CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN SUSPENDERS FOR PANTALOONS OR TROWSERS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Warren Wattles, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN SUSPENDERS FOR PANTALOONS
OR TROWSERS."
Scaled the 22nd January 1875, and dated the 3rd December 1874.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Joseph Warren Wattles.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 3rd December 1874, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH.
WARREN WATTLES, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States
of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention of " CERTAIN NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN SUSPENDERS FOR PANTALOONS OR TROWSERS," and
have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters

page_text: twice through the slide of the other strap, the same being as shown in
the Drawings; cach strap at or near its lower end is to be provided with
a button hole or button holed piece D or D'. By the said combination
and arrangement of straps and slides together, and with the buckle, I
not only am enabled to "take up" or "let out" cach strap so as to
adjust its button hole to different distances from the bucklo, but to have
the two straps capable of drawing simultaneously through the buckle so
as to readily accommodate themselves to the strain that may be brought
on them from time to timc.
I am aware that it has been common to apply two straps to a buckle in
thic manner I do, in which case the two ends of each strap were con-
nected to those of the other by the button hole picces, there being no
friction slides to the two straps. It will be seen therefore that I have
combined with the two straps the friction slides fastened to their ends,
and have run cach strap through the friction slide fixed to the other
strap, such straps at their other ends being provided with button holes
or button hole pieces D, D'. I therefore claim as the first part of my
Invention or improvement in suspenders, the friction slides B, B¹, and
the two straps A, A', of a pair of front button straps, arranged and
combined together and with the buckle C of the shoulder strap, sub-

page_text: . The suspenders to which this part of Invention has special reference
are those described in the British Patent No. 1548, for the year 1871,
such Patent bearing date the Tenth day of June, A.D. 1871, and having
been sealed on the 31st day of October, A.D. 1871; the second part of
my Invention being designed to overcome difficulties resulting from the
stretching of the shoulder straps; also to effect the proper adjustment
of the front buckles or rings and the back connection relatively to the
shoulders of a wearer of the suspenders. Taking up the shoulder straps
in front has a tendency to draw the back connection too far upward on
the shoulder blades, as well as to raise too high upon the shoulders the
front rings or buckles connecting the shoulder straps with the adjustable
front button straps. With my additions these difficulties are completely
obviated, and the suspenders can be readily adjusted or fitted to most if
not all persons however they may vary in size, some requiring the back
connection higher than others, or at a greater distance from the waist-
band of the pantaloons.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I combine with the shoulder
straps A, A, the back connection II, and the two pairs of extensile
adjustable front button straps G, G, (connected with the shoulder straps
by a buckle or ring, or both,) and a pair of extensile back button
straps D, D. Each of the extensile or adjustable fore or back button
straps, as shown in the Drawings, is of a character to enable it to be
taken up or let out so as to vary the distance of the button hole thereof
from the back connection or the shoulder strap. The pair of back straps
are separate from each other and run through separate rings, but cach
pair of front button straps is represented as applied to one ring, and
they may be separate from cach other or be combined in manner as
shown in Figures 1 and 2. Each of the back straps D, D, is run
through the ring C at the rear terminus of the shoulder strap A. Each
extensile strap D is shown in the Drawings as provided at or near one
end with a button hole a', and at its other end with a friction slide b¹
formed as shown in Figure 7, the strap being carried twice through the
slide and over the cross bar c thereof, and next passed through the
ring C, and finally fastened to the said cross bar c, all being as repre-
sented. By moving the slide along the strap either toward the ring or
the button hole, the distance of the latter from the ring may be either
increased or diminished so as to bring the connection H of the shoulder
straps either higher or lower on the back, as occasion may require,

