AN IMPROVED PETTICOAT
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to René Raffault, of Paris, France, Gentleman, fo
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PETTICOAT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said René Raffault at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
September 1867.
I, RENÉ RAFFAULT, of Paris, France, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PETTICOAT," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in providing plaits, folds, or creases in the upper
end of the tissue of the petticoat, viz., in that part of the same situated above
the hoops or springs, in order that the said folds, plaits, or creases should allow
the narrow tight petticoats, at present in fashion, to extend in the parts
required when the wearer is sitting down, for which purpose the said plaits,
folds, or creases are provided either all round the upper portion of the petti-
coat, or in suitable parts thereof, and run in the vertical direction, so as to
allow the petticoat to extend circumferentially when the wearer is sitting down,
whilst when the latter is rising or stands upright the folds, plaits, or creases
contract, and thus cause the petticoat to resume its original shape.

page_text: Hoops or springs are provided in the usual manner in the lower part of the
petticoat, whilst the above-mentioned folds, plaits, or creases extend only to
the upper hoop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said René Raffault in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RENÉ
RAFFAULT, of Paris, France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said René Raffault, Her special licence that I, the said René Raffault, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said René
Raffault, my executors, administrators, and assigns, 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 "AN IMPROVED PETTICOAT," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said René Raffault, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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 René Raffault, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
Though petticoats provided with steel springs or hoops have been constructed
in a great many different ways, they are still very incommodious, the more so
as the fashion requires them to be worn rather tight, which, particularly when
sitting down, renders them extremely inconvenient to the wearer.
My Invention consists in an improved arrangement of petticoat which
though offering the general appearance of tightness required. by the fashion
allows the same to expand in those parts that are to correspond with the knees

page_text: or other protuberant parts of the body of the wearer when sitting down, whilst
in rising these parts of the petticoat resume their original shape.
My improved petticoat is represented respectively in front and in back
views in the Figs. 1 & 2 of the annexed Drawings, in which Figures the same
letters of reference relate to corresponding parts.
The petticoat a made of any suitable tissue or fabric has its lower periphery
encircled by two or more hoops or steel springs b & c; at a suitable distance
above these latter are two similar springs d & e which do not extend fully
round the petticoat, but are cut off at the front part of this latter; the
springs b, c, d, &e are set at suitable distances apart, and fixed in any suitable
manner to the fabric of the petticoat, and neither they nor the waist band
offer anything particular. In the front as well as in the hinder part of the
petticoat are provided a suitable number of large plaits, folds, or creases i and j
extending from the line 9 to that h, which plaits, folds, or creases are
consequently allowed to expand when the wearer of the petticoat is sitting
down, so as to afford room for the knees or other suitable protuberant parts of
the body, whereas in rising the said plaits, folds, or creases will resume their
original position and give to the petticoat its original appearance.
Fig. 3 represents a front view of a petticoat constructed on the same
principles as the one shown in the Figs. 1 & 2, with this difference only that
the plaits, folds, or creases are replaced by gatherings k.
It will be evident from what has been above described that my Invention
essentially consists in providing in the front and back parts of a petticoat, and
if wished all round this latter, suitable folds, plaits, creases, or gatherings, the
number and size of which may vary more or less according to the ampleness
to be given to the petticoat and afford the required facility for the motions of
the wearer.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be put into effect, I wish
it to be understood that I do not intend to restrict myself to the precise details
of the Invention above described, as many variations may be made therefrom
without deviating from the principles or general nature of the Invention;
but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
is, providing plaits, folds, creases, or gatherings in suitable parts of petticoats
with the object that the said plaits, folds, creases, or gatherings in expanding
should offer room for the knees or other protuberant parts of the body of the
wearer when this latter is sitting, or stooping down, or reclining, and which
plaits, folds, creases, or gatherings may afterwards resume their original shape

page_text: so as not to alter the general appearance of the petticoat, substantially as
above described and illustrated in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said René Raffault, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
DREYFOUS,
Eng. Civil.
RENE RAFFAULT. (L.B.)