AN IMPROVEMENT IN OR A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE HOOK OF THE ORDINARY HOOK AND EVE DRESS FASTENING
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hinks and George Wells, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Manufacturers and Copartners, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN OR A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE HOOK OF THE ORDINARY
HOOK AND EVE DRESS FASTENING."
Sealed the 20th January 1860, and dated the 26th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hinks and George
Wells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 26th July 1859.
We, JOHN HINKS and GEORGE WELLS, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturers and Copartners, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN OR A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE HOOK OF THE
ORDINARY HOOK AND EYE DRESS FASTENING."
Our Invention consists of a substitute for the hook of the ordinary hook and
eye dress fastening, and may be used with the ordinary eye or with an eyelet
or loop. Our fastening is made from sheet metal in the following manner :-
We cut from sheet metal by means of a press or otherwise, a blank having a
form somewhat resembling that of the letter L; the upper part of the blank is
provided with eyes or loops, by which it is attached to the article of dress, and
the lower part of the said blank is bent in the following manner, that is to say,

page_text: the lower part of the said blank is doubled or turned upon the body or principal
part of the blank. By this doubling or turning up of the lower part of the
blank there is formed a hook resembling the ordinary hook, but with a
transverse bar joined to the extremity of the hooked end.
In introducing the hook into the eye, eyclet, or loop, it is necessary to twist
the said hook until it is in a plane nearly at right angles to that of the dress
before the transverse bar at the end of the hook can be introduced into the eye,
eyelet, or loop, after the hook has been engaged with the eye and loosed from
the hand it assumes the same plane as that of the dress, and however loose it
may be it cannot become accidentally detached from the hook. In order to
unfasten it, the hook or fastening is twisted into a plane nearly at right angles
to that of the dress, when it may be withdrawn from the eye.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hinks and George Wells in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
HINKS and GEORGE WELLS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturers and Copartners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Hinks and George Wells, Her special licence that we, the said
John Hinks and George Wells, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said John Hinks and George Wells, our 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 IMPROVEMENT IN OR A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE
HOOK OF THE ORDINARY HOOK AND EYE DRESS FASTENING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Hinks and George Wells, our execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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

page_text: 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 John Hinks, on behalf of myself and the
said George Wells, 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, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists of the improvement in or substitute for the hook of
the ordinary hook and eye dress fastening, berein-after particularly explained
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing. Our new or improved hook or
fastening may be used with an ordinary eye or with an eyelet or loop, and is
applicable to the fastening of dresses, stays, gloves, and other articles of dress
where two parts of the said articles are required to be fastened together. Our
new or improved hook or fastening may either be made from sheet metal or
from wire.
When we manufacture our improved hook from sheet metal we proceed as
follows: We cut from sheet metal by means of suitable cutting tools, worked
by a press or otherwise, a blank of the form represented in plan and edge view
in Figure 1 of the Drawing, that is to say, the end a of the said blank has a
form somewhat resembling the letter L, and the other part or body of the said
blank has an ornamental form. After the said blank, Figure 1, has been
pierced with holes b, b, as represented, by which it is attached to the article of
dress by sewing, the end a of the said blank is doubled or turned upon the
body of the blank, as represented in Figure 2. By this doubling or turning
up of the part a there is formed a hook c, resembling the ordinary book, but
with a transverse bar or projection d, joined to the extremity of the hooked end
as represented.
Figure 3 is a plan of a book and eye dress fastening, the hook of which is
made according to our Invention, the parts e and f of the dress to which the
hook and eye are respectively connected, being separated from each other;
Figure 4 represents the said parts e and f connected together; Figure 5
represents an edge view of Figure 4; and Figure 6 is a plan of the under side
of the two parts of the dress e and f, the hook and eye being indicated in dotted
lines.
In introducing the hook into the eye in order to fasten the two parts e, f,
of the dress together, the said hook is twisted until it is in a plane at right
angles to that of the dress, before the transverse bar d at the end of the said
book can enter the eye. After the said bar d has entered the eye, the hook
is loosed from the hand, when the said hook assumes the same plane as the
dress; the hooked part c embraces the eye, the bar d engages under the edge

page_text: of the said eye, as represented in Figures 4, 5, and 6, and thereby effects the
fastening of the two parts of the dress together. When the transverse bar d
has engaged under the eye, as represented; however loose the hook is, it
cannot become accidentally detached from the eye. The way in which the bar
or projection d engages under the eye is best seen in Figure 6. To unfasten
the hook and eye, the hook is twisted into a plane nearly at right angles to
that of the dress when it can be withdrawn from the eye.
Figure 7 represents a plan of another hook or fastening constructed according
to our Invention, the said hook being used in conjunction with an eyelet.
The body of the hook represented in Figure 7 differs only in shape from that
before described and represented, the action being the same.
Instead of con-
necting the hook or fastening to the article of dress by sewing, we sometimės
make at the back of the body of the hook a ring or loop 9, as represented in
Figuro 8, which represents the under side of the hook, and secure the said
book to the dress by means of an eyelet, as represented in Figure 9, where the
eyelet is marked h, between the dress and the turned in edge of the said eyelet
the ring or loop g is held.
When wo apply our Invention to the fastening of gloves, we prefer to give
the bodies of the hooks and eyes the form represented in Figures 10 and 11
of the Drawing, but other forms may be employed, and the bodies of the hooks
and eyes when used for fastening other articles of dress may bo variously shaped
and ornamented to suit the article to which they are applied.
When we make our new or improved hook or fastening from wire, we bend
the wire into the form of a hook, the end of the said hook having the construction
herein-before described and represented, the said bending being effected either
by hand or by machinery, which machinery we do not think it necessary to
describe or to represent. Neither do we think it necessary to describe or to
represent the machinery by which the hooks when made from sheet metal are
cut, pierced, and bent, as the said machinery for cutting, piercing, and bending
does not differ from that commonly employed for effecting similar operations
for other purposes.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention, the improvement in
or the substitute for the hook of the ordinary hook and eye dress fastening
herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, a hook having at its end a transverse or nearly transverse bar or pro-

page_text: jection, the said bar engaging under the eye, eyelet, or loop, and fastening the
two parts of the dress together, so long as the dress and hook are in the same
plane, the said hook being engaged with and disengaged from the eye, eyelet,
or loop, in the manner before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hinks, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN HINKS. (L.B.)