Improved Stiffeners for Cuffs, Collars, and other parts of Wearing Apparel.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 18th Mar., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Stiffeners for Cuffs, Collars, and other parts of Wearing
Apparel.
We, FRANCIS STEPHEN BLOOM, and FRANCIS BLOOM Junr., Hair-cloth, and
Crinoline-cloth Manufacturers, of No. 1 Bloomsbury Place, St. Martin's at Oak,
Norwich, and DAVID HARRY SHUTTLEWORTH-BROWN, Engineer, of Belle Vue
Villa, South Wimbledon, in the County of Surrey, 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 :-
An article of manufacture to enable dress and mantle-makers, tailors and
furriers, to stiffen and shape, without the trouble of designing shapes, or of following,
enlarging or reducing designs of shapes in accordance with the fashions prevailing,
for the time being, or from time to time, cuffs and collars for mantles and dresses,
plastrons, revers, corselets, collarettes, etc., and various parts of men's clothes, the
foundations of which are now generally cut from unsuitable materials, without
proper regard to the direction, strength, or relative elasticity of the fibre in the
material employed.
The advantage obtained by the making of stiffeners an article of manufacture,
consists in the fact that animal and vegetable fibres which have the property
of elasticity and other desirable qualities are for the most part of limited length,
and that their costliness increases with their length, hence it is obviously a waste
of valuable material to use shoots of, e.g., hair or other elastic fibre, such as kitoul,
or Mexican, of greater length than is necessary for the article required to be made,
(provided always, that the time of shooting too short a fibre be taken into the
account) for, supposing that a stiffener were required of a long and narrow shape,
(it might, have a sinus out of which a smaller stiffener, or complement cd.
be cut) and that elasticity were only requisite in the direction of its width,
then a warp of hair, little longer than the width of the stiffener could be woven
into cloth out of which it might be cut, thus an animal-fibre could be employed
for such a stiffener, at a relatively small cost for the fibre, so small a cost as
wd. have precluded the admission of such fibre, had it been cut out of cloth
with the length of shoot necessary when it is required to cut out a variety of forms
of stiffener from the same cloth, as has hitherto been customary-again, should
such a shape of stiffener require to have the property of elasticity in the direction
of its length, as well as in the direction of its width, and in both equally, requiring
the elastic fibres to be at right angles to each other, then, a cloth made with a short
shoot, may, by means of size or cement be attached to a cloth made with a long
shoot, crosswise, thus the desired qualities of elasticity, in directions at right angles
to each other, have been obtained in the stiffener, with a saving on the fibre
employed in the short shoot-again, the peculiar properties of the elasticity of
animal fibre might be necessary in the direction of the width of the stiffener, as,
for example, on account of the frequent bringing into play of the elasticity, in that
direction, whilst a vegetable fibre would answer the requirements of the stiffener,
in the direction of its length-here, manufacture leads to the scientific adjustment
of these relative qualities in their requisite directions, respectively, and tends to
economy of material, advantages which could not be attained by any probable
development of the hap-bazzard methods of cutting from the piece, and basting
together the shape of a stiffener as hitherto practised-there are, again, forms of
stiffener which are favourable to the adoption of short fibres crossing each other
at angles greater or less than a right angle, in which economy may be introduced
into one or both of the cloths employed, as well as a desirable difference in their
qualities such questions being capable of being decided by study, on the part of
the manufacturer, giving the subject the special consideration called for in each
[Price 8d7

page_text: particular case, affecting quantities of similar parts, for garments of the same kind
or quality, which wd. not be applicable, on the part of, nor can ever be expected
from individual operatives, or putters-out, in respect of the single garments, or
inferior numbers of the same, passing through their hands, already occupied by
the variety of stuffs and divers materials constituting the garments themselves,
each demanding different treatment, and having little or no connection with the
complexities involved, where the question of the various qualities of elastic fibres
with different characteristics, is concerned, and the directions in which those
qualities can best be disposed, so as to achieve combinations that ensure effectiveness,
durability and economy.
