IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING AND STRETCHING TROUSERS AND OTHER WEARING APPAREL
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 20th May, 1886.
Complete Left, 21st Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 22nd Mar., 1887.
I WILLIAM HANCOCK of Cambridge Terrace Peckham in the County of Surrey
Draughtsman do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR SUSPENDING AND STRETCHING TROUSERS AND OTHER WEARING
APPAREL to be as follows:-
My invention is designed for the purpose of suspending trousers or other similar
wearing apparel whereby they hang freely and securely either for exhibiting drying
or securing from creases and also for the purpose of stretching the same to retain or
restore their normal shape. My invention consists of two parts as shewn in the
accompanying drawing in front and end elevations made of such size as to suit any
particular garment-The first part comprises a Rail to which is affixed two brackets;
also a roller narrowed at the centre and having at each end a pivot fixed excentrically
the roller being a little shorter than the space between the brackets; the said brackets
are made so as to receive and retain the said roller on its pivots; and with a projec-
tion on the sides to form an inclined plane whereon the roller may move downwards
and forwards to the rail and act without the said pivots the second part consists of a
rail having one edge rounded and having two hooks near thereto, one at each end
and another at the centre making with the former two a triangle; also a roller of
equal length to the last named and of such a size as to fit into the said hooks. To use
this apparatus the rail first named is fixed or suspended to a door or other firm object,
one end of the garment is then placed on this rail between the brackets on which the
roller is placed and turned until the garment is held tightly in suspension. The
brackets being extended also form hooks for hanging clothing.
Then the second rail is placed (the hooks down) against the cloth where desired so
that the roller can be laid in the hooks with the cloth intervening, this rail is then
turned downwards thus reversing the positions of the rail and roller and engaging
with the cloth by the bend in the same and the weight of the cloth hanging there-
from. This second part by its own or any weight or power applied to it will now
keep the cloth in tension or any degree of tension according to the power applied.
Datad this twentieth day of May 1886

page_text: WILLIAM HANCOCK Cambridge Terrace Peckham in the county of Surrey, draughts-
man 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:-
The object of my invention is to hold trousers or similar wearing apparel for the
purpose of stretching and so as to prevent shrinkage after wetting and to restore
them after use to their normal shape and also for the purpose of suspending the same
for exhibiting, drying &c.
*
a,
The invention consists of a device partly described in the provisional specification
as of the "second part," the "first part" therein described not being herein claimed.
This device consists of (1) Two parallel bars of wood or metal "A" and "B" as
shown on the drawing at figs. 1 and 2, connected together at or near each end by
two hooks, or screw eyes a," or otherwise, as at "a¹," "a¹," figs. 3 and 4, at a
convenient distance apart, so as to allow the garment to pass freely between them.
These bars may be of any convenient size and of any equal length but just longer
than the width of that part of the garment to be held and are used in pairs for
stretching. One of these bars, "A," is round, and the other bar, "B," has one edge
(which comes in contact with the cloth) rounded. The round bar "A" is fixed so as
to be raised in the manner shown in the drawing when the bar "B" is held vertically
(fig. 1). The round bar "A" may be movable in the hook-eyes, or held fixed to the
bar "B," which is preferable.
At or near the centre of the bar "B" is a hole "," the lower edge of it being
slightly above the level of the top of bar "A." This hole is bored at right angles
with the face of the bar and is made to receive a rod of wood or other suitable
material of any length desired according to that of the article to be stretched.
A modification of the bar "B" is shown at figs. 3 and 4, where the bar "B" is
narrower than in fig. 1, and instead of the hole "6" (fig. 2), I attach a metal eye and
shoulder in the manner shown in the drawing. This bar "B" may also be
round, in which case the eye and shoulder may be shaped to fit on to it, and fixed in
the same position as if the bar had been square on that side, ("B," fig. 5). In this
illustration the bars "A¹," and "B" are shown as connected together by a wire nail
so as not to be movable the one from the other.
The letters A, B,-A¹, B¹,-u, ba¹, b, etc. represent in each figure the same, or
corresponding parts.
The method of using the apparatus herein described is as follows in addition to that
described in the provisional Specification ;-
1. Lay the trousers down with the fect to the right, and pass them through one of
the parallel bars to, say 24 inches from the feet, holding the round bar "A" uppermost,

page_text: and so that the round edge of the bar "B" is facing the top (or body) part of the
trousers. The trousers may then be suspended on the round bar for exhibiting, etc.
B.
Next, 2, pass the feet of the trousers through another of the parallel bars to, say
4 inches, keeping the bar "A" uppermost, and the round edge of the bar
facing the feet of the trousers, (fig. 6). Now turn the top and feet of the trousers
towards each other over the round bars and on to the legs of the trousers, and bring
the bars "B," "B," (figs. 7 and 8) up and vertical. In this condition they are ready
for the application of any straining power, or for the insertion of the rod "C"
(shown in dotted lines) through the holes "b," ""; when this is done the two
parallel bars are drawn apart, and upon these being released the rod will automatically
engage in the bars "B," "B," by the friction between them and the rod "C," and
will keep the garment at any desirable strain. The heels of the trousers will at the
same time be pressed under the bar "B."
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. The device constructed and operating as and for the purposes set forth con-
sisting of two bars of any suitable material, both being round, or one, ("A"), round,
and the other ("B") partly rounded, and connected together by means of a hook, or
otherwise, at a convenient and parallel distance, substantially as described herein.
This device when used, singly and in pairs, being contrived to hold a trousers, or
other similar garment, or fabric where required, and a medium to which may be
applied any suitable power for straining the cloth between them, and at the same time
pressing the heels.
Second. The device of having the holes "b," "b," or the substitute of a metal eye and
shoulder "," as described, for the insertion of a bar or rod such as the one described
for the purpose of keeping the pairs of parallel bars apart.