An Appliance for Holding a Lady's Blouse and Skirt in Place.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept.,
1899
Complete Specification Left. 21st July, 1900 -Accepted, 25th Aug., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Appliance for Holding a Lady's Blouse and Skirt in Place.
EDITH MARY HAWKESWORTH (Mrs.), Islip Grange, Thrapstone, Northampton-
shire, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows;-
The invention consists of a strap of webbing to buckle round a lady's waist
outside the blouse and inside the skirt. The inside of the strap (shown in
Figure I) is fitted on the upper edge at the back with five hooks A A which
catch the waist of the blouse and hold it in place. The outside of the strap
(part of which is shown in Figure II) si fitted at the lower edge with three
similar hooks B, B, which catch and hold up the band of the skirt. The hooks
are small and sharp each made in one piece with an eyelet which is let into the
webbing.
Figures III & IV represent one of these hooks on a larger scale, in front and
in profile respectively.
An Appliance for Holding a Lady's Blouse and Skirt in Place.
I, EDITH MARY HAWKESWORTH, of Islip Grange, Thrapston, Northamptonshire,
Married Woman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention is an improved appliance for holding to the waist, so that they
shall not drop or ride up at the back, a lady's skirt, blouse, shirt, waistcoat,.
jacket, and the like. The said appliance consists of a flexible waist band or
belt having upon it a combination of hooks so disposed that the mere act of
buckling on the said waist band or belt over the lower or waist part of a blouse
or other upper garment and the subsequent fastening around the waist of a
skirt band shall cause the said blouse, skirt, and band, to engage the said hooks
and to be connected the one to the other and tied together against displacement.
One of the most urgent needs of ladies is an effective appliance which can be
attached to the waist to prevent a skirt dropping at the back, to preserve its
correct balance upon the hips and for tying down to the waist an upper garment
such as a blouse, the desideratum being to support the skirt from the waist
from a perfectly horizontal plain or zone on both sides of the waist band division
or placket hole so that it shall drape in natural folds over the hips and to pre-
vent any vertical displacement or pulling out of the lower part of the blouse or

page_text: bodice from the waist, and to dispense with the unsightly safety pin now so
generally used for these purposes.
The appliance according to this invention is illustrated in the accompanying
sheet of drawings by a complete perspective view Fig. 1, and by a section of a
part, Fig. 2.
In these figs. a is a flexible waist band or belt (preferably a fabric known as
webbing) provided with the ordinary buckle connection c. The back part a²
of this waist band has fitted to it at its upper edge a number of hooks d inwardly
projecting from the waist band's inner side 3, and upon its lower edge «t, a
number of hooks e outwardly projecting from its outer face a". These hooks are
small steel ones, each having a ring-shaped base as shown in Fig. 3, and they
are attached to the waist band through eyelets which are passed through the
webbing and onto which the said hooks are threaded before the eyelets are
clinched. Five of such hooks are shown fixed to the top edge of the waist band
and three affixed to the bottom edge, but the number is immaterial so long as the
hooks are in double order and on opposite sides of the waist band and in
sufficient numbers to effectively attach themselves in the material of the parts
of the lady's dress they are intended to support.
In Fig. 2 the disposition of the hooks and e and how they are attached to
the waist band by eyelets d, e, is clearly shown; and in this fig. representing
respectively the lower portion of a lady's blouse and the waist band portion of
a skirt.
m, Fig. 2, is an external dress band for concealing the appliance a.
The hooks and c may be formed at the ends of a thin steel strip n, Fig. 4,
which is attached to the waist band a by sewings or stitchings.
In using the appliance according to this invention a lady would first put on
her blouse, then buckle the appliance round her waist over the lower portion of
said blouse so that the hooks & would engage it, then she would fasten round her
waist outside the appliance the waist band of the skirt, which would at once be
caught by the hooks e and held up, then she would put on the band m to hide
the appliance and skirt waistband.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
First. A waist band or belt appliance for ladies' use comprising the com-
bination of a detachable waist belt or band a and hooks d and e attached to the
back portion of the said band or belt on opposite sides for the purpose sub-
stantially as described.
Second. A waist band or belt appliance for ladies' use having in combination
a detachable flexible band or belt a, hooks d and e applied to the back portion
of the said belt or band on opposite sides along the top and bottom edge and
eyelets whereby the said hooks are attached to the said back portion sub-
stantially as described.
Third. A waist band or belt appliance for ladies' use comprising a flexible
band or helt a fitted with a buckle c, hooks d and e applied to the back portion
of the said band or belt on opposite sides along the top and bottom edge, eye-
lets d, e, for the attachment of the said hooks, and an external dress band n
substantially as described.
Dated this 20th day of July 1900.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
11, Burlington Chambers, New Street, Birmingham,
Also at Liverpool, London & Manchester,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.