IMPROVEMENTS IN BRACES AND IN THE MODE OF ATTACHING THE SAME
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BRACES AND IN THE MODE OF ATTACHING THE SAME." A communication
from abroad by Charles Laffite, of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd February 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BRACES AND IN THE MODE OF ATTACHING
THE SAME. [A communication from abroad by Charles Laffite, of Paris, France.]
This Invention has for its object to enable braces to be attached to trousers
without the use of buttons, which, as is well known, are very liable when sewn on
in the ordinary way to become detached inopportunely:
For this purpose button holes are provided in the waistband of the trousers at
the points where the buttons are usually placed, which button holes being much
stronger and more durable than sewn buttons will, if carefully made, wear as long
as the garment itself. After this trifling alteration the trousers aro adapted for the
use of the improved braces of this Invention.
According to this Invention a pair of braces is made of a single piece of elastic
webbing or other fabric, such as ordinarily employed, having attached at the front and
back ends short metal chains terminated by knobs, books, or bars, which are intro-
duced in the button holes made in the trouser band. These braces are characterised
by their extreme simplicity, both braces of the pair being formed of a single piece of
fabric doubled or folded obliquely at the middle of its length, the fold being secured
by stitching. To the front or free ends of the webbing loops, preferably of leather,
are attached by stitching, through which are threaded the short metal chains
furnished with knobs, hooks, or bars, as before mentioned, forming substitutes for
the ordinary leather tabs or "brace ends," a similar chain being passed through the
bight formed by the fold at the back. To shorten the braces it is simply necessary
to pass the chains one or more times through the loops at the front ends. The
same method of regulating the length may be applied to the back end of the braces
whether the webbing be in a single piece folded on the bias, as described, or in two
separate parts, in which case each would be provided with a leather loop similar
to those at the front ends. The braces may also be varied in length by tyeing
knots in the chains both back and front. The above improvements may be applied
to ordinary braces by replacing the usual leather or other tabs by metallic chains
having knobs, hooks, or bars, as before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
tho said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
August 1880.
"
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
'IMPROVEMENTS IN BRACES AND IN THE MODE OF ATTACHING
THE SAME." A communication from abroad by Charles Laffite, of Paris, France.
This Invention has for its object to enable braces to be attached to trousers
without the use of buttons, which, as is well known, are very liable when sewn on
in the ordinary way to become detached inopportunely.
In order to adapt trousers for the use of the improved braces of this Invention
button holes are provided in the waistband at the points where the buttons are
usually placed, which button holes being much stronger and more durable than
sewn buttons will, if carefully made, wear as long as the garment itself.
According to this Invention a pair of braces is preferably made of a single piece
of elastic webbing or other fabric, such as ordinarily employed, having attached at
the front and back ends short metal chains terminated by knobs, hooks, or bars,
which are introduced in the button holes made in the trouser band.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood I have illustrated it
in the accompanying Drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 show the front ends of a
pair of braces; Figure 3 shows the back of the brace; Figures 4, 5, 6, show various
forms of attachments for connecting the braces to the trouser band. These braces
are characterised by their extreme simplicity, both braces of the pair being formed
of a single piece of elastic or other fabric R doubled or folded obliquely at the
middle of its length, as seen in Figure 3, the fold being secured by stitching, as at p,
or in other suitable manner. To the front or free ends of the webbing R loops L,
preferably of leather, are attached by stitching. The mode of manufacture may,
however, be varied as desired. Through the loops are threaded short metal chains C
furnished with knobs, hooks, or bars B, as before mentioned, forming substitutes
for the ordinary leather tabs or "brace ends," a similar chain being passed through
the bight formed by the fold at the back. To shorten the braces it is simply
necessary to pass the chains one or more times through the loops L at the front
ends, as shown in Figure 2. The same method of regulating the length may be
applied to the back end of the braces, whether the webbing be in a single piece
folded on the bias, as shown in Figure 3, or in two separate parts, in which case
each would be provided with a leather loop similar to those at the front ends.
The braces may also be varied in length by tying knots in the chains both back
and front.
The above improvements may be applied to ordinary braces by replacing the
usual leather or other tabs by metallic chains having knobs, hooks, or bars, as before
described. These metallic chains and attachments, which afford all the requisite
strength when employed as a brace fastening, may be considerably variod in
arrangement and mode of application. For example, the chain may be covered
with leather or fabric, but without affecting its pliancy, in order to protect the
garments from contact with a metal liable to oxidation, such as steel or brass.
Instead of a chain, also, a leather strap might be used, in which case the knobs,
hooks, or bars would be firmly attached to the ends of the strap by rivets, screws,
or other suitable means. The length of the braces may be regulated either by
tying knots in the chains or straps or by passing them two or more times through
the loop L, as above mentioned, or by any of the various arrangements now in use,
in which case the chains or straps C would be retained in position by a cross
chain C¹ uniting the two parts of the chain to be attached to the trouser band, as
shown in Figure 1. This cross chain, while allowing of the necessary freedom of
movement of the chain in the loop L, yet prevents it moving so far as to bring the

page_text: button B up to the loop. The same result is also obtained by means of the
arrangements represented in Figures 7, 8, and 9. Figure 7 shows the application
of a common form of brace adjustment in connection with the improved chain and
ball attachment, consisting of a slide A provided with an eccentric nipping bar a,
by which the brace end R is retained on turning down tail piece a' and released by
raising same. An eye is formed in slide A for inserting a split or other ring 1, from
which is centrally suspended a lever L having a chain C attached at each end,
terminated by knobs, buttons, bars, or hooks B, which are inserted in the button
holes of the trouser band, as before described. The lever L is caused to oscillato
like a scale beam by the movement of the body, and in this manner the strain is
always equally distributed between the parts of the chain C. Figuro 8 shows the
application of an oscillating lever in connection with an ordinary tongue buckle.
Figure 9 shows the oscillating lever applied at the back end of the brace to a
triangular metal frame A3, such as already in use, by which a single length of
fabric is made to form a pair of braces.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The employment of metallic chains as a substitute for the ordinary leather
or other tabs or brace ends, as described.
2nd. The application of buttons, knobs, hooks, bars, or other such like means of
attachment to the ends of the metallic chains, in combination with button holes,
eyelets, or other openings made in the trouser band, as described.
3rd. The application of buttons, knobs, hooks, bars, or other similar means of
attachment to the ends of leather straps, in combination with button holes, eyelets,
or other openings made in the trouser band, as described.
4th. The employment of cross chains C¹ for limiting the movement of the chains
or straps C in the loops L or other attachments, as described.
5th. The method of regulating the length of the braces by passing the chains or
straps C two or more times through the loops L or other attachments, or by forming
knots in said chains or straps, as described.
6th. The employment of metallic chains covered with leather or fabric to prevent
contact of an oxidisable metal with the garments, as described.
7th. The employment of an oscillating lever for suspending the chains, whereby
the strain upon the same is equally distributed in all the varying positions of the
body, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this 23rd day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
A. M: CLARK. (L.S.)