. The strips are bound together
to form a busk by metal bands b, b', or by wire similarly placed, or
they may be riveted together. When bound as shown the edges of the
bottom plate or strip a are indented to receive the bands b¹, b¹, and
prevent their slipping off as shown in Figure 4 at b².
a', a³, a³, are only indented at the middle to hold them in place and
being narrower than the bottom strip a pass through the clips or bands
without being held thereby and slide freely over one another to impart
the required flexibility to the busk. The ends of each of the upper
strips a', a², a³, are bent slightly downwards as shown, so as to bear on
the strip below to increase the elasticity and prevent the said ends of the
The other strips

page_text: strips wearing through the fabric with which they are covered when
placed in the corset. The usual stud fastenings are applied to these
busks, the stud c being riveted to the bottom strip a in the usual manner
and passing through slots c¹, in the superposed strips of sufficient length
to admit of the free play of the latter. The corresponding eyes d are
riveted to the back of the other strip a and bent up toward the front so
as to lay neatly on the other busk. Instead of binding the several strips
together they may be riveted, the rivets being placed in about the same
positions as the bands b, b¹, and those at the extremities passing through
oval slots in all the strips except the bottom one a to allow of the
requisite play of the strips over one another. In this case the strips
would be made without any indentations in the edges.
Having described. the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, making
stay corsets or bodice busks of strips of spring steel graduated in length
and combined substantially as herein-before shown and déscribed, and
for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry George Avery, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and
seventy-one.