Moreover, in the making of stiffeners an article of manufacture, cheap and
inferior garments can be stiffened with greater skill, skill called forth by the
necessities of manufacture, or attendant or consequent thereon, than it would be
practicable to devote by individuals, and in individual instances, to the most
expensive garments now made, for as an article of manufacture the stiffener
becomes a thing open to examination and subject to the tests of criticism, where as
it has hitherto been put out of sight almost immediately it is made.
The method pursued, in carrying-out this invention is to take, from the usual
sources of design, such shapes as, from their beauty or fitness, seem likely to be
adopted by wearers, or such as are already adopted by manufacturers of clothing,
and, by means of punches, or zinc templets, of different shapes and sizes, and band
saws, or bandknives, or other suitable means, to cut out, with exactitude and
precision, the said shapes, in hair-cloth, fibre-cloth, or crinoline-cloth,-care being
taken so to arrange the elastic fibre, as to provide the greatest stiffness, and
elasticity, in those directions in which these qualities are most required, and
pliability in the directions in which pliability is required-in some cases, to double
the cloth, in whole, or in part, or parts, attaching the lamina to each other by
means of size, or any suitable cement, or, where porosity is needed, by basting
with thread, and then, to bind the edges round with feretting, tape, or other
suitable material, or they may be, either machine stitched or cemented, or painted,
so as to prevent the cloth, or cloths, from ravelling out, as may, in each instance,
seem to be desirable, and pressed, between rolls, or, if requisite, moulded between
dies, in presses, and, so finished, as to provide a stiffener of the required shape and
size, with other desirable characteristics, ready to the hand of the dress or mantle-
maker, tailor, or furrier, to cover with the material of the garment to which it is
to be attached.
If the border be painted a bright colour, it may be lined with dark, parallel, or
nearly parallel lines, by a system of "scribing," so that the stiffener can, by
passing the scissors along any of the lines, be easily reduced to the size required
for a garment of less proportions than that for which it was manufactured-in some
instances where the pattern does not admit of reduction by such parallel lines,
various transparent colours may be superposed upon the border, for the same
purpose.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
No. 1 Sheet 1 is a collar on an effigy.
"
la
"
2 is a portion of the same that lies upon the effigy's left shoulder,-
the "front lies against the chest, and forms part of the peak in front-the "back"
is bounded by a straight line which wd. join a similar portion of the same on
the right shoulder,-the tally-notch corresponds with one in relatively the same
place in
No. 16 Sheet 2 which is the rolled portion of the collar, left of the effigy's
neck, the top line of 1 a and the bottom line of 16 are brought together, and the

page_text: Having now, particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
(I) A stiffener, as an article of manufacture, cut to the shape required for the
part of the garment to which it is to be applied, and ready to the hand of the dress
or mantle-maker, tailor or furrier, as herein before described.
(II) The same consisting of hair-cloth, fibre-cloth, or crinoline-cloth, or of cloth
that is a mixture of animal and vegetable-fibres, the elastic fibres of which are not
of the length employed in the stiffening materials hitherto used, but limited to the
dimensions required by the stiffener and its complement, as, and for the purposes,
here-in before described.
(III) The same, consisting of any combination of hair-cloth fibre-cloth or crinoline-
cloth, the elastic fibres of which are of such length, and set at such angles, as
required by the stiffener, as, and for the purposes, here-in before described.
(IV) The same, comprising such a combination, in whole, or in part, or parts, the
lamine being attached to each other by means of size, cement, or basing stitches,
and or bound or cemented round the edges, and rolled, pressed or moulded, as
required by the stiffener, as, and for the purposes, here-in before described.
(V) The same, having a painted, or painted and lined, border, as, and for the
purposes, here-in before described.
Dated this 10th day of October A.D. 1892.
D. H. SHUTTLEWORTH-BROWN,
Agent for the Applicants.