page_text: I do not confine this part of my Invention to the mode of applying
the auxiliary back strap to the shoulder strap and to a slide as there are
other ways by which a strap may be so confined with the shoulder strap
as to be capable of being either taken up or let out, so as to either
diminish or increase the distance of the button hole from the point of
connection of the two straps or from the back connection, as, for
instance, the same may be by a buckle fixed to the back strap, the
shoulder strap being run through such buckle.
I claim as the second part of my Invention suspenders, substantially
as described, consisting of the shoulder straps A, A, the back con-
nection H, the pairs of extensile adjustable front button straps G, G,
and the auxiliary back straps D, D, extensile or adjustable, as and for
the purpose specified, all being essentially as set forth.
The third part of my Invention is shown in Figures 8, 9, and 10,
of which Figure 8 is a rear view of a pair of suspenders provided with
my improvement; Figure 9 is a transverse section taken through the
two back rings and the back connection; Figure 10 is a longitudinal
section taken through one of the back button straps, the ring, and a
portion of the shoulder strap. In said Drawings A, A', denote the
shoulder straps each provided as usual with front button straps. Each
of the straps A, A', at its rear end is looped by a connection clasp a to
one of two rings B, B', connected by an extensile strap C which at one
end is fastened to one ring B'. The strap goes through a slide band
thence through the opposite ring B, and at or near its other end such
strap is fastened to the cross bar of the slide 6. The back button
straps D, D', are also looped in the two rings and run through and con-
nected to slides c, c', as is the strap C, the whole constituting a cheap
and neat combination of the shoulder straps, the back button straps,
and the extensile connection strap of the two shoulder straps..
I claim as this third part of my Invention the two rings B, B¹, the
shoulder straps A, A¹, the connection strap C, and the back button
straps D, D', arranged and combined substantially as shown and
described.
The fourth and fifth parts of my Invention are represented in
Figure 11, and may be thus described :-In said Figure 11 the two
shoulder straps are shown at A, A, as arranged at their rear ends at an
angle to each other and united together, and to a single ring O by a

page_text: back connection or loop B folded around the ring and secured to the
straps. There is extended through or looped into the said ring two
separate extensile and contractile back button straps, each of which at
one end is provided with a button hole a. Each of the said straps goes
twice, or forward and backward, through a slide E formed as shown in
Figure 3, and after being run through the ring C is turned back upon
itself and fastened at its end to the cross bar of the said slide. Each
strap D being separate from the other can be extended or contracted
independently of it by moving the slide along on the strap, the same
being in order that the button holes of the straps may be adjusted into
either equal or unequal distances from the ring to suit persons whether
straight backed or having their spines more or less curved.
With my improvement one strap D while being "let out" or taken
up does not "take up" or "let out" the other, but both can be let
out or taken up so as to vary the distances of the button holes either in
like degree or otherwise from the ring.
The straps of each pair of front button straps F, F', are separate from
each other, and extensile and contractile like the straps D, D. Each is
to be applied in like manner to a slide G, and also to a ring or loop
connected with the front end of the shoulder strap. In the Drawings
the strap connection is represented as a snap hook H and a buckle I,
the hook being hooked into an eye K extended from the buckle. The
two straps F, F', may be looped directly into the buckle eye provided it
bo of sufficient size to receive them. In this case each strap F, F³, can
be either let out or taken up independently of the other, and thus
adjusted to the proper length to suit the positions of the buttons of the
pantaloons.
By having extensile and contractile fore and back button straps, as
doscribed in connection with the shoulder straps, the suspenders are
rendered easier in application to most persons, and do not require in 3
their manufacture so long shoulder straps, or so many different sizes to
fit persons differing in size, as do suspenders without such extensile
button straps in front and rear.
-
I claim as the fourth part of my Invention, as follows, viz. :-
Suspenders having their shoulder straps A. A. connected at their rear 3

page_text: contractile back button straps D, D, extended through the said ring and
provided with slides E, E, all being substantially as specified.
I claim as the fifth part of my Invention as follows, viz. :—I claim
the combination of the separate extensile and contractile back button
straps D, D, the single ring C, the back connection B, the shoulder
straps A, A, and the four separate extensile and contractile fore button
straps F, F¹, F, F, all arranged and applied substantially in manner
and to operate as described.
and to operate as ucscribeu.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Warren Wattles, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Ninth day of Junc,
A.D. 1874.
JOSEPH WARREN WATTLES. (L.s.)