Improvements in Corset-fastenings.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 4th Feb., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 4th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1862
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Corset-fastenings.
I, DEWITT CLINTON COLE, a resident of 436 West 20th Street, in the City of
New York, in the County and State of New York, United States of America,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CORSET-FASTENINGS," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My improvement relates to the construction of the fasteners and to the means
for holding and releasing them. It allows the corset to be held securely and
strongly at as many points as may be required, and to be fastened with ease, and
especially to be liberated instantaneously when desired. It is common to have two
steels extending up and down, one at each of the edges, equipped with a series of
fasteners by which they are joined and detached at will. In my improved corset I
employ such steels having mainly fastenings which can be detached automatically
so soon as the steels are allowed to move end wise relatively to each other.
I employ at the top of the series what I will call " my front plate fastener,"
having a back plate and another which is a spring-plate overlying it, and projecting
beyond it. The back plate has an open horizontal slot with a large hole at the
inner end, which large hole receives the head of the corresponding post fixed on
the other steel. It allows each post to move only a little distance in the horizontal
slot, and then causes it to be arrested by being received in a hole in the spring-
plate riveted on the outer or front face of the device. The spring-plate, until it is
lifted by the finger, retains the post, defending it not only against escape through
the slot by the direct pull to which it is ordinarily subjected when the corset is in
use, but also against being moved backward when in any emergency the corset is
compressed or drawn together.
I employ an ordinary fastener at the bottom of the series having a headed post
fixed permanently in one steel and capable of engaging in a closed slot in a plate
riveted to the other steel, the inner end of the enclosed slot being wide enough to
receive the head, and the rest of the slot extending horizontally therefrom being
only of a width sufficient to receive the shank. Such fastener holds in a manner
long known and approved.
The intermediate fasteners, usually three, (but the number may be greater or
less,) are of a peculiar construction. They have open slots opening outward, but
the slots are inclined all in the same direction. I have in my experiments inclined
them downward, and will describe the invention as thus carried out. The posts
are retained in such inclined slots so long as the corset is in use, and are allowed
to move downward and outward through them when the wearer desires to detach
the fasteners. The posts, instead of moving out by a horizontal movement, move
downward obliquely. This movement downward by one steel relatively to the
other in the act of being disengaged renders it possible to hold the fasteners
engaged, and to effect their liberation, when desired, by a different method from.

page_text: that involved in any previous fastener. The posts are received through
a sufficient hole in the plate in the ordinary and long approved manner. To
retain them, it is only necessary to provide efficient means to resist any endwise
movement of the steels relatively to each other. I employ two fasteners
for this purpose, located one at the top and the other at the bottom of the
steels. The uppermost is, as before stated, my front-plate fastener, and the
lowermost an ordinary plain fastener. The intermediate fasteners have each
a spring-plate; but these plates do not require to be lifted to liberate their
several posts. The only finction of the spring-plate in these intermediate fasteners
is to prevent such fastener being detached by the backward movement of the post
in the slot. The large hole in the main plate receives the post, as in the front
plate fastener, and allows it to be moved laterally a little. The first or inner
part of the slot in this, the main plate, is horizontal, as in the previous form,
and allows the post to move horizontally outward to the place in which it is to
be retained. The movement of the post in this part of the slot is the same as in
my front-plate fastener, and the spring-plate, in allowing this part of the movement
of the post, rises a little to allow the head to so move, and snaps inward behind the
head to prevent its return.
I have in my experiments inclined the several slots downward at an angle of
about sixty degrees from the horizontal. The angle should not exceed the angle
of friction. It is important that each post be not only free to move downward
and escape when the other fasteners which resist the end motion are detached and
the steels are allowed to move endwise relatively to each other, but also that the
angle shall be such that the ordinary distending force on the corset shall be sure to
move the posts downward or upward, according to the inclination, and thus promptly
liberate the fastenings without requiring any assistance beyond the simple distending
strain.
One fastener to resist the end strain would be sufficient, but two are completely
reliable. It is easy to obtain access to liberate the fasteners at the top and
bottom.
The accompanying drawings form a part of this Specification and represent what
1 consider the best means of carrying out the invention.
Figure 1 is a front view of the steels with the fasteners engaged.
Figure 2 is a corresponding view with the fasteners disengaged.
The remaining figures show details of one of the intermediate clasps, on a larger
scale.
Figure 3 is a face view of the spring-plate.
Figure 4 is a corresponding view of the main plate.
Figure 5 is a face view of the two plates properly superposed and riveted to the
steel.
Figure 6 is a horizontal section showing the same with the opposite steel in
position and with the post engaged.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where
they appear.
A and B are two steels, and A', A', are posts stiffly set in the steel A. These
posts have cach a sufficiently stout shank for strength and a larger head at the
front or outer end. The device at the top is that above described as my front-plate
fastener. The fastener at the lower end is composed of a single ordinary plate M,
riveted to the part B, and having a sufficiently large hole to receive the head of
the corresponding post A', and a closed slot extending horizontally a little distance
therefrom and then completely arrested. The post on being thrust through the
large hole and allowed to move outward in this horizontal closed slot is held in the
ordinary manner. The shank of the post fills the slot, so that there is no
appreciable end play. The two steels are held by these fastenings, so that they
cannot be moved endwise relatively to each other until these fasteners are both
detached. The detaching of these, when required, is effected in the ordinary
manner, the lowermost by forcing the steels together and removing the head by

