IMPROVEMENTS IN HOOPED SKIRTS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Hinshaw, of Aldermanbury Postern, in tho
City of London, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HOOPED SKIRTS."-A communication from abroad by John Coulthard
TZ 11
Na Val Tinited States of America
Sealed the 7th August 1862, and dated the 12th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Hinshaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
February 1862.
I, ANDREW HINSHAW, of Aldermanbury Postern, in the City of London,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN HOOPED SKIRTS,". (communicated to me from abroad by John
Coulthard Kelley, of New York, United States of America,) to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in inserting joints or hinges in the hoops in such
position that when the skirt is on the wearer one set of joints shall come on
one side, and the other on the opposite side. By the employment of the joints
the wearer is enabled to sit down without the skirt and dress worn over it
being made to set up in front; they also allow of the wearer passing through
narrow places, entering carriages, and the like without improperly disturbing
the set of the dress.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Hinshaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
HINSHAW, of Aldermanbury Postern, in the City of London, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Andrew Hinshaw, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew
Hinshaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Andrew Hinshaw, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HOOPED SKIRTS," (communicated to me from abroad by John Coulthard Kelley, of
New York, United States of America,) upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Andrew Hinshaw, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
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 Andrew Hinshaw, 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
statement:-
This Invention consists in making the metal hoops of skirts with joints or
hinges, in such position that when the skirt is on the wearer one set of joints
or hinges shall come on one side and the other on the opposite side. The
person wearing a hooped skirt having such joints or hinges is enabled to sit
down without the skirt and dress worn over it being raised or tilted up in
front, or to pass through narrow doorways, enter carriages, or the like without
inconveniently disturbing the set of the dress.
The Invention will be better understood by the Drawings filed herewith
and which form part of this Specification.

page_text: The same letters in the different Figures refer to the same parts.
Figure 1 shews a portion of one of the improved hooped skirts on a female
as it would appear when in use, exhibiting the joints or hinges at one side
thereof, the joints or hinges at the opposite side being concealed by the dress;
Figure 2 shews the position or nearly so of the joints when the person
wearing the skirt is in a sitting position; Figure 3, the position of the joints
or hinges or nearly so when the wearer is passing through a doorway, the
effect being to draw the spring hoops of the skirt inwards instead of pushing
them outwards, as is the case with hooped skirts made without joints;
Figures 4, 5, 6, respectively exhibit a side view and edge view, and a detached
portion of a convenient form of hinge or joint for hooped skirts according to
my Invention.
a, a, denote pieces of sheet metal rivetted together at b; c, c, thin pieces of
sheet brass embracing the ends of the spring hoops d, and connected thereto
by burring or otherwise securing the metal at the holes e with a round pointed
punch, or by other convenient means.
Though I have only particularly described metal joints or hinges, I also
claim as my Invention to make them of vulcanized india-rubber india-rubber
or other webbing, spiral wire, or other suitable flexible material properly
secured to the ends of the spring hoops for the purposes aforesaid.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is or may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim any of the parts taken separately; but that what I claim as my Inven-
tion is the making of hooped skirts with hinges or joints, as herein-beforo
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Hinshaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
A. HINSHAW. (L.S.)