A NEW OR IMPROVED LEVER FASTENER FOR HOLDING LADIES' DRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Elijah Stanley, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford.
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED LEVER FASTENER
FOR HOLDING LADIES' DRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES."
Scaled the 2nd May 1879, and dated the 5th November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Elijah Stanley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th November 1878.
ELIJAH STANLEY, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer. "A
NEW OR IMPROVED LEVER FASTENER FOR HOLDING LADIES' DRESSES AND OTHER
ARTICLES."
The principle involved and operating in this article is that of "resistance by
pressure." In the simplest forms of the article the following is the "modus
operandi."
The dress or other garment, twill, or fabric, intended to be secured is placed
through a ring adjusted on a plain or ornamental body, which is suspended by a
cord or strap to the waist or shoulders of person wearing the same, or hung from
the dress or other article by means of safety pin, clasp, or other similar device, or
depending from any fixed or elevated point, and which body is so arranged that.
the portion of fabric inserted through ring shall, in the act of releasing itself, draw
towards itself, and put into operation the lower part of the body, causing the
mutual approach of body and ring, and exerting a pressure upon the inserted part
of fabric which effectually prevents its escape.
Other forms of the article are triangular, oval, square, &c., of such designs as
rustic, Oxford cross, anchor pattern, or crescent, or to effect the greater security in
particular fabrics, or to make assurance doubly sure the approach of two parts of
holder is compelled by a spring, or the two parts alluded to are uniform and worked
or stamped to produce the relative and respective features enumerated, but in all
cases the principle operating and relied on is the same as explained with relation
to simplest form as above.

page_text: The advantages of this Invention are numerous. Other holders are complex, and
consist of many parts; this simple, consisting-essentially of but one or two at
most, except where spring is required, or in case of an elaborate design.
Facility is another of its advantages.
The adjustment of dress-is easily effected, and when desired, as easily released; it
-is.only required to lift the ring or put the body in a horizontal position to with-
draw the fabric instantly:
Security. The fabric cannot escape however light or heavy its weight, and where.
the strain is great the hold is great, and not as in most descriptions of dressholders
where the reverse is the case.
Lastly. The fabric is not injured by the operation of the holder. No tong or
sharp sides to cut or narrow aperture to tear and crease, and as the pressure is
always proportional to the strain, the full power of holder is only rarely exerted,
giving the advantage of slight grasp in ordinary use, a powerful grip in case of
strain, but a firm hold always.
Another advantage is that this article can be made with any metal or wood, or
bone, or ivory, or vulcanite, or made of any metal and covered with leather or
fabric of any description.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Elijah Stanley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd May
1879.
" A
ELIJAH STANLEY, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer.
NEW OR IMPROVED LEVER FASTENER FOR HOLDING LADIES' DRESSES AND OTHER
ARTICLES."
The principle I adopt in this Invention being resistance by frictional pressure,
increasing in power as the resistance becomes greater, and in accomplishing this
object I make use of the well known principle of the lever in the following
method I make a frame of any suitable form, and by a cord, chain, hook or in
any other way suspend the same by its narrow end; on this frame I hang a ring,
not necessarily round, in such a way that the upper part of the ring shall be on one
side of the frame, but at its greatest diameter it shall be on the other side of the
frame, and at its lowest point the ring shall be just below the lower edge of the
frame. The frame and ring are set to such a form that the lowest part of the frame
fits into the ring, and when not in use, lies inside it. In use the dress or material
is drawn up into the ring, and under the lower part of the frame, and is then
allowed to hang down. The weight of the dress would cause it to withdraw itself
from the ring, but the friction of that part of the material which is through the
ring acts by its friction upon the lower part of the frame, thereby causing the
aperture to become smaller, and causing the grip of the frame and ring to become
intensified. In some forms of this Invention I propose to insert a spring, fixed or
otherwise, to act in such a way upon the upper edge of the ring as to always keep
it in contact with the frame at the upper part of the ring; this spring must be
sufficiently flexible to allow the ring to open from the frame at least to a right
angle.
In the Drawings annexed Figure 1 represents the dress-holder as it would be
suspended, but not in use, A being the frame; B, the cord by which it is attached
to the waist; C is the ring; and D, the spring attached to the frame at E pressing
upon the ring Cat F. Figure 2 represents the dress-holder open previous to the
insertion of the dress, and Figure 3 shews the dress-holder with the dress G drawn
through it.
The same letters indicate the respective parts of the Invention in each Figure.
Having now described the several parts of my Invention, I wish it to be dis-
tinctly understood that I do not limit myself to the form or figure as shewn in the
Drawings, as the Invention can be modified as fashion dictates, but I claim as my
Invention a dress-holder acting by frictional pressure increased by leverage.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elijah Stanley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty sixth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
seventynine.
WILLIAM MASON,
Witness to the signature of
Elijah Stanley.
ELIJAH STANLEY. (L.S.)