IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOF AND OTHER ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Foucaut at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th January
1867.
I, ALFRED FOUCAUT, of Rue de Grammont, Paris, in the French Empire,
5 Doctor of Medicine in the French Imperial Navy, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOF AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL," to be as follows:-
There are objections to the wearing of ordinary waterproof garments on
account of their checking perspiration and their offensive smell; now the
O main object of this Invention is to remedy these evils, and to render such
articles healthy and agreeable for wear, and the Invention consists in forming
or providing the garments with means whereby they are ventilated and a
circulation of air is maintained therein while in use, such means being
operated by the natural or ordinary movements of the wearer in such manner
that the internal air shall be withdrawn and expelled, fresh atmospheric air
entering, so that a sort of respiratory action is maintained in the garment, at
the same time the vapourous moisture is driven off and the ordinary perspiration
unchecked. For this purpose I fit or attach to the garment an air chamber
or vessel, preferably of lenticular form in section, and placed in the arm-it;

page_text: such chamber or vessel is made wholly or partly of flexible material, so that
it may contract when emptied of air and expand when filled with air; the
chamber communicates at one end with a pipe or passage which opens, by
perforations in the side or otherwise, into the garment, and at the other end
the chamber communicates with another pipe or passage which communicates
with the outer atmosphere, fresh air entering through the neck or other
openings of the garment. The pipes are provided with valves which open and
close communication with the air chamber, the valves opening in such manner
that one will only allow air to enter the chamber, and the other only allows air
to escape thence, each resisting respectively a reverse action. As the wearer
moves his arm he compresses the chamber or else allows it to expand to its
original position, so that it acts like an air pump, alternately drawing in and
expelling the air, and thus keeping up circulation or respiratory action. The
pipes are arranged in any convenient manner, according to the shape of the
garment.
But to explain the Invention thoroughly I give one example; I sometimes
construct a waterproof garment for covering the whole body fitting round and
opening at the neck, where it may be provided with a hood and cape, and
terminating at bottom in leg and foot coverings. In this instance two tubes,
one on each side, may be carried down the thighs and legs, round the foot,
and up on the other side of the limb, where they unite in a main pipe carried
half round the waist in front and thence to the air chamber, whence the other
pipe proceeds round the arm and thence down the back, where it meets another
like pipe from the other arm, joining in a main pipe carried round the waist
at back; but the garments to which I apply my Invention may be of any
other form. For boots, shoes, and other foot coverings, or for soles, which
may be made separately, the same arrangement may be adopted, air channels
being formed in the sole communicating with a flexible air chamber operated
by the motion of the foot; such chamber also communicates with an ejection
passage or opening; valves are provided, as before described, for admitting
and expelling the air into and from the chamber. To explain this I give one
example; I sometimes form air passages in the sole diverging, like the
nervures of a leaf, from one common channel which leads into a flexible air
chamber placed in the heel, where the passage is provided with a valve; the
other end of the air chamber leads into a neck also provided with a valve and
opening into the outer air; this exit may be a short cylinder fitted with a
valve. The air chamber, which is operated by the ordinary action of the
wearer's heel as he walks or runs, is compressed as the beel descends, and
returns to its previous form as it rises, whereby the chamber is alternately

page_text: filled and emptied and the air withdrawn from the sole and expelled thence.
One mode of making the air channels is by blocks of caoutchouc having.
spaces between them and placed between a top and bottom sole. My arrange-
ments may also be applied in like manner to boots and other articles of
wearing apparel, even when not what are called waterproof.