page_text: an inward movement through the hole in which it was entered, and then the upper
fastener, my front-plate fastener, is liberated, by simply lifting the spring-plate.
The intermediate fasteners are peculiar. They are each composed of an inner
or main plate D, and an outer or spring-plate E. The inner plate D, has a large
hole which allows the head of the post to be entered in the same manner as.
the ordinary fastening. There are two parts of the slot leading from the
central hole outward. The first portion dis horizontal and allows the post to.
move outward in obedience to the ordinary distending strain of the corset.
second and important part, d², of the slot is inclined downward obliquely. The
inclination may be varied. Forty-five degrees would serve well. I prefer an angle
of about sixty degrees, as shown.
A
The spring-plate E is formed with a domed portion E', immediately over the
hole d; but instead of having simply a hole at e², over the angle where the slot in
the back plate D changes its direction from the horizontal portion d', I have an
inclined slot e, in this spring-plate E, coinciding in inclination and in position
with the inclined portion d, of the slot below or behind it. I allow the
spring-plate to terminate with a smoothly-rounded end flush with the end of the
main plate D.
In putting on the corset, the wearer engages, first, my front-plate fastener at
the top. This in addition to holding the steels together, forbids the movement
of the steels endwise relatively to each other. Then the wearer successively
engages the several middle fasteners, making the same movement to engage them
as with the upper, simply thrusting the post forward through the hole d and
allowing it to move by the ordinary distending strain through the horizontal
portion of the slot. Lastly, she engages the lower and ordinary fastener
in the ordinary way. The corset is now reliably secured at each of the several
posts.
To remove the corset, the wearer liberates the bottom fastening by the ordinary
movement, drawing the steels together and moving the head A¹ inward through
the hole m. Then she detaches the upper fastening by a simple deflecting of the
spring-plate outward by the fingers. Now the steels are free to move endwise
relatively to each other, and they instantly do so, impelled by the inclination of
the grooves d², e², and the several posts escape automatically from the inclined slots
and the corset is unfastened.
Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing
the advantages of the invention. There may be only my front-plate fastener
(shown at the top,) or only the ordinary fastening (shown at the bottom,) to
resist the end movement of the steels. The position of these parts may be
reversed, the ordinary fastener at the top and my front-plate fastener at the
bottom. I can use my front-plate fastener at both the top and bottom, or the
ordinary fastener at both these points, and I can work with some success by using
other means than either such fastening, so long as it is capable of effectually
resisting the end movement of the steels relatively to each other and capable of
being readily disengaged or unlocked when required. There may be a greater or
less number of my peculiar fastenings with their inclined slots. I prefer to have
my front plate fastener at the top and an ordinary fastener at the bottom, and all
the intermediate fastenings of the new construction described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The steel B, plates D, having similar inclined slots d², and the steel A, and
posts A', set therein, in combination with each other and with the spring-plate E,
for each plate D, provided with a corresponding inclined way e, adapted to
prevent a backward movement of the post, and with means for resisting or
allowing the end motion of the steels relatively to each other at will, as herein
specified.

page_text: 2. The steel B, plates D, having similar inclined slots d³, and the steel A, and
posts A¹, set therein, in combination with each other and with the spring-plate E,
for each plate D, provided with a corresponding inclined way e², and adapted to
prevent a backward movement of the post, a fastening provided with a horizontal
guide-way, the latter having also a spring-plate with a handle or wing to allow it
to be conveniently lifted, so as to liberate its post by a horizontal movement of the
latter, all substantially as herein specified.
3. The steel B, plates D, having similar inclined slots d³, and the steel A, and
posts A¹, set therein, in combination with the spring-plate E, for each plate D,
provided with a corresponding inclined way adapted to prevent a backward move-
ment of the post, and with two additional fastenings arranged at the top and
bottom, respectively, each adapted to resist an end movement of the steels
relatively to each other, and to be easily liberated when required, as herein
specified.
Dated this 22nd day of January 1892.
DEWITT CLINTON COLE.