IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIRT FRONTS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Patrick Burke, of Foulden Road,
Rectory Road, West Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIRT FRONTS.”
Sealed the 9th December 1875, and dated the 5th October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Patrick Burke
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th October 1875.
I, THOMAS PATRICK BURKE, of Foulden Road, Rectory Road, West
Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIRT
FRONTS," to be as follows, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters marked thereon :—
Hitherto when making plain shirt "fronts" it has been customary to
construct them of the same thickness all over, so that as the wearer has
moved his body the front has bulged and creased or lost its proper
set, and very soon become unfit for wear.
=

page_text: Now my Invention consists in causing the "interlining" of the front
to extend only between the lines a, a, and b, whereby the parts c, c, at
each side of the "front" of the shirt near to the collar, and the part d
at the lower end of the "front" are thinner and weaker than the other
parts of the "front."
It will be readily seen that a “front” constructed in this manner
will naturally crease at the weaker parts, and the parts c, c, d, being
weaker than any other portion of the front, they will be the first to give
way, and therefore the main portion of the front will be preserved in
good order.
By the use of this Invention I obtain a perfect fit, and thereby
obviate the bulging and creasing of the "front" which has hitherto
been so objectionable, and enable the shirt to be worn for a much longer
period than heretofore.
I would here remark that my Invention is equally applicable to fancy :
or dress fronts, and that the lines a, a, and b, and parts c, c, and d, may
be of any other suitable form than those shown in the Drawing whilst, if
desired, the "interlining " may be omitted from 'both sides of the front so
as to weaken it at those parts, and I would further remark that “fronts”
made according to my Invention may either form a part of a shirt or
may be sold separately as insertion fronts" for the purpose of being
subsequently attached to shirts, or they may be formed to be sold and
worn as separate articles technically known as "false fronts."
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Patrick Burke in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office on the 5th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PATRICK BURKE, of Foulden Road, Rectory Road, West Hackney,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Patrick Burke,
Her special license that I, the said Thomas Patrick Burke, my exe-
cutors administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Patrick Burke, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
3 should at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
SHIRT FRONTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Patrick Burke, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six.
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Patrick Burke, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
Hitherto when making plain shirt fronts it has been customary to
construct them of the same thickness all over, so that as the wearer has
moved his body the front has bulged and creased or lost its proper
set, and very soon become unfit for wear.
Now my Invention consists in causing the interlining or stiffening of
the front to extend only between the lines a, a, and b, as shown at
Figure 1, whereby the parts c, c, at each side of the "front" of the shirt
near to the collar, and the part & at the lower end of the "front" are
thinner and weaker than the other parts of the "front.”
It will be readily seen that a "front" constructed in this manner will
naturally crease at the weaker parts, and the parts c, c, d, being weaker
than any other portion of the front they will be the first to give
way, and therefore the main portion of the front will be preserved in
